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Bill Harry Q and A
THESE QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN
ASKED BY MERSEYBEATLOVER TO
BILL HARRY... AND WHO HAS
BEEN GIVEN THE RIGHTS TO
PUBLISH THEM IN THESE PAGES.
THANK YOU BILL.
Some questions to Bill
Harry...more to
follow.........Questions
asked by merseybeatlover1
(Brian). Bill will answer
the questions below.
These are questions...that I
and many more would love to
know.......
(answers supplied by Bill
Harry) (c) Bill Harry
The Beach Boys were one of
the groups you were press
agent for. What were they
like?
They were very easy to get
on with and not as raucous
or as fond of the booze as
some of the British groups I
represented (can you imagine
what it was like having
afternoon drinking sessions
with Keith Moon!). I’d
initially met them when I
was writing for Record
Mirror and first interviewed
them at the Hilton Hotel in
Park Lane.
 A
lot of it involved social
interaction. We’d go
clubbing at the Revolution
with Al Jardine and Sandra,
a friend of ours who he went
out with (sadly, she died
last year), I interested
Carl in physic books and
took him to the psychic book
shops off Charing Cross
Road. I also took Carl on
visits to Apple. I
accompanied them on a camera
shoot at Strand on the
Green, outside the pub where
the Beatles had filmed Help!
I used to drink in De Hems
with Dennis Wilson and he
told me how excited he was
about this group of people
he’d become involved with,
who had a place in the
desert with lots of girls.
It turned out to be Manson
and his crowd. Sitting in
the Palladium during
rehearsals I interested Mike
Love in the book ‘The
Morning of the Magicians,’
he was intrigued about
Atlantis and mystical
things. Dick Duryea, film
actor Dan Duryea’s son was
their road manager and we
used to go to parties with
them. I represented them on
a couple of their British
visits.
What was Apple like?
I only saw Apple from a
social point of view and
initially visited their
original offices before
dropping in regularly when
they moved to Savile Row.
Derek Taylor used to invite
me along to listen to
previews of new albums. In
his office smelling of pot,
in which bottles of lager
were freely available, he
would be busily writing
memos, inviting me to create
memos (I didn’t write it,
but he made a memo,
allegedly from me, asking
would the Beatles appear at
the Cavern again). His memos
were bizarre, but
intriguing.
Another Apple friend was
Tony Bramwell, whose
autobiography is published
this year by St Martin’s
Press. At the Revolution one
night, Sandra, a friend of
ours, introduced us to
members of the Hell’s Angels
who had been invited over by
George Harrison. She’d told
them all about me and they
wanted me to handle their
publicity. I said I
couldn’t, but they insisted
– fortunately they forgot
about it and didn’t press
it. Then, at the Apple
party, the Hell’s Angels
were there. The main place
where the party was held was
crammed with people in the
fashionable psychedelic
styles and colours of
clothes of the time. A girl
was breast feeding her baby,
Caleb was crouched on the
floor reading tarot cards,
there were lots of kids
around, it seemed a bit of a
mayhem, so I drifted to the
floor above. In the main
room were two solitary
figures, sitting
cross-legged in the middle
of the floor: Mr & Mrs Santa
Claus - John and Yoko. John
introduced me to her and we
shook hands, but she wasn’t
very communicative.
As mentioned with Carl
Wilson, I often dropped
around with people to
introduce them. I took Mike
Moorcock, a former pen pal
of mine, who had become a
science-fiction author and
was currently publishing New
Worlds magazine. The Beatles
were impressed with the
magazine and donated £1,000
towards it.
Many people say the
Beatles first No.1 was
‘Please Please Me’ while
others dispute this. Why is
that?
The confusion has been
caused by the situation
which surrounded the
compiling of the charts in
those days. Various music
publications in London
published a weekly chart.
Each compiled them by
contacting various record
stores around the country.
As a result the entries
could prove confusing. The
Swinging Blue Jeans pointed
out the undesirability of
such charts and suggested
one main chart to be shared
by all. They said this after
the sales of the Rolling
Stones’ ‘Little Red Rooster’
were affected when it was
seen to rise in some charts
and fall in others.
