25 March(?) 1962
The Casbah Club
8 Haymen's Green
West Derby, Liverpool
Photographer: M. Haywood
Previously, I had given these photos of John the very vague
date of "Autumn 1961 - Spring 1962". However, the photo of
Paul recently surfaced and shed new light on the possible date.
Paul is clearly influenced by Brian Epstein's preference that the
band wear suits. While more casually, John and Pete also seem to
have shed their leathers.
The last known images of The Beatles wearing their leather is the color home movie from 10 February 1962 (5 April 1963 excluded). According to Mark Lewisohn, The Beatles made their public debut wearing their Beno Dorn suits on 7 March 1962 at the BBC Playhouse Theatre. These photos are not of the Beno Dorn suits (Paul's is black velvet). According to Pete, "...they never wore the Beno Dorm suits at the Casbah".
Stories tell that John was a bit reluctant to change to the suit look. Perhaps this is visual evidence of those tales. Also, The Casbah would certainly be a more casual" atmosphere for the band. Perhaps John felt more casual.
In Pete Best's book, True Beginnings, a few of John's photos appear
on a page telling of The Beatles last Casbah show before going to
Hamburg. The book places the date as 26 March but Mark Lewisohn
places the date as 25 March (I'm following Lewisohn's date).
Thus, it's not too far of a stretch to theorize that, for their last Casbah
show before Hamburg, someone might choose to photograph the
occasion and, of course, Pete was there so he would likely know when
these photos were taken (even if he did have the date wrong)