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Home , Andy White (drummer), Bruce Spizer, Ewart Abner, Record World, Thank You Girl, The Beatles (No. 1)

i SECTION ONE—SINGLES OF SIGNIFICANCE Please, Please Me b/w b/w Please, Please Me b/w From Me To You b/w There’s A Place Do You Want To Know A Secret? b/w Thank You Girl b/w P.S. I Love You on Oldies 45 Foreign Singles and other 7” Wonders of the World Fine Fakes of Significant Interest

SECTION TWO— FINE ALBUMS OF SIGNIFICANT INTEREST Introducing The Beatles (Version One) Introducing The Beatles (Version Two) Jolly What! The Beatles & on Stage Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles The Beatles vs The Four Seasons

The Beatles & Frank Ifield on Stage ii Hear The Beatles Tell All The 15 Greatest Songs of The Beatles Counterfeits of Significance iii How To Use This Interactive Ebook

Apps: GoodReader is the only tablet app we’ve found so far that will allow you to use all the interactive features like the button, search, an- notate, markup and bookmarks. It has a ton of features, including syncing to drop- box. It currently costs $4.99, and it is well worth it. We have found that most other PDF readers do not handle some of the interactive features. Hopefully, as apps are Table of Contents Table updated, you will find others that work as well (let us know if you find one). Each eReader software has different ways of navigating, zooming and viewing, so please refer to your app instructions for more information. This book is designed to be read in portrait mode. You can read it in landscape mode, but you may have to scroll down on each page first. We optimized it for the iPad, but it should work on any tablet that can read PDF files, and of course on the PC or Mac in Acrobat Reader. To mark up your copy (make notes, check off items in your collection, etc.),

Checklist just install a PDF app that allows annotation (GoodReader is the best we have found). Use the quick link buttons on the side of each page to jump to the table of contents, checklist in the back and Bruce’s site. You will also find cross ref- erences throughout the book to jump to referred to images and text. After you have viewed the jumped-to image, you can hit the GET BACK button to “get back” to where you were reading. Please note that not all apps support this function. On the PC, in Acrobat, you can also use Alt-left cursor to return to original reference. The best way to jump to any section is from the “Table of Contents” which has hot links to every chapter.

www.beatle.net Join Bruce’s email list  Click here to sign up for this entertaining and informative weekly email.

You’ll get • the latest on his books (including digital book updates) • special sales • Bruce’s upcoming appearances • exclusive Beatles articles • Beatles trivia • and lots of other Beatles stuff

GET BACK GET from one of the most respected and knowledgeable Beatles historians. i About the Revised Edition

Ever since The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay sold out and began going for a few hundred dollars or more in the secondary market, people began asking me when I was either reprinting or publishing a revised edition of the book. And while I knew there was demand for the Vee-Jay book, I was concerned over the economics of reprinting.

Table of Contents Table The Vee-Jay book was published over 15 years ago in . Reprinting the book would not be a simple case of calling the printer and having him use the existing digital files to roll the presses. The original printing plates used for the Vee- Jay book were destroyed in the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina, and even had they survived, technology has changed so much over the past 15 years that they would have been useless. Thus, I would have been required to go through the entire pre-press process, effectively driving up the cost of a reprint to the full cost of a new book. With high production costs due to the use of color throughout the book, the cost per book on a small run would have been high, forcing a retail price of about Checklist $100 to make the reprint profitable. And while the cost per book would have gone down with a larger press run, I did not make sense to pay more overall printing costs and run the risk of being stuck with a large inventory of books that could take ten or more years to sell. Fortunately, some of the younger customers of my books began asking me if I had considered doing the Vee-Jay book as a digital eBook. At first, I was troubled by the idea. There is something wonderful about holding a beautiful book in your hands. Surely I would miss the feel of the pages and the experience of turning the pages. And as a collector, I love having my bookshelves filled with books. An eBook would not be on my shelf or proudly displayed on my coffee table. It would be stored in an iPad just like music was stored in my iPhone. And that last thought made me

www.beatle.net realize that there was a place in the world for digital books. I love collecting, owning and playing vinyl records. I love the look and feel of a 12-inch album cover. I love removing the vinyl from its jacket and placing it on my turntable. But if I am on an airplane or in a hotel room, I love that I can still hear music by playing my iPhone. Just as there is a place in my world for vinyl records, CDs and digital music files, there is room in my world for hardcover books, paperback books and, dare I say it, digital eBooks. And so the decision was made to publish the Vee-Jay book as an eBook. Not only would a digital book solve my production cost and inventory problems, but it would also fulfill a need for those who could not afford GET BACK GET ii the original hardcover book and for those who wanted the convenience of taking my books with them. (People always complain about how heavy my books are!) Once the decision was made to do an eBook, I realized that I could not merely put out the 1998 book as it was originally published. Oh sure, the book got great re- views when it first came out and demand for the Vee-Jay book had not diminished. But I learned a lot of cool stuff in the past 15 years and realized I needed to do a re- vised edition so that I could incorporate new information and images. This would Table of Contents Table also give me the opportunity to do some things differently and correct a few errors along the way. As I got into the project, I began to realize all the cool things that you can do with an eBook. One of the problems with the Vee-Jay book was that although it contained great stories, the reader could get bogged down with the pages containing minute details about the record labels and trail off areas. To solve this problem, I re-edited the book by placing all such information at the end of each chapter, giving the reader the opportunity to skip the label details without missing any of the stories. And to

