Exclusive: Unseen Beatles photo

Exclusive: Unseen Beatles photo

By JAMES TAPPER, The Daily Mail

April 1, 2007

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...3&in_a_source=


With a little help from my lens: Ringo, left, Paul, George Martin, John and George at Abbey Road Studios in 1967.

Beatles fans always knew John Lennon as "the one with the glasses".

But this rare picture shows Paul McCartney wearing a pair of thick horn-rimmed specs while deep in discussion with the band about their classic album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The previously unpublished photograph is one of a rare set taken as The Beatles worked at Abbey Road studios in North London.

Friends of the singer say McCartney rarely wore glasses because it was part of his friend John's image.

"He was always conscious that John was famous for his glasses," said one friend. "He felt that it was important to maintain their image and John's glasses were part of that.

"His eyesight is also pretty good, so he didn't need to wear them much."

Few other photographs of McCartney wearing glasses exist. He wore them occasionally in public during the Sixties, and on the front cover of a Beatles fan magazine in 1964 but has not been photographed wearing them since. A spokesman for McCartney last night said he did not wear contact lenses, nor wore glasses in private.

The image is one of 40 taken by celebrated photographer Frank Herrmann on March 30, 1967, and features in an exclusive spread in The Mail on Sunday's Live magazine today.

Photographers were rarely granted access to the Fab Four in the studio and the negatives from this session were later lost.

Our pictures have been painstakingly recreated from contact sheets kept by Mr Herrmann, who said: "It was obvious they weren't comfortable with me around. Abbey Road was considered a private sanctuary."

That's A Cool Pic! Where'd You Find It?

I'd like this pic as a poster.

More from Frank Herrmann here:
http://www.sgsgallery.com/beatles_pepper40/00.cover.htm

Awesome photos. Those last few colored / patterned ones are mind-blowing.

i've seen a few pictures of paul wearing glasses around that time, but never seen him wearing any in the past 35 years(except when he's playing around.) i thought those were johns glasses he was messing with.

didn't know it was such a big secret....

I had also always thought that all the pics I'd seen in which Paul is wearing glasses were pics of him fooling around with John's!

Such beautiful pictures.

Great pictures!
March 30th was the second and last session for "with a little help from my friends" according to Ian McDonald. Like to see Paul with his Ricky. George in the fur coat looks very 60s

Oh my gosh!! What amazing pictures!! I totally understand why the Beatles didn't like having a photographer in the studio, but I'm also very grateful that these pictures were taken! They look amazing, and to know that they are working on Pepper, come on...flipping awesome.

Wow! These are great. For some reason I love seeing George Martin footage from those days- like in the Misery 'video'- he just looked so cool and all business. Did Paul really think that John's glasses were that central to his image? I agree with Serena, I didn't think it was that big of a thing either. And John didn't really like them, did he? At any rate, I think it's kind of a thrill to know that these pictures would never have been seen if they hadn't been rescued from an old contact sheet.

I love these pics, though in some of the close ups John looks a bit like Groucho Marx.

Heh... Lennon and Marx.

I'm loving John's outfit. Jacket and tie on top, pajamas on the bottom.

Thank you very much for the pics. They are awesome!

Originally Posted by Kris Wright

I love these pics, though in some of the close ups John looks a bit like Groucho Marx.

Heh... Lennon and Marx.

I found it funny how that article made such a deal out of Paul wearing glasses. I've seen plenty of shots of him in the studio wearing those specs.

Originally Posted by 62hofner

I found it funny how that article made such a deal out of Paul wearing glasses. I've seen plenty of shots of him in the studio wearing those specs.

I Have Too.

All in all, those are great pics. I do however believe that this thread should belong in the I've Just Seen A Face forum. I'm going to go ahead ans transfer it over there.

I am sure i have seen that pic before...