•George: "Financially, things are much different for me now. Now we eat with the nobs" (Dewitt).

•In reference to early Skiffle: The performers were generally poor, without conventional instruments they sought out any common household object that could be blown, tapped,brushed or converted to make a series of note-like sounds (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 17).

•Paddy Delaney (former Cavern Bouncer): George was always a big hearted lad. I remember him coming down Matthew street driving a spanking new, second-hand car he had bought with the first money he'd made from the Beatles. As he stepped out of his car and locked it up, I happened to be arguing with two girls who didn't have enough money to get in. This was a big night at the Cavern, the place was packed...[the girls were in tears]...George pulled a pound out of his pocket and told me to give it to them, but make sure they don't find out who it's from. 'That's fine George, but what excuse can I give them for letting them in after arguing with them for the past half-hour?'. 'You can do it, Pat'...'Look, there's nothing I can do about it girls. If you haven't got the money, how do you expect to get in? Oh, for Christ's sake, I'll tell you what, I've got a pound here, you go ahead and take it.

•In the early years, at least, the Beatles were in the 94% tax bracket (Brown, p. 110).

•George Harrison Purchases a Rickenbacker (excerpt) by Peter McCormack: Courtesy of No Reply Beatles Website: Preserving History of the Beatles. What Were The Details Surrounding The Purchase?
Shortly after arriving in Illinois, George Harrison met Gabe McCarty and another member of the "Four Vests," Vernon Mandrell. George expressed his interest in purchasing a Rickenbacker guitar and Gabe knew that the only dealer nearby was the Fenton Music Store. Apparently Rickenbackers were difficult to come by in England at this time and in Gabe's words "He just had to have one." Mr. McCarty volunteered to drive Harrison from Benton to the store in Mount Vernon to try out a Rickenbacker. Gabe recalled his pitch "Red, he's a good friend of mine and wants to buy a Rickenbacker guitar. Give him the same discount you gave me." The Four Vests had fostered a good relationship with Red Fenton as they had purchased equipment from him only a short time earlier. In his reminiscence of the events that day, Gabe mentioned "George pulled a couple of guitars off the wall" and eventually decided on a Fireglo (red) Rickenbacker Model 425. This description is validated by the research carried out by Mr. John Hall of Rickenbacker International Corporation which indicates that the guitar Harrison purchased, based on the serial number of BH 439, was shipped from the factory in the Fireglo finish. It has also been confirmed by Mr. Hall, that this instrument was shipped by the factory, in error, as a Model 425 even thought it was in fact a Model 420, having no vibrato. After all these years this is not the time to rewrite history, and so a Model 425 it remains to this day. The serial number would indicate that the guitar was made in August 1962. That it was "red" is of particular interest. It is well know that Harrison performed with this guitar on the "Ready Steady Go" television show hosted by Dusty Springfield on October 4, 1963, however, the instrument had been refinished to black by that time. But how did that refinishing come about?
Why was the 425 Refinished to Black?
Just days after his return to England in September 1963 Harrison performed with his new 425 during The Beatles' first appearance on the "Ready Steady Go" television show. The guitar was, however, no longer in its pristine factory Fireglo finish but had been refinished to black. He briefly discussed his new purchase and in an interesting comment made to Dusty about its finish quipped "I made it myself." This of course, raised the suspicion of some that he had been involved in the refinishing. Fortunately the comments of the Four Vests have been most helpful in getting to the bottom of such speculation.
Gabe McCarty vividly recalled that Harrison liked the 425 very much but preferred to have it in black similar to the one owned by John Lennon. He remembers George asking "Don't you have any black ones." Red Fenton, asked Harrison to "give me a week" but that he would be able to comply with his request. Gabe described that he, Harrison and Vernon Mandrell returned to Fenton Music a week later to pick up the guitar.
Why and Where was the 425 Refinished?
Gabe McCarty could not understand why George wanted to paint over the especially nice famous fireglo finish that was highly sought after by Rickenbacker lovers. In reference to the Beatles, George explained that "all the other guys had black instruments" and that the color fit in best with the band. Gabe also felt that the gist of the argument was that a black guitar fitted in best with the dark suits that the Beatles wore on stage.
Mr. McCarty assessed that the refinishing was carried out in the Fenton Music store as Red Fenton had the expertise and there were no other shops about that Gabe was aware of that could do this work at the time. In referring to Red, Mr. McCarty offered "I thought he did it himself. It looked real good and I was quite surprised." George Harrison paid in cash, about $400 US, for the guitar. He apparently had no idea of the value of American dollars compared to the pound sterling and at first took out close to $800 to pay for the 425.
For the complete article go to You Won't See Me* by Peter McCormack. (*Highly recommended.)

•While the Quarrymen had downtime in 1959 George would often moonlight with the Les Stewart Quartet (Shapiro, p. 31).

•George (Speaking about the days before the Beatles made it): "It gave me great reason for concern. After all, the only other reasonable alternative was to just go out and find a real job" (Shapiro, p. 33).

•His fondness for cars had resulted in numerous, often impulsive, purchases. Clothes had been important to him, and now he could afford to wear the most trendy London fashions (Shapiro, p. 49).

General:

•Pete Shotton stated that George's first major purchase was a second hand Jaguar (Shotton).

•Alan Sytner began fining bands (late '57) that played a rock songs at The Cavern (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 64).

