Speaking of Peace and Love...

 Ringo Starr gifted this peace sign necklace to Terry Southern during the making of The Magic Christian in 1969.  It is currently up for bid through Heritage Auctions.   

Beatles Fluff and Stuff

I was familiar with this letter George wrote to a fan named "Susan,"  where he gives her hilarious instructions on how to wash his car.   I was pleased to have found a newspaper article from 1991 that provides the backstory of this letter when it first went up for auction. 

Beatles Fluff and Stuff set to make £2000!

No author listed

The Stratheard Herald

August 16, 1991

    A Jelly Baby destined for George Harrison's mouth, a piece of toast snatched from his jaws, some fluff from under his carpet. All these and more are due to go on sale at Christie's Auction. 

    Sue Henderson, age 44, of Rossal, The Ross Comrie, was brought up in Liverpool, where she became a besotted Beatles fan by the age of 15. She explained that "A girl came to work in my office, who knew John Lennon. She took me to the Cavern Club, which cost 9d to get in, and I met the band backstage."

     Sue was fired by an obsession that had branded her as The Beatles' "number one fan." "I went to the Cavern regularly, and as they became more popular, I had to go down early to be sure to get into the club.  I often got the bus, which George Harrison's father drove. He used to tell me I was crackers to queue up so long just to see them."

     Driven by adoration, Sue called on George Harrison's parents while he was away playing in Hamburg. They asked her in for tea, and her subsequent visits provided ample opportunity for collecting material, such as a discarded sock and a twig from his hedge. 

    "I pleaded with his mother to let me wash George's Ford Anglia. She thought I was nuts!" But her slavish service earned her a letter from George Harrison, which gives humorous instructions on how to go about the task. The letter is now valued at between £ 600 and £ 800.

     Now married with two children, Sue moved to Comrie with her Scots-born husband over two years ago, when they decided to opt for village life. "Obviously, I'm selling the collection because I want the money. I think that's the reason everyone sells memorabilia, if they're honest. I'm hoping it will pay for a family holiday, perhaps to Disneyland."

     Although she hasn't been in touch with George, Sue sent him a note at the time she arranged for the sale, enclosing a photograph of his mother. 

    While not expecting him to get in touch, she said," but I did say, 'Wouldn't your mum laugh to think of this stuff being worth money now?'"

     A spokesman for Christie's said Sue's collection also includes valuable archive material, photographs, autobiography items, and a list of Harrison's record collection showing influences on his music.

It's all about the socks

 

May 17, 1975

I know I have posted these photos before, but I just have to do it again.  It has been 50 years since John Lennon took off his socks and auctioned them to raise money for various charitable organizations.  It has to be one of my favorite fan interactions John had.   

Now what I want to discover is what ever happened to the socks?  I have checked all of the big auction houses and they have never appeared, so someone out there still has them!   

Hair up for Auction

 February 4, 1970 

I am actually surprised this hair hasn't appeared in any modern day auctions.  

Tracks Beatles Auction Time!

Photos taken by Astrid Kirchherr

 

Tracks is holding their 2024 Beatles Memorabilia Auction and it is AMAZING.   Tracks is the premiere place for Beatles collectables and signatures.   The bidding starts on September 27 but you can start looking now. 

And there is plenty to look at!  Some things of interest include plenty of rare photos, Freda Kelly Christmas Fan Club Flexi collection (the very ones that were used to make the 1970 Christmas record), things for our friend Lizzie's collection, and so much more!  Go check it out!

https://www.tracksauctions.com/

The fan club made it possible

 

The autographed page from the Beatles Monthly 

The lucky Beatles membership card 

You all know that I am obsessive about Beatles fan clubs. Now that I have written a book all about the Beatles' North American fan clubs, I would love to write one about the Beatles' fan clubs in Europe, Japan, Australia, and other countries around the world. So, this story is especially great to me. 

Last year, Gotta Have Rock n Roll auctioned items belonging to Constance Vrijdaghs, a Dutch Beatles Fan Club member.  She met John and Yoko during the Bed-In at the Amsterdam Hilton and had them autograph several items, asked them a few questions, and then left a questionnaire for them to fill out and return to her.   They completed the questions by hand and mailed it back to her.   She sold all of the items from that day.  