The charts were compiled by
the New Musical Express,
Record Retailer, Record
Mirror and Disc. The most
influential chart at the
time was the New Musical
Express and ‘Please Please
Me’ topped the NME chart on
23 February 1963 and also on
2 March 1963. However, in
the Record Retailer chart it
only reached No. 2. Record
Retailer was the music
industry trade publication
and when chart books began
to appear, such as the
Guinness books of hits, they
used the Record Retailer
charts, which meant that
they didn’t acknowledge
‘Please Please Me’ as being
No.1. As Record Retailer
changed its name to Music
Week and remained the trade
paper for the industry,
their charts are the ones
usually regarded as the
official ones, which means
that Gerry & the Pacemakers
were the first Liverpool
group to top the British
charts and not the
Beatles…..on the other hand,
the NME was Britain’s
biggest musical paper, far
more influential than the
Record Retailer, so many
people consider the fact
that the Beatles topped the
NME chart and therefore they
became the first Liverpool
group to top the charts!
Take your pick!
Bill Harry and the
Beatles
Bill has given me this
picture of him with the
Beatles...(what a lucky
guy)
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Cilla
Black by Bill Harry
How Cilla got her name.
Cilla Black was a Liverpool girl who was starting on the
road to fame.
At the time of the launch of Mersey Beat, Virginia was the only official
full
time member of staff, although I also worked virtually full time as I
had been
awarded a Senior City Art Scholarship and had to study at various places
in
Liverpool, but concentrated mainly producing the Newspaper.
I remember going down to the State Ballroom one evening when I was
putting the first issue together and asking Cilla if she had the
fashion column she promised me. She was with her mate Pat Davies and
Cass & the Cassanovers were on stage.
When I got back to the office I began working on the copy of the first
issue and then began to type out a story on Cilla. When it came down to
putting down her
surname, my mind went blank. I knew it was a colour, but forgot which
one. I took out the piece of paper with Cilla's fashion column in it,
but she hadn't signed it. The column was all about colours in fashion
and went from white to black. Looking at it, I decided on the black. I
was wrong. Her name was Cilla White!
After Mersey Beat was published, Cilla came into the office and told me
I'd got her surname wrong-but she liked it so much she decided to call
herself Cilla Black from now on!
With kind permission of Bill Harry.
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Billy
Hatton,
an
original
member
of the
Fourmost
wrote
this
letter
to me:
“I am
writing
to you
to tell
you
about
the
hearing
that I
attended
in
London
on the
third of
December
2008
concerning
the
right to
use the
name the
Fourmost.
“Believe
it or
not, the
other
side
won! So,
the
people
who
bought
our
name,
our
heritage
and our
good
will now
have the
legal
right
to call
themselves
a name
that
they did
nothing
to
create.
There is
not a
single
member
in that
band who
was a
member
of the
Fourmost
in the
Sixties
and, by
the way,
this is
the
third
time
that our
name and
all that
goes
with it
has been
sold so
that
undeserving
people
can
make
money
out of
it.
“I was
told by
the
adjudicator
at the
hearing
that all
the work
that we
did in
the
Sixties
including
all the
TV
shows,
the
records,
the
tours,
the
season
at the
London
Palladium,
the live
radio
shows
etc were
irrelevant.
Can
you
believe
that? He
said
that all
that
mattered
was the
letter
of the
law as
it
applied
today
not
events
that
happened
in the
past.
So,
these
people
have the
legal
right
to use
our name
but do
they
have the
moral
right
to
do so? I
think
not!
“We
would be
obliged
if you
could
inform
the
devotees
of
Sixties
music
about
what we
believe
is a
travesty
of
justice.
“One
important
thing to
note is
that we
have
registered
the name
The
Original
Fourmost
and will
be
performing
under
that
banner
in the
future.
So, if
you want
to see
the real
and
genuine
members
of the
Sixties
band, go
to see
the
Original
Fourmost…the
name
says it
all. If
you want
to see
the band
whose
only
claim to
fame is
that
they
bought
the name
and were
the
third
set of
people
to do
so, go
see the
Fourmost.”
