She's a Mod

By Kay Stammers

A personal diary of 1964, when the music world changed forever

1964 was the year of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, mod fashions and Mary Quant – the year the British pop scene really made its impact on the world.

Television presenter and reporter Kay Stammers was a sixteen year old schoolgirl from an average middle class family in Melbourne, Australia - studying for her final exams in a bedroom wall-papered with her idols. She didn’t swear, she didn’t smoke, she didn’t drink, she didn’t dabble in drugs or sex ... But where pop stars were concerned ... it was do or die!

Kay and her girlfriend Chris wore school uniforms by day but transformed into mods at night, devoted to the new wave of local and international Merseybeat bands. Their unwavering goal was to meet and befriend their idols -- including The Kinks, Manfred Mann, Peter & Gordon, Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, Tony Worsley & the Blue Jays, The Flies, Normie Rowe, Bobby & Laurie, The Spinning Wheels, and The Rolling Stones. Their exploits culminate in the best prize of all -- alone in the hotel room with favourite Stone, Brian Jones.

There have been many books written in retrospect about the heady days of the sixties, but this teenage diary is an authentic first hand account, capturing the innocence and excitement of the era as it happened.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kay Stammers
• Release date: Aug 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301651276

Book preview

She’s a Mod

A personal diary of 1964

when the music world changed forever

By Kay Stammers

Copyright 2013 Kay Stammers

Smashwords Edition

Licence Notes

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Contents

About the author

Acknowledgments

Preface

My Diary 1964

New Years’ Resolutions

The Beatles arrive

Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs

The first Go!! Show

Peter and Gordon arrive

The Spinning Wheels

Tony Worsley & the Blue Jays

Normie Rowe -- a lock of hair

Go!! Show at Regent Theatre

Last day of school

The Bowl – Tony Worsley

Go!! Show at Music Bowl

Normie at Bowl – Chris faints

The Bowl – Spinning Wheels

A night with the Wheels

New Years’ Eve – Mentone

My Diary 1965

The Flies

Manfred Mann and The Kinks

In a taxi with Tony Worsley

The Big Show – Festival Hall

Coffee -- Paul Jones, Manfred Mann

In a hotel room with The Kinks

In a hotel room with Manfred Mann

The Rolling Stones arrive

The Stones pool party

I kissed a Stone!

Postscript

Other titles by this author

Contact the author

Appendix 1: The Sixties Downunder

Appendix 2: About the Stars

About the author

KAY STAMMERS is an independent video producer/director/writer and former television newsreader/reporter/journalist. She was one of the pioneering women in Australian television, starting at GTV9 Melbourne in 1975 as one of the five reporters on the trailblazing women’s current affairs program ‘No Man’s Land’ and going on to report for all four mainstream networks. In the 1980s she was the first female late night newsreader, presenting Channel 7’s ‘Newsworld.’ Other programs included ‘Burke’s Backyard’ and the ABC’s ‘State of the Arts’. She runs the Sydney based creative agency and video production company, Media One, with her husband and business partner, Tristan Parry.

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge my old school friend and ‘partner in crime’, Christine Douglas, who shared most of the exploits detailed in this diary from the time of the Beatles first visit to Australia in 1964. Chris, like me, was a prolific diary writer, and kindly allowed me to use excerpts from her diary on several occasions when my own entry was short on detail.

Thanks also to my son Rupert Parry, and Kara Jenson-MacKinnon, for reading though in detail and making many valuable comments from a young adult’s point of view, particularly things that needed to be clarified for today’s ‘non baby-boomer’ readers. And to my, husband Tristan Parry, also a writer - who as well as reading each transcript, tirelessly scanned in all my old newspaper clippings and photographs and designed and formatted this book.

Thanks to Australian rock historian Glenn A Baker for allowing me to republish his writings on the sixties as a Foreword to this book, to producer/promotor Dennis Smith for re-introducing us to many of the sixties stars via his ‘Go!! Show’ reunion concerts in Melbourne, and to the stars themselves -- the idols of this diary -- many of whom are still with us, and still performing.

Preface

In 1964, I was a final year student at Hampton High School, living in a three bedroom yellow brick house backing on to a suburban train track in the quiet middle class Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin -- half an hour’s drive from the city and just a stone's throw from the Gilbey's Gin Factory. During the week I wore a demure yellow and black checked frock, navy blazer, white socks and pigtails; at weekends, I transformed into a mod -- with long straight hair and fringe, dark eyes, pale Mary Quant lips, dolly skirt and white stockings -- obsessed with the Beatles, the Stones and our local ‘beat’ bands.

