THE MAN WHO HELPED PUT THE BEATLES ON THE MAP

In the days before the internet and social media, posters were the main way of promoting a gig.

And one of those who helped sell Merseybeat – and some up and coming band called the Beatles – to the Liverpool public was Tony Booth.

Now more than 50 years after he created a slew of posters for Brian Epstein and his stable of rising stars, artist Tony is set to hold his first ever exhibition of his work, coinciding with International Beatleweek.

The 83-year-old’s show will open at the View Two Gallery on Wednesday, just down the road from the Cavern Club in Mathew Street.

Only a handful of the original posters produced in the hundreds by Tony in the 1960s have survived, with the majority thrown away once the gigs had taken place.

 

Artist Tony Booth has recreated his original 60s Merseybeat posters

Although one Cavern Club poster, which he produced for a fee of five shillings (25p), sold to an American collector in a London Auction House for £27,500.

Instead Tony, who trained as a poster artist after leaving school at 15 and started off creating promotional sales material for the Epstein furniture business and record shop, has faithfully reproduced 40 of his favourite posters for the exhibition.

He says: “I never imagined in a million years they would one day be so valuable. I wished I’d kept some myself, but they were simply thrown in the waste paper basket.

“I must have produced many hundreds of hand painted posters for Beatle gigs and shows by other popular groups. I was only paid five bob for each one, but it was non-stop work.

“I got to know Brian Epstein and the Beatles very well.

“It was great to be part of what was happening in Liverpool when Merseybeat was born, though we never knew how big it would become.”

Tony now spends every day at his Wirral studio producing replica posters for fans and collectors across the world, using the same techniques and materials he did half-a-century ago.

Recently he was commissioned by ITV to re-create original posters for its award-winning Cilla drama starring Sheridan Smith , while he is also working on special posters to mark the Cavern’s 60th anniversary.