Made in Tampa, film on ‘the almost Beatle’ to screen here, too

TAMPA — Before they were The Beatles, the band was named The Quarrymen and the drummer was Colin Hanton.

But Hanton didn’t see a future for the band, so he quit to focus on a career as an upholsterer.

Pete Best replaced him on drums, the band renamed themselves The Beatles, Ringo Starr replaced Best, and the Fab Four made history.

“Pre Fab!,” a documentary based on Hanton’s book of the same name, tells the story of the years before the drummer’s decision changed his life.

The movie screens this weekend at Tampa Theatre.

“‘PRE FAB!’ shows us the origins of the Fab Four before they were fab,” said movie producer and writer Mark Bentley, a Tampa land use attorney with the law firm of Johnson Pope Bokor Ruppel and Burns.

Hanton serves as the tour guide throughout the documentary, which includes interviews with his friends and family, historians and Paul McCartney. The filmmakers had access to the childhood homes of McCartney, George Harrison, and John Lennon plus Abbey Road Studios.

In Liverpool in 1956, Lennon formed The Quarrymen, which consisted primarily of his school friends. It’s said that Hanton was asked to join because he had a drum kit.

Other members were replaced with McCartney and Harrison, but Hanton remained until he quit in 1959 following a show during which the other band members got drunk between sets.

A year later, The Beatles were born.

But, according to the documentary, Hanton has no regrets.

“It is my hope that viewers leave the theater with both a clearer understanding of how The Beatles evolved,” Bentley said, “as well as a sweet reminder that life may sometimes seem unfair, but eventually works out just the way it’s supposed to.”

If you go

“Pre Fab!” can be seen at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Tampa Theatre, 711 N Franklin St.

Tickets are $10.50 for Tampa Theatre members and $13.50 for general admission.

To purchase tickets in advance, visit tampatheatre.org