BEATLES ON THE WALLThis emerged from one of my first assignments for Boyfriend Magazine. I had met the Beatles (then little-known) the previous week (Sunday April 14th 1963) when they were appearing on the popular 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' Show, hosted that day by Jimmy Saville, at the TV Studios in Teddington. These were very early days and the Beatles readily agreed when I asked them to come in for a shoot.Come in they did to our cramped little studio at No.21, Kingly Street, W.1. The day was April 18th., 1963. I had been keen at that time to break away from the conventional Hollywood-style of stage and studio shot. To this end, I would ride around on the top deck of London buses to search out possible locations. An abandoned area had caught my eye at the crossroads of Euston and Gower Street. This was still a London blitzed in parts and awaiting rebuilding. As far as I remember, we all managed to pile into one taxi; the four Beatles, myself and Maureen O'Grady of Boyfriend, - plus the camera gear! I climbed down the rubble into a bombed-out cellar, open to the sky, and had a wonderful session with the Beatles lined up on the wall above who couldn't have been more co-operative. Taken on this single roll of film was the Jumping Shot, the shot which John Lennon and Tony Barrow chose for the cover of the Beatles EP album 'Twist and Shout'. I shot three rolls of film in total, the contact sheets are shown above with a blow up of the jumping shot with my original cropping marks for printing. |