I bought this wonderful non-Beatles book of photographs a while back by noted photographer Ron Galella.
Mr. Galella was well known for being persistent in following and taking photos of many famous celebrities, many whom often did not want to be photographed, leading to what certainly can be termed as “iconic photos.”
Galella notes in the book that 2 of his best-selling photos that he ever shot were the cover of this book shown here which is my copy of the book that I recently purchased. One is of cultural icons Mick Jagger and John Lennon with companion May Pang taken at a Jimmy Cagney Lifetime tribute in 1974 (March 13th, 1974, in Los Angeles) during the famous “Lost Weekend.” The other photo Mr. Galella mentions is the one of the widow of assassinated President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jackie, who was later to marry Greek shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis, (outside her NY apartment on Oct 7, 1971.) (Not shown here)
One thing I have noticed over the years as a collector is the incredible surface naivety of the individual Beatles in not being able to realize the full extent the admiration that other celebrities and well-known personalities had for THEM. John in particular was often overwhelmed when he would be at a Hollywood party as to how the famous actors and actresses would swarm around the Beatles vying for their attention.
The book was self-published by Mr. Galella in 2021 and presents many candid shots of so many well-known people which was an apparent Galella modus operandi and specialty during his great career.
Recommend this one for your collections so you can share in the roving eye talents of the famous Ron Galella!
My copy of the wonderful book of photos by Ron Galella:
100 Iconic Photographs by Ron Galella
Do you like photo books? Do you have a favourite photographer? Let me know in the comments below.
These two books have the movie “Help!” as a common denominator. If you love photographs of the Beatles from that era, you will love both of these books in my humble opinion!
FIRST EDITION Eight Arms to Hold You 50 Years of Help! and the Beatles
 Publisher  ACC Art Books  2017 Simon Wells, Paul Skellett
This is a superb book with so many outstanding photographs from the individuals mentioned in the eBay book description which is from a current listing on the site the last time I checked there. This publication is a boxed set and is a first-class production. If you get a chance to find one of these books, it is well worth the purchase! The quality of the photos is superb.
Here is the eBay description of this excellent book
The follow-up to the successful Hard Day’s Night, with rare unseen photos- Help! is considered the forerunner to contemporary rock musicals and pop videos, with rare and unseen photos- The film includes a host of classic tracks such as Ticket To Ride, You’re Going To Lose That Girl, and the title track, Help! Remarkable as it may seem, this is the first book on The Beatles’ film Help! and that in itself is a rare milestone in Fab Four history.
“Eight Arms to Hold You is a unique publication. It features both rare and unseen photos and materials from the movie Help!, drawn from archives on all four corners of the planet; all of which is forensically remastered by one of the country’s best forensic art and image restorers, Paul Skellett. The book is curated by world-renowned Beatles author, Simon Wells (Beatles 365 Days and Beatles Japan ). This is one of the most meticulously researched and restored Beatles titles to date, with support from Rex Features Archive, The British Film Institute, The Pete Nash Collection, The Vincent Vigil Collection, The Mark Hayward Collection, The Cavern Club, The Beatles Story Museum, The Hard Days Night Hotel, The Beatles Fest and many other private collectors.
Richard Lester, the legendary director of Help! has also lent his assistance in releasing parts of his private collection (including the original hand-noted script) as well as being part of the book’s final approval process. The project has renowned Beatles researcher and author Simon Wells on board to curate and narrate the story, with specialist forensic art and photography restorer, Paul Skellett handling the full image remastering process.
Help! Eight Arms to Hold YouHelp! Eight Arms to Hold You
Another excellent photo book of photos from the first color film of the Beatles. Many previously unseen photos. This makes a great companion piece to the book shown above. Like Lennon/ McCartney, the two books make a great duo!!!
THE BEATLES: PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE SET OF HELP! By Emilio Lari & Alastair Gordon
HERE WAS THE EBAY BOOK DESCRIPTION WHEN PURCHASED:
Published in 2015 by Rizzoli International Publications, Incorporated
An extraordinary collection of mostly unseen photographs of the Beatles during the making of Help!. Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the Beatles’ second motion picture, Help! , this almost entirely unpublished collection of photographs marks a pivotal turning point in the band’s history, as they evolved from much-loved musicians into the most important group of all time.
The Beatles’ first movie filmed in color, Help! is a madcap adventure featuring cinematography and film sequences widely considered to be hugely influential to the modern performance-style music videos of today. Specialist set photographer Emilio Lari was invited by director Richard Lester to shoot stills of the production at Twickenham Studios and document behind-the-scenes larking about as the band relaxed in their hotel between takes. With an introduction by Lester and intimate, never-before-seen images, The Beatles: Help! provides new and fascinating insights into the band that changed the history of music and the world.
Photographs from the set of Help!Photographs from the set of Help!
Added this huge colorful poster of Lennon the Musical to the collection from eBay. As many of you are aware, I love collecting not only rare and unusual Beatles items, but I like the ones with an interesting story. This Lennon musical was put together by Yoko Ono around 2005. It had a very short run due to the bad critical reviews.
Now and Then
However it did mark the first public performance of two of John’s rare and unreleased songs at that time of “India, India” and what was supposed to be the third Beatles Anthology reunion song, “Now and Then.” The song was actually called “I Don’t Want To Lose You” in the musical. Two people have posted their own camera shot versions of the musical on YouTube. I suspect it will only be a matter of time before the powers that be have it removed from YouTube.