Checklist make it easier for someone to fly past the dull but necessary information tailored for collectors, each chapter contains a green line at the point where the stories end and the details begin. You can merely tap on the highlighted page number and skip forward to the next chapter, bypassing the highly detailed information. (And while this certainly improves the overall reading experience, sometimes you may want to go through the final pages of each chapter just to look at all the beautiful labels.) The digital book also gives the reader the ability to navigate pages by touching the screen. This is particularly helpful to “turn to” a page referenced in the text. By merely touching the page reference, the desired page appears on the screen. And after checking out the new page, you can touch the GET BACK key to take you back to where you once belonged (or at least back to where you were reading). The digital book also gives you the ability to enlarge images. This is particularly www.beatle.net helpful when you want to read text in advertisements and on record labels. It’s a re- ally cool feature that can’t be done in a regular book. Other eBook features include the ability to read in little or no lighting and ac- cess to the interest. The book contains a few links that will take you to information that will be updated when warranted. Now that I have undertaken my first eBook, I gotta admit I am quite excited about it. I hope you enjoy the eBook as much as I have putting it together. GET BACK GET iii The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay

Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay

Compiled by Bruce Spizer

Foreword by Perry Cox Table of Contents Table Checklist

Copyright ©1998 and 2013 by 498 Productions, L.L.C.

498 Productions, L.L.C. 1010 Common Street, Suite 1964 New Orleans, Louisiana 70112 Fax: 504-524-2887 email: [email protected]

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without written permission of the copyright owner, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Making copies of any part of this book for any purpose other than your own www.beatle.net personal use is a violation of copyright laws.

This book is sold as is, without warranty of any kind, either express or implied. While every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and 498 Productions, L.L.C. assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

The Billboard chart data used in this book is ©1930-1995 by BPI Communications, SoundScan, Inc. and Broadcast Data Systems.

Print edition Library of Congress Catalog Number: 98-72110. ISBN 0-9662649-0-8 GET BACK GET v CONTENTS

SECTION 0

Table of Contents Table WORDS OF SIGNIFICANCE

How To Use This Interactive Digital Book

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introducing...The Beatles Book Checklist About The Author

Discoveries Of Significant Information

Discoveries Of Errors And Omissions

Numbers Of Significance

QUICK JUMP TO www.beatle.net TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR

Section 1 - Singles of Significance

Section 2 - Fine Albums of Significant Interest

Section 3 - Stories of Significant Interest

Section 4 - Other Significant Information GET BACK GET vi SECTION 1 SINGLES OF SIGNIFICANCE Table of Contents Table

VEE-JAY 498 VEE-JAY 522 VEE-JAY 581 B/W FROM ME TO YOU B/W PLEASE PLEASE ME B/W ASK ME WHY THANK YOU GIRL FROM ME TO YOU Checklist

TOLLIE 9001 VEE-JAY 587 VEE-JAY VJEP 1-903 TWIST AND SHOUT B/W DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SOUVENIR OF THEIR VISIT THERE’S A PLACE SECRET B/W THANK YOU GIRL TO AMERICA www.beatle.net

VEE-JAY SPEC. DJ NO. 8 TOLLIE 9008 THE BEATLES ON OLDIES 45 B/W ASK ME WHY LOVE ME DO B/W P.S. I LOVE YOU GET BACK GET vii SECTION 1 SINGLES OF SIGNIFICANCE CONTINUED Table of Contents Table

TEEN FUN CARDS THE BEATLES CHRISTMAS FOREIGN SINGLES PICTURE SLEEVE Checklist

BINGO BY METAL PARTS HOW RECORDS THE BABY BUGS OF SIGNIFICANCE ARE MADE www.beatle.net

THE TOLLIE FINE FAKES OF VEE-JAY RECORD SLEEVES SINGLES STORY SIGNIFICANT INTEREST & MAILERS GET BACK GET viii SECTION 2 FINE ALBUMS OF SIGNIFICANT INTEREST Table of Contents Table

EE-JAY VJLP 1062 VEE-JAY VJLP 1062 VEE-JAY VJLP 1085 INTRODUCING THE BEATLES INTRODUCING THE BEATLES JOLLY WHAT! THE BEATLES & (VERSION ONE) (VERSION TWO) FRANK IFIELD ON STAGE Checklist

