Sue Mautner left school at 16 in 1962 and, through chutzpah and serendipity, found herself rubbing shoulders with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and many more 60s legends while still in her teens. Mautner went from a Ready, Steady Go! TV dancer to an accidental music journalist and then a record company executive, becoming a front-row witness to pop’s first golden age.
Here she talks about her time with the Fab Four…
Oh my God, I’ve never known a group like them. The four of them fed off one another. It was absolutely unique. John was my favourite. I just thought he was my type of person because he had this cynicism and there was a real edge to what he said. He didn’t suffer fools gladly and could cut you down with two words. But sometimes I’d get a bit worried if I knew I was going to see them and I’d be a bit, oh, is he going to be okay? What side of the bed did he wake up on this morning? Is he going to be in a good mood? Or is he going to cut me to the quick? You know, if I say something wrong, or say something that he thinks isn’t very intelligent – he’d only answer intelligent questions. You had to have your wits about you with John. But he could be lovely too. One night when we’d got back from the Beatles playing on [ITV show] Thank Your Lucky Stars in the Midlands, I remember standing with John at the tea and pie stall at Chelsea Bridge having a cup of tea and talking for what felt like hours. He was very funny all the time and loyal.
I was due to go on the German tour to cover it for the NME and my publisher told me to stand down as he was going instead. I trotted off to Top Of The Pops with the Beatles and as I was leaving the dressing room afterwards, John said, “See you in Germany.” I explained I wasn’t going because the publisher wanted to cover it. And John said, “I’ll see you in Germany.” I didn’t really think anything of it, but talk about working quickly! The next morning, the publisher called me into his office and said, “Oh, a change of plan. I’m just going to cover the first night in Munich and you’ll be doing the rest of it.” I was so happy. Obviously John said something. It all happened so quickly. He must have told the PR, “Sue’s on the tour, make it happen.”
Paul was always very happy go lucky. He was the PR man of the group, everybody had to have a good image. Everybody had to think well of them. He was always affable, always ready to do the interviews where no one else could be bothered. George was a deep thinker, and a good conversationalist and Ringo was Ringo, always affable and happy.
I was very pally with Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones. It was New Year’s Eve 1963, I had just danced on Ready Steady Go! And Brian had said we’d go on to the Ad-Lib club afterwards. I was wearing a really nice outfit, a lovely straight skirt and Brain said, “I’m not going out with you dressed like that.” Thankfully [presenter] Cathy McGowan asked me if I’d like to borrow her trousers. Off with the skirt, on with Cathy McGowan’s trousers. But while I was trying them on, they all buggered off without me. Alan Price of the Animals said “Come with me pet, I’ll take you.” But it was snowing so hard we couldn’t get a cab and we had to walk from Rediffusion TV, in Kingsway, to Leicester Square. By the time we got there I was like a drowned rat. I remember Paul McCartney was there, plus Brian Epstein, George Martin and his girlfriend Judy Smith, later his wife. Brian asked us all back to his to hear Cilla’s new single Anyone Who Had A Heart – which would be her first No 1. Alan Price was a big drinker though and was getting out of hand, he was a bit leary and belligerent. I thought I can’t be left with him. After we’d heard the song, which was fantastic, I must have been looking worried. I thought he might get a bit aggressive with me. And thank goodness George, who lived in St. John’s Wood at the time, noticed I was getting concerned and offered me a lift home. Alan was nice when he wasn’t drinking but not when he was. I didn’t want him to think he was on a promise.
* Groundbreaking podcast She’s With The Band: A Love Letter to Rock and Roll launches tomorrow, chronicling the untold stories of a music industry insider.