Editing Pete Best (section)

=== Popularity ===
<!-- Put references into this article from books or web pages, or your edit will be deleted -->
Best's popularity with fans was reportedly a source of friction, as many female fans considered him the band's best-looking member.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=322}} Radio Merseyside presenter [[Spencer Leigh (radio presenter)|Spencer Leigh]] wrote a book chronicling Best's firing, suggesting that the other members, McCartney in particular, were jealous.{{sfn|Leigh|1998}} In an issue of [[Bill Harry]]'s ''[[Mersey Beat]]'' music publication in Liverpool, dated 31 August 1961, [[Bob Wooler]] reported on the Beatles' local musical impact and singled out Best for particular praise, calling the group "musically authoritative and physically magnetic, example the mean, moody magnificence of drummer Pete Best – a sort of teenage [[Jeff Chandler (actor)|Jeff Chandler]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://triumphpc.com/mersey-beat/a-z/petebest2.shtml |title=Pete Best – Bill Harry – Mersey Beat |publisher=Triumphpc.com |access-date=28 June 2014}}</ref> During the ''Teenagers' Turn'' showcase in [[Manchester]], Lennon, McCartney and Harrison walked on stage to applause, but when Best walked on, the girls screamed.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=322}} Afterwards, attentive female fans surrounded Best at the stage door, while the other members were ignored after signing a few autographs. McCartney's father, Jim McCartney, was present at the time and admonished Best: "Why did you have to attract all the attention? Why didn't you call the other lads back? I think that was very selfish of you."{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=322}} Lennon called the accusations of jealousy a "myth".{{sfn|Anthology|2000|pp=70–72}}

In 1963, on British television, Mona, with Pete present, said of his dismissal:

:Mona: "From the point of [[clash of personalities]], well, probably that may be it because Peter did have a terrific fan club, you know, compared to the others."

:[Interviewer: Too good looking perhaps?] 

:Mona: "I'll leave that for other people to say, but from my point of view, we haven't come here to sort of throw any sticks and stones at the boys because there is no really hard feeling. There was at first, but as they say, success is hard to come by, and these things do happen, but it's just the way that it was done that has annoyed us. That's all.  If it had been done a bit more straightforward, it would have been more to the mark."<ref>"Best of the Beatles" DVD 2005 (1:48:48) Mona and Pete Best reflecting on the dismissal, in vintage television clip</ref>