VEE-JAY VJLP 1092 VEE-JAY DX-30 VEE-JAY VJLP 1085 SONGS, PICTURES AND STORIES THE BEATLES VS. THE BEATLES & FRANK IFIELD OF THE FABULOUS BEATLES THE FOUR SEASONS ON STAGE (PORTRAIT COVER) www.beatle.net

VEE-JAY PRO 202 VEE-JAY VJLP 1101 COUNTERFEITS OF HEAR THE THE 15 GREATEST SONGS SIGNIFICANCE BEATLES TELL ALL OF THE BEATLES

Inner Sleeve Dust Covers GET BACK GET ix SECTION 3 STORIES OF SIGNIFICANT INTEREST

A Brief History of Vee-Jay Records

A Very Brief History of Table of Contents Table How The Beatles Ended Up On Vee-Jay, Swan and Capitol

ALAN LIVINGSTON From Bozo To The Beatles

Lawsuits of Significance

Gold Record Awards Checklist Significant Promotions From Vee-Jay

Beatles With An A (And One T)

SECTION 4 OTHER SIGNIFICANT INFORMATION

Fine Factories Of Significant Interest

Other Fine Books Of Significant Interest www.beatle.net Checklist of Beatles Records on Vee-Jay

7" 45 RPM Records And Picture Sleeves

Checklist of Beatles Records on Vee-Jay

12" Longplaying Albums

Fine Vendors of Significance GET BACK GET x About The Author

Bruce Spizer is a lifelong native of New Orleans, Louisiana, who was nine years old when the Beatles invaded America. He began listening to the radio at

Table of Contents Table age two and was a die-hard fan of WTIX, a top forty station that played a blend of New Orleans R&B music and top pop and rock hits. His first two albums were The Coasters’ Greatest Hits, which he permanently “borrowed” from his older sisters, and Meet The Beatles!, which he still occasionally plays on his vintage 1964 Beatles record player. During his high school and college days, Bruce played guitar in various bands that primarily covered hits of the sixties, including several Beatles songs. He wrote numerous album and concert reviews for his high school and college newspapers, Checklist including a review of that didn’t claim Paul was dead. He received his B.A., M.B.A. and law degree from . His legal and accounting back- ground proved valuable in researching and writing this book. Bruce is considered one of the world’s leading experts on the Beatles. A “tax- man” by by day, Bruce is a Board Certified Tax Attorney with his own practice. A “” by night, Bruce is the author of eight critically acclaaimed books on the Beatles, including The Beatles Are Coming! The Birth of in America, a series of six books on the group’s American record releases and his latest book, on Records, which covers all of the Beatles records issued in the U.K. from 1962 - 1970. His articles have appeared in Beatlefan, Goldmine and American History magazines. He was selected to write the questions for the special

www.beatle.net Beatles edition of Trivial Pursuit. He maintains the popular website www.beatle.net. Bruce has been a guest at numerous Beatles conventions in the U.S. and U.K. and at the American Film Institute, New York’s Lincoln Center and the Rock ’N’ Roll Hall of Fame & Museum in Cleveland. He has appeared on Fox National News, CNN, ABC’s Good Morning America and Nightline, CBS’s and morning shows in New York, , , New Orleans and other cities and is a fre- quent guest on radio shows, including NPR and Beatle Brunch. Bruce has served as a consultant to EMI and Capitol Records on Beatles proj- ects. He has an extensive Beatles collection, concentrating primarily on American, Canadian and British first issue records, promotional items and concert posters. GET BACK GET xx 1 Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 2 Table of Contents Table Checklist

VEE-JAY 498

www.beatle.net PLEASE PLEASE ME b/w ASK ME WHY

The first record issued name in America was VJ 498, which featured Please Please Me and Ask Me Why. These were the same two songs appear- ing on the group’s second U.K. single, which was released as Parlophone 45-R 4983 on January 11, 1963. Vee-Jay released its Beatles single four weeks later on February 7, 1963, exactly one year prior to the group’s triumphant arrival in America. Both songs were written by and Paul McCartney. As detailed beginning on page 319, the Beatles ended up on Vee-Jay, a Chica- go-based independent label that specialized in R&B and gospel recordings, because Capitol Records failed to exercise its right of first refusal as EMI’s American subsid- GET BACK GET iary to issue the single. (Capitol had also declined to release the Beatles first single, Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 3 Table of Contents Table

