Acquired this book recently from the estate of Ringo Starr’s late business manager, Hilary Gerrard. Hilary was born on January 17, 1933 in London, UK and he died on January 11, 2023 in Monaco, just prior to his 90th birthday! This item was received by Hilary as a birthday gift for his 74th birthday from Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach!
About this Item
First edition, first printing, inscribed on the front free endpaper by Ringo Starr to his business manager, “Dear Hill, Have a great 74th, Happy Birthday, Love Ringo xxx”, additionally signed “Barbara xxxx”. Provenance: from the collection of Hilary Gerrard, Ringo Starr’s business manager from the early 1970s and a director of the Beatles Apple Corps Limited. Stone’s memoir discusses his experiences in the 1960s counterculture, including encounters with Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac from his time spent travelling with them.
The front cover of the book: it was a nice birthday gesture for Ringo to give his friend and legal advisor a book about the sixties which simultaneously was a decade hard to forget, and for some, a decade hard to remember!!!
Remembering the Sixties– by Robert Stone, published by Ecco in 2007
About this Item-the inscription page where both Ringo and Barbara wish Hilary a happy 74th birthday!
Though the following are not my items, they do indicate the respect the other Beatles had for Ringo’s legal representative and friend:
This photo appears on the wonderful Sara Schmidt’s “Meet the Beatles for Real” website. I do not know who the photographer is for this photo, but it features: Hilary, Ringo and Barbara! Obviously, three great friends!
FROM SOUTH AFRICA, THE PHILIPPINES, AND ISRAEL, AND ONE BONUS RARITY FROM THE NETHERLANDS
Shown below is the cover of the fabulous book that got me interested in the subject noted above. As a collector, I have become fascinated with the matter of rare Apple Records. The person that I know that fits the bill of being one of largest collector of Apple Records in the world is Nigel Pearce whose collection is both extensive and fabulous.
Nigel’s Book – Inside Number Three
Inside Number Three – The Illustrated History of Apple Records
Inside No3 takes you through that famous door, deep into the minds of all who worked there at Apple Records. This is done also in a very different way. This is not a kiss-and-tell diary, it is through fan adulation and understanding via a personal collection of artifacts and memorabilia that author Nigel Pearce has built up over the last 50 years.
There are also many knowledgeable people about the subject in Europe in countries such as Belgium where a good friend, Philippe Colinge, assisted me in finding some of the records you are about to see for me to purchase, or at least finding photographs of many of them to present to you so you are aware of their existence.
Magical Mystery Tours
There is a chapter in Tony Bramwell’s book that deals with the various licensing deals that Apple did to issue many of its records in multiple countries across the world. Three of the countries hold a particular fascination for me: The Philippines, South Africa and Israel.
For quite some time it has been reported that Tony has been working on an updated version of this book!
Magical Mystery Tours by Tony Bramwell
Mary Hopkin-Mary Had A Baby
According to some reports, the Philippines was the only country in the world that issued this Christmas holiday record on Apple Records, as Mary’s contract with Apple had just expired with Apple when it was issued there. The song appeared on different labels in all of the other worldwide locales. Mary’s husband at the time, noted record producer, Tony Visconti was involved in the production of this record. After the dissolution of their marriage, Tony was to marry May Pang who in 1973-75 had more than an 18 month relationship with John Lennon of the ex-Beatles!
First of all, I would like to take the time to acknowledge a phenomenal site based in the Netherlands that is a primary source of many of the photographs you are seeing on this blog post: This is the site and it is highly recommended. Philippe Colinge from Belgium shared this with me and I am very grateful to him. The Netherlands are the source of some of the most knowledgeable Beatles fans in the world!!!
In the Philippines, the title of Instant Karma was transposed and the A-side reads as We All Shine On with Instant Karma within parentheses!
John Lennon Mother/ Isolation and The Beatles?
For some strange reason, many of the solo Beatles recordings in the Philippines began to appear with the solo artist’s name being followed by “The Beatles” on the label. This happened to John, George, and Ringo, but not Paul so I can only assume this was due to some management issue or lack thereof. What was odd about this Mother 45, it not only had the incorrect Beatles labeling but the A side of Mother was also issued as the B-side in other issues of the 45.
APPLE – “LOVE”
APPLE – “POWER TO THE PEOPLE” and the Beatles listed as the performers of Yoko Ono’s “Open Your Box”
“IMAGINE”/ “OH MY LOVE”
Soon thereafter, the Beatles label was dropped from John’s 45’s.
George: “My Sweet Lord”/ “Isn’t It a Pity”
George – “What Is Life”/ “Apple Scruffs”
George – “Bangla Desh”/ “Deep Blue”
After Bangla-Desh, the Beatles attribution was dropped from the Philippine George 45’s
Ringo – “Beaucoups of Blues”/ “Coochy Coochy”
Ringo – “It Don’t Come Easy”/ “Early 1970”
A couple of Paul rarities from the Philippines. The Apple issue of Give Ireland Back to the Irish is credited as Wings featuring Paul and Linda McCartney and The “I Lie Around” Apple 45 featured I Lie Around as the A-side to Live and Let Die as the B-side!
A rare Beatles 45 from the Philippines is one that I am still seeking for in my collection: It is Two of Us with the flip side of Across the Universe from the Let It Be album! This would have made a wonderful single from the LP in my opinion. Here is a photo of the 45:
From Israel:
On Discogs, I was able to locate the rare Billy Preston EP on Apple which featured the only Apple appearance of the song “In the Midnight Hour,” by Wilson Pickett and Steve Cropper. Cropper was also to play guitar on the Phil Spector Lennon oldies sessions in California in 1973.
