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Part 4: Revisiting Moondogs' History
Questions 1-2 Raised from Lewisohn Analysis
That the timelines as purported by Lewisohn are suspect
is based on at least four observations made with regard to the Moondogs'
history. The manner in which these observations is at odds with Lewisohn
is revealed in this third part of Johnny and the Moondogs.
1) Theatres were closed to the public on Sundays. For this reason, there
could have been no performance in front of an audience at the Manchester
Hippodrome on Sunday 15 November 1959. The format in Manchester was the
same as in Liverpool, two nightly shows running Monday to Saturday, and it
is strange that Lewisohn refers to a public show on a Sunday. The theatre
may have been used for private auditions that day, but Johnny and The
Moondogs had already passed their private and public auditions in
Liverpool. All accounts have them performing at a public show, which must
have been during the Monday to Saturday timeframe.
2) John Lennon was without a guitar at the Manchester Hippodrome show, as
attested by Paul and George. McCartney and Harrison have also expressed
pubically that John stole a guitar at the show ! In October of 1959, he is
seen in possession of a Hofner Club 40 guitar in pictures taken soon after
the opening of the Casbah Club. If the Moondogs did play in November 1959,
why would John not have taken this guitar? Further, there is photographic
evidence showing John with his new Hofner Club 40 guitar, bought at
Hessy's in Liverpool on 28 August 1959. John's Aunt Mimi paid a £17
hire-purchase deposit, according to Andy Babiuk's "Beatles Gear". The
following day marked the probable reason for it's acquisition, the opening
of the Casbah Coffee Club run by Pete Best's mother Mona, at which the
drummer-less Quarry Men (John, Paul, George and Ken Brown) played a
succession of seven Saturday nights until they split up over a row about
payment. The photo appeared in the local newspaper and can be accurately
dated to around the opening of the Casbah.
McCartney and Lennon at the Casbah - 1959
Question 3 Raised From Lewisohn Analysis
3) From the time in which John Lennon picked up his
first guitar, he developed a bond that helped him to adjust to a numbjer
of difficult and tragic life events. To this end, it would seem impossible
to some that he would be without an instrument for any period of time.
McCartney and Harrison has indicated over the years, however, that this
was the case for a brief time period during the Moondogs days. In late
1958, he is pictured without a guitar shortly following the time of the
talent show. This was on the occasion of at George's elder brother Harry's
wedding reception on Saturday 20 December 1958. A search through available
photos has revealed that this photo is very likely the only surviving
picture of Johnny and the Moondogs. This was a proud moment for the
Moondogs and Lennon and while it is not proof that Lennon did not have a
guitar at the time of the reception, one could argue that had one been
available Lennon would have posed with it.
Johnny and the Moondogs - December 20, 1958
Question 4 Raised From Lewisohn Analysis
4) In Andy Babiuk's "Beatles Gear" book, Graham Nash
(later of The Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) recollects
performing at the Hippodrome on the same show as Johnny and the Moondogs.
Significantly, he mentions that Liverpool's Billy Fury (later to become a
major UK pop star) also performed.
"So we went to the venue in Manchester, and on that one show of completely
unknown talent were Allan and I, who later formed The Hollies, a guy named
Freddid Garrity, who was later Freddie of Freddie & The Dreamers, an early
English rocker called Billy Fury, and Johnny & The Moondogs, this
three-piece band from Liverpool who did a Buddy Holly song. I loved them
because they were doing Buddy Holly stuff - and we obviously loved Holly
because we soon after named our band after him. The Moondogs had a raw
edge. They looked as if they didn't give a shit about being there."
An interview with George Harrison in the New Musical Express on 16 August
1963 seems to confirm this. "I remember when Paul and I used to play
guitar, and John would just sing without any instrument. We were on a
Buddy Holly kick in those days, with numbers like "Think It Over" and
"It's So Easy". We certainly had some laughs. We did a Carroll Levis
Discoveries show in Manchester once, and Billy Fury was at the first
audition. He was Ronald Wycherly then, and he did "Margot" for his number.
I think we were Johnny and The Moondogs at that particular time. You were
judged by the audience applause, you know, but we had to catch a train
home before the end. We never did find out if we'd won ! But Billy passed
his audition, I remember that".