It is a great story. However, I found in the May/June 1999 Issue of Beatles Unlimited Magazine a reprint of her original story, which was published in the Fan Club newsletter Chains after she met them. The story is a tad bit different from her retelling over 50 years later, and she doesn't even mention the questionnaire.   I always find it interesting what someone writes about directly after the encounter.  Some of the things she wrote were big news at the moment, such as the Beatles having a new album and  a movie.  I hope you all enjoy this as much as I have. 

Written by Constance Vrijdaghs

Aerdenhout, Wednesday, 26th March, 1969,

It is almost impossible to believe, but this afternoon, I went to the Hilton and chatted with John and Yoko! Here's what happened to me! I arrived at the Hilton at about 5 PM and joined a boy and a girl that were watching John and Yoko's room. I asked them if they knew a way to get inside. I told them that I had my membership card from the fan club with me and that I had the intention of interviewing John and Yoko. The boy (Kees) asked if he could come along with me. After a lot of trouble, we were able to talk to a guy at the desk. I showed him my card and told him that I would like to interview John Lennon.

 I had to phone them. The phone was answered by a lady who told me that she had instructions to intercept any calls. The man at the desk took over the phone and transferred the call. A certain Mister Hille from Bovema the Beatles record company (pre-EMI) answered the phone and told me to wait 15 minutes, after which it would be possible to come upstairs. Indeed, two gentlemen came down, Mister Hille and Mister Boskamp. Again, I showed them my card. I just couldn't believe that I was taken up in an elevator and stood before the door before I realized it. Mister Boskamp opened the door, chatted a bit, and then told me that they were allowing me five minutes! 

We walked inside, where the couple sat on the bed in white pyjamas covered by white kimonos. I congratulated them on their marriage, thanked them for receiving us, asked for an autograph, and asked a couple of questions. They were married in Gibraltar, which was quiet and peaceful, and they had traveled to Amsterdam because it was a provocative city. They still thought that Provo was active! They spoke about Provo and their white bikes! At that moment they knew that they had been mistaken, because during that afternoon's press conference, they'd heard that Provo was gone now.   The next Beatles LP will be released this summer and John told me that there were plans to bring out another Beatles movie. Because I had with me the latest BEatles Monthly, something he hadn't seen yet, he read it and signed his autograph on it.  

Inside the room, there were lots of flowers and a large variety of fruit available.  After 15 minutes, we had to go. We quickly shook hands and left the room.  Great. I have never had so much respect for my membership card!

Crossroads

 

June 2, 1999

Paul McCartney wuz here

 

Paul signed this bass for an auction and played it as well. 

Photo Auction happening now

 Heritage Auction is having a photo auction right now and part of the photos up for bid are amazing shots taken by Linda (Eastman) McCartney during The Beatles era.   Every so often Paul will release a photo of him and George together in the recording studio during the recording of Abbey Road.  Well -- the entire negative sheet is up for auction.  Take a look at that!    There are some other gems there, especially if you are someone who likes an almost-naked Paul McCartney. 

Take a look

https://entertainment.ha.com/c/search-results.zx?N=53+793+794+791+792+2088+4294938613&Nf=&Ntk=SI_Titles-Desc&Nty=1&Ntt=shepard&ic4=KeywordSearch-A-K-071316

Backstage at the Beatles Christmas Show

 

As we start 2023, I am wanting to Get Back to the original idea of this site, which is to focus on people that have met the Beatles and not just a place to share random photos (although I won't stop doing that either).   I feel like I have been lazy and have gotten farther from my original intent for MTBFR that I wanted and so no time is better than the start of a new year to get back on track.  

These Beatles signatures are currently in an auction  and I thought the story that went along with them was interesting.   