This
injustice
frankly
doesn’t
surprise
me with
a state
of
British
law
which
talks of
the
letter
of
the law
rather
than the
spirit
of the
law,
which
means
that
justice
takes
second
place to
loopholes.
However,
whoever
the
adjudicator
was, I
think he
got the
entire
thing
wrong.
You only
have to
see the
advertisements
specifically
billed
as
‘Sixties’
events
in which
the
group
who
weren’t
called
the
Fourmost
in the
sixties,
are
billed.
This is
clear
misrepresentation
and
‘passing
off’, as
to be
advertised
under
the
illusion
that
they
are20the
band
from the
Sixties
does
actually
contravene
the
‘passing
off’ law
as I see
it.
‘Passing
off’ is
a
common
law
tort
which
can be
used to
enforce
unregistered
trademark
rights.
The tort
of
passing
off
protects
the
goodwill
of a
trader
from a
misrepresentation
that
causes
damage
to
goodwill.
The law
of
passing
off is
designed
to
prevent
misrepresentation
in the
course
of trade
to the
public,
for
example,
that
there is
some
sort of
association
between
the
business
of
defendant
and that
of the
claimant.
Another
example
of
passing
off is
where
the
defendant
does
something
so that
the
public
is
misled
into
thinking
the
activity
is
associated
with the
claimant,
and as a
result
the
claimant
suffers
some
damage,
under
the law
of
passing
off it
may be
possible
for the
claimant
to
initiate
action
against
the
defendant.
There
are
three
elements,
often
referred
to as
the
Classic
Trinity,
in the
tort
which
must be
fulfilled.
(Laid
out by
Lord
Fraser
in Erwen
Warnick
B V v J
Townend
& Sons
(Hull)
Ltd
[1979]
AC 731,
742 (HL)
[Advocaat])
These
are:
1)
Goodwill
owned by
a trader
2)
Misrepresentation
3)
Damage
to
goodwill
All the
goodwill
established
by the
original
Fourmost
IS
relevant,
despite
what the
adjudicator
said.
The law
does
apply to
events
which
happened
in the
past
because
that is
when the
goodwill
of the
name was
established
– and
all laws
are
based on
what
happened
in the
past.
When he
says
that all
that
matters
is the
letter
of the
law, he
seems
unaware
that the
law of
‘passing
off’ is
a legal
law in
the
United
Kingdom.
For the
group to
call
themselves
the
Fourmost
when
they had
nothing
to do
with
establishing
the
name,
this is
misrepresentation
as the
paying
public
will
believe
that the
musicians
had some
association
with the
original
band.
The
goodwill
of
the
original
members
of the
Fourmost
is
clearly
established
in their
hits and
appearances
in the
Sixties
during
which
they
established
the name
and it
is that
goodwill
which
they
generated
which is
being
denied
to them
– which
shouldn’t
happen
under
the law
of
‘passing
off.’
There is
clear
misrepresentation
here as
the band
who had
no
association
with the
original
Fourmost
are
being
advertised
clearly
in
‘Sixties’
events,
giving
rise to
people
purchasing
tickets
to
believe
they are
to see
the
genuine
article.
There is
damage
to
goodwill
as the
members
who
originally
created
the
Fourmost
name and
reputation
are not
allowed
to take
advantage
of their
talent
and
hardwork
in
establishing
the name
in the
first
place
and they
are not
allowed
to
capitalise
on the
name
they
actually
created.
Finally,
when the
adjudicator
says
that all
“that
mattered
was the
letter
of the
law as
it
applied
today
not
events
that
happened
in the
past,”
doesn’t
he
realise
that
virtually
all the
law that
we d o
have
evolved
from
events
that
happened
in the
past –
including
the law
of
‘passing
off’,
which
has
clearly
been
contravened
in this
case.
Mersey Beat
-
Merseyside's
Own
Entertainment
Paper
The
Beatles, The
Liverpool
Sound, The
Swinging
Sixties...
It's
still
happening,
man:
http://www.mersey-beat.net
Imagine, and
it's true.™
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