Obviously not all Beatle boys went for the mop top hair style, although I bet before 1964, this young man had a different hairstyle than he does here a little over a year later. I love how he is showing off his Beatle albums!
An online Beatles fan club for and about Beatle fans
Showing posts with label Beatles for Sale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beatles for Sale. Show all posts
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Clean cut Beatle fan
Obviously not all Beatle boys went for the mop top hair style, although I bet before 1964, this young man had a different hairstyle than he does here a little over a year later. I love how he is showing off his Beatle albums!
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Beatles for Sale and another fan
The fan connections to the album, "Beatles for Sale" just amaze me. We have already learned about how one fan named Margaret gave the album it's name (even if the Beatles didn't realize it) and now we will learn that a fan named Betty was the first fan to know about the name of the album well over a month before it was released!
On October 22, 1964 Betty Littlewood was one of many fans that attended a Beatles concert at the Odeon theater in Leeds, UK. As we have seen time and time again, it was pretty typical for fans to hand over autograph books, photographs, John's book, or any scrap of paper in hopes of having one or more of the Beatles sign it. These items would get collected and taken backstage and if the Beatles had time, they would sign the items and they would get returned to the fans after the concert. And more often than you might think, a fan received a genuine Beatle autograph this way. However, as you can imagine, if the Beatles did not have time, good ol' Neil or good ol' Mal would forge a Beatles signature on the item and it would get returned. The fan would think that he or she had a real Beatles autograph until many, many years later when that fan would have the autograph authenticated and find out that something they cherished and believed for so long to be the real deal, was in deed a fake.
However, Betty Littlewood would be one of the lucky ones and the signature she received was NOT a fake! She turned over a Beatles fan club photograph. This starpics photograph is something she most likely received through the Beatles fan club and she thought it would make for a great autographed item, as it was a pretty up to date (for the time) photo of the Fab 4. Being a smart young girl, Betty put her first and last name along with her address on the back of the photograph. This way the autograph could be returned to her without any issues.
Of course we don't know exactly what happened backstage with the Beatles before the Leeds performance, so this is just speculation. During October of 1964, the guys weren't just touring the U.K., but they were also working on the "Beatles For Sale" album. They had almost completed recording this album by the time of the Leeds show. They must have been discussing the album cover. We see that they definitely had the name picked out. If they recall Margret's competition winning title will never be known. The photo shoot for the album with photographer, Robert Freeman happened sometime on a "wintry day in late autumn of 1964 around 7:00 pm at Hyde Park near the Albert Memorial" (I love how details can be given, but no one knows the exact date or even month of this photo shoot).
Anyhow, the boys are backstage discussing what they want the new album cover to look like, and John Lennon grabs the only paper that is around him and starts to doodle a few ideas for album covers. He shows the other Beatles and they discuss them. They think the last one looks pretty good (notice Ringo sketched in there...and who is the Beatles with the sad face?) and John signs his name of the back and puts it back into the stack to be returned to the fans after the show.
The Beatles perform their concert and the fans scream. No one can hear the guys and the show was another Beatles success. The guys would not return to Leeds again for a concert again, unfortunately.
Betty Littlewood gets her photograph returned to her and there isn't anything written on the front. But on the back she finds John Lennon's autograph and to her shock some drawings! On October 22, 1964 she got a little sneak, peak into the next Beatles album before the rest of the world even heard of it!
On October 22, 1964 Betty Littlewood was one of many fans that attended a Beatles concert at the Odeon theater in Leeds, UK. As we have seen time and time again, it was pretty typical for fans to hand over autograph books, photographs, John's book, or any scrap of paper in hopes of having one or more of the Beatles sign it. These items would get collected and taken backstage and if the Beatles had time, they would sign the items and they would get returned to the fans after the concert. And more often than you might think, a fan received a genuine Beatle autograph this way. However, as you can imagine, if the Beatles did not have time, good ol' Neil or good ol' Mal would forge a Beatles signature on the item and it would get returned. The fan would think that he or she had a real Beatles autograph until many, many years later when that fan would have the autograph authenticated and find out that something they cherished and believed for so long to be the real deal, was in deed a fake.
However, Betty Littlewood would be one of the lucky ones and the signature she received was NOT a fake! She turned over a Beatles fan club photograph. This starpics photograph is something she most likely received through the Beatles fan club and she thought it would make for a great autographed item, as it was a pretty up to date (for the time) photo of the Fab 4. Being a smart young girl, Betty put her first and last name along with her address on the back of the photograph. This way the autograph could be returned to her without any issues.