I got them after the Beatles’ performance at the Odeon Hammersmith in January 1965. I was taken by my aunt (the former ballerina Moira Shearer, of 'Red Shoes' fame) and uncle, the writer and broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy. They had met Paul McCartney at a Christmas party. When they told him they were coming to the concert with two daughters and two nephews (me and my younger brother), he invited us all backstage afterwards. I was 13 years and eight months and wore a shirt with a tab collar which was then all the rage! I shall never forget it. The dressing room was small and cramped. John was sitting on the floor deep in conversation with a man he introduced as ‘my intellectual friend – he’s a teacher’. George and Ringo sat silently smoking. I noticed the washbasin was full of cigarette butts. Paul was the friendliest. He stood chatting to Moira and Ludovic while we passed our autograph books around. I remember very little of the music because of the screaming. Years ago I tore the Beatles’ signatures out of my autograph book and threw the rest away, perhaps unwisely, but there was nothing else of much importance.'

The mystery of the tablecloth has been solved!

 In 2016, I wrote about the tablecloth The Beatles doodled on while backstage in San Francisco in 1966.  You can read that story here.  

Quick recap:  The caterers, Simpson's Catering, brought The Beatles and their crew their food while they were backstage before the San Francisco show and also supplied the tablecloth for the table.   The Beatles used the colorful Japanese pen gifted to them by fans to draw doodles on the tablecloth after the meal.   Joan Baez was also there, and she drew on the tablecloth.   Afterward, Simpson's Catering took their tablecloth back with them, now adorned by Beatle art and autographs.  It was put on display in the shop's front window, and many fans stopped by to see it and take photos of it.   Then six days after the concert, someone broke the large window and took the tablecloth.    

That is all we knew about this piece of Beatles artwork.   It has been missing since 1966.   Although I do have to say that someone in the comments section of the article from 2016 someone came forward and said that the guy who originally stole the tablecloth in 1966 gave it to his uncle, who had no idea it was stolen until the 1980s.    Whoever had the tablecloth gave it back to the son of the caterer in 2020, and now he is selling the tablecloth through Bonhams auctions.  

You can bid on the famous tablecloth here.    It only has one day left!

Thanks to this auction, we can see the artwork up close. 

This is the biggest section that is made by a Beatle.   John Lennon drew all of the yellow areas.  Paul signed his name in bubble letters and put an arrow.  

These drawings were drawn by Joan.   Who do you think she was doodling?

George and Ringo were seen drawing at the table.  But when I looked closer, I realized that they had doodled on paper and not actually on the tablecloth.   What a shame!   I am sure those scraps of paper are long gone.   The caterer asked George and Ringo to autograph the tablecloth. 

This photograph by Marilyn Doerflers really shows some of the art -- notice John's yellow drawing especially?

I am glad that this mystery has been solved and that the tablecloth has survived all these years.  I find it a bit disappointing that there isn't more artwork on it (such as the one they did in Japan the same year), but original John Lennon art is always awesome. 

John and Paul portrait

Some time in 1968  (My guess that it was taken in February), Paul McCartney and John Lennon posed for this lovely photo inside of Paul's home on Cavendish Avenue.    If you look, you can see some of Martha's fur at the bottom.    It really is a great Lennon-McCartney photograph.    Somewhere along the line,  the photo was blown up to  42 by 48 inches and put on a board.   Then it was framed up and do you know where it ended up?

It was in the Apple offices, hanging over the white fireplace.     I am not sure how long it stayed there, but it wasn't there when I was there in 2017.

Alright, I am just joking about that one -- of course, I didn't think there would be any Beatles stuff left inside of the Abercrombie & Finch children's clothing store that now occupies 3 Savile Row.  Honestly, I am not even sure if that is the same white fireplace. 

So where did the John and Paul portrait end up?   In Ringo's possession -- where else?    I am not sure where Ringo had this hanging in his home, or even why he wanted it -- except that it is a really nice photo of his two friends.    But it was sold in 2015 as part of Ringo's auction with Juliens.   Whoever owns it now paid $6,400 for it.    I wonder if they know that it originally hung inside of Apple Offices? 

The Beatles and Me -- How I won the War

Let's take a trip back to 1966 and grab an issue of 16 Magazine.   It was there that you would find interesting feature stories by Pattie Boyd or Neil Aspinall.    This one from Neil about John Lennon and How I won the War is really good.  I think it gives information that you can't find anywhere else.   I really wish Neil had written a book.  But at least we have articles like this one!

