A rare collection of letters and photographs from the formative years of the Beatles is set to be showcased in Hamburg, offering an intimate glimpse into the band's development during the early 1960s. The exhibition, which includes contributions from Paul McCartney's brother Mike, features the only known letter containing words from both Paul McCartney and John Lennon.
Exhibition Details
The free exhibition will run from 8 to 25 May as part of Hamburg's annual port festival, Hafengeburtstag. It centres on the original five members of the Beatles during their influential period in the German city between 1960 and 1962, a time that significantly shaped their sound and appearance.
Mike McCartney, who donated several letters to the collection assembled by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the Hamburg Senate, remarked on the revealing nature of the correspondence. 'It's fascinating, because they give you so many secrets about them as they are developing,' he said. 'It was quite extraordinary, because our kid is just saying what's happening there in a foreign land, over the water. And it was a very important stage in their development.'
Contents of the Collection
The letters, also sourced from The Cavern Club and the Liverpool Beatles Museum, disclose the thoughts of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, and original drummer Pete Best. Sutcliffe died shortly after the Hamburg period from a brain haemorrhage at age 21, while Best was hired specifically for the band's first visit to Hamburg.
In a letter from Best to his mother, he recounts how he, Lennon, and McCartney felt like stars as they boarded their plane after being interviewed by a journalist about being voted Liverpool's number one band.
The exhibition also features photographs taken by Sutcliffe, who was instrumental in shaping the band's style and was the first to sport the moptop hairstyle, given to him by his fiancée, Astrid Kirchherr. Sutcliffe decided to remain in Hamburg with Kirchherr while the other band members returned to Liverpool.
Insights from the Hamburg Era
Mike McCartney recalled that the Beatles performed 'non-stop' during their Hamburg stint, famously playing for eight hours some evenings. 'They were on all these pills to keep them going, uppers and downers,' he said. When Paul returned from Hamburg, he was noticeably thinner, but the band had clearly elevated their craft.
'The music when they then played around Liverpool – by god, could you hear the professionalism. The difference was that they had come out of Hamburg, done the hard work – I mean, more than hard work. It was like they were like chalk and cheese when they came back to Liverpool. And they were just out and out the top group in Liverpool, because they were so together, so united, so different.'
One letter from Paul to Mike, written in May 1962, provides insight into Hamburg's vibrant live music scene. Paul reveals that they had been told American rock'n'roll legends Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis might soon visit the city, and he expressed hope that the Beatles could perform with Berry. The letter also includes a lengthy passage dictated by Lennon, beginning with a whimsical poem about keeping one's chin up and commiserating with Mike over a potential hairdressing job. The passage spans several pages and features characters such as Jesus and Formula One driver Stirling Moss.
Future Plans and Personal Reflections
The Liverpool Combined Authority indicated that it may consider bringing the exhibition to Liverpool in the future, following a BBC six-part series being filmed in Hamburg about the Beatles' early days.
Mike McCartney admitted that he had not kept the letters for any particular reason initially and 'didn't even realise their significance' until recently. His wife had called him a hoarder for preserving these items for over 60 years, he said. 'But I'm glad that I did, to a certain extent. Because if I hadn't hoarded, then you wouldn't have these unique letters.'
Mike, a former musician in the band The Scaffold and a photographer, compiled his early photos of the Beatles into the book Mike McCartney's Early Liverpool. He noted that communication with his brother has evolved from letters to modern technology. 'Now he does FaceTime, looking like a scruffy get,' Mike said. 'He never shaves. I always say “you scruffy bugger”. We just talk about nothing … and everything.'
