A vintage, authentic 1963 promotional retail banner for the Beatles’ “From Me To You” 45 and Please Please Me album.

You gotta love the way the Fabs’ haircuts are so short on this early Beatles Parlophone merchandising sign… John and George, in particular, look so youthful. You can clearly see the part in young John’s hair.

As every Beatle fan knows, this EMI/Parlophone 1963 “From Me To You” retail window sign depicts, from L to R, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney.

This EMI / Parlophone Records promo poster is strikingly small in size, with a measurement of just 7 x 16”. But it packs quite a punch.

There weren’t many stand-alone record stores back in the early ’60s, so Parlophone had to manufacture this Beatles “From Me to You” retail store sign with small enough dimensions so that it could be posted in nooks and crannies of department stores.

And based on many years of collecting, I would have to surmise that this also serves as the one & only EMI Records / Parlophone promo poster for the Beatles’ Please Please Me album as well.

I make that proclamation because in all my years, I have never seen a bigger, sole Parlophone promotional poster for The Beatles’ Please Please Me LP. This small, combo one is it.

It’s really a sign of the times that the group’s new 45 record gets the majority of the space here, and the Beatles’ new Please Please Me album is promoted off to the right side, with “Now On LP!” stated as practically an afterthought.

In case you can’t make out the fine print, here is the complete wording found on this small Beatles paper retail store advertising sign, from top to bottom:

(Black stripe on top): ON SALE HERE – (and then): The Beatles – From Me To You – Parlophone Records (then below the logo): Trade Mark of The Parlophone Co., UK – R 5015

(In the tiniest fine print along the bottom): EMI Records LTD. (controlled by Electric & Musical Industries Ltd.) – EMI House, 20 Manchester Square, London, W.1. England

Printed in Great Britain – G2341/463 (meaning, printed in April 1963) L.P.

(And off to the right): Now On LP! – The Beatles – Please Please Me – with Love Me Do and 12 other songs – PCS 3042 (Stereo) PMC 1202 (Mono)

It’s interesting to note that this Beatles retail paper flyer is basically just a B&W piece with only one color added, red. But Parlophone’s graphic designers made great use of that one extra color.

Collectors get a big kick out of the stereo version of the Please Please Me album being shown on this early EMI Beatles promo record-store banner, instead of the mono cover. In 1963, the mono version far outsold the stereo one, so the latter is a real collector’s item.

By having “On Sale Here” headlined across the top of this banner, we can easily deduce that it served as an original, 1963 P.O.P. (point of purchase) marketing piece for EMI and Parlophone for the Beatles’ early records. Other Fab Four promo pieces are not so clear-cut.

Interestingly and almost shockingly, Parlophone made no in-store promotional poster for the Beatles’ first single, “Love Me Do,” or their second 45, “Please Please Me.” It took the latter’s rise to #1 on the charts to wake up the sleeping corporate giant.

But what that means is that this April 1963 “From Me To You” promo retail flyer would be the very first Beatles promo poster made by EMI / Parlophone, until somebody shows me an earlier one.

This genuine, original 1963 Beatles promotional poster is discussed with a ton of enthusiasm by first-generation Beatles fan and collector Pete Howard (805-540-0020 or pete@postercentral.com). I will pay TOP DOLLAR for this promo piece, or any like it from the 1960s involving the Beatles on Parlophone Records.

To view some other vintage Beatles promo posters and displays, step over to this article I wrote for Goldmine magazine and then posted on my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/goldmine-promoposters.htm