Of course we don't know exactly what happened backstage with the Beatles before the Leeds performance, so this is just speculation. During October of 1964, the guys weren't just touring the U.K., but they were also working on the "Beatles For Sale" album. They had almost completed recording this album by the time of the Leeds show. They must have been discussing the album cover. We see that they definitely had the name picked out. If they recall Margret's competition winning title will never be known. The photo shoot for the album with photographer, Robert Freeman happened sometime on a "wintry day in late autumn of 1964 around 7:00 pm at Hyde Park near the Albert Memorial" (I love how details can be given, but no one knows the exact date or even month of this photo shoot).
Anyhow, the boys are backstage discussing what they want the new album cover to look like, and John Lennon grabs the only paper that is around him and starts to doodle a few ideas for album covers. He shows the other Beatles and they discuss them. They think the last one looks pretty good (notice Ringo sketched in there...and who is the Beatles with the sad face?) and John signs his name of the back and puts it back into the stack to be returned to the fans after the show.
The Beatles perform their concert and the fans scream. No one can hear the guys and the show was another Beatles success. The guys would not return to Leeds again for a concert again, unfortunately.
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| Paul and John performing at Leeds |
Betty Littlewood gets her photograph returned to her and there isn't anything written on the front. But on the back she finds John Lennon's autograph and to her shock some drawings! On October 22, 1964 she got a little sneak, peak into the next Beatles album before the rest of the world even heard of it!
Thursday, October 17, 2013
The Beatles for Sale story
Much thanks goes out to Lewis for all of the information he sent to me concerning this story. He really has been a big help and without his willingness to scan and send me these documents, we wouldn't have any idea at all about this story.
The question we have to answer is this: Did a Beatles fan name the album, "Beatles for Sale?" As we will see, the answer to this question is "sort of" as far as I can tell. Let us look at what we know.
In October of 1963, Disc Weekly, which was a newspaper style magazine that was published once a week, held several contests for fans to win tickets to an upcoming Beatles concert in their area. Along with the tickets to the concert, the winners got to meet the Beatles backstage before the show. It appears that three to four winners were chosen for many of the Beatles Autumn 1963 U.K. tour.
To enter this contest, you had to basically make up what you thought would consist of a Beatles EP if it was to be released in the United States. I have been looking for a copy of the exact contest entry form to see how the contest was worded. However, I have not found anyone with a Disc Weekly magazine from September or October 1963 that can look this up for me. So if anyone out there has one, please let me know.
It seems that the contestants had to list six Beatles songs and name the E.P. Of course this is a fictitious E.P. In 1963, the Beatles were not planning on releasing an E.P in America. And I suspect that the editors at Disc Weekly chose the winners. I am not sure if the winners were chosen at random or if they were chosen for what songs they picked and what name they gave the album. But nonetheless, I would bet that the Beatles themselves had nothing at all to do with choosing these winners, as they were busy on the tour and this was Disc's contest.
So one of the winners was 16 year old Margaret Svenson. Today Margaret cannot recall the six songs she chose for the imaginary EP, but she is sure that name title of the album she made up was "Beatles for Sale." She remembers that her friends and family thought the title wasn't very good, but she entered with the name anyhow.
Margaret received the good news from Disc and also The Beatles (in what looks like a fake letter) that she had been chosen to meet the Beatles backstage! These letters do not mention that her album title was amazing or anything about that. She went and met the Beatles backstage at Carlisle on November 21, 1963. She got all four of their autographs as well as a set of autographs for her friend.
Here is where some speculation comes into play. Most likely the Beatles chatted a bit with the contest winners. And one of the questions you would think one of them could have asked was, "how did you win the contest." And the winners would have told them the title of the fake albums they came up with. So if Margaret said "Beatles For Sale," one of the Fab 4 might have just tucked that title away in his brain for a later date. The Beatles did that a lot. They would recall a phrase or a story and use it later in a lyric, so it isn't too far fetched to think that they heard Margret's title and liked it and would remember it.
Sadly, Margaret couldn't use her free Beatles concert tickets and had to leave before the show. She was able to see them in concert at a later stop during the tour.
Skip ahead one year and the Beatles are putting together the album that would become "Beatles for Sale." There is no way that they said, "Oh we have to use one of the titles those contest winners came up with for the name of this new album." A whole long year had passed. But when the Beatles were talking about names, somehow the name "Beatles For Sale" had been brought up. They liked it and it was the title. It is interesting that in all of the books, the other Beatles album titles have stories about how they were given the names, but Beatles for Sale never has a story that goes with it (until now!).