This period of my diary spans early 1964 to early 1965, a period of radical change, musically and culturally. I have not edited the original language -- it is the authentic writing of a sixteen year old girl, transcribed from a tatty leather bound hand-written diary crammed with newspaper cuttings, photos and souvenir show tickets. During the first few months of 1964, my life was fairly ordinary - then the Beatles arrived in Australia, and seemingly overnight we were catapulted from the era of rock and jazz into the new age of Mersybeat, Mods and Rhythm & Blues.

In the beginning of 1964, before Beatlemania hit, our life was radically different. At that time, teenagers were divided into ‘jazzers’ and ‘rockers.’ The rockers idolised Elvis Presley and other American style rock singers. Rocker boys wore pointy shoes, stovepipe pants and had their hair slicked back with Brylcreem, or curled into a shiny roll on top of their heads. Rocker girls had short bouffant hair, teased into beehives and stiff with lacquer. The rougher types were called ‘bodgies and widgies.’

I was a jazzer -- a culture group more closely aligned with the soulful and intellectual ‘Beatniks’ (non-conformist types who wore black turtleneck sweaters, berets and sunglasses, and discussed poetry and literature). Jazzers thought of themselves as more sophisticated and intelligent than rockers. They wore their hair long and natural, rather than slicked or teased -- the boys with desert boots and duffle coats, the girls dressed in dark or sombre colours such as black, purple and mauve.

Rock and jazz dances were mostly held on Saturday nights in suburban community halls, and many catered for young teens. There was no alcohol and certainly no drugs. Those were the days when pubs closed at 6pm, and in any case, we prudish teens didn’t drink. Jazz dances were dark and moody -- with fishnet dangling from the ceiling, dim red lights and candles in bottles thick with dripping wax. Many venues had roped off ‘coffee lounge’ sections, often on the stage area -- although that was well before the days of lattes and flat whites, it was just instant coffee and raisin toast.

Apart from jazz dances, night life typically involved record parties, movies (especially drive in theatres) and social activities held by the youth group attached to our local church. At many functions, including school socials, we still did the traditional dances of our parents’ generation, such as the Progressive Barn Dance, Foxtrot and Pride of Erin, which were taught at school as extra curricular activities.

At 16 years of age I was a diligent student. I was editor of the school magazine in fifth form, and a prefect in sixth form. Every day I cycled to Hampton High, a co-ed school in a beachside suburb a few miles from home. My brother Larry, who was six years younger, was in primary school. Our various pets had included chickens (which we persuaded our parents to buy as fluffy yellow chicks for a penny each from the market), white mice, ants (in an ant farm) and the proverbial cat and dog. My mother stayed home to look after us, while doing part time work such as sewing and flower arrangements. She used to make my dresses from designs I chose from magazines.

I had kept a diary since the beginning of high school, a habit instilled in us by our first form English teacher, Mr Collins, who inspired us by reading ‘The Diary of Anne Frank.’ Of course I wrote longhand, with occasional sections laboriously tapped out on my father’s old manual typewriter. There were no computers and no mobile phones. The concept of the Internet was unimaginable -- let alone MySpace, Facebook or YouTube. There were no videos or DVDs, not even audio cassettes -- we got our music from the radio (the wireless) or vinyl records.

My best friends at school included Chris (Christine), Suzi, Thais, Yvonne, Jane and Sharon. We were just average teenage kids. We flirted shyly with the boys at school, at church and at dances. We didn’t even think about sex, let alone talk about it or do it! A chaste kiss and a cuddle was about the most risqué we would ever get. It was Chris who became my kindred spirit when we launched on our pop odyssey. She was fair haired, enthusiastic, idealistic and adventurous, and like me, kept a copious diary of our exploits.

The ‘in’ Melbourne radio station was 3AK, which housed top disk jockey and much loved pop guru Stan Rofe (‘Stan the Man’), who was always up with the latest overseas trends. In those days Australia was very isolated, and people such as Qantas airline staff were invaluable for keeping DJs abreast with what was happening musically on the other side of the world. Stan was the one who first played records by the Beatles, and then the Rolling Stones. Word of the ‘Fabulous Four,’ and the stir they were creating in Britain, started filtering through to Australia in late 1963. By then they had brought out two albums, ‘Please Please Me’ and ‘With the Beatles.’ By early 1964 their records were being played on radio stations and we were cutting out their photographs from magazines and talking about them at school.

