Mersey Beat - Mona Best

Mona Best is better known as the mother of Pete Best and is considered to be one of the most important people in the development of 'The Beatles' as a group.

She was born Alice Mona Shaw on the 3rd of January 1924 in Delhi, India and Pete was her first son with husband Donald Scanlon, who was later to die in WW2, whereupon she met Johnny Best in India. He was the British Army's middleweight boxing champion and came from a family of sports promoters in Liverpool that once owned and ran the Liverpool Stadium. They eventually came to Liverpool on Christmas Day in 1945 and lived in the Best family home, Ellerslie, in West Derby for a short time before moving to a small flat above Ma Egerton's pub in Liverpool city centre following a family squabble. After this they lived in several homes before settling in a large Victorian house in Hayman's Green, West Derby which, with 15 bedrooms and an acre of land, was the type of house Mona had been used to in India. With it came also a large complex of cellars which, when Pete was sixteen, Mona decided to turn part of that area into a private club for him and his friends who were coming round to the house. After seeing the 2i's Coffee Bar on a TV programme, Mo soon turned it into a club for young people with live groups performing there and it became one of the first cellar clubs to present rock 'n' roll exclusively when it opened in August 1959. 'Mo', as she was called, decided to call it The Casbah Club. If Mona hadn't given up this space to Pete who knows how pop history may have changed, as it was here that the original Beatles were formed.
( for more details on their formation read - Mersey Beat - Pete Best ).

The Casbah club 

 

Mona proved to be a hard working business woman who, loving music, used the venue to showcase local bands. She took an active role in her son's new career and arranged for the Casbah doorman Frank Garner to become the Beatles' road manager, and then presented them with a permanent roadie in the form of her lover, Neil Aspinall who had lived with his family nearby. Following their first trip to Hamburg they appeared officially at the Casbah. Mo had seen other promoters booking venues and decided she could do the same. So she began a series of independent promotions for the boys, eleven gigs in all, at St John's Hall, Tuebrook and Knotty Ash Village Hall as well as their Casbah appearances. On the first of the Beatles bookings at St John's Hall Mona paid them £20 – a 200% increase on the £5 she used to pay for the Casbah bookings. These gigs, plus the Casbah appearances and the gigs Pete was lining up, proved a lifeline for 'The Beatles' during the early months of 1961. She even wrote off to David Plowright in September 1961 who was the producer of the Granada Television magazine programme 'People and Places'. He wrote back to tell her that he would bear them in mind and ironically it was on this show that they made their first TV appearance in October 1962. An indication of her impact on the group was that it was she who got them back together at the Casbah after they returned disillusioned from their first stint in Hamburg and who contacted Peter Eckborn at the Top Ten Club to get them back in there following their deportation. She was also instrumental in convincing Ray McFall at The Cavern, with help from Bob Wooler, to let them have their first gig there. She also bought the lads their first means of transport, a secondhand Ford Commer van, the receipt for which is part of the exhibition at the Magical Beatles Museum run by Roeg Best, five-storeys of memorabilia on Mathew Street diagonally opposite the Cavern Club. The job of driving it fell to Neil Aspinall, Roeg's father. When 4,500 fans turned up at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton for the biggest indoor concert they ever did in Britain the advertising poster read - "by kind permission of Mrs Best."

Mona with Pete

 

Although she had agreed that Brian Epstein would be good for the group's advancement she was loathe to relinquish all ties with the group and would harangue Epstein constantly over the quality of bookings resulting in him constantly to refer to her as 'that woman'. Some would argue that dismissing Pete from the band was his way of also getting rid of his interfering mother as many still believe that Ringo was no better a drummer than Pete, including George Martin. Mona was also about to give birth to Roag, the son of Neil Aspinall, so had obviously other things on her mind at that time.

Following Pete's dismissal Mona was obviously upset and disappointed by the actions of people she felt she had helped a great deal on a personal and business level and never continued with her venture into the world of music. However she still remained on friendly terms with the group and whilst none of 'The Beatles' spoke to Pete Best after he was sacked, they still spoke to his mother Mona. This was probably because of Neil Aspinall who would still store their equipment at her house. When asked by John Lennon, Mona loaned him her father's war medals, which he wore on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper album.

John wearing the medals for the cover of Sgt Pepper

 
see also :-http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2017/04/mersey-beat-bill-harry.html