This photograph was taken on Wednesday, September 28, 1960 at Harold’s Café, a hotel bar on the Grosse Freiheit in Hamburg. The band was still playing the Indra Club located just down the street. The pic was taken by one of those roving photographers who, in those days, used to snap souvenir photos for a fee. With so many visiting sailors coming into port, I would imagine that it was a lucrative business. In this case, he presumably took six photos, one for each of the guys sitting at the table. The unfamiliar participant sitting third from left is Helmut (a waiter). Because the Beatles were chatting and moving their heads as the photos were snapped, the images taken at that moment look very similar to each other, but are not identical. The photographer was using a Polaroid camera, so the photos were “instant” – pulled out of the camera and handed to the Beatles on the spot. To my knowledge, only four of the six photos have been documented. The one featured here is Paul’s, which he promptly sent to his girlfriend back in Liverpool, Dot Rhone. This appears in Paul’s new “Lyrics” book. The one that George bought appears in the “Beatles Anthology” book. Pete’s photo is featured in the Casbah book written by Roag Best. I own the original that Stuart bought that day. He captioned and dated it on the reverse side before sending it home to his family. The only two that I haven’t seen are John’s and Helmut’s, assuming they still exist.
This photograph was taken on Wednesday, September 28, 1960 at Harold’s Café, a hotel bar on the Grosse Freiheit in Hamburg. The band was still playing the Indra Club located just down the street. The pic was taken by one of those roving photographers who, in those days, used to snap souvenir photos for a fee. With so many visiting sailors coming into port, I would imagine that it was a lucrative business. In this case, he presumably took six photos, one for each of the guys sitting at the table. The unfamiliar participant sitting third from left is Helmut (a waiter). Because the Beatles were chatting and moving their heads as the photos were snapped, the images taken at that moment look very similar to each other, but are not identical. The photographer was using a Polaroid camera, so the photos were “instant” – pulled out of the camera and handed to the Beatles on the spot. To my knowledge, only four of the six photos have been documented. The one featured here is Paul’s, which he promptly sent to his girlfriend back in Liverpool, Dot Rhone. This appears in Paul’s new “Lyrics” book. The one that George bought appears in the “Beatles Anthology” book. Pete’s photo is featured in the Casbah book written by Roag Best. I own the original that Stuart bought that day. He captioned and dated it on the reverse side before sending it home to his family. The only two that I haven’t seen are John’s and Helmut’s, assuming they still exist.
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