Ben Essing

Ben Essing (22 April 1934 – 15 February 1994 ) was a Dutch impresario from Blokker, Netherlands. The son of the town's mayor, he was instrumental in getting a number of international acts to play in the local auction hall where ordinarily produce was sold,

Biography

Stage for The Beatles 1964 show in Blokker, made with produce crates. Rebuilt for 50th anniversary, 2014. Photo Nellie Besseling.

Essing was born in Dirkshorn, a small village near Schagen in North Holland. His father was a gemeentesecretaris, formerly the head of a municipality's civil servants, and later became mayor of Blokker. In 1956, he was a law student and the president of the local Catholic youth club; to raise money for the club he got the Dutch Swing College Band, at the time the best-known Dixieland band in the country, to play in Op Hoop van Zegen, Blokker's auction hall—his father was the president of the auction. In years following, other major acts to play there included Benny Goodman, Victor Silvester, and Cliff Richard.

His biggest coup was, undoubtedly, engaging The Beatles for two shows on 6 June 1964. and in 2014 the fiftieth anniversary was celebrated with an exhibition.

After The Beatles, Essing founded a booking agency for dance orchestras in Alkmaar, and had a brief and disappointing career in real estate. He returned to booking shows and organizing events, including a number of very successful fundraisers for Dutch television. After being implicated in supposed irregularities with the proceeds from such an event in 1974, he left the Netherlands for Belgium, returning for another event in 1989. When he died in Alkmaar in 1994, he had been mostly forgotten.