Meet the Beatles Electric Motion Display – 1964 Capitol Promo

Posted on October 27, 2013 by postercentral

A vintage 1964 Capitol Records promotional motion display for Meet the Beatles, which also mentions the Fabs’ first hit single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” b/w “I Saw Her Standing There.”

This Capitol Records point-of-purchase electric store display for Meet the Beatles, the group’s debut Capitol LP, was sent out to record stores in early February 1964.

This big Capitol Records Beatles countertop promotional display runs on batteries, and the heads bob back & forth via a small motor located within.

Its not easy for collectors to locate one of these in working order. Much of the time, the small electric motor inside the Meet the Beatles bobble head store display is burnt out, or the batteries may have leaked acid, or it just plain stopped working from decades of inactivity.

This big Meet the Beatles promo window display would take up a lot of room in any store’s window, so Capitol had to make sure each preordained store was going to use it, and not just place it in their back room, unopened.

Generally referred to as a 1964 Meet the Beatles motion display, this item’s standout feature is the way John, Paul, George and Ringo’s heads rock back & forth when the battery-operated motor is switched on.

Stores that were lucky enough to be sent their own Meet the Beatles rocking head store display undoubtedly had to scramble to find a suitable, prominent place for it.

Renowned photographer Dezo Hoffman snapped the famous shot of the Fab Four which graces the Meet the Beatles 3-D Capitol Records point-of-sale promo display. This same picture was used for Capitol Records’ picture sleeve on the Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” 45.

This Capitol nodding-head promo Meet the Beatles retail display was constructed of thick, sturdy cardboard and measures half-a-foot deep, so it would easily stand up by itself.

In fact, the dimensions for this Meet the Beatles large, heavy cardboard promotional store window display are 31” wide, roughly 26” tall and 6” deep.

The large cardboard Capitol Records Meet the Beatles merchandising display piece shown in this video was lovingly placed in a transparent Lucite box for long-term protection from dust.

Interesting to see that the Fab Four are wearing their famous collarless jackets on this Capitol Records battery operated Meet the Beatles cardboard display, a distinctive trademark of their earliest years.

It’s a bit ironic how Ringo Starr – the newest member of the group, basically the Beatles’ non-songwriter and the member who sang the fewest lead vocals – is located right smack dab in the middle of this Capitol Records Beatles electric store display, while John Lennon, obviously the Beatles’ founder and leader, is relatively tucked away in the corner.

Those really into graphics will note that the Meet the Beatles electric box display is B&W throughout, with the exception of just two words… “The Beatles,” in large red letters at the top. Very effective!

On this copy of the battery driven Meet the Beatles promotional display, the face of George Harrison got creased somewhere along the line.  All the others are fine and flawless.

While planning this Meet the Beatles moving face store display in January 1964, Capitol Records executives were really scrambling to make up for their late start in picking up the contract in America for this wildly successful British rock group.

In fact, the very elaborate and grandiose nature of Capitol’s Meet the Beatles point of purchase advertising display may have been in reaction to being embarrassed for initially missing the boat on the band that was printing money for EMI Records over in the UK.

Notice how the left flap of this Meet the Beatles Capitol retail store display says, “Three million Beatles records already sold in England.” Impressive, but way out of date; by the time this display was dreamed up, manufactured, mailed out and set up in stores, the Beatles had probably sold that many records in America, never mind their native Britain!

If you watch this video of the Meet the Beatles shaking heads store display, you’ll notice that two of the heads – Ringo and John – move together in one direction, while the other two heads – Paul and George – do the same, but in another direction.

The complete text, as it reads on this battery powered Meet the Beatles store display:

Meet the Beatles – Rock to Their Incredible First Album – Capitol Records (logo)

3 Million Beatles Records Already Sold In England

Paul – Ringo – George – John

Contains the smash single – “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “I Saw Her Standing There”

Collectors who don’t wish to bother with this cumbersome Meet the Beatles Capital Records motion display can always opt for the smaller, easily framed advertising placard that the label also made and shipped out to record stores.