The Beatles and Me

By Neil Aspinall

16 Magazine 1966

On the evening of October 8, 1966, John Lennon celebrated his 26^th birthday in an apartment in Almeria, Spain.  Officially, he was 26 on Sunday, October 9^th, but the party took place the night before because John was about to move to a new location.   At the time, we had been in Spain just over three weeks for location work on the Richard Lester movie, How I won the War, in which John plays the part of Corporal Gripweed – a faithful, slovenly and slightly cowardly servant/batman on Lieutenant Goodbody (Michael Crawford) of the British Army.

The entire production unit for the movie got an open invitation to the birthday shindig and believe me, it was quite a wild night!  Almeria is a pretty remote spot – minus most forms of conventional night life, so that party was one of the few really successful social occasions of the month.

John and Cyn had become very friendly with Michael Crawford and his wife, who were renting an apartment nearby.  Already the Crawfords were finding themselves a bit cramped, because they had their lovely little six-month-old baby with them and a nanny.  And Ringo arrived with Maureen for a holiday three days before the birthday party!

“You know what we ought to do?”  John suggested one evening , just after we’d heard that Ringo and Maureen were coming to Spain.  “We should all get together and rent one of those fantastic old villas outside the town.”

The Crawfords loved the idea and the move was organized without delay.  The apartments were very attractive and comfortable – with a wonderful view looking out over the sea.  But everyone wanted more space to move around in and larger “get-togethers” rooms for entertaining.  So, on the Sunday of John’s birthday, we moved into the Villa Corjo-Romera, a magnificent rambling old Spanish villa standing on a hill outside the town.

“It’ll take days just to explore this place,” John declared, as we walked from room to room on the initial four of the villa.  We admired all the heavy woodwork, the superbly decorated ceilings and the majestic main hall.

“That’s it,” replied John.  “A party!  It’s my birthday.  We should have one.”

“We did that last night,” I put in weakly.

“Well, we’ll do it again tonight,” John said.  “It can be called a villa warming, if you like.”

“Hey—you’ve got a game room,” Ringo said.  “Let’s have a go at table tennis later.”

That night’s “villa warming” party coincided with one of the worst storms Almeria had ever experienced in living memory.  Normally, the locals expect no more than about five days of rain each year.  This storm took everybody by surprise.  The rain was torrential and it was accompanied by a fierce wind.  The party was just getting underway, when all the lights went out, so we rushed around trying to find where the fuses were located.    We needn’t have bothered.  The electricity supply cables for the entire area had been damaged by the storm.  And the telephone lines were down too.  Finally, we found enough candles to light the place.  And in the end, the candlelight added a definitely romantic atmosphere to the party, and the power cut turned out to be a novel advantage rather than a disaster.

It goes without saying that there was no film work done on Monday.  The location set had been washed away by the rain.  (After all, this was a desert sequence – and floods just don’t happen in the desert!)  The water supply for the villa came from a well, but the pump was worked by electricity.  It wasn’t until late Tuesday afternoon that the electric power was restored.  So we spent Monday devising ways of eating and existing comfortably without the use of water or electricity. 

The restoration of the power coincided with the arrival of our cook.  So at about three o’clock Tuesday afternoon we all settled down to a late breakfast of sausages and eggs.

“This, I am really looking forward to,” said John and the girls put on a look of mock annoyance.  “Not that I’m saying a word against your cooking, but even you two can’t work wonders without water.”

 John and I had left for Germany to being work on How I won the War less than a week after the Beatles’ American tour.  By  now it must be a matter of well-known historical fact that John’s ceremonial hair-cutting took place at the unearthly hour of 7:30am on the morning of Tuesday, September 6, 1966!  The “operation” was supervised by the film’s producer/director, Richard Lester, and carried out by 28-year-old German hairdresser, Klaus Baruch, of Hamburg.   He came to our small vacation type hotel in the forest of Luneburg Heath to perform his grave task.   John’s familiar fringe was swept back and greased down a bit to transform him into Corporal Gripweed.  The addition of a grubby old army greatcoat plus a pair of very pain specs completed the change from Beatle to “batman.”

Don’t believe any claims people might make about possessing some of John’s clipped-off hair.   I watched the famous locks of hair burning away to nothing while we were at Luneburg!

