Spending time in the hotel suite

Photo taken by Ringo 

 January 16, 1964 

Pineapple Pete

Photos by Ringo Starr

 

Remember a few years ago when Ringo had a pet Pineapple that everyone called Pineapple Pete?  For some unknown reason I was thinking about that today and decided to share the photos.  

Traveling by Train

Photo taken by Ringo Starr 

 

Ringo bored on a Sunday afternoon

May 9, 2021

Self Timer photos

Photos taken by Ringo Starr 

 

Share a Coke and a smile

Photo taken by Ringo Starr

We Can Work it Out

Has anyone ever seen the photo that Ringo is taking of the other three on the set of "We Can Work it Out" promo?    I LOVE this promo.  John is so funny in it.   I'd love to see what it looked like through Ringo's lens. 

Remembering Robert Freeman

Robert Freeman and John photographed by Ringo Starr

I had Robert Freeman sign my copy of one of his books in 2002 at Beatlefest in Chicago

Paul photo taken by Robert Freeman for a Hard Day's Night

Mal E

Sadly, the famed Beatles photograph, Robert Freeman passed away over the weekend.  Freeman will most likely be remembered as being the man that photographed the cover of the "Meet (or With) the Beatles" album as well as the Rubber Soul album cover.    Freeman took so many great Beatles photographs from 1963-1965.    He was able to capture each of the Beatles' individual personality traits.   He took photos that made the Beatles look sexy in an innocent way.   Millions of girls would hang photos taken by Freeman on their bedroom walls. 

I met him in 2002 and got him to sign one of his books for me.   Tonight I want to honor the great photographer with some of my personal photographs he took over the years. 

Thanks Bob!

In the pool with Paul

Photo by Ringo Starr

Double exposure

Photos taken by Ringo Starr

The top photo is one that Ringo shared that he said was on a slide that was damaged.  However, I found the same photograph in the magazine that published Ringo's photos in 1964.    The top photo is reversed because Paul always wore his ID bracelet on his left arm.

Chilling in Miami

Photo by Ringo Starr 

Beatles caps

photo taken by Ringo Starr 

Almost as soon as The Beatles arrived in the United States, the fans began wearing "John" caps.  Here are some colorful Beatles caps that were made available in 1964.   They must have become even more popular when photographs of The Beatles wearing them were published!

Nell

Photo was taken by Ringo Starr

The most glamorus couple

Photos were taken by Ringo Starr for the Beatles 1968 biography 

Teens Losing Heads over those mop-top Wigs

A newspaper article from the Boston Record American dated Monday, February 17, 1964 all about the Beatles wigs.   

photo by Ringo Starr

Teens Losing Heads over those mop-top wigs
By Eddie Sullivan
February 17, 1964

If you haven't already surrendered to the Beatles you might as well, even if you don't dig them and their crazy hair-dos and their skinny legged pants and their rock and roll and way out signing.

The Beatle Madness is sweeping the land since they established a beachead in their New York Invasion landing on Feb 9.

By Monday thousands of stores all over the land were selling wigs--crazy looking bangs and matted locks -- just like the Beatles showed off on the Ed Sullivan show.

In Boston Gilchrist's kids were spending $1.99 like it was nothing and in 24 hours cleaned out all the stocks in the area.

The stores were all prepared for it and the kids were ready with their money.

As of Friday there were few of the wigs left in stock and New York supply sources were literally buried under "hurry up" orders for more.

Only Beatles Wigs are approved by the British boys because they collect royalties on every one sold.  The Seltaeb (Beatles spelling backwards) company of New York, headed by Nick Byrne, a British business man, has exclusive right to use of the name.

But "beetle wigs," will spelling like the bugs, and "Bug Wigs" and "Beatnik Wigs" and other wigs by names to get around the copyright and avoid royalties are appearing in droves.

Beatle pins, Beatle necklaces and other bits of jewelry, all made in cast metal and bearing likenesses of the originals are being offered some with the copyright name and others with the "beatlenik" or beetle label.

Jack Lynch of Kingston St,, Boston, said that he had a consignment of wigs and sold out by Monday.  "I've got orders for tons of it but can't get delivery," he said.

Catalogues in the hands of retailers list caps, sport shirts, walk shorts, hats and other headwear, coats, ties and other apparel for boys.  for girls there are handbags, belts, blazers, slacks, sweaters, beach bags and "other" teen-age accessories.

From the standpoint of those who don't dig the Beatles, their records, their music and their fashion is that the Beatles Madness threatens to carry right through the summer.   Everywhere you go you'll see their faces topped by wild hair on sweatshirts, shirts, blouses, sweaters, bags, etc., etc., & etc...even in egg cups and ashtrays.

The all Street Journal {sic}, bible of finance, in its Wednesday edition said:  "U.S. teenagers in the next 12 months are going to spend $50 million on Beatle wigs, Beatle dolls, Beatle egg cups and Beatle T-shirts, sweatshirts and narrow-legged pants."

It didn't forecast how much more will be spent on imitation bearing other names or the added millions from records and personal appearances.

We had stow-aways on the yacht!