This Meet the Beatles nodding head store display is fully operational – joy! – and happily discussed by first-generation Beatles fan / collector Pete Howard. I can be reached at pete@postercentral.com or 805-540-0020. I will pay the WORLD’S TOP DOLLAR, PERIOD, for this Beatles display in any condition whatsoever, even if it’s missing the motor.

To see other original, genuine Beatles promotional displays from when they were together, check out this article I wrote for Goldmine magazine and then later updated and posted to my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/goldmine-promoposters.htm

Posted in **All Posters, *Beatles, British Invasion, Promo Posters & Displays | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Batman Concert Poster 1966 Bill Graham – 1st, 2nd & 3rd Printings

Posted on October 24, 2013 by postercentral

Presented here are all three versions of the “Batman” poster originally created to sell tickets for Bill Graham’s second-ever weekend of dance concerts at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium in March of 1966.

This Bill Graham Batman window display was the very first poster Graham commissioned to use psychedelic artwork, making it a landmark of sorts.

The Batman concert poster was printed on three different occasions – once before the shows, and twice more later to create merchandising items.

In this video, I display and explain all three versions of the Bill Graham Batman window card… and inform you how to tell the difference.

The Bill Graham Batman event poster is known in collector’s circles as BG-2, because it was the second in promoter Graham’s years-long series of concerts at the Fillmore, Fillmore West and Winterland.

Wes Wilson is the pioneering poster artist to be credited for the look of this Bill Graham Batman placard; his name appears in tiny print under Batman’s glove.

This was, by the way, Wilson’s first poster for the famous promoter; after finishing his Bill Graham Batman show poster, Wes would proceed to draw 44 more of the first 50 Bill Graham concert posters in 1966-67.

The first thing that strikes you visually about the Bill Graham Batman telephone pole poster is how cluttered all of the lettering is. Wilson used over 160 words in his artwork, squeezing in everything Graham threw at him.

Another unusual feature noticeable on this Bill Graham Batman announcement is that one headliner did not hold down the whole weekend, which was usually the case. Instead, the musical line-up varied from night to night.

To that point, here is the complete musical line-ups for the three nights:

Friday, March 18 – The Mystery Trend, Big Brother and the Holding Company (sans Janis Joplin), The Family Tree

Saturday, March 19 – Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Family Tree, The Gentlemen’s Band

Sunday, March 20 – The Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Great Society, The Skins

Besides this Bill Graham Batman ticket poster, on only two other occasions in 1966 would Graham split up the headlining position over the course of three nights. Usually he preferred to have one band top-billed for the whole weekend.

The ticket-buying locations stated at the bottom of this BG-2 window card happen to be the same five outlets which were listed on Graham’s first poster, BG-1, six weeks earlier: S.F. State College, The Psychedelic Shop, City Lights Bookstore, ASUC box office and, in Berkeley, Campus Records.

Check out the way Wes Wilson had all three characters on his Bill Graham Batman poster say (or think) something clever. First Batman says, “Look, Robin! There’s a message on its back!” And then Robin replies, “Batman! Could it be a vile trick?” That’s followed by the mynah bird chipping in, “Robin thinks I’m a trick but I’m not, I’m just a free bird!!” I wonder why Wilson had the bird thinking his line, when he’s supposed to be a talking bird?

The contest to win that very bird on this BG-2 concert poster is a head scratcher. The poster states, “All ticket holders are eligible to win – drawing Sunday night – winner MUST be present.” So that meant all Friday & Saturday night concert-goers had to return Sunday evening if they wanted a shot at winning the talking bird. Bizarre. Maybe business was terribly slow on Sunday for Graham’s first weekend at the venue six weeks earlier.

Of all the Fillmore concert posters churned out over the years, this Bill Graham Batman broadside is unique in that it advertised a film festival which offered free giveaways like Batman sweatshirts, comic books and photos.

The poster also proclaims: “Batman Movies Chapters 1 – 2 – 3… Plus Many Other Sights & Sounds.” You might recall that the BG-1 concert poster carried the phrase, “With Sights and Sounds of the Trips Festival!”

Undoubtedly, a key inspiration for Wes Wilson to create his Batman BG-2 poster was the new, campy Batman television series, which had just premiered on national TV a few weeks earlier.

