Sunday, January 8, 2017

Signed by all four

In the 1970's a fan named Howard Siegal set out to get all four Beatles to sign a photograph for him.   This wasn't easy, of course because the Beatles had broken up and were no longer at the same place at the same time.    So Howard had his work cut out for him.


He decided he wanted a photograph of the Beatles at a press conference in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio signed by the four former Beatles and he set out to get his signatures.   He decided to have each Beatle signed with a different colored ink pen  because he had one of those auto-signed Beatles autograph pictures that had each signature in a different color and he liked how it looked.


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The first Beatle he met was Paul McCartney.   He met Paul at what seemed to be his favorite place to stay in the 1970's, the Stanhope Hotel in New York City  on May 24, 1976.   Paul was his typical friendly self and signed several items for Howard besides the photo that day.

Photo  taken by Howard Siegel  and posted with permission 

Next he met  George Harrison while he was in Chicago promoting the 33 1/3 album on November 15, 1976.   George wasn't in a very good mood and signed the photo and just his first name on another item.

photo copyrighted to Barb Tyler and posted with permission 


It wasn't too long before Howard got to get John Lennon's signature.   After waiting 12 long hours out in the cold and rain on December 20, 1976, Howard got to meet John and he wasn't disappointed.  John displayed his typical Lennon witt and went out of his way to sign several things for Howard and his friend, Andrew.

Howard with John Lennon.  Photo taken by Andrew Lukac and copyright Hoard Siegel.  Posted with permission

Ringo must have been the most difficult to track down, because Howard didn't snag his autograph until March 23, 1981 when Ringo and Barbara were guests on the Phil Donahue show in Chicago.   During commercial breaks fan were allowed to go up to Ringo and get his autograph.  

Photo by T. Alan Hartman .  Posted with permission 


And so he did it!   Howard is one of the few people that owned a photograph signed by all four Beatles after the break up of the band!     Sadly Howiardpassed away in November of 2014 and his Beatles autograph is currently up for auction on ebay.  It is being sold by Howard's friend that was with him when he got Ringo's autograph on the picture.

If you are interested, please check it out.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/222369194071?ul_noapp=true

3 comments:

  1. I can imagine PM himself outbidding everyone for that, under an assistant's name.

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  2. Great autographs and great story but the seller wants $59,000.....that's crazy!

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  3. I met this German girl in London once who tried to do this by mail. She got her photo back, signed by George, and then sent it on to Paul. That was the last she saw of that photo.

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