Dec 21, 1963 › Jan 11, 1964
The Beatles Christmas Show
By The Beatles
Last updated on October 21, 2025
Dec 21, 1963 › Jan 11, 1964
By The Beatles
Last updated on October 21, 2025
Joe Collins was the producer of the Beatles’ Christmas Shows in Winter 1963/1964 and Winter 1964/1965. He remembered his involvement in his autobiography published in 1987:
By the early ‘sixties rock ‘n’ roll was a regular part of my business. The hit parades were as familiar to me as the multiplication tables, and I always kept an eye on the bottom end of the charts to see who was coming up and could be booked at a reasonable fee before he or she broke really big.
In February 1963 a promotions executive at The People telephoned me.
‘Can you find us an attraction for our summer ball? Something for young people?’
I recommended a new pop group from Liverpool called the Beatles, and said I’d try to book them.
When I tracked down the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, at his family’s furniture store in Liverpool, he was happy for his boys to perform at the newspaper ball. We agreed on a fee of £500.
Three months later, when the Beatles had their second No.1 hit, ‘From Me to You’, the man from The People phoned again. ‘This Beatles group you’re getting for us, I’m afraid they won’t be suitable after all for our ball. There’ll be such a rush for tickets we won’t be able to cope, and there could be trouble outside with their fans. Can you possibly manage to cancel our arrangement?’
When I told Brian Epstein of the cancellation, he did not disguise his relief. Since our earlier agreement the £500 fee I had negotiated had become ludicrously low payment for a Beatles cabaret.
However, this was not the end of my association with Brian Epstein and his Beatles.
Later that same year [In 1963] Stan Fishman, who booked live attractions for the Rank cinema circuit, came on to me. ‘Brian Epstein wants to do a Beatles Christmas show, but he has no idea how to go about a full stage production. Can you help him?’
I could, with pleasure! I booked the Beatles Christmas Show into the Astoria, Finsbury Park in North London for two weeks, commencing on Christmas Eve 1963.
I organized the scenery, hired some tabs (backdrop curtains), engaged a producer, Peter Yolland, and a compere, the Australian entertainer Rolf Harris. I reckoned that Harris, as a former schoolteacher, would be able to handle a rowdy teenage audience.
The other acts were provided by Brian Epstein. Apart from the bill-topping Beatles, there was a group from Bedfordshire, the Barron Knights, while the rest came from Brian’s stable of Liverpool talent, names he had launched that very year: Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas (who had already had three top hits), the Fourmost, Tommy Quickly and Cilla Black, Brian’s latest discovery.
Cilla, a toothy, 20-year-old redhead, had recently given up her regular job as a typist. In the ‘sixties the rock audiences did not care much for girl singers, but it was customary to include just one female vocalist on a bill, if only to get some variety into the programme. For her act at Finsbury Park, I remember Cilla coming on stage in a pink mini-skirted dress to sing a lesser-known Lennon-McCartney song she had recorded, ‘Love of the Loved.’
When I looked at the printed programme for that Christmas show, I noted the credit I had been given: ‘Brian Epstein wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the invaluable assistance of Joe Collins in the presentation.’ I was actually co-producer.
As the show was intended to be ‘special’, not just a plain pop bill, Peter Yolland decided that the Beatles should perform a few sketches.
The night the show opened I wandered into the auditorium to witness George Harrison, dressed as a Victorian maiden, being tied to a railway line by John Lennon, in the role of Sir Jasper, the wicked landlord. Then Paul McCartney entered as the heroic signalman who rescues ‘her’.
The experience, appropriate to the plot, was like watching a silent film. The boys’ dialogue, if they were speaking lines at all, was drowned by the screeching audience. That was the first and only performance of the Beatles as stage actors.
That night at Finsbury Park, I met the Fab Four in person. I went backstage to introduce myself. ‘How’s the dressing room?’ I asked, sticking my head round the door of the shabby cell they were sharing.
‘All right,’ said drummer Ringo Starr, who always looked glum even when he was happy.
‘Is there anything you need?’ I asked politely.
‘Yes, there is!’ said Ringo promptly. ‘Can you find us some flex for our electric kettle? We want to brew up some tea.’
‘If you get us a lead for our kettle, we’ll give you some earplugs,’ George Harrison cajoled. ‘You’ll need ’em if you go out front!’ That I knew already.
Only one thing blighted our run at Finsbury Park. After the Beatles and other Liverpool groups had monopolized the top chart positions for nearly a year, a London group, the Dave Clark Five, suddenly became a threat. Their shattering, thumping ‘Glad All Over’ ousted the Beatles from No.1. The newspapers treated this item as a major sensation. ‘DAVE CLARK FIVE CRUSHES THE BEATLES!’ shrieked one of the headlines.
‘Well, we can’t be top 52 weeks of the year, can we?’ retorted Paul McCartney.
Still, despite those frantic, yelling girls in their Finsbury Park audience assuring the Beatles how much they were loved, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr were green enough in show business to be upset about that gimmicky newspaper story.
On 14 January 1964, a few days after our show closed, the Beatles’ new record ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ became their first disc to reach No.1 in America, and by the end of the year they were as popular in the US as they were in Britain.
Young Cilla Black, too, the sole girl on the Finsbury Park bill, was proving too that she had a future.
During our Christmas-show partnership, Brian Epstein had invited me to dinner at his new London penthouse in William Mews, behind Harrods in Knightsbridge.
I noted, with some surprise, that Brian’s taste in furnishings was very arty. His choice of décor, with thick white carpeting and black leather settees, was not quite what I had expected from him after meeting his family from Liverpool, who were very down-to-earth despite their affluence.
Over our meal Brian talked about nothing else but his plans for Cilla Black.
‘She’s great… absolutely great,’ he kept assuring me.
While agreeing that Cilla had a warm personality, I could not agree with Brian that she was ‘great’.
He offered me evidence of her potential by playing a new recording of hers. I had already listened to enough music that day, but Brian was my host, so I put on an attentive expression as he switched on the record-player. The disc he played me was ‘Anyone Who Had a Heart’, a moving ballad by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. I realized Brian’s enthusiasm might possibly be justified. He was right: it reached No.1.
Joe Collins – From “Touch of Collins: Story of a Show Business Dynasty” by Joe Collins, 1987
UK • Bradford • Gaumont Cinema
Dec 21, 1963
UK • Liverpool • Empire Theatre
Dec 22, 1963
Dec 24, 1963
Dec 26, 1963
Dec 27, 1963
Dec 28, 1963
Dec 30, 1963
Dec 31, 1963
Jan 01, 1964
Jan 02, 1964
Jan 03, 1964
Jan 04, 1964
Jan 05, 1964
Jan 06, 1964
Jan 07, 1964
Jan 08, 1964
Jan 09, 1964
Jan 10, 1964
Jan 11, 1964
Notice any inaccuracies on this page? Have additional insights or ideas for new content? Or just want to share your thoughts? We value your feedback! Please use the form below to get in touch with us.