•The Quarry Men recorded their August '58 sessions onto acetate because creating a master tape would have added two shillings and sixpence to the cost (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 75).

•Paul talked about the group (Quarry Men in late '58) playing under the name The Rainbows because "we all had different colored shirts and we couldn't afford any others" (Smith, Alan. Close-Up on a Beatle, New Musical Express. Aug '63).

•The Quarry Men played a dance at the Social Club for the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive. Free drinks were offered to the group as part of the arrangement.

•Johnny and the Moondogs played at a talent show in Manchester, November 1959. The contest was judged by audience applause when each band was brought back up on stage. The applause portion of the show was too late for the group to stay because John, Paul, and George had to catch to last train by to Liverpool. They could not afford a hotel (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 91).

•Ken Brown stated that when he and George were in the Les Stewart Quartet the most money they ever received was £2 for a wedding reception. He also stated that working men's clubs never paid them more than 10 bob/shillings(Pritchard & Lysaght. Beatles: An Oral History).

•George obtained his Hofner Club 40 electric guitar in 1959 by trading his Hofner President to a member of The Swinging Bluejeans for the Hofner Club 40 (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 86).

•Charles McBain (who booked the group for the New Clubmoor Hall) also booked the Quarry Men for the Walton Hall in Garston. The band received 2 pound 10s or 10 shillings per member (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 64).

•On November 20, 1959 George made his first payment on a Futurama 5 electric guitar as a hire-purchase account at Hessy's (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 92).

•June 1957: George had formed a band with his brother Pete and friend Arthur Kelly. It is also reported that"one or two other friends" were also included. The group (named The Rebels) played their only gig at the British Legion club in Speke. The group had arrived at the club to audition, but when the scheduled band did not show up The Rebels were paid 10 shillings become the night's performing group. The group knew two songs but succeeded in providing the evenings entertainment (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 47).

•In the summer of '57 Paul and George took a three week trip along the southern coast of England. They would sometimes sleep on the beach to save a few shillings (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 46).

•George's mother bought him a £30 Hofner President cutaway semi-acoustic guitar (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 46).

•Nigel quickly came to the conclusion that the group would never get a paying gig if no-one knew they existed. Playing in each other's front rooms wasn't the way to get noticed, so he had a series a business cards printed that were posted in local store windows. The cards stated:"COUNTRY, WESTERN, ROCK 'N' ROLL, SKIFFLE THE QUARRY MEN OPEN FOR ENGAGEMENTS" (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 43).

•Derek Taylor ghosted articles for George in the Daily Express. George received £100 (Coleman).

•In late '62 John and George purchase a couple of Gibson Jumbo-Body guitars as spares (Schultheiss 41).

•At 17 (1960), George was sent home from Germany "with nothing to show for it".

•Ken Brown (musician friend of George who performed with the Quarrymen): At the time George and I were playing with the Les Stewart Quartet. The most we ever got was two pounds for playing at a wedding reception. Working men's clubs never paid us more than 10 bob.

•George In A Letter To Stu Sutcliffe: Dear Stu, I hope you are going on ok there with Astrid. I arrived ok (24 hours exactly), but spent a packet on porters, taxis, etc...If you aren't coming home for awhile, can you send some money to keep Frank Hessey laughing. I want to get an Echo for Christmas, £34, or £6 down, the rest when Frank catches me, so if all my other stuff is up to dak (sic) I will probably be able to get it with no guarantee. I believe Gerry has one, only he ruins it by using it on every number. I bought Eddie's Singing to My Baby LP, Man of Mystery, Lucille, Only the Lonely, Like Strangers, (Everly's new one), Perfidia, (Ventures new one), and may buy an instrumental called Chariot.

•In 1959 the beat circuit offered George and his band mates little more than a pound per man per night (Shapiro, p. 29).

•A receipt at Hessy's showed that Stuart Sutcliffe shows that he signed a hire-purchase agreement to purchase a Hofner 333 bass. Stuart put down £15 on the instrument and weekly payments would be made up to the £59 (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 94).

•Circa '62: The Beatles, while still unsigned, were now bringing in rather large sums of money, and George was quick to spend it.

•George spent some of his money in March of 1960 to attend out-of-town performances of Eddie Cochrane (Porter, A. Before They Were Beatles, p. 96).

Brian:

•Brian paid the bill at Hessy's music by personal check for George's Futurama guitar.

•George said, "Before Brian Epstein saw us working we were earning quite a bit of money". But he rolled his eyes in jest (Dewitt).

•When Brian sent the telegram about "signing" with Parlophone Records George wired back: "Please order four new guitars".

•George was the first to receive the telegram from Brian and reportedly told Klaus Voorman and Paul that he was going to buy a house with a pool and a bus for his dad (Clay, p. 107).

•In George's Daily Express column he stated: "Money comes in from our royalties on photos, books, magazines, sweaters, badges, wigs, chewing gum, seasonal cards and discs... Our manager, "Eppy", Brian Epstein, takes his percentage, which is on a sliding scale up to 25% and I don't begrudge him a penny because he is the fifth Beatle and the best friend we have". He stated that they bought their own clothes, equipment, paid taxes and Epstein's percentage and would be left with "about £9,000 a year for spends" (Giuliano).

•Brian '64: George is the business Beatle. He is curious about money and wants to know how much is coming in and what is best to do with it to make it work. He enjoys spending, but would always remain in credit. He likes cars, big and fast, but is careful to secure a good trade-in price for his old one.