1957 The Cavern Club

An exceptionally rare vintage black and white photograph of the now famous Cavern Club, Liverpool entrance and steps that was taken in the year that the club opened. The Cavern was opened by the then owner Alan Synter on 16th January 1957 it was situated in a warehouse cellar at 10 Mathew Street, Liverpool on the opening night over 600 music fans packed the famous arches to watch the Merseysippi Jazz Band perform there, the group had been signed by Synter just hours before the performance. Synter named the Cavern after a Parisian Jazz club ‘Le Caveau La Huchette’, hoping the club would become England’s biggest jazz venue outside London. 1957 was a pivotal year in the club’s history from its early jazz sessions to the introduction of skiffle sessions which would see a debut performance on 7th August 1957 for John Lennon’s group the Quarry Men. The group were managed by Lennon’s friend Nigel Whalley whose father played at the same golf club as Alan Synter. Part of the performance did not go down well with the club’s owner when Lennon decided to perform Elvis Presley’s ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, so much so that a terse note was sent to the stage simply stating ‘Cut The Bloody Rock!’. Paul McCartney did not perform with the group on this date as he was away on scout camp. Ringo Starr would also appear on several occasions in 1957 with various groups of which he was a member such as the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group and Al Caldwell’s Skiffle Group, this was the group would go on to renamed Rory Storm And The Hurricanes. The photograph is stamped ‘COPYRIGHT’ verso. It has a small piece of brown paper attached to the top right front side with the number ‘733’ written on it and two pieces of brown paper attached to the top and bottom of the reverse. The photograph measures 6 inches x 8 inches. with regards to the Cavern photo, I purchased as part of a larger collection mainly of group’s performing at the Cavern, all of the photos were taken in 1957, I have also cross referenced this with the Best Of Cellars book.