Producer with the Beatles at in Robert Freeman

Checklist photographs that appeared on the cover of the George Martin album Off the Beatle Track, United Artists UAL 3377. Love Me Do b/w P.S. I Love You.) On January 10, 1963, Vee-Jay Records entered into a five-year licensing agreement with Transglobal Music Co., Inc. (an American corporation controlled by EMI) to issue the songs Please Please Me and Ask Me Why in America. A rider to the agreement also gave Vee-Jay a right of first refusal for all Beatles recordings owned by EMI for the length of the five-year contract. The deal was brokered by Paul Marshall, a New York attorney who represented both Vee-Jay and Transglobal. Marshall offered Vee-Jay the single after several major companies, including Atlantic Records, had passed on the disc. His decision to offer the deal to Vee-Jay was based on his friendship with and respect for Vee-Jay presi- dent , as well as the label’s recent success with a Frank Ifield single. After www.beatle.net Capitol had declined to issue Ifield’s I Remember You, Vee-Jay released the single, which became a number five hit. In addition, Vee-Jay was doing well with another group of four white male singers, the Four Seasons, who quickly scored two number one hits with Sherry and Big Girls Don’t Cry during the last few months of 1962. On January 21, 1963, Vee-Jay sent a telegram to its attorney requesting the American publishing information for the Beatles record. The text ended with the word “Urgent!” On February 1, 1963, Vee-Jay sent a telegram to Concertone Songs notifying the publisher of the songs that “Please Please Me by the Beattles will be released February seven.” The misspelling of the group’s name with two “T”s was

GET BACK GET carried forward to ads placed by Vee-Jay in music trade magazines and on the labels to the first pressings of the Please Please Me single. (See telegrams on next page.) Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 4 Table of Contents Table Checklist www.beatle.net GET BACK GET Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 5

Shortly after the record’s official release date, Chicago ra- dio station WLS broadcast Please Please Me. WLS disc jockey Dick Biondi, who frequently got to-

Table of Contents Table gether with Vee-Jay president Ewart Abner, recalls receiving a copy of the single in early Febru- ary. Abner endorsed the 45 with his usual “I feel this could be a big record,” and Biondi liked what he heard. Biondi believes he may have debuted the single as early as Friday, February 8, 1963, Checklist during his 9:00 p.m. to midnight shift. During the next few weeks, the single began receiving mod- erate airplay at the station. WLS Silver Dollar Surveys from March 1963 support much of Biondi’s recollections. The station’s March 8 survey indi- cates that Please Please Me by “Beattles” had been played for 3 weeks and lists the song at num-

www.beatle.net ber 40. The survey from March 15 (shown right) features a pic- ture of Biondi at the bottom and shows the single at its peak and final position of number 35. Although Please Please Me failed to make the national charts published by Billboard, Cash Box and Music Vendor (later renamed Record World), the song did chart in a few local markets other than Vee-

GET BACK GET Jay’s Chicago home during April and May of 1963. Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 6 Table of Contents Table Checklist

Vee-Jay wasn’t quite sure what it had with the Beatles. Was the group pop, R&B or country & western? In this March 2, 1963, Cash Box ad, Vee-Jay covers all the bases, claiming that Please Please Me by the “Beattles” was “Going Great R&B, C&W & Pop!” A more honest ad would have said www.beatle.net the record was “Going Nowhere!”

Ain’t that a shame that Vee-Jay couldn’t even spell the group’s name correctly in this Billboard ad in the April 27, 1963, issue. Shame, shame, shame. GET BACK GET Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 7

KFXM, which boasted it was number one in Riverside and San Bernardino, , first charted Please Please Me at number 41 in its Fabulous 59 survey of April 6, 1963. The song fell off the charts for two weeks before reappearing at number 40 on April 27. The single remained at 40 the following week and then peaked at 38 on May 11, its final of four weeks on the charts.

Table of Contents Table San Francisco’s KEWB charted Please Please Me for three weeks, with its debut at number 37 on April 20, 1963. The single peaked the following week at number 34 before falling to number 40 on May 4. Other stations also briefly charted Please Please Me in the spring of 1963. Miami’s WQAM reported the song for two weeks at number 47 in its Fabulous 56 surveys of April 27 and May 4. KNUZ in Houston listed the song at number 34 on its May 3 survey. This limited airplay in a handful of markets prevented the record from being a total stiff. Vee-Jay sold approximately 5,650 copies of the single during the first half Checklist of 1963. By mid-year the record had run its course as evidenced by Vee-Jay’s claim that only two copies were sold in the last six months of 1963. A limited pressing of the single in 1964 added sales of approximately 1,650 units, raising total sales to 7,310 copies. In the U.K., Please Please Me became the Beatles first number one single on most of the charts. Although Record Retailer re- ported the song at number two behind Frank Ifield’s third consecutive chart-topper,The Wayward Wind, it hit the coveted number one spot in the BBC chart, Melody Maker,

www.beatle.net New Musical Express (“NME”)and Disc. On April 13, 1963, Please Please Me was awarded a silver disc by Disc magazine sig- nifying sales of 250,000 units. By the end of 1963, the single had sold 310,000 copies. John was inspired to write Please Please Me by his memories of his mother Julia singing the Bing Crosby hit Please, which topped the U.S. charts for six weeks in 1932. John was impressed with the word-play in the song’s lyrics, particularly the line, “Please lend your ears to my pleas.” He took it one step further with the line “please please me,” which first uses the word “please” as a request and then as a verb

