The role The Little Theatre played in the Beatles conquering America
Written by Henry James
This year marked 60 years since the Beatles visited the Little Theatre in Southport to film footage for a documentary called The Mersey Sound, writes Henry James.
The film was put together by BBC TV producer Don Haworth and the aim was to explore and tell the story of the “Mersey Beat” boom.
The Beatles appeared at the Hoghton Street venue on the morning of Tuesday, August 27, 1963.
There was no audience in the auditorium as Haworth did not want the footage to be drowned out by the screaming fans of the Fab Four. Final footage was intercut with hysterical fans from the Beatles concert the previous night at the Odeon in Southport. The Odeon is now the site of Southport’s Sainsbury’s store on Lord Street.
At the Little Theatre, the Beatles performed Twist And Shout, and She Loves You. They wore their characteristic grey collarless suits.
The Fab Four changed into black collarless suits and a curtain was placed behind them – to make it look it was a different shoot. The Beatles then performed Love Me Do. The sound from the performance was replaced with the album recording for the documentary.
The film of the Beatles at The Little Theatre Southport, was shown in this country on the BBC on October 9, 1963, which was also the 23rd birthday of John Lennon.
Another transmission was made from the documentary, which Mark Lewisohn calls ”a very important one” in his 1992 book – The Complete Beatles.
In January 1964, the BBC’s New York office sold footage from the documentary showing the Beatles playing She Loves You at the Little Theatre to NBC, so they could use it in the Jack Parr Show. Apart from news coverage, this would be the group’s television debut in USA. A month later they made their famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show – a programme believed to have been watched by 73 million people and the group’s first live performance in America.
The footage on The Jack Parr Show aired on Friday, January 3 and Lewisohn believes, “Parr’s transmission did the Beatles good service in the United States, boosting interest considerably.”
Following the broadcast, The New York Times published an article stating: “It would not seem quite so likely that the accompanying fever known as Beatlemania will also be successfully exported.” How wrong they were!