No true Neil---this lock of John's hair sold at Heritage Auctions in 2016

We got one completely free day in Germany and John took the opportunity of re-visiting some of his favorite haunts in Hamburg.  We couldn’t make the rounds of the Hamburg club scene because we had to be up so early the following morning.  Instead, John went on a shopping spree and picked up an assortment of shirts, shoes, jeans and other accessories from stores he knew well from the Beatles’ days in Hamburg five and six years ago.  It was a fascinating day for John since so many of the places familiar to him had greatly changed since 1960.

We finished filming in Germany on Wednesday September 14^th.  By coincidence, that was the day that a “Mr. and Mrs. Sam Wells” flew from London, Airport on a BOAC plane bound for Bombay.  At Bombay’s Taj Mahal Hotel, it wasn’t long before Mr. and Mrs. Wells alias George Harrison, let himself be pressured into admitting his true identity and explain to the local press his motives for that extended Indian vacation trip:  to study the sitar and everything to do with Asian music.

Meanwhile, back at How I won the War, John and I left Hamburg by the night train to Paris in the small hours of Friday September 16^th.  And at the same time (or a few hours later), Brian Epstein left London for Paris—accompanied by Paul McCartney.  We all met in Paris—just for the weekend, because filming in Spain was due to start early the following week.  The flight from Paris to Spain was fast and the longest and most tedious part of our journey was yet to come.  From the airport at Malaga, we faced a five-hour car dive to Almeria, which is, as I said earlier, a bit of a remote spot.  We drove along what the Spanish fondly imagine are highways but are, in fact, more like dirt tracks with superficial tarmac coating.  For most of the way, the “road “runs alongside the sea – I mean ALONGSIDE, because I reckoned we would plunge straight down into the waves at any second.

The living in Spain was a bit rough, but  nobody minded.  By now, most of the cast had become firm friends.  Although John and I had made a particular mate of Michael Crawford, we were equally close with all the other actors.  Like Ronald Lacy, who is Spool in the picture; Lee Montague, who is Transom (Corporal of Musket and Troop Sergeant); Roy Kinnear, who is Clapper; and Michael Hardern, who plays Lt. Col. Grapple.  Each morning we would be up by 7:30 to leave no later than 8am.  John had his own driver and Rolls with him.  The Almeria inhabitants were thoroughly impressed with this vehicle, and John caused a great stir each day as we drove out of the town.  The local people described the Rolls as the “Royal Hearse.”

Once we left the town each morning, that was it for the whole day.  At the actual film location, we spent most of our spare time watching what was happening or sitting around on the floor of an old bus (no seats) which was used as the company wardrobe and the cast’s dressing room. Between 8:30am and 9, John went through the make-up process of becoming Corporal Gripweed, and the next four hours were spent in front of the cameras.  The lunch break was from twelve to one.  We were well looked after, despite the lack of facilities on the location.  We all sat around in a big and very hot tent eating excellent lunches, with things like melon, filet steak and fruit.

Most of our evenings were spent quietly.  Sometimes, John would go through his lines for the following day, with me correcting him and filling in all the other parts.  Just for laughs, we would rewrite whole scenes for ourselves, which got a bit confusing.  So sooner or later, we’d call each other to order and get back to the script-learning bit.  I’m not sure exactly where Corporal Gripweed was born and raised, but John has given him a definitely Liverpool origin.

When Ringo and Maurren joined us at Almeria on Wednesday, October 5^th, only one of the boys remained in England.  That was Paul, who was still in the process of putting the final interior finishing touches to his new house at St. John’s Wood in North London. In any case, he wasn’t ready to take an overseas vcacation at that stage because he had started work on the soundtrack musical score for the Hayley Mills’ film, “All in good time.”

So, by the final week of October, the all round situation on the Beatle front was this:  George with yoga experience, sitar lessons and mustache, was located in a picturesque house beside a loe not too far from Bombay, India; Paul was in London, watching different bits of the Boulting Brothers’ film and writing the background music for each scene; and Ringo was taking it easy in Spain and watching John work on the final segments of How I won the War.  Now there was an interesting dispersal of talents and occupations, if ever there was one!