No one thought they were very good at the time, and very few now even know they once existed. However, no one could deny the importance of their band members on the history of the sixties--indeed, on American culture to this day. I'm speaking about the almost forgotten sixties group Marina Size, featuring drummer Pete Best, bass player Lee Harvey Oswald, and lead singer/guitarist Charlie Manson. Many upon hearing this are shocked that someone so cold and inhuman could be capable of making music but, believe it or not, Pete Best was.

The year was 1962, and there was change in the air. American top forty was riddled with tired, teen idol yammerings, and one-shot novelty records. The time was right for a revolution. Enter the catalyst in the form of the Beatles. The Beatles immediately changed the rules of music making and, more importantly, the music itself. From then on, bands needed to wear their hair longer, write their own songs and, most importantly, deny their marriages. There was change within the Beatles as well, as the band, in favor of drummer Ringo Starr, ousted Pete Best. This left Pete to seek his fortune in America, where he hoped to start his own rock n' roll band, The Pete Best Project.

In Snail Canyon, California, a young singer/songwriter by the name of Charlie Manson was already an established sight at most hootenannies. His increasingly loyal following consisted of mostly fifteen and sixteen-year-old girls, which prompted his peers to refer to him as Charlie Muff-son, behind his back. Most times Charlie would play for nothing but a few cokes and some chewing gum at the local soda shops. What made Charlie different from the other troubadours of the day, was that his repertoire consisted almost entirely of originals, save a few obligatory Dylan covers. By this time he was already performing acoustic versions of later Stone Canyon Ranch Manson Family staples as "Butter My Chair," "My Ego Is Sweating," and "Fizz Fizz, Plop Plop, Dead Cop."

At this time in Los Angeles, California, a man answering to the name of Alec Hiddell was arriving back in America after two years spent in Moscow. The name on his passport, however, was Lee Harvey Oswald. He carried his duffel bag of drab clothing, and his electric bass, to the cheapest, closest hotel he could find, and checked-in under the name of Leigh Hibble. Lee originally wanted to be an author, unfortunately his first book, "Misconceptions & Unfounded Allegations," failed to find an audience. Heartbroken, he decided to travel to Russia and live among fellow Marxist-Leninists. It was in Russia that Lee first picked up the bass. He jammed with co-workers during his infrequent vodka breaks at the Turgenev Radio Factory, and got quite good. He made his way around the fledgling rockabilly circuit playing with a few skiffle groups in Moscow, such as Tovarbitch, and The Minskies. Hearing the Beatles had changed Lee's life. He immediately headed home, determined to form his own band, one that would push the boundaries of what was possible in music. Interested in the power of music as propaganda, he had already carved the words "FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA" into his bass. Lee put up some flyers throughout the streets around his hotel, and handed out the rest to anyone who passed by. They read, and I quote:

"Bass player in search of guitarist and drummer to form original musical collective. Into Beatles, Buddy Holly, and Che Guevara. Contact Lee at the Tippett Hotel, Room number 7. No posers."

He was not aware at the time, but Lee had just taken the first step towards greatness.

Pete Best landed at Los Angeles Airport with little fanfare. Point of fact, there were two fans there, an eleven year-old-boy with a DA haircut, and the boy's barber. Little did Pete expect that his date with destiny was approaching. As Pete was about to enter the Sutcliff Hotel to check-in, he passed one of Lee's flyers. The bravery of the lone bassist as well as his sense of humor impressed Pete. Pete would later explain, "I thought the Che Guevara line was a bloody joke... who knew?" Pete called Lee and suggested that they jam. Lee was thrilled, but said that since they didn't really know each other, they should just arrange to meet and play music.

Snail Canyon was getting too small for Charlie Manson. His multiple run-ins with the law, as well as his multiple personalities, were gaining longer and longer stays in the county jail. Charlie made time serve him, however, as he used his incarcerations to gain better proficiency on the guitar. He would often play for his cellmates, which puzzled the guards because Charlie was held in isolation. Upon leaving jail, Charlie set out to form a religion, or a band, depending on how many people he could find. It wasn't long before he settled upon Los Angeles as the place to be, and packed his guitar, half-written songs, and his collection of used condoms, before hopping the next greyhound out of town. Unfortunately, that bus was going to Duluth. Once in Duluth, however, he hopped the next bus going to LA. At the LA depot, while discussing the weather with a stray dog, he noticed a flyer taped to the fire hydrant. When Charlie picked it up and read the line, "No Posers," he saw it as a sign from God, as his mother's maiden name was Noposers. The last part of the puzzle was about to fall into place.

