The All-Nighter Saturday March 11th 1961

[admin]

Jess, Clem and Geoff. I would be grateful if all of you could have a go at describing the events of Saturday March 11, 1961, the All-Nighter promoted by Sam Leach.

Your memories of the evening would be most valuable and allow us to record this historic event in detail. I appreciate that is was 45 years ago, but I am sure there are many memories of this event that are still fresh in your mind today.

It would be great to hear what you recall.

[13_temple_street]

The all-nighter promoted by The Iron Door and Sam Leach (Liverpool Jazz Society)on Saturday March 11th 1961 was an event that every one connected to the beat music scene had never seen the likes of beofre. People in Liverpool are still talking about the ALL-NIGHTERS at The Iron Door 45 years after the events.

At this stage of the story I should say that Sam Leach in my opinion was one of the best if not the best, Rock & Roll promoters in Liverpool. He was fearless and prepared to take risks for what he believed in. Sam worked tirelessly to promote The Beatles in the early days.

Sam's book, "The Rocking City" deals in some detail with the all-nighters at the Iron Door. He also has stories of The Beatles connection with the club including John Lennon's birthday party.

We started to organise the all-nighter about a week before the event. Sam organised the doorstaff(bouncers) the bands and the advertisements in The Daily Post & Liverpool Echo.

The Doorstaff, Twenty Two of some of Liverpools' hardest men were on duty on the night, working happily together. Some were real hard knocks, who you would not argue with. Others were hired because of there positive approach to customers, talking rather than physical.

Now for the Bands. It was payday twice for the bands because they could still do there regular bookings up to midnight, and then come along and play after midnight at the club.

Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes were always marked down to do the Seven-o-Clock spot on Sunday morning because they were popular with the crowd who would hang on all night in hopes of seeing their hereos. Teddy Taylor used to go home to bed and arrive fresh on Sunday morning to do his spot.

Ten bands were booked for the event. The first band on early on Saturday evening would leave the drums set up on the stage it used to be a nightmare getting the groups on and of the stage Five bouncers were employed all night for this purpose,another Four bouncers were employed to keep the passageways clear.
Eight people were employed to keep the toilets clean & fresh.Approx 2,000 people turned up for the show they would all have to use the toilets so you can imagine the queues, another two bouncers to control the crowd.

[13_temple_street]

continued from previous page:-
At 7 o clock in the evening I looked out of the door there was a Queue of about 100 people,it was starting to rain nearly always a bad sign of poor attendance,Sam had swamped the Liverpool Echo with adverts for the event,if the people didn't turn up it wouldn't be through the lack of advertising the first band had already set up on the stage,I looked out again at 7-30 to my amazement Temple Street was awash with bodies up and down the street was just one mass of people the bouncers were having a difficult time controlling the crowd,after the first 500 were admitted things became easier.
The coffee bar was always a popular place, on the night we had eight people on duty as this was one of the first big events, how many people to cater for was a big problem ,we overcame this by ordering 10 times our weekly provision's which included three wagon's of Pepsi Cola.
Once the event started one of the safest places was behind the counter of the coffee bar.
As you will have probable gathered through reading the Iron Door web site that the Iron Door was a 7 story warehouse we used 3 floors for club purposes,the stage was in the basement plus the Gents toilet,the ground floor was the seating area for the coffee bar & reception plus ladies toilet,there was a similar space on the first floor for the cloak room and for people to have a sleep,also this is where the St John's Ambulance Brigade used, for treating people overcome by the event.Once the basement & the ground floor had filled up it became very difficult to move freely around, it would take some one ages to get from the ground floor to listen to the bands in the basement,thats where the bouncers came in to assist them.We did not compromise on peoples safety,we employed sufficient staff to cope with most situations, and try and ensure the people went away happy.

[13_temple_street]

ALL'S QUIET AT THE IRON DOOR FOLLOWING THE ALL NIGHT SESSION MARCH 11TH 1961.

[admin]

Thanks Geoff. This was obviously a most exciting time. Outside of Sam Leach's book, it is a pity that more has not been said about this event.

[13_temple_street]