GET BACK GET meaning “to pleasure.” John envisioned the song as a slow ballad in the style of Roy Orbison. Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 8

The Beatles rehearsed and auditioned Please Please Me for George Martin at EMI’s Abbey Road studios on the afternoon of September 4, 1962, prior to the group’s first proper recording session. The song sounded drastically different from what would become their first big hit. According to Martin,Please Please Me was “a dreary song” which “was like a Roy Orbison number, very slow, bluesy vocals.” He

Table of Contents Table suggested that the group rearrange the song by speeding up the tempo and working out tight vocal harmonies. The group returned to Abbey Road on September 11. After recording P.S. I Love You and a remake of Love Me Do with Andy White on drums, there was time avail- able to begin work on a third song. Following Martin’s advice from the week before, the band, with Andy White still on drums, performed Please Please Me at a quicker pace, but failed to nail it down. This early version of the song, which made its debut in 1995 on Anthology 1, is interesting, but suffers in comparison to the remake the group would later record. Conspicuously absent from this version is John’s har- Checklist monica. In addition, John and Paul’s harmonies are not as effective. Paul described the initial recording of the song in the February 23, 1963, Melody Maker. “After we had recorded Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You, we played Please Please Me over to recording manager George Martin. It was a bit fussy and he told us to smooth it out a bit. Simplify it. We did — and the results speak for itself.” John told a similar story in the March 8, 1963, NME. “Our recording manager, George Martin, thought our arrangement was fussy, so we tried to make it simpler. We were getting very tired, though, and we just couldn’t seem to get it right. We’re conscientious about our work and we don’t like to rush things. In the following weeks we went over it again and again. We changed the tempo a little. We altered the words slightly. And we went over the idea of featuring the harmonica, just as we’d done on

www.beatle.net Love Me Do. By the time the session came around we were so happy with the result, we couldn’t get it recorded fast enough.” The Beatles got their chance to record the song on November 26, 1962. Unlike the prior September sessions for their first single, the group was recorded on twin- track tape instead of mono (one track tape). Rather than first obtaining an accept- able instrumental backing for overdubbing of vocals, the group did the songs live, simultaneously playing their instruments and singing as the tape rolled. All of the instruments were recorded on one track and the vocals on the other. This enabled George Martin and the engineers to achieve a proper balance of the vocals and instru- mental backing. This technique would be used up until the recording of the group’s

GET BACK GET fifth single, , in October 1963. Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 9

After an hour-long rehearsal, the Beatles began work on a remake of Please Please Me. This time the group perfected the song. It was completed in 18 takes, including harmonica overdubs by John. Four days later, George Martin edited the finished master from an unknown number of takes, correcting a vocal flub in the third verse. The song was then mixed for mono.

Table of Contents Table Please Please Me is an exciting rocker propelled by superb drumming from Ringo. John and Paul share lead vocals backed by George on the chorus and bridge. Unlike the first single, this time both John and George play electric guitars, with John on his Rickenbacker Capri and George on his Gretsch Duo-Jet. Paul plays his Hofner bass. After this recording, Martin knew there would be no need for a session drummer for the band. Speaking from the control room of Studio Two, Martin con- fidently told the group, “Boys, I’ve just heard your first number one record. Come up and have a listen.” After hearing the playback and breaking for tea, the band returned to Studio Checklist Two to record Ask Me Why. The Beatles had recorded the song at their first visit to Abbey Road on June 6, 1962, although tape of that performance no longer exists. Ask Me Why was part of the group’s stage show at that time, evidenced by their record- ing of the song before a live audience at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester on June 11, 1962. This performance was broadcast four days later on the BBC program Here We Go. The arrangement is very similar to that of the later recorded single, but features on drums since it was performed prior to his being replaced by Ringo. The group also ran through the song during their September 4, 1962, pre- recording rehearsal at Abbey Road. The group’s familiarity with Ask Me Why facilitated its quick recording, with the sixth and final take being the master. John sings the lead vocal, backed by Paul

www.beatle.net and George. The song features John on Rickenbacker Capri, George on Gretsch Duo- Jet, Paul on Hofner bass and Ringo on drums, providing a Latin beat. The song was mixed for mono on November 30. The Beatles promoted both sides of the single in concert and on various televi- sion and radio programs. Please Please Me was performed a dozen times for BBC radio. The first was taped before a live audience at the Playhouse Theatre in Man- chester on January 16, 1963, and was broadcast on Here We Go eight days later. During their first visit to the United States, the group performed the song at their February 11, 1964, Washington Coliseum concert, which was filmed for release to theaters. The live version of Please Please Me on part three of The Beatles Anthol-