I want to make one exception to my three-country Apple rarity discussion. This rarity is from the Netherlands and it is the only version of James Taylor’s first Apple album to feature it on the label listed as “The First Album.”
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, APPLE RARITIES FROM SOUTH AFRICA
UYANDIZE UMABENGWANE / SIYAV UNGAZELA (Abafana Be Myunge)
DIE JARE GAAN VERBY / ROSE IS ROOI (Gene Rockwell) The AFRIKAAN VERSION OF THOSE WERE THE DAYS
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language that is spoken in South Africa according to Wikipedia!
“TSI TSI NO.1″ / “MAHLOMELA (Big Voice Jack)”
The 4th known Apple South African release-no photograph is available:
DARK CITY JIVE / WHITE CITY JIVE (Izinyozi Boys)
Hope you have enjoyed this post! Special thanks go to Philippe Colinge for providing many of the photographs presented hereas well as the wonderful site based in the Netherlands of:www.applerecords.nl
TRIVIA QUESTION: “Which was the first Beatles song released on Apple Records in the UK”? Answers in the comments below.
SIGNED BOOK FROM 1968 – obtained on eBay a few years ago – with Julian Lennon and Ringo “Uncle Ritchie” Signatures
The UK Beatles Hunter Davies biography first edition
A close-up of the Beatles biography in the UK signed by none other than Ringo Starr and a 5-year-old Julian Lennon. The book was inscribed to a Mrs. Read who was either a Beatles collector or possibly an educator or teacher who may have also been a Beatles fan. You will see why I speculate this in a further signed document shown below written by George Harrison’s sister-in-law! It appears that this book must have been signed by both Ringo and Julian while Ringo was visiting John at the Kenwood Weybridge estate.
Signed in 1968?
It is fitting that this book from 1968 is signed by both Ringo and Julian. During this year, the Beatles recorded the Lennon lullaby that John wrote for Julian, entitled “Good Night.” It was Ringo who sang the lead vocal on the track!
The note from the 5-year-old Julian Lennon and his uncle Ringo Starr to Mrs. Read!
The Signatures of Ringo Starr and Julian Lennon
It seems that Mrs. Read must have been either a Beatles collector or possibly a teacher as not only did Ringo and Julian sign and inscribe the Beatles book for her, but Pauline Harrison who was the wife of George’s brother, wrote the following note to Mrs. Read in 1968.
This note was also obtained on eBay!
Was able to obtain an invitation that Julian sent out for his 4th birthday party: Julian was obviously just learning to write as he dropped the letter “A” in his first name! Obtained this invitation on eBay!
invitation that Julian sent out for his 4th birthday party
A signed photo of a young Julian Lennon with his dad at their home in Weybridge. Julian Lennon signed this photo when he was an adult!
Julian Signed this photo of him with his dad, John
The special single that Julian and James Scott Cook cut as a tribute to Julian’s childhood friend, Lucy Vodden who passed away from Lupus at age 46. Ironically, James Scott Cook’s grandmother was also named Lucy, and she too had Lupus. The single was called “Lucy” and contained a reproduction of the original sketch that Julian Lennon did as a 4-year-old that inspired his dad to write “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” Julian randomly signed about 200 of the reproductions to accompany the single and a few years ago I was able to obtain one. The original drawing that Julian Lennon did is supposedly now owned by former Pink Floyd member, David Gilmour!
Julian’s Original Drawing of Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds from his tribute single
A more recent picture of Ringo and Julian that Julian posted on his website after seeing Ringo at one of his live performances!
Julian and Uncle Ringo
Hope you liked this post? Let me know in the comments.
Many people do not realize that Peter Max, the celebrated pop artist, was approached by the Beatles to be involved with the Yellow Submarine film project. John Lennon had called him directly to work on the project. However, the project would require his committing to be in Europe for a 17-month period which he was not willing to do. It was Peter Max who recommended that Heinz Edelmann take the reins.
Much of this story is provided at the Park West Gallery link shown below. The link below provides a photo of the Peter Max piano that Ringo signed for him and it also discloses/ reveals that Heinz Edelmann’s business cards identified him as the “German Peter Max.” This may help to explain why many people were convinced that Peter had been involved with Yellow Submarine’s production. Edelmann’s work on Yellow Submarine certainly had similar properties to Peter Max’s artistic style. Peter Max and The Beatles: Friends, Artists, Icons of the 1960s (parkwestgallery.com)
In 2002, New Life Magazine asked Peter Max to do the four Beatles as separate covers for their magazine. Each issue featured a pull-out poster of the issue’s respective Beatle. Finding all four of these issues is not easy and usually is expensive. Luckily, I was able to obtain a set at a very reasonable cost on eBay. Sometimes the price that you pay on eBay is being fortunate to be at the right place at the right time.
Here are the four New Life Beatles covers with the Peter Max design:
John Lennon on New Life by Peter Max
Paul McCartney on New Life by Peter Max
George Harrison on New Life by Peter Max
Ringo Starr on New Life by Peter Max
My Peter Max signature in one of the books concerning his artwork:
Peter Max Signature
The Art of Peter Max
When Ringo Starr visited Peter Max in his studio, he signed the music stand on Peter’s piano:
Ringo’s signature to Peter Max
Hope you like these covers?
Buzz
More Artwork at The Beatles Bookstore
Art & Craft
Original art and craft related to Liverpool and the Beatles