Pete and Lee were about to start jamming together, when the phone rang with a call from Charlie. Lee told him to come on down, and they'd all play together. Charlie explained that he had to butter his chair, but he'd be right down afterwards. When Charlie arrived, the three tore through a few Beatles tunes that they all knew, and which Pete claimed he really wrote. After "I Saw Her Standing There," and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," Pete had no doubt that Lee and Charlie were questionable musicians, and Charlie and Lee had no doubt that Pete had no hand in the songs' writing. There was something there, however, that was felt by all of them-an Earth tremor-which Charlie took as a sign and convinced the others of its significance as well. The band was formed. All that remained was to write some original songs.

Pete had a drum riser filled with songs he'd written himself, but the Beatles wouldn't let him perform. He played a few of these songs for Lee and Charlie, and they decided jointly to put the songs back in the drum riser. Charlie then played a few of his half-written songs. There was an exciting quality to the songs, however they were all written in French, which unfortunately was a language that Charlie didn't speak. Then Lee took out a song he'd written the night before, thinking about his wife Marina, whom he had to leave behind in Russia while he arranged for her visa. Called "Marina's Eyes," it spoke of Lee's urge to again look into the eyes of his beloved:

When Capitalist Pigs keep my face in the slop,

It's to my Comrade's knees I drop.

I'll gaze toward heaven, straight up God's thighs,

It's there I see... Marina's eyes.

"Those are great fuckin' lyrics, man," Pete said. Pete had been present for the conception of quite a few hits while in the Beatles, and he immediately heard the song's potential. Even Charlie knew Lee had something in the song's beautiful imagery, and he offered to butter Lee's chair. Pete suggested that since the song would quickly gain success, and become their signature tune, they should name the band after it. Thus, Marina's Eyes was formed. Charlie had a flair for painting, and he set about painting the band's name on the kick drum. When he'd finished he proudly showed the boys the drum that read, "Marina Size." Rather than point out Charlie's blunder, Lee and Pete decided they liked the name. Thus, Marina Size was formed.

Even a band boasting a bona-fide star, in Pete Best, would have trouble booking American gigs in those days. To start off with, some Southern club owners still paid performers by weight, a nickel a pound in some cases. Except for a club in Chattanooga, which a Big Bopper gig forced into bankruptcy, this wage definitely was in the club owners' favor. Pete knew that first thing they'd have to do is put out a record. That would generate name recognition, a fan base for live shows, and plenty of time to fatten-up for a tour of the South. All that remained was to practice day and night, until they were a tight unit. One day and night later they were ready, and Pete began working the phones to track down a record company that would take a chance on two novices, and an ex-Beatle.

Filigree Records had an illustrious history of classical recordings, though in 1962 the company was making a concerted effort to fill the record demand of America's wealthy, bored youth. Their last three recordings had all been sung by Teen Idol Toby Whitewood, "The Ballad of Jimmy Joe Billy Bear," "Do The Knuckle-Sandwich," and the tearful, "The Little Occluded-Front That Sighed." The Beatles arrival, however, signaled the death-knell for Toby, and all like him. Record companies were shambling to record any and all Beatlesque groups. Filigree Records was run by an expatriate Swede-by way of Iran, and China, respectively-Ahbeeb Svenschin. Pete pulled a few strings and arranged an audition. Years later, Svenschin recalled his first impression of the group, in his biography "Bupkus:"

Luckily, Svenschin stopped them at the door, contract in hand. They would cut "Marina's Eyes" that afternoon, for the princely sum of fifty dollars. They were on their way to the top.