We had Stowaways on the Yacht!

By Chris Hutchins

New Music Express

The hue and cry of the Beatles’ fantastic reception in America – on which I reported last week – seemed ten thousand miles away as a millionaire’s yacht name of “Southern Trail” slipped gently through the waters around Miami, Florida, with John, Paul, George and Ringo aboard.  Overhead the sun beat down from a clear sky to raise the temperature of 85 degrees.

The Beatles were taking the first opportunity they have had to relax since arriving in the U.S. I was the only journalist invited aboard the luxury yacht loaned to them for a day.  “You can carry the cokes,” Ringo had said at the hotel before we left.

However, the captain had had to turn “Southern Trail” back after twenty minutes at sea to put ashore representatives of a Miami paper who had stowed away below deck.

“Funny how all these people have swimming pools when the sea is just at the bottom of their gardens,” said Ringo, as the craft sailed past white-walled houses, which skirted the waterside.

“Well this isn’t Merseyside – they wear mink bikinis here,” volunteered john, as he focused his camera on George basking in the sun.

From inside the cabin, where a mink-covered couch was just one item of evidence to support John’s information, came the sound of music.  Paul was playing a few of his favorite tunes on a piano.

As the yacht made its way past a small beach, someone recognized the “Mopheads,” as the Beatles have become known in America, and dozens of hands waved in greeting. Many people grabbed cameras to record what they saw—only to discover John and George were already taking pictures of them.

I thought how remarkable it was that success has not managed to change the foursome.

They’re still as down-to-earth and friendly as when I first met them in Hamburg eighteen months ago.  Frequently in America, I watched them step towards a crowd to sign autographs or shake hands with fans when police had cleared a way for them to make a quick entry or departure from a building.

“Hello, how you doin’? All right?” Paul would say in his friendly Lancashire accent as thousands of American teenagers screamed at the very sight of him and the other “Mopheads.”

Carnegie Hall, where they did two shows, merely underlined the fantastic success of the Beatles.  Socialites and teenagers mingled in the audience, extra seats were installed and the group performed under a rain of jellybeans.  They sang their usual number of hits.

The welcome which greeted them at Miami airport when our plane arrived from New York was one of the most fantastic sights ever seen in Florida, according to a State newspaper.  Thousands upon thousands of their southern fans had turned out to line the tops of airport buildings as far as the eye could see. 

And no one was more pleasantly surprised than the Beatles themselves:  “New York and Washington had convinced us that we were pretty popular in those places, but we didn’t expect anything like it down here,” John had told me.

At a press conference soon after their arrival in the resort, the boys had continued their brilliantly funny interviews.

Many of the gags were against themselves, like when they were asked who wrote their music and John retorted, “What music?”    Asked by another reporter if they thought they would last as long as Frank Sinatra, Paul quipped, “We should last longer; we don’t drink!” 

Someone else wanted to know if the Beatles ever got tired of the press following their every move, “No, if they were with us I’d miss ‘em.  Matter of fact, I miss ‘em when I’m asleep!”  John had answered.

My recollections were interrupted as Ringo summoned Paul to the galley to help make some coffee, and a new voice warned George not to take too much sun.

The voice belonged to Bud Dresner, a friendly police sergeant who accompanied the four wherever they went in Miami, frequently offering advice and occasionally steering them as firmly as a manager.

The following night – on the eve of the second nationwide TV appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show- Bud took all four home to have dinner with his wife and children, “We had roast beef – enough to feed an army!” George told me the next morning.

“I like you guys.  I think you’re funny.  Your records are great, too, “Bud said.  He was certainly more pro-Beatle than the cop in Washington who stuck a bullet in each ear when the foursome took the stage for their debut American concert.

Photo by Ringo Starr

As we lazed in the sun, George threw biscuits into the sea.  They were snapped up by a pelican, which had been following the yacht for several minutes, oblivious of its famous passengers.

The spot seemed sufficiently isolated for an uninterrupted swim and the Beatles stripped to their bathing trunks, three of them diving into the clear Atlantic together, as Ringo sat astride the rail to photograph the scene.

Photo by Ringo Starr

But it seemed no sooner had they hit the water than several previously unnoticed craft headed toward the “Southern Trail.”

“It’s the Beatles!” someone yelled, and as the boys clambered aboard, the visitors called to them and leveled cameras.  In return, Beatles cameras were aimed at the discoverers, and the Liverpoplians snapped a few more pics to show to the folk in Bootle before waving back their greeting.

On the way home, the boys stretched out in the sun, determined to get a deep Florida tan on the trip just in case the opportunity didn’t arise again.

Double exposure

Photo taken by Ringo Starr 

I 'd recognize that eyeball anywhere

photo taken by Ringo Starr

Catch of the day

Photo by Ringo Starr

Fun on the Boat

©ImageCollect.com/Globe photos

photo taken by Ringo Starr

photo taken by Ringo Starr

*Please note that the top photo of Paul McCartney has been licensed by ImageCollect.com and it is ILLEGAL to post this photo on social media.  So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not post it on facebook, tumblr, reddit, blogger, flickr, etc.    Thank you for understanding.