Then in June 1964, the Beatles hit Australia in person. Chris and I were there to greet them and screamed ourselves hoarse outside their hotel along with thousands of other teenagers, in scenes of mass hysteria never witnessed in Australia before. Our parents (and the media) watched in amazement as these ‘long haired hooligans’ from England became our first pop idols, capturing our imagination and our hearts.

Chris and I morphed instantly into mods. London was the centre of our world, and the place we most aspired to go. Local bands grew their hair, spruced up their outfits and morphed into Beatles look and sound alikes. Suburban Town Hall rock dances morphed into Merseybeat venues overnight. Discos sprung up in inner city alleyways, basements and warehouses, hosting live ‘beat’ bands interspersed with DJs playing records. Our new TV station, Channel 0 (later to become Channel 10), started ‘The Go!! Show,’ which catered to the new wave of pop music (as against Sydney’s more conservative and mainstream ‘Bandstand’) and gave emerging mod bands and singers a platform. Singers and bands from other states clamoured to appear.

Chris and I idolised our local stars just as much as the British ones - young Melbourne singers like Normie Rowe, Merv Benton and Bobby & Laurie, and bands such as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Tony Worsley and the Blue Jays, the Flies and the Spinning Wheels. Mod bands were our obsession and now took priority over everything including schoolwork and exams. Ordinary boys were left by the wayside. As many of the emerging stars were our age, or just a few years older, we considered ourselves their peers, not their ‘fans.’ Our aim was to become their friends, and to help further their careers.

It seemed that Melbourne was the throbbing centre of the new beat culture, and we were swept away with it. Our world would never be the same.

My Diary 1964

During the last six months of this year, my girlfriend Chris and I really penetrated into the world of celebrities. Fate has played a major part in our lives. The co-incidences have been remarkable. We’ve felt destined by the Gods.

Ordinary boys have been completely disregarded: our eyes have been fixed on the stars, while ideals which we had previously thought of only as crazy dreams have materialised before our very eyes.

Our parents are not too happy with the way we have spent our last year of high school -- and are fed up with our ravings. Maybe we are being childish, but I don’t think so. Anyway, who cares, if we are enjoying ourselves? Chris and I couldn’t bear to be in a rut like so many teenagers!

Following is a full coverage of what has been the most exciting period of our lives. Our souls soared so high that they reached the rainbow, where, as Billy Thorpe sings, 'the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.’

Wednesday 1st January 1964

New Year’s Resolutions

Altogether, nothing much happened in 1963. I’m 16, the most exciting age, so this year I will have to make the most of this and go to a lot more dances, and meet many more boys, while studying hard in between.

We are in South Australia for the Christmas holidays, staying with my aunt, uncle and cousins at their cheese factory in Mt Gambier -- so unfortunately I couldn’t be at any New Year’s Eve festivities and have no-one here my own age. I also had a disappointing time last New Year’s Eve, when we were in Sydney -- everyone went to bed early. Last night I so much wanted to be with young people and have fun. Soon I’ll be too old to enjoy these things.

Anyway, here are my New Year Resolutions for 1964. I will:

1. Never tell a lie (well maybe a little white one).

2. Try not to talk badly of other people.

3. Won’t lose my temper if possible. Will be quiet and count my joys instead.

4. Try to keep a smile on my face.

5. Won’t argue with Mum over pointless things or be unreasonable.

6. Act more sociable towards my brother Larry (age 10), then maybe he’ll do the same for me.

7. Go to bed early nearly all the nights I don’t go out.

8. Get up early and won’t rush around to get ready.

9. Try to keep up regular exercises.

10. Keep clean, immaculate, well-groomed -- nails, hair, etc.

11. Not laugh too loudly, try to speak with a nice voice, walk well, etc.

12. Study more, and do homework sooner on weeknights, so I can have the weekend free.

13. Be more friendly and cheerful towards other people.

14. Keep my room tidy.

15. Only watch selected TV (I don’t watch much now, anyway).

16. Be more helpful in the home.

17. Be more definite about things -- not uncertain and nervous as I usually am.

Well, I could possibly think of more resolutions, but this is a good start. Overall, I’m going to be a much happier, healthier person -- I hope!

