Editing Pete Best (section)

=== Dismissal ===
When Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison learned that Martin and the engineers preferred replacing Best with a session drummer for their upcoming recording session on 4 September 1962, they considered dismissing Best from the group. Eventually, they asked Epstein to handle this.{{sfn|Lennon|2005|p=119}} Epstein agonised over the decision. As he wrote in his autobiography, ''[[A Cellarful of Noise]]'', he "wasn't sure" about Martin's assessment of Best's drumming and "was not anxious to change the membership of the Beatles at a time when they were developing as personalities … I asked the Beatles to leave the group as it was".{{sfn|Epstein|1964|p=63}} Epstein also asked Liverpool DJ [[Bob Wooler]], who knew the Beatles intimately, for advice, to which Wooler replied that it was not a good idea, as Best was very popular with the fans.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=329}} Part of the dilemma for Epstein that arose at that time (when the band had not yet achieved national success, but rather local status as a good band with limited income) was that Best was an asset at gigs, popular with the group's female fans, and put on a good show, ensuring venues would have a solid audience. The counter-argument, however, was the larger consideration of the band's having the best music produced for record sales. Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison ultimately decided that record production was more important than having a drummer for live stage performances who was more image than substance. In the meantime, Epstein refrained from telling Best that EMI had made a recording contract with the band (orally since June and in writing at the end of July 1962), which meant that a new drummer was now inevitable. There might have been legal issues had Best known.<ref>{{cite book |last=Norman |first=Philip |date=1981 |title=Shout! |title-link=Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation |pages=149-150}}</ref>

Epstein decided that "If the group was to remain happy, Pete Best must go." Best played his last two gigs with the Beatles on 15 August at [[the Cavern Club]], Liverpool. Epstein summoned Best to his office and dismissed him on Thursday, 16 August, ten weeks and a day after the first recording session. Epstein asked Best to play with the Beatles on 16 and 17 August at the Riverpark Ballroom, Chester, and Best agreed but had a change of heart and did not turn up; [[Johnny Hutchinson]] of [[The Big Three (English band)|the Big Three]] was rushed in as a substitute.<ref name="ReferenceA" />{{sfn|Epstein|1964|p=63}}

''[[Mersey Beat]]'' magazine's editor, [[Bill Harry]], claimed that Epstein initially offered the vacant drummer position in the group to Hutchinson, whom he also managed. Hutchinson is said to have refused the job, saying, "Pete Best is a very good friend of mine. I couldn't do the dirty on him."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.triumphpc.com/mersey-beat/a-z/petebest3.shtml |title=Bill Harry on Pete Best's Sacking |publisher=Triumphpc.com |access-date=22 October 2011}}</ref> However, McCartney and Harrison have said they wanted Starr from the beginning after he sat in with them at shows on several occasions when Best was absent. Best says that Epstein revealed at the dismissal meeting that Starr would become the new drummer.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |title=The OBVIOUS REASON PETE BEST Was FIRED by the BEATLES {{!}} #032 | date=6 September 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU3a1deif-w |language=en |access-date=2022-08-16}}</ref>

Best had been good friends with [[Neil Aspinall]] since 1961 when Aspinall had rented a room in the house where Best lived with his parents. While still part of the group, Best had asked Aspinall to become the band's road manager and personal assistant. Aspinall accepted the job and bought an old [[Commer]] van for £80 (equivalent to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|80|1961|r=-2}}|0}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=73}} Aspinall was waiting for Best downstairs in Epstein's NEMS record shop after the dismissal meeting. The two went to the ''Grapes'' pub on Mathew Street, the same street as the Cavern Club, where the group had played.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=331}} Aspinall was furious at the news, insisting to Best that he would resign from the Beatles.<ref name="triumphpc"/> Best strongly advised him to remain with the group. Aspinall's relationship with Mona Best (and their three-week-old baby, Roag) was ended. At the Riverpark Ballroom gig, Aspinall asked Lennon why they had fired Best, to which Lennon replied, "It's got nothing to do with you; you're only the driver."<ref name="triumphpc">[http://triumphpc.com/mersey-beat/beatles/neilaspinall2.shtml Aspinall, The Beatles and money – Mersey Beat] triumphpc.com – Retrieved 11 February 2007</ref>

Starr had previously played with [[Rory Storm and the Hurricanes]] – the alternating band at the Kaiserkeller – and had substituted whenever Best was ill or unable to play in Hamburg and Liverpool.{{Sfn|Miles|1997|p=90}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rory Storm in Hamburg - Conversations with Pete Best - Pete Best and Bill Harry - Mersey Beat |url=http://triumphpc.com/mersey-beat/beatles/rorystorm_hamburg.shtml |access-date=2007-05-11 |website=triumphpc.com}}</ref> [[Bill Harry]] reported Best's dismissal on the front page of ''Mersey Beat'' magazine, upsetting many Beatles fans. The group encountered some jeering and heckling in the street and on stage for weeks afterwards, with some fans shouting, "Pete forever, Ringo never!" One agitated fan [[headbutt]]ed Harrison in The Cavern, giving him a [[black eye]].<ref name=autogenerated6>''The Beatles Anthology'' DVD 2003 (Episode 1 – 1:04:24) Harrison talking about "Pete forever, Ringo never!"</ref>{{sfn|Lennon|2005|p=120}}

As Best's replacement, Starr accompanied the band on their second recording session with EMI at Abbey Road studios on 4 September 1962.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.beatle.net/50th-anniversary-of-beatles-1st-proper-recording-session/|title=50 Years Ago: Beatles First Proper Recording Session – beatle.net|website=beatle.net|date=4 September 2012|access-date=16 August 2018}}</ref> George Martin initially refused to let Starr play. He was unfamiliar with Starr and wanted to avoid any risk of his drumming not being up to par. On 11 September 1962, at the third EMI recording session, Martin used session musician [[Andy White (drummer)|Andy White]] on the drums for the whole session instead of Starr, as Martin had already booked White after the first session with Best.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=353}} Starr played the tambourine on some songs while White played the drums. Starr told biographer [[Hunter Davies]] years later that he had thought, "That's the end. They're pulling a Pete Best on me."{{sfn|Davies|1996|p=163}}