The rarity of this subway poster due to the short running time of the musical was the main attraction to me purchasing it. I can only imagine the exorbitant cost of having this framed.
LENNON THE MUSICAL 5FT SUBWAY POSTER BROADWAY
LENNON THE MUSICAL 5FT SUBWAY POSTER BROADWAY NYC JOHN LENNON THE BEATLES 2005
RARE EDITION OF THIS POSTER MEASURES A LARGE 45X60 INCHES
AUTHENTIC POSTER FROM THE BROADWAY SHOW RELEASE FOR NYC SUBWAYS
Lennon – The Musical
For those of you who are not members of my Beatles print blog. Here is the link.
To receive updates of new posts you need to register and subscribe. Hope you will join us and have some fun at this informational site dealing with Beatles-related print material!!!
Octopus’ Garden, the Beatles fanzine. With the digital age, many Beatles fanzines have bitten the dust. NOT THIS ONE! Over 30 years in operation
This is a great Beatles fanzine based in Massachusetts run by Tom Aguiar, a member of this blog. The magazine/ fanzine is entitled “OCTOPUS’ GARDEN.”
What you see here is an older issue of the magazine followed by 4 special magazines to celebrate the 80th birthday of the Fabs. I love this magazine and you will too. Contact information is provided on the last graphic. Tom has been very active in helping to increase the number of subscribing members to this blog. Thanks, Tom for helping promote the blog and having such a great magazine/fanzine!!!
To subscribe to Octopus’ Garden: Send information and funds to Octopus’ Garden, P.O. Box 3683, Peabody, MA 01961-3683, USA. Octopus’ Garden’s e-mail address is Beatles94@excite.com or Facebook at Octopus’ Garden Fanzine.
Do you subscribe to a Fanzine? Which One? Have you come across Octopus’ Garden before? If not, you should subscribe! Let me know in the comments below.
Some of my favorite Beatle-related magazines from 1967 and 1968
1967 and 1968 were a couple of both magical and surreal years as is reflected in a few magazines from that era!
Society was facing the dichotomy of the summer of love mentality clashing with thoughts of revolution and civil disobedience.
Though the primary focus of this blog has been books up to this point, thought it would be a nice break to deal with a few interesting Beatles magazines from the 67-68 era:
1967 Beatwave Magazine Issue #2 Features a Paul McCartney Self Portrait on the Cover Radio Caroline Pirate Radio Station Feature with Tony Blackburn
The Beatles Radio Caroline Pirate Radio Station-notice the dedication to Free Radio listeners everywhere
Paul’s Self Portrait was painted for the magazine. This was also the year when Paul admitted to the press that he had taken LSD.
Paul’s Portrait on the cover
A fantastic cover photo by the late Henry Grossman. This photo shot only appeared on the cover in the Asian geographical regions of the world. It also appeared in Australia and New Zealand.
The Cover Photo Was only in the Asian Edition
‘TeenSet’ 1968 Feb. 1968 magazine w/ Lennon & Hendrix poster -notice the fascination with the multi-colored depictions of a Beatle on the cover. Noticing the date on the magazine, that is the month that the Beatles recorded “Across the Universe.”
Teenset Magazine
An excerpt from the magazine
The Story Behind Magical Mystery Tour
John and Magical Mystery Tour
Part of the double-sided poster with John Lennon on one side and Jimi Hendrix on the other.
Poster of John
As the protests of the war in Vietnam were increasing so was the youth culture’s resistance to the establishment and anti-war protests began to increase. This issue featured the colorful Richard Avedon portraits of the Beatles. There was also a black and white Beatles poster included as an insert to this issue of the magazine. As the political events of the political convention in November were unfolding, the Beatles released their song of “Revolution.”
As depicted in another post on this blog, even though Look Magazine used the Lennon Avedon photo as the cover, the only country that used all four of the Avedon color psychedelic photos of the Beatles as primary cover shots was Spain which featured an issue of Rolling Stone Magazine where each Beatle’s Avedon photo was the cover of the magazine. Of course the Spanish Rolling Stone portrayals in Rolling Stone was in the new century after much time had passed.
Look Magazine
1968 featured the colorful fantasy film titled “Yellow Submarine.”
There were two issues of this Yellow Submarine magazine. This one is the 48-page issue.
The Official Beatles Yellow Submarine Magazine
This is the 64 page issue of the magazine
The Official Beatles Yellow Submarine Magazine
The 60’s were to end a couple of years later and ironically, so did the Beatles!
How many original 60s magazines have you got? Do you have a favourite? Let me know in the comments below.
This third chapter in a successful new series of photographic publications “The Illustrated History”, retraces the myth of the Liverpool quartet in the international printed paper weekly. 1963 was a Golden year for the Fab Four!!!
Rare newspapers, promotional posters, charts, rare covers relating to record publications, charts, and other international press finds. Much of the material from the authors’ personal collections is unpublished or rarely seen before testifying a collecting interest which, after more than 50 years, has not shown signs of decreasing, indeed…Available in a limited edition of 50 hand-numbered copies: Enjoy the previews and contact ALEX to get a copy! To contact Alex Franchi for book inquiries, here is his email address: Soundlover30@hotmail.com
Here are a few sample pages for the book:
The Beatles 1963The Beatles 1963The Beatles 1963The Beatles 1963The Beatles 1963The Beatles 1963The Beatles 1963I Want To Hold Your Hand
