SI32. A Star-Club Pay Receipt For A Week’s Worth Of Performances By The Beatles In Late 1962, Signed By John Lennon.

Description

There is no question about it – The Beatles ‘cut their teeth’ in Hamburg, Germany, arriving there for the first time in August of 1960 for their inaugural ‘residency’. While in Germany, The Beatles honed their skills as stage performers and as their reputation grew, they wound up with larger and larger audiences and also their first recording contract, which resulted in the “My Bonnie” single that grabbed the attention of Brian Epstein and brought his vitally important presence into their orbit. Hamburg was just such an important step along the way for The Beatles in so many ways and without it their story would have inevitably been much different, and it is quite possible that they may have never become The Beatles as we know them had their time in Hamburg not transpired.

After their arrival in August 1960, The Beatles made several follow up trips to Hamburg throughout the next two years, winding up in their run there in late December 1962, at The Star-Club, a new club that was situated on Große Freiheit off the infamous Reeperbahn. It had a fabulous sound system and a capacity of up to 2,000 patrons and it was the best of all the venues that they played while in Hamburg. The Beatles performed there from mid-April through the end of May. They returned again for two weeks in November, and then for one final run of shows between December 18th-31st, after which their residency in Hamburg came to an end.

Here is the receipt for payment to The Beatles for a week’s worth of performances by the band, 7 shows in all, 3 hours per night, between December 18th and 25th. In another hand, a Star-Club representative has filled in the misspelled “The Baetles” and has defined their net pay, 750 Deutsche Marks (£67 per week) for each of the 4 members, totaling 3,000 DM, minus a 15% fee for a ‘manager’, leaving them with 2,550 DM. In the lower left hand corner is a stamp with the Star-Club logo and location, “Hamburg, St. Pauli”. John Lennon has signed for this pay for The Beatles work beautifully in blue ballpoint pen, “JWLennon”, as he did for any contracts or matters of formality during this period. The signature is perfect in every way – it’s beautifully scripted and just a magnificent example. The receipt, which measures 5 ¾” x 4 ¼”, is in exceptional condition having been well preserved over the last 57 years.

A signed Beatles performance pay receipt is an elite piece of Beatles history and few collectors in the world can boast of ownership…SOLD