New Musical Express George Harrison Interview
Liverpool's Blue Angel Club - August 16, 1963
Part 5: The Billy Fury Discovery
Moondogs and Fury in 1958
A biography of Fury at
Billy Fury
confirms that Fury appeared on the Carroll Levis show at the Liverpool
Empire in late 1958, and from that probably went on to regional finals in
Manchester. As the Beatles shared venues with Fury in their early days,
this known relationship places Johnny and the Moondogs at the Levis Show
in the fall of 1958. At about the same time, he was "discovered" by Larry
Parnes and added to Larry's touring show. Shortly thereafter, he signed to
Decca Records and released the following four singles.
8 Jan 1959
Maybe Tomorrow/Gonna Type A Letter (No.18 in UK charts)
28 May 1959
Margo/Don't Knock Upon My Door (No.28 in UK charts)
16 Sep 1959
Angel Face/Time Has Come
10 Nov 1959
My Christmas Prayer/Last Kiss
The latter two didn't chart, but the first two had already established
Billy Fury as a teen idol in the UK. By 1959 he was headlining at the
Apollo and similar venues, and certainly had no need to appear in a local
talent contest.
Fury's major chart success came later, and he's best remembered for
"Half-way to Paradise" which endowed him with almost Elvis-like status in
the UK. He enters the Beatles story again in 1960 of course, when he and
Larry Parnes visited Liverpool to audition various local groups as a
backing band for Fury. The Beatles didn't get the gig but they did get to
tour Scotland backing Johnny Gentle, another of Parnes' stable. Then they
went to Hamburg, and the rest is history.......
Billy Fury on Decca Records
Part 6: Validating The Fury Connection
Manchester Evening News Archives
In an attempt to further validate the connection
between Billy Fury and the Moondogs, a visit to the Manchester Evening
News was in order. Comfortably stored away in the newspapers' archives was
a wealth of information about Manchester. After only a brief read, it
became apparent that the press had traditionally been at every show in
town on the first Monday night showing of each week. But for a budding
historian there is much more. The Manchester Evening News published a
brief review of each show in the Tuesday edition of the paper. There were
many shows in town, and most of them were the same show each night, so a
review of any one show would describe them all. Each Carroll Levis talent
show was different featuring different competitors, so we only get a
review of the particular show attended by the reviewer.
I could not copy the reviews, but there are some interesting similarities
between the MEN review of the Monday 24 November 1958 talent contest and
Graham Nash's comments in "Beatle Gear". Nash states that he and Allan
Clarke (as Ricky and Dane), Freddie Garritty (later Freddie of the
Dreamers), Billy Fury and Johnny and the Moondogs performed at the show.
The MEN states that "four out of the five acts were guitar-twanging,
amplifier-fiddling rock'n'rollers" - might this be more than just
coincidence ? The MEN review of the show on Monday 16 November 1959 refers
back the the previous year's review, and notes that "this year only a
solitary rock'n'roll act assaulted the ears". Not conclusive by any means,
but it does seem statistically more probable that Johnny and the Moondogs
were amongst the 1958 crop, and possible that they were seen by the MEN
reporter on Monday 24 November 1958. As they are known to have had to
leave early to catch the last train to Liverpool, unable to afford
overnight accomodation in Manchester, it may be that they appeared on the
later of the two shows that evening : the earlier one would have finished
in plenty of time for them to get a train home afterwards.
Part 7: The Conclusion
Arguments for the Moondogs' Appearance in 1958
Based on recent research, there are two main arguments
for the hypothesis that Johnny and the Moondogs appeared at the Carroll
Levis Show in 1958 rather than in 1959.
To begin, there is validation from the Manchester Evening News' Archives
that Billy Fury appeared with them at the Ardwick Hippodrome which can be
dated to 1958. Moreover, additional information reveals that John Lennon
was guitar-less in late 1958 but not in late 1959. Based on this
information it is concluded that Johnny and the Moondogs's appearance took
place at one of the twice-nightly shows running at the Hippodrome during
the week Monday 24 to Saturday 29 November 1958, rather than 1959 as has
previously been thought.
Supplementary evidence from the Manchester Evening News reviews supports
this, and there is a possibility that the likely date they appeared was on
the 8.40 pm show on Monday 24 November 1958 due to the similarity between
the MEN's review of that show and Graham Nash's contemporary account.
Additional research is need to confirm this view and this was ongoing at
the time this report was submitted. Readers are encourged to submit
additional information that has not been considered in this article.
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