GET BACK GET ogy video is from this concert. The Beatles also taped a performance of the song on Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 10

the afternoon of February 9, 1964, for broadcast on February 23 on The Ed Sullivan Show. This performance is included on The First U.S. Visit video. After the single’s release, the Beatles performed Ask Me Why three times for BBC radio. A live version of the song is included on some versions of the Live At The Star-Club album, which was recorded at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, in

Table of Contents Table late December of 1962. Due to its relatively low sales figures and the historical importance of being the first Beatles record released in America, VJ 498 is highly sought after by collectors, who face with an interesting array of multiple pressing variations. There are six label variations to the stock (retail) copies of VJ 498. In addition, there is a promotional copy and oddball stock copies that pair different label types for the A-side and the B-side. Although some of the variations are relatively minor, all variations have been given separate numeric listings as collectors have placed significance on each different pressing. The Disc Jockey Advance Sample copy of the Checklist record and three distinct variations of the stock copy have the word “BEATTLES” misspelled on the label (shown on page 17). In contrast with the Parlophone single, which credits the songs to “McCartney-Lennon,” the Vee-Jay disc lists the as “J. Lennon-P. McCartney.” Prior to the publication of the first edition of this book in 1998, most Beatles historians and record collectors believed that the stock copy variation of VJ 498 with the “BEATTLES” misspelling and thin print was the first issue of the record because its label had the same typesetting as the promotional copy. A careful inspection of the trail off areas of the records and the documents filed in Vee-Jay’s New York lawsuit against Capitol proved that this theory was wrong. To fully understand VJ 498, one must examine both court records and vinyl records.

www.beatle.net Shortly after entering into its January 10, 1963, licensing agreement with Trans- global for the American rights to Please Please Me and Ask Me Why, Vee-Jay received a tape from EMI containing the two songs. When Vee-Jay co-founder entered the songs into the company’s Master Book, she misspelled the group’s name as The Beattles. (Interestingly, this historic Beatles entry was made in a darker ink, causing it to stand out prominently, while the entries for other artists faded away.) GET BACK GET Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 11

The tape was then sent to Universal Recording Corpora- tion in Chicago for mastering, a process that involves the cutting of lacquer discs. The recording

Table of Contents Table engineer who cut the lacquers hand-etched his initials “RA” into the trail off area of the discs, along with each song’s master number. Please Please Me was assigned number 63-2967 and Ask Me Why was assigned num- ber 63-2968. On January 18, 1963, Uni- Checklist versal sent the lacquers to Au- dio Matrix, Inc. in the Bronx, New York, to prepare the metal parts needed to manufacture the records. (Packing Slip shown right.) As discussed in greater detail on page 141, these met- al parts included the masters, mothers and stampers used to press the records. The masters and mothers were prepared by Audio Matrix and the stampers were generated from mothers by either Audio Matrix or the pressing plant.

www.beatle.net Metal parts produced by Audio Matrix have the company’s logo machine stamped into their trail off areas, which transfers to the finished record. The sharpness of the logo varies among individual records. This is due to the image on the stamper wear- ing down from excessive use. On some discs the words “Audio Matrix” are clearly visible, while on others all that remains is what appears to be a series of dots. Fortunately for Beatles historians, a handful of Audio Matrix invoices were filed into the record of the New York court proceedings. Three separate Audio Matrix invoices dated January 29, 1963, indicate that the company prepared 45 RPM metal parts for master numbers 63-2967 and 63-2968 (Please Please Me and Ask Me Why) for Vee-Jay and shipped these parts to three different factories: “Am Record Press,”

GET BACK GET “Monarch” and “Southern Plastics.” Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 12 Table of Contents Table

In the early 1960s, Vee-Jay records were pressed with black label backdrops featuring

Checklist an outer rim colorband and oval logo. In January 1964, Vee-Jay began using new label backdrops showcasing the company’s new brackets logo. Label backdrops, like the ones above, were sent to regional factories, where the song information was overprinted onto the label in silver print. As typesetting varied among the different printers used by the pressing plants, each release had multiple typesetting variations.

Vee-Jay, like most small, independent labels, did not press its own records. Instead, the company had the metal parts sent to regional factories for manufacture. Records were then sent directly from these pressing plants to distributors, who in turn sent records to retailers and other distributors. In 1963, three of the primary pressing plants used by Vee-Jay were The American Record Pressing Co. in Owosso, Michigan, Monarch Record Manufacturing Co. in Los Angeles, California and South- ern Plastics in Nashville, Tennessee. www.beatle.net

The rest of this chapter describes and shows images of all of the label variations of this record. Those not interested in such details may wish to quickly forward through these pages or skip to the chapter on the next Vee-Jay release beginning on page 20. GET BACK GET Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 13

Records pressed by The American Record Pressing Co. (“ARP”) in 1963 and 1964 have a raised relief script “ARP” machine stamped logo in the trail off areas. They also have thin print throughout the label. All Vee-Jay records manufactured at this factory in 1963 have the song title and artist’s name in capital letters below the center hole and all other words in upper and lower case letters. The master number

