John, Paul, George and Ronnie
As Wirral's part in Merseybeat takes centre stage, the search is onto find Ronnie the Teddy Boy who defied John Lennon. David Charters
reports.
HE HAD the pose of a hard man, drawn from movie rebels and practised
long in front of mirrors and shop windows, his comb always in the
back pocket of his tight jeans.
His hair was greased, his jacket black leather and from his eyes
there came a stare of rare arrogance, which pierced the smoke in the
hall.
But in truth the young man at the microphone with the guitar and the
swagger had won most of his fights with sudden spurts of venom from
his tongue.
This was different.
It would not be enough.
The wide-shouldered Teddy Boy, on the other hand, had won most of his
fights with his fists. It was no contest really and John Lennon,
(right), decided not to offer his fine, aquiline nose for a sudden
redesign.
It was a wise decision. But that's how it was in those days at the
Grosvenor Ballroom in Wallasey, one of the few early Beatles' venues
which hasn't changed or disappeared. The piano played by Paul
McCartney is still on the stage.
On June 11, 1960, the group was making its third appearance there.
But Tommy Moore, the drummer at the time, couldn't appear because his
girlfriend felt that he should have been pursuing a steadier line of
work.
In fact, there was no drummer at all.
So Lennon, ever the joker,
suggested that someone in the audience might like to have a go.
Up stepped Ronnie, king of the local Teds, in his beetle-crushers,
liquorice-stick trousers, mock-Edwardian jacket, string tie, and hair
styled into a DA over his velvet collar.
From the start it was obvious that Ronnie couldn't drum.
So, Lennon
ordered him to leave the stage. Lennon told him to leave the stage.
Lennon asked him to leave the stage.
Lennon pleaded with him to leave
the stage. But big Ronnie stayed.
Now he is being invited back to that stage and this time he will be
the star.
For three friends, who run the promotions firm, Operation Bigbeat,
are planning to celebrate 50 years of rock and roll with a series of
events and concerts.
Five of these will be at the Grosvenor, where the Beatles performed
14 times - three as the Silver Beetles, seven as the Silver Beatles
and four as the Beatles.
The first one is on Saturday August 20, to coincide with the Beatles
Convention in Liverpool.
After that there will be shows on the last
Saturdays of September, October and November with the final gathering
on December 18.
Operation Bigbeat is being run by businessmen Mark Burkett and Doug
Darroch, and Ray O'Brien, a former probation officer who has compiled
two books about the halls where the Beatles performed before they
were famous (There Are Places I Remember Volumes One and Two).
Their hope is that Ronnie will come to one, or all, the special
nights at the Grosvenor.
The Beatles' tribute band the Blue Meanies
and the Undertakers will be starring at the grand opener.
Allan Williams, the Beatles' manager who "gave his boys" to Brian
Epstein will be there as well with his rich fund of reminiscences.
Behind their thinking is a desire to see greater recognition for
Wirral's part in the development of Merseybeat, which remains at the
heart of the region's tourism industry, as Liverpool prepares to be
the 2008 European Capital of Culture.
The Tower Ballroom in New Brighton, which could hold some 5,000
people, provided the biggest audience to see the Beatles in mainland
Britain. Most big groups of the era appeared there. It burned down in
1969, never to be replaced.
But the Grosvenor is still there little changed from the building
where Les Dodd, a local promoter, started putting on dances in 1936.
As a traditionalist, he stalwartly resisted the new music with his
slogan, "No Rock and Roll, No Jiving and No Teenagers". But the tide
of change was irresistible and, in June 1960, he bowed to popular
opinion by billing the Silver Beetles.
At about the same time, Ronnie was strutting the parade.
"Tommy Moore was 36 at the time, much older then the other Beatles,"
says Ray. "His girlfriend was never happy about him being in the
band.
So the Beatles arrived that night without a drummer. John
Lennon in his usual way, half-joking, went on stage and said, 'we
haven't got a drummer. Can anyone play the drums?
'
"Ronnie got up and it turned out that he couldn't play at all.
Anyway, he was still there at the interval having done the whole
first set of five numbers. He wouldn't get off.
Well, you know for
all the talk of Lennon being a hard man, he was out of his depth with
this guy. He tried to talk him off and he wouldn't go. They were
going to Hamburg shortly after that and this guy was saying, 'I'll go
to Hamburg with you'.
"They had to frantically call Allan Williams, who was in Liverpool at
the time, to come over and talk Ronnie off the stage, which he did.
"A Teddy Boy in 1960 would probably have been about 20. That means
that he would only be 64 or so now.
It is quite possible that he is
still around somewhere.
"We would like to locate this guy and get him along for the opening
night," add Ray, 57, who was at Liverpool Institute where George
Harrison and Paul McCartney were older pupils.
The Grosvenor holds about 300 people and those who attend the £15
night are being invited to wear the dress of the time to create a
mood of nostalgia.
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