An original, authentic Beach Boys concert poster used to sell tickets for a concert on November 22, 1963 – the very day that President Kennedy was assassinated.

The most remarkable thing about this Beach Boys show poster is that the old slogan “the show must go on” was adhered to. That’s right, the event went on as scheduled, in spite of the fateful, traumatic events which unfolded earlier that day.

So this poster represents the merging of two major forces… America’s most successful-ever rock band, coupled with one of three days which most changed the course of American history. Only 9/11 and Pearl Harbor can rival Nov. 22, 1963 as having such a profound effect on the United States.

Therefore, some collectors refer to this as the Beach Boys Kennedy concert poster, but really it started out as just a Beach Boys Marysville concert poster. That small California town is about 40 minutes north of the state capitol of Sacramento.

This Beach Boys street poster has wonderful provenance attached to it; it was the property of drummer Dennis Wilson for years going forward. Wilson, of course, died prematurely in 1983.

Interesting to observe “Frederick Vail Productions” across the top of this Beach Boys poster. Fred was the promoter who made the final call to hold the show that night. Fred is still very active on the music scene and has his own recording studio in Nashville, TN.

It’s worth noting the “Dance & Show” beneath the band’s name on this Beach Boys event poster. In the early ’60s, before big business took over, chairs weren’t set up; attendees usually just crowded up to the stage. Those wishing to dance would do so off to the side, or at the back of the hall.

As you can see, this Beach Boys sign was printed entirely in B&W, with no colors used. Fortunately, it still works beautifully because of the imaginative layout and design, with different fonts used throughout.

It’s not known who printed this Beach Boys show placard, because nothing is mentioned at the bottom, where that information usually is found.

I’m crazy about the way eight song titles are listed on this Beach Boys billboard; so many of them are familiar to baby boomers to this day. And yep, there’s one misspelling: “Little Deuce Couple” is missing an “e”! Misspellings happened with amazing frequency on these old cardboard concert advertisements.

Then there’s the lovely publicity photo, which is front & center on this Beach Boys tour placard. All five BB’s are wearing their trademark Pendleton shirts and holding a surfboard.  This picture was used by the band throughout the year of 1963.

Music historians will note that David Marks is pictured on the far right on this vintage Beach Boys tour poster. By the time of this show, however, Marks had been replaced in the group by Al Jardine. Marks would later rejoin the Beach Boys for their 50^th anniversary album and tour in 2012.

Freddie & The Statics are down-billed from the Beach Boys on this concert announcement. They were a local Marysville rock band of the day, and even released one single which is collectible in its own right.

A few people might wonder why the year “1963” is not part of the date displayed on this Beach Boys appearance poster. It simply says “Friday, November 22.” The explanation is easy: this poster had a shelf life of just a few weeks… it was thought up, laid out, printed and then distributed in the fall of ’63, and then chucked after the show. So who needed the year on there? It was so self-evident to those involved.

This Beach Boys street sign was manufactured on sturdy cardboard, as opposed to paper, in part so that it would hold up nicely if exposed to outdoor weather conditions. For that reason, most old concert placards like this were made of board.

Therefore, some would jump to conclusions and call this a Beach Boys fence poster, because they were so commonly posted outside for people walking by to see.

But on the other hand, other people think this is nothing more than a Beach Boys window poster, assuming most of them were posted safely indoors.

But it’s better to just use a generic term like Beach Boys Marysville placard and leave it at that – meaning it was used prolifically both indoors and outdoors. Anywhere there were potential customers!

And then there’s the fun prices on this Beach Boys ticket poster … $1.50 if you purchased in advance or $2.00 if you waited to the last minute. What an innocent time it was!

It’s always a matter of personal taste, but many would consider this Beach Boys boxing style concert poster to be on the plain side, because other 1963 Beach Boys advertisements like this used highly attractive florescent colors. But I’m sold on the look of this, even without colors… I think it’s about as appealing as a rock ’n’ roll telephone-pole poster can be.

Although it doesn’t lay claim to it anywhere on this Beach Boys in-person poster, the band was undoubtedly the world’s #1 surfing group at this time… and let’s face it, for all time.

This Beach Boys Marysville window card is happily shown off and dissected by California collector Pete Howard (805-540-0020 or pete@postercentral.com).  I will pay TOP DOLLAR for this vintage Beach Boys window sign, or any other early ones that I don’t have.

To witness some more 1960s collectible rock-concert posters, be sure to visit this fun, colorful page of my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/rock.htm