Table of Contents Table and the word “Vocal” are to the left of the center hole and the publishing informa- tion and running time of the song are to the right. The records are pressed in vinyl and have a raised area for the label that drops off one-half inch from the center hole. As is the case with the Audio Matrix logo, the appearance of the script “ARP” logo varies among individual records. On some discs all letters are clearly visible, while on others only a part of the logo is noticeable. The location of the logo in the trail off areas may also vary among copies of the same release, indicating that the records were pressed by different stampers created from the same mother. The discs manufactured by Monarch Record Manufacturing Co. are easily iden- Checklist tified by a circled symbol machine stamped in the trail off areas, which also con- tain a hand-etched job number preceded by a “D” symbol. On Vee-Jay discs pressed by Monarch, the song title and artist’s name are located below the center hole in capital letters and thick print. The remaining information is in small print with the master number and the word “Vocal” to the left of the center hole and the time and publishing information to the right. A raised rim separates the label from the end of the trail off space. Monarch singles are made of styrene, a plastic compound, rather

than vinyl. Although the sharpness of the  logo varies from record to record, it is normally the easiest of the machine stamped logos to detect. By process of elimination, the third variation of the misspelled VJ 498 must have been pressed by Southern Plastics. These Vee-Jay records have thin print throughout

www.beatle.net the label, with the song title and artist’s name in all capital letters below the center hole. The names of the songwriters are in upper and lower case “microprint.” All other information is in capital letters. As is the case with the ARP and Monarch labels, the master number and the word “VOCAL” are to the left of the center hole and the time and publishing information are to the right. There is no factory logo in the trail off areas. The records are pressed in vinyl and have a raised area for the label that drops off about one-half inch from the center hole. Singles pressed by Southern Plastics up to and including VJ 498 have a “#” symbol preceding the record number. Start- ing with Vee-Jay 499, Frank Ifield’sThe Wayward Wind, the “#” symbol is replaced with the VJ prefix or no prefix at all. GET BACK GET Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 14

All variations of Vee-Jay Beatles records pressed in 1963, as well as many pressed in 1964, have the initials “RA” and the master number hand-etched and the Audio Matrix logo machine stamped in their trail off areas. The characteristics discussed above apply not only to 1963 Beatles records on Vee-Jay, but also to most of the re- cords of other Vee-Jay artists released during the same time frame.

Table of Contents Table Because all three variations of the misspelled “BEATTLES” stock copies were manufactured with metal parts sent to the three different regional pressing plants on the same day, it makes little sense to claim that any one of these discs was re- leased prior to the other two. All three misspelled variations are original issue re- cords. Nonetheless, the thin type version of the record has been assigned number VJ 498.01 (shown on page 17) in deference to the long held belief that it alone is the original issue. Old myths die hard. This record has thin silver lettering on a black label with an oval logo and outer rim colorband. The initials “ARP” appear in script in the trail off areas, indicating that this record was pressed by The American Checklist Record Pressing Co. Although this is not the rarest of the VJ 498 singles, it has been the most sought after as collectors are attracted both to the novelty of the group’s name being misspelled and to the record’s purported status as the first Beatles record issued in the United States. (While the single , Decca 31382, was released over ten months earlier in April of 1962, it is not a true Beatles record as the group only served as backing musicians for Tony Sheridan and was listed on the label as “The Beat Brothers.”) The other two variations of the stock copy with the double T misspelling are similar to VJ 498.01, but are clearly distinguishable. VJ 498.02 (shown on page 17) also has silver print on a black label with the outer rim colorband featuring the oval logo, but the song titles and the group’s name are in thicker print than on the

www.beatle.net other variations. The symbol machine stamped in the trail off areas indicate that this styrene disc was pressed by Monarch Records. The trail off areas also contain the job numbers D46527 hand-etched on the A-side and D46527-X on the B-side. Although VJ 498.03 (shown on page 18) has the same colorband oval logo label and thin print as VJ 498.01, there are noticeable differences. These include a “#” symbol preceding the record number, the words “VOCAL” and “TIME” and the publishing information entirely in capital letters, the credits in microprint and the lack of a pressing plant logo in the trail off areas. It has been determined that this variation was manufactured by Southern Plastics. Of all the misspelled label variations, this “#498” version is the rarest. GET BACK GET Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 15

The promotional copy of the record, VJ 498.DJ1 (shown on page 17), is similar to VJ 498.01 as it was also manufactured by ARP. Its typesetting is identi- cal to the ARP stock copy down to the misspelling of the group’s name. The record’s white label features an oval logo and an outer rim “colorband” with varying shades of gray. It has black print lettering, “Disc Jockey Advance Sample” to the left of the