Did Margaret Svenson name the album? Not directly. No one in the Beatles camp would give her credit. But if I was her, I would sure tell everyone that it was me that gave the Beatles the name. While it isn't a strange title or anything, I still find it too much of a coincidence that Margaret won a contest with the title and then a year later it was used. The Beatles either saw the title or heard it from the contest and it stuck with one of them until the following year. That is my conclusion. Mark Lewisohn is free to use this in the next volume of his book. (Haha! I wish).
The question we have to answer is this: Did a Beatles fan name the album, "Beatles for Sale?" As we will see, the answer to this question is "sort of" as far as I can tell. Let us look at what we know.
In October of 1963, Disc Weekly, which was a newspaper style magazine that was published once a week, held several contests for fans to win tickets to an upcoming Beatles concert in their area. Along with the tickets to the concert, the winners got to meet the Beatles backstage before the show. It appears that three to four winners were chosen for many of the Beatles Autumn 1963 U.K. tour.
To enter this contest, you had to basically make up what you thought would consist of a Beatles EP if it was to be released in the United States. I have been looking for a copy of the exact contest entry form to see how the contest was worded. However, I have not found anyone with a Disc Weekly magazine from September or October 1963 that can look this up for me. So if anyone out there has one, please let me know.
It seems that the contestants had to list six Beatles songs and name the E.P. Of course this is a fictitious E.P. In 1963, the Beatles were not planning on releasing an E.P in America. And I suspect that the editors at Disc Weekly chose the winners. I am not sure if the winners were chosen at random or if they were chosen for what songs they picked and what name they gave the album. But nonetheless, I would bet that the Beatles themselves had nothing at all to do with choosing these winners, as they were busy on the tour and this was Disc's contest.
So one of the winners was 16 year old Margaret Svenson. Today Margaret cannot recall the six songs she chose for the imaginary EP, but she is sure that name title of the album she made up was "Beatles for Sale." She remembers that her friends and family thought the title wasn't very good, but she entered with the name anyhow.
Margaret received the good news from Disc and also The Beatles (in what looks like a fake letter) that she had been chosen to meet the Beatles backstage! These letters do not mention that her album title was amazing or anything about that. She went and met the Beatles backstage at Carlisle on November 21, 1963. She got all four of their autographs as well as a set of autographs for her friend.
Here is where some speculation comes into play. Most likely the Beatles chatted a bit with the contest winners. And one of the questions you would think one of them could have asked was, "how did you win the contest." And the winners would have told them the title of the fake albums they came up with. So if Margaret said "Beatles For Sale," one of the Fab 4 might have just tucked that title away in his brain for a later date. The Beatles did that a lot. They would recall a phrase or a story and use it later in a lyric, so it isn't too far fetched to think that they heard Margret's title and liked it and would remember it.
Sadly, Margaret couldn't use her free Beatles concert tickets and had to leave before the show. She was able to see them in concert at a later stop during the tour.
Skip ahead one year and the Beatles are putting together the album that would become "Beatles for Sale." There is no way that they said, "Oh we have to use one of the titles those contest winners came up with for the name of this new album." A whole long year had passed. But when the Beatles were talking about names, somehow the name "Beatles For Sale" had been brought up. They liked it and it was the title. It is interesting that in all of the books, the other Beatles album titles have stories about how they were given the names, but Beatles for Sale never has a story that goes with it (until now!).
Did Margaret Svenson name the album? Not directly. No one in the Beatles camp would give her credit. But if I was her, I would sure tell everyone that it was me that gave the Beatles the name. While it isn't a strange title or anything, I still find it too much of a coincidence that Margaret won a contest with the title and then a year later it was used. The Beatles either saw the title or heard it from the contest and it stuck with one of them until the following year. That is my conclusion. Mark Lewisohn is free to use this in the next volume of his book. (Haha! I wish).
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| Newspaper article about Margaret and snip from Disc that lists her as one of the winners |
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| Autographs obtained by Margaret |
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| Unused ticket from the show |
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| Letter to say that she had won from Disc. (belongs to Lewis do not copy) |
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| Letter from the Beatles (Belongs to Lewis. Do not copy) |
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| Letter written by Margaret in 2013 about her story (belongs to Lewis. Do not copy) |
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| Photo of the Beatles with the winners is Carlisle. Margaret is on the left. |
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