Anthony Booth (22 June 1933 – 11 January 2017) was a British commercial artist best known as the original poster artist for

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

and other bands in the

Merseybeat Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre that developed, particularly in and around Liverpool, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffle ...

era. He was known around Liverpool in the early 1960s as

Brian Epstein Brian Samuel Epstein (; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was a British music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967. Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him i ...

's "right-hand man".

Early years

Born in 1933, Booth grew up in

Moreton Moreton may refer to: People Given name * Moreton John Wheatley (1837–1916), British Army officer and Bailiff of the Royal Parks Surname * Alice Bertha Moreton (1901–1977), English sculptor, draughtsman and artist * Andrew Moreton, a ps ...

and was a wartime schoolboy. In 1948, at the age of 15, he won a scholarship in commercial art and design at the Wallasey School of Art and Crafts in

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

. After only 18 months at art school, he was offered his first position in a local commercial art studio which was also a printing, sign-writing and poster-writing company.

Working for the Beatles and Brian Epstein

During the early 1960s Booth worked in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

city centre, near

the Cavern Club The Cavern Club is a nightclub on Mathew Street, Liverpool, England. The Cavern Club opened in 1957 as a jazz club, later becoming a centre of the rock and roll scene in Liverpool in the late 50s and early 1960s. The club became closely assoc ...

and next door to

manager

's office. Booth did a lot of business with Epstein, producing posters, printed leaflets and a wide variety of publicity and display material. Booth produced hand-painted gig posters during the early sixties for many promoters, including Epstein, Sam Leach,

Allan Williams Allan Richard Williams (21 February 1930 – 30 December 2016) was a British businessman and promoter who was the original booking agent and first manager of the Beatles. He personally drove the van to take the young band to Hamburg, Germany, in ...

and Cavern Club DJ -

Bob Wooler Frederick James "Bob" Wooler (19 January 19268 February 2002) was compère and DJ at The Cavern Club, Liverpool from 1961 until 1967. An important figure in the Merseybeat scene, Wooler was instrumental in introducing The Beatles to their manag ...

. Booth would hand-paint many of the same poster using one-stroke brushes and liners with oil-based colours, mostly on white machine-glazed 'double-crown' 30"x20" poster paper. If Epstein required a larger number of posters for a specific event, then the original artwork would be sent to a local silk-screen printer for bulk printing and distribution and the same artwork was often used for leaflets and press adverts. Very few of Booth's 1960s original posters have survived, as the posters would normally be disposed of after the event or destroyed during the silk-screen printing process, but today at auction, the printed posters that have survived are sold to collectors for £6,000 or more. Christie's of London sold one of Booth's original hand-painted Cavern Club posters to an American collector for £27,500, which was double Christie's valuation.

The Cavern Club

During the late 1950s, before his publicity artwork for the Beatles, Booth hand-painted many posters for the Cavern Club on

Mathew Street Mathew Street is a street in Liverpool, England, notable as the location of the new Cavern Club, the Beatles having played in the original club on numerous occasions in their early career. Mathew Street is visited by thousands of tourists a ...

, Liverpool. When it first opened as a jazz club in 1957, 'The Merseysippi Jazz Band' were the big attraction on opening night, supported by The Wall City Jazz Men. He created posters for the club's opening night. The Cavern Club always had plenty of Booth's posters pasted on the walls outside, when the Beatles and other groups were playing there. In October 2016, Booth was commissioned to produce the artwork for the Cavern Club's 60th anniversary, and this is now on display inside the club.

Later work

In early 2016,

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

aired a short documentary on Booth on its ''

Inside Out Inside Out may refer to: *Backwards (disambiguation) or inverse Books * '' Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd'', by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason * ''Inside Out'', Christian book by Larry Crabb * ''Inside Out'', novel by Barry Eisler ...

'' TV show. In August 2016, Booth held an exhibition at the View Two Gallery in Liverpool as part of International Beatleweek Festival 2016. This was the very first time all of Booth's posters had been on display under one roof.

Death

Booth died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on 11 January 2017 in

Upton, Merseyside Upton is a village in the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, England, and is situated within of Birkenhead, of the Dee Estuary, a similar distance from the River Mersey, and from Liverpool Bay. It is in the parish of Overchurch and admin ...

, aged 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Tony 1933 births 2017 deaths Deaths from cancer in England People from the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral English artists