Table of Contents Table center hole and “NOT FOR SALE” to the right. Its trail off area markings are identi- cal to those of VJ 498.01, indicating that the ARP stock and promotional discs were pressed from the same stampers. Vee-Jay eventually realized its mistake of misspelling the group’s name, so later issues of the record corrected the error. VJ 498.04 (shown on page 18) is a crude attempt to fix the misspelled name. The label is identical to the label ofVJ 498.03, the “#498” variation, except that one “T” has been physically removed. The label takes on an amateurish appearance as “THE BEATLES” is not re-centered and the “LES” part of the name does not line up properly with the first part of the name (see Checklist page 18). The trail off areas are identical to those of VJ 498.03, indicating that both records were pressed from the same stampers by Southern Plastics. The corrected thick print oval variation, VJ 498.05 (shown on page 18), has “THE BEATLES” properly centered below the title and above “VJ 498.” The mark- ings in the trail off areas are identical to those of VJ 498.02, indicating that both discs were pressed by Monarch with the same stampers. Vee-Jay distributor invoices document that Monarch shipped 1,565 copies of VJ 498 to Field Music Sales during March and April of 1963. It is not known how many of these had corrected labels. VJ 498.06 (shown on page 19) has the same thick print and correct spell- ing as 498.05, but is printed on a label backdrop featuring Vee-Jay’s brackets logo. These label backdrops were first printed by Ivy Hill Lithograph Corp. in Great Neck,

www.beatle.net New York, in January 1964. A review of invoice summary sheets for the first quar- ter of 1964 indicates that 1,650 copies of the record were pressed and sold in early March of 1964. These bracket label discs were manufactured by Monarch with the same stampers used for VJ 498.02 and 498.05. Vee-Jay was never in a financial position to scrap labels or records that should have been replaced. Thus, existing labels were used until the inventory was fully depleted. This policy led to a strange variation of the single, VJ 498.07 (shown on page 19), which has the correctly spelled brackets label of VJ 498.06 on one side and the misspelled oval label of VJ 498.02 on the other. There are two variations of this oddball California pressing. VJ 498.07A pairs the correctly spelled brackets

GET BACK GET label on the Please Please Me side with the misspelled oval label on the Ask Me Why Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 16

side. VJ 498.07B is a mirror image of the preceding disc, pairing the misspelled oval label on the Please Please Me side with the correctly spelled brackets label on the Ask Me Why side. These are certainly the rarest versions of the record as they are variations of the limited 1964 bracket pressing. They are also the only records to have the group’s name spelled incorrectly on one side and correctly on the other.

Table of Contents Table (There are mispaired transition labels for other Vee-Jay singles, but they have not been assigned separate numbers because they do not have the significance of VJ 498.) Unlike many later offerings, no picture sleeve was issued for this early Beatles record. Instead, it was often distributed in center cut sleeves printed with Vee-Jay logos. Versions VJ 498.01 through 498.05 would have originally come in VJ RS.01 (the sleeve shown on page 2 and on page 168). Versions VJ 498.06 and 498.07, which have bracket logo labels, are normally found in VJ RS.02 sleeves. This 1964 sleeve (shown below and on page 169) features the brackets logo and the phrase “SINGLES OF SIGNIFICANCE.” Checklist Vee-Jay corporate documents indicate that less than 7,500 copies of VJ 498 were pressed. Thus, it should come as no surprise that all versions of this record are quite scarce. Accordingly, the value gap between what were once considered the more common variations and the so-called rarer variations has narrowed. www.beatle.net GET BACK GET Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 17 Table of Contents Table

VJ 498.DJ1 Checklist

VJ 498.01 www.beatle.net

GET BACK GET VJ 498.02 Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 18 Table of Contents Table

VJ 498.03 Checklist

VJ 498.04 www.beatle.net GET BACK GET VJ 498.05 Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay 19 Table of Contents Table

VJ 498.06 Checklist

VJ 498.07A www.beatle.net

GET BACK GET VJ 498.07B To buy the complete story, and Bruce’s other books, visit www.beatle.net/vjdigital CLICK INSIDE! Complete story of their records on Vee-Jay — Now in Digital For the Very First Time! How creative marketing turned 16 Beatles songs into a comprehensive catalog of multiple 45, EP and album releases that, taken together, are worth more today than all other American Beatles records combined. How the Beatles ended up on Vee-Jay, a Chicago-based independent label that specialized in R&B and Gospel recordings. Court records and Vinyl records • Capitol Records, Inc. vs. Vee-Jay Records, Inc. • Beechwood Music, Inc. vs. Vee-Jay Records, Inc. • The Beatles vs. The Four Seasons The stories behind the ad back and Jolly What! How to tell the difference between counterfeit Vee-Jay records and the real thing. How Vee-Jay lost, reclaimed and lost the Beatles. Hundreds of color pictures, including all known variations of album covers, picture sleeves and record labels, Billboard and Cash Box trade ads, royalty statements and checks issued to Capitol Records, promotional mailers, catalogs, posters and other cool stuff!

Written and compiled by Bruce Spizer