It was decided between the band that Charlie would be the singer on "Marina's Eyes," given his outgoing persona. He could really sell the material, which is what the band needed at this important time. Lee, happy just to have his love poem to his beloved wife recorded, quickly agreed. For the recording session, Ahbeeb hired famed producer Skip Fester. Fester had been the guiding force behind the late fifties groups, "the Spats," "Bob E. Bob and the Bobbins," and of course, "the Festerettes." His legendary edifice of noise would be used to full effect on Marina's Eyes. Under the Capitalist Pigs line, there were cash registers "k-chinging." On the Comrade's knees line, there were goose-steppers "goose-stepping." Finally, on the looking up God's thighs line, there was an otherworldly chorus of celestial voices. Charlie, for his part, never sounded better. He was frail and insecure one line, strong and cocksure the next. He seemed to have become someone else. Charlie backed up this suspicion by forcing everyone to call him Lollypop Johnson long after the tape stopped rolling.

They had done it. They had caught lightening in a bottle, the sure-fire hit that every musician prays for. Oddly enough, they had nothing to record on the B-side. Some of Charlie's songs might have worked out perfectly; unfortunately, Lollypop Johnson didn't seem to know them. Lee had said all he wanted to say in Marina's Eyes, and retreated to a corner where he scrawled "MEANS OF PRODUCTION" into his bass. Pete then pulled out his kit bag, and unsheathed a ream of papers. He searched quickly through the tome and took out one song. He quickly supplied everyone in the studio with their own copies, and they read it through together. Called, "Like Me, Do!" it's highly understating to call it derivative. However, they were pressed for both time and a song, so Pete's plagiarism was propitious. Pete insisted that they'd have both A and B-side number ones. Something the Beatles heretofore hadn't done. Pete even cajoled everyone into letting him sing lead:

Like, like me, do! You know I like you!

I'll seldom be blue. If you please... like me, do.

Charlie, as Lollypop, would only play a changa guitar strum-which gave the song a stagger effect. This reminded Lee of the washboard scratch of his skiffle days, and he responded with a walking rockabilly bass line. These oddities, as well as Skip's producing tricks (the sound of his newly barmitzva'd nephew blowing the shofar, instead of Lennon's harmonica) helped the song from sounding like the out-and-out "Love Me, Do" rip-off it was. It didn't matter, for DJs seldom even played the B-sides, not to mention the teens that bought the records. It was the Age of the Single, and "Marina's Eyes" would live up to that age's promise. Skip worked out a deal with Ahbeeb, whereby he would stay to help shape the group's career.

Skip arranged their first live gig, while the single was being pressed. It would be at Morris the J's live radio spot from Tate's roller rink. Morris the J was a Los Angeles AM-radio DJ, who billed himself as the seventh Beatle. He had worked with Skip on Paul Petersen's Nebraska tour, and the two had an unstinting mutual respect. Morris remembers the group:

"Well, the little hairy guy was funny. I remember that. He had a real kinda stage presence. The drummer had nice hair, but I think he only had one arm, poor guy. That's how it sounded, anyway. The bass player... I think he was a kinda heavy-set guy... maybe four-foot-ten or somethin'.... He didn't say much. Anyway, the kids seemed to like 'em. I remember about forty or fifty little bald girls--I mean it, they were skin-bald--about twelve or thirteen-years-old each--all crowdin' around the stage under that little hairy fella."

 

By all accounts at the time, the gig went smoothly enough. Unfortunately Charlie, confronted with his biggest crowd to date, would only sing with his back to the audience. Pete and Lee tried to correct this for the next concert, but Charlie explained to them that the little girls were trying to steal his eye beams, to put in their Daddy's britches. Pete and Lee thought it best to drop it, and toyed with playing with their backs to the audience as well. The boys gigged around at sock hops, and high schools, as well as strip clubs on Sunset Boulevard. Skip needed the group to get tight, and that meant a lot of shows. To help them stay awake longer, Skip--over the protestations of Ahbeeb--got a doctor to prescribe amphetamines for the band.

The amphetamines allowed the boys to play sometimes forty shows a night, but they also produced uncharacteristic personality traits. For example, there was the night that Lee snapped at Pete, after Pete suggested that Lee hadn't been pulling his weight as a songwriter since "Marina's Eyes:"

All text Copyright © 2000 James J. Smith; All images stolen and manipulated by James