Thursday 2nd January 1964

Beatles book

Woman’s Day had a big article on the Beatles’ fabulous success in England this week, with a colour picture. I’ve cut it out, and bought a big scrapbook for my pictures and articles, so I can keep a record of their progress.

‘Though they make a neat, complementary group, The Beatles are refreshingly free of the poise and polish of your slick professional. The heroic quartette -- John Lennon, leather voiced, assured; Paul McCartney, soft, choir boy faced; George Harrison, sharp, handsome; Ringo Starr, soulful, slightly bemused -- are just like a bunch of good, clean, healthy, exuberant lads from up the road who have popped in for an informal beat session.’

They’re going to appear in an episode of a new Channel 7 show called ‘Big Night Out.’ Can’t wait for them to come to Australia! Paul is just gorgeous!

Wednesday 5th February 1964

Back to school

Today was the first day of school -- as a sixth former!! I’m in Form 6B. There are 12 girls so far and about twice as many boys (oh boy!). I do hope I’ll be elected a Prefect.

David W is in my class again -- he’s such a nice, bright boy. I’m sure he likes me -- I knew he did last year, anyway. He sat in the desk opposite me for a time today, and made many remarks meant for me to hear and comment on. Saw Con, too. He’s still lovely. But unfortunately he has stayed down in fifth form.

There are two new boys in 6A. Greg, who has just arrived from Sydney, caught my fancy. But sadly I’m not in any of his classes, not even Form Assembly. He must be doing Maths-Science subjects -- must be intelligent! Can’t wait for the school Social.

Sunday 9th February 1964

Back to YAF

YAF (Young Anglican Fellowship) was the Church of England’s youth group, attracting teenagers from about 15 to 19 years old. Many of the members weren’t particularly ‘religious,’ but it was a friendly weekly gathering of nice kids and served as a convenient way to meet and socialise with members of the opposite sex.

Tonight was the first YAF meeting for the year. I came along thinking no one good would be there -- but there were 13 boys (compared to about 5 girls!) -- including Rodney and Roger, David H, Graham and Ian. I had been wondering if Rodney would be there. He looked really lovely, in a bone jumper and slacks, with nice shiny hair. I was glad I had dressed carefully. I had on a mauve skirt, purple sneakers and matching blouse. When I walked in, all the boys whistled.

I really felt something about Rodney, but we didn’t talk -- I was longing to. He spoke up a lot in the meeting we had -- he’s getting much more determined and admirable. But he only looked at me once!

I’m so sorry about what happened last year -- he was mad about me (everybody said), but I liked others more and was very awful to him. I really regret that now and wish I could do something. He was never the same to me after that, though now we are friendly, but in a more formal way. Now I really see that he’s a marvellous boy.

Sunday 16th February 1964

Beach Party and Record Party

I’ve just been crying! And I’m going to cry myself to sleep! Here’s why:

Today instead of a Fellowship meeting, we went to Seaford for a day at the beach. I had on my new yellow and white bathers and felt rather smart. It went wonderfully -- I really began to get friendly again with Rodney. Roger was great fun too.

We played ball in the water, and Rod picked me up lots of times, although all in fun I think. Later on we were lying next to one another on the sand and I thought things might be getting better between us.

Sharon (the girl next door) was in her two-piece and acting sultry … I remembered that time last year when she flirted madly with Rodney. So, now to the trouble -- the record party we all went to that night was at Jenny’s place. Sharon had said beforehand, You were getting on well with Rodney, then, He’s a marvellous kid, and then changed her mind and decided she would come.

At first it was wonderful. Sitting snugly on a long seat in the corner were Rodney, Thais, me and Ian, with Roger and David T at our feet. It was good being surrounded by them. Then Sharon (I hate her!) made her entrance. From the start, I could see she was out to get my Rodney! Rubbing his hair, bending close, whispering ... Then I made my fatal mistake -- left the seat for a while -- and afterwards, when I glanced their way, there was Sharon on his knee, kissing him! What absolute cheek! What a friend! You could guess she would be so crafty and heartless! -- and Rod was a sucker for her fake charm.

I danced with Ian as Cliff Richard’s record played -- When the Girl in Your Arms. Ian remembered we were dancing together when they played that at last year’s break up party.

Roger is an absolute darling! I adore him, I love him! But as a dear friend. I think he is just wonderful -- not