Bill Harry's piece on the Iron Door in The Beatles Encyclopedia:-A cellar quite close to the Cavern which began as a jazz club called the Liverpool Jazz Society.The Beatles made their debut there on a special session promoted by Sam Leach.The event took place on 11th March 1961.Sam had decided to feature twelve top local groups who would replace each other on the hour,on a massive twelve hour music marathon commencing at 8.00p,m.on Saturday and finishing at 8.00a,m.on Sunday.The bill comprised of the Beatles,Kingsize Taylor & the Dominoes,the Big Three,the Searchers,the Four Jays the Remo Four,Howie Casey & the Seniors,Ian and the Zodiacs,Faron & the Flamingoes and Karl Terry & the Cruisers.
There was that much condensation dripping down the walls that the Beatles had to stand on on their amplifier covers to avoid being electrocuted,because they had Americian equipment which was wired differently Paul said,The heat was shocking.(I would be interested what the Rickenbacker people who apparently are very technical'y minded have to say about the wiring etc).
I suppose not many people have written about the events at the Iron Door,because we at the club used to think that these events were the norm, therefore not worth talking much about.
This was not the first all-nighter held at the Iron Door at least three were held in 1960 featuring jazz bands when it was a registered club.
The crowds were nothing compared with the opening night of the Iron Door April 9th 1960,The Sunday Pictorial a National Sunday Newspaper described opening night at the Iron Door, Temple Street a seething mass of bodies,the club packed to capacity,the walls dripping water,on top of this the cloak room fixtures collapse under the sheer weight of clothing,people were coming up from the basement their clothing smeared with paint from leaning against the walls.(We painted the bricks in the basement individually all the primary colours plus black white & Grey the paint used was emulsion paint,this was not protected by varnish.We partly overcame this problem with special varnish and a large industrial extractor fan cut into the basement door.Bill Harry carries on:-Although the club only held 1,000 people,over 2,000 people eventually saw the show.Queues continued until after midnight when the younger members of the audience left to catch their last bus home.Admission price 6/6d for members 7/6 for non members.

[13_temple_street]

ALL-NIGHT SESSION Sat 28th May 1960

[admin]

Thanks again Geoff. The history of the Iron Door Club continues.

[admin]

I am hoping that Clem and Jess will comment. Do either of you remember this historic night?

[admin]

From Jess regarding March 11, 1961 at the Iron Door Club.

Memories Of The All Nighter at The Iron Door

"As I remember the night started well, with crowds of people queueing outside the door and down the street, all in very noisy anticipation of the night ahead as we all were.

We opened the door about an hour later with the club almost full. I went outside to see how much of the crowd were left and there seemed to be more people queueing than when I had first looked - Panic to say the least. I couldn't believe what I was seeing!!!!

The cloakroom was almost full by about 10:30 pm and the club was almost full. We decided to keep letting people in until 11:00 pm and then closed, only letting people in as people left. Luckily many left by about 11:30 pm to catch the last bus home. The crowd had lessened, but not by much though.

We managed to cater for them but the inside of the club was like a Turkish Bath, very hot and sweaty. They didn't seem to mind, with the expection of management and staff!!!

I remember the cloakroom was so full, that we had no room to hang coats and so we started to stack them on the floor. Thankfully we had enough cloakroom tickets for everyone.

Downstairs there were 'bodies' everywhere. They were on the floor, sitting, standing up against the wall, and some had even brought blankets and sleeping bags to sleep or just have a short nap, not wanting to miss any of this night. It was just amazing, it really was.

After a short 'nap' they were up and dancing again, while others took their places to have a nap themselves.

I remember being told, about 3:00 am, that the 'ladies' loo was blocked. Imagine the smell!!!!! I had to get a bin bag or whatever and use my hand to unplug the loo as we didn't have a plunger, 'YUK, YUK' I remember it well.

We also ran out of bacon, sausage and all sandwiches. Soon after all the crisps and nuts ran out and all we had was plenty of orange juice. This was in a large container that revolved around and was ice cold. I'm surprised it didn't burn out after 24hrs constant use!!!!

Fortunately not far from the club was a 24hr cafe, called The Whole In The Wall. After 1:00 am the streets had cleared and we then opened the front door and I remember the early fresh air. It felt so good.

As we had nearly sold out of all our refreshments, we allowed the clubbers to leave the club as they could use the cafe (the hole in the wall) and to enable them to get back in the club we stamped the back of there hands with an indelible marker. We did have a few 'scuffles' but the bouncers handled them and no police were involved.

In all, the night was a great success except for the poor cleaners the next day. Just to add, all the groups on stage, albeit a few mins, were a friendly crowd and they would use each others drum kits @ organs. This saved a lot of time during the changeover. Also Clem Dalton was the DJ and excellent compere, he played 'sounds' during the changeover to keep music going and introduce the next act. Good Night had by all."
Regards Brian aka Jess

[admin]

Thanks Jess, it would be very hard to forget such a night. Your patience in writing this detailed piece and your kindness in contributing here is again appreciated. When you get a breather, perhaps a few thoughts will come to mind about the groups' performances. You and Geoff have given us much to think about in this topic.

[13_temple_street]

Excellent Jess, I enjoyed reading your memories of the night it brought back a lot of things I had forgotten.
In an interview with one of the drummers in one of the groups who were playing on the night, he describes the scene upstairs on the first floor he went up to get some sleep, he said there were people asleep all over the floor,he fell over one person and woke him up it was John Lennon who apparently said to him "It's cold up here isn't it"
There was also another person present that night MAUREEN a 25 year old woman from Grassendlale.
Peter, has a vivid description of the events, that overtook this woman at the all night session on the Iron Door web site,(perhaps Peter you could relate the story for us again)
A memory of Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes in full flow never leaves me.

[admin]

Sometimes things life events get "warped" beyond belief. The following is one such example and as it relates to the Iron Door Club.