As for dimensions, this Bill Graham Batman show placard measures 14 by 20 inches.  All three printings were done on a yellow – or tan, some say – paper.

If your Bill Graham Batman sign has a printer’s union bug down in the lower left-hand corner, that’s the tip that it’s the second printing. I provide more details in the video.

It’s interesting to note that while this Bill Graham Batman concert placard consists mostly of psychedelic lettering, it uses plain old-fashioned type-set letters on Batman’s bicep to inform punters that “black light will be provided,” so you should dress for the occasion.

This Bill Graham Batman billboard is combed over in great detail by poster hound Pete Howard, who can be reached via email at pete@postercentral.com or by phone through 805.540-0020.  I will pay TOP DOLLAR, PERIOD for any of the three printings of this particular Bill Graham poster – one of my favorites in the series.

To see more classic psychedelic concert posters from the turbulent sixties, please visit http://www.postercentral.com/psychedelic.htm

Posted in **All Posters, **Psychedelic Posters Only, Fillmore Auditorium | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rolling Stones 1st American Tour Window Card – 1964 Carnegie Hall

Posted on October 21, 2013 by postercentral

An authentic, vintage Rolling Stones concert poster for the band’s pair of shows at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on June 20, 1964.

This was the group’s final show of their very first U.S. tour, and ticket sales had been slow in places, so this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall placard was used to help sell tickets around the New York area.

It’s amazing how New York DJ Murray the K got top billing over everyone else on this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall tour poster. At this point, he was the most famous DJ in town, and friend to the Beatles.

Murray, a WINS disc jockey, was incestuously tied to these shows because not only is he presented as part of the entertainment, he also does the presenting: “Jaymur Productions,” heralded across the top of the Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall poster, was Murray plus a partner.

The ticket prices were pretty high on this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall tour placard… a top price of $5.50 was awfully steep for an unknown group without a hit record yet… but then, New York had a huge population base to draw from.

To best grab the attention of teenagers and potential customers, bright red and yellow colors were liberally used on this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall boxing style concert poster.

“England’s Newest Sensations,” as the poster calls them, played two shows on this date, at 2:30 and 7:30 PM, information which is stated clearly down in the lower-left corner of this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall show poster.

And even though those two show times were clearly stated on this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall sign, the second show was almost canceled… the Hall management and the cops wanted the Stones to forget about the second show, but to their credit, the Stones insisted on not disappointing second-show ticket-holders.

Largely because the band was still unknown in the U.S., this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall concert placard has a number of other names and companies on it… three individuals at the top of the poster, and a big plug in red letters for the radio station at the bottom.

To that point, what follows is the whole text of this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall event poster, exactly as it reads from top to bottom:

Billy Fields and Jaymur Productions (and then in the red box): Present – Murray The “K” and England’s Newest Sensations THE ROLLING STONES

Saturday June 20 (no year given) Two Shows – 2:30 and 7:30 PM – Carnegie Hall – Prices $3.50 – $4.50 – $5.50 – Tax Included – Tickets On Sale At Carnegie Hall Box Office.  For Further Information Listen TO WINS

E.J. Warner Poster Corp. (in New York City)

Previously successful Beatles promoter Sid Bernstein was the promoter of these two shows, but for whatever reason, his name is not listed at the top of this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall window display… in his place, co-promoter Billy Fields’ name was used.

I’m guessing that the primary reason no songs are listed on this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall show placard is that the Stones had not enjoyed a hit single yet. Up until this point, their first murmur of a hit, “Not Fade Away,” had gotten no further than about #75 on Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 singles chart.

A lot of concert posters of this vintage had no photos on them, just text, so it’s great that this particular Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall telephone pole poster is adorned with a nice early publicity photo of the band. There are several Stones concert posters from California in 1964-65 that have plain block lettering and no image whatsoever.

I always like to mention a poster’s printer when it’s known, and it says at the bottom of this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall broadside that E.J. Warner out of NYC printed this one.

It’s fascinating when you realize that this Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall ticket poster gives customers only one option for buying tickets – at the Carnegie Hall box office, and apparently nowhere else.

This Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall billboard was made of cardboard and has dimensions of 14 by 22 inches, the most common size for such posters.

This Rolling Stones Carnegie Hall announcement is shown off and treated with the respect it deserves by West Coast collector Pete Howard (pete@postercentral.com or 805.540.0020). I will pay the VERY BEST PRICE ANYWHERE for this Stones concert poster or any others from their 1964-1966 concert tours.

To see more vintage 1960s Rolling Stones concert posters with nice eye appeal, just roll over to this page right here on my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/rollingstones.htm

Posted in **All Posters, *Rolling Stones, Boxing-Style Concert Posters, British Invasion | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fats Domino Chuck Berry Window Card 1957 Biggest Show of Stars

Posted on October 17, 2013 by postercentral

A beautiful Fats Domino Bill Doggett concert poster featuring six members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Chuck Berry, LaVern Baker, The Moonglows, Charles Brown, Doggett and Fats – plus several other star musicians.

(TEMPORARY NOTICE: This is a new video, and replaces one that I shot and posted nine months ago, but which contained an error I couldn’t live with – I kept saying “1956” when it’s a 1957 poster. That video was for the same poster dated March 4 [1957] in Tacoma, Washington, whereas this poster is from March 3 in Spokane, so they’re extremely similar. Thank you for indulging my redundancy in order to get all my facts right.  ~Pete)

This Biggest Show of Stars For ’57 concert poster is from Spokane, WA on the March 3rd date on this long national tour.

Globe Posters out of Baltimore, MD designed and printed this Fats Domino Bill Doggett placard, using primary colors of pink, yellow and blue.  And then also mixed in were black, white and a second, deeper shade of blue (up top in the venue area).

I love the way a local radio DJ is plugged on this particular Biggest Show of Stars For ’57 tour placard; perhaps other disc jockeys were plugged in their own cities elsewhere along the tour, as well.

I’m particularly fond of the Globe Posters – Baltimore credit printed at the bottom of this Fats Domino Bill Doggett window display – notice that it’s printed in pink ink!

Globe actually manufactured two different sizes of their Biggest Show of Stars For ’57 event poster; the 17 x 23” version I show here, and a larger 22 x 28” size.

The Biggest Show of Stars For ’57 show poster which I discuss here is for the Spring edition of that nationwide tour; there is also a Fall ’57 edition, the poster of which I’ve blogged in another video located here.

It’s worth noting that it’s an entirely black line-up shown on this Fats Domino Bill Doggett poster; usually these tours were comprised of a mix of African American and white musicians, but not this time.

If you’re a collector and want to seek out a copy of this Biggest Show of Stars For ’57 In Person poster, you have a lot more to choose from than just the Spokane one. As mentioned, this tour went on for at least two months. So in addition to Spokane, I’ve also spotted this Fats Domino Bill Doggett broadside (or flyer) from Buffalo, New York on February 19th; Topeka, KS on February 24th; Tacoma, Washington on March 4; Seattle, Washington on March 7; Tucson, Arizona on March 17th; Atlanta, Georgia on March 31st; Charlotte, North Carolina on April 4; Charleston, West Virginia on April 9th; Hartford, Connecticut on April 14; Kansas City, MO on April 21; Scranton, Pennsylvania on Apr. 27th; Rochester, New York on Apr. 30th; and Youngstown, OH on May 1. And those are just a few of the dates.

The precise wording, just as it reads on this Biggest Show of Stars For ’57 billboard, taking it from top to bottom:

(Blue block print in venue area): Spokane Coliseum – Spokane – Sunday Mar. 3 – 7:30 PM – Tickets: Desert Hotel and Jacoy [short for P.M. Jacoy’s Cigar Shop and Newsstand] – Listen to Gene Lawson KGA – 1510

Super Attractions present The Biggest Show of Stars For ’57 – In Person

Fats Domino and his Orchestra (with no song title); Bill Doggett “Honky Tonk” featuring “Crying” Tommy Brown; LaVern Baker, “Jim Dandy”; Clyde “Without Love” McPhatter; The 5 Keys, “Wisdom of a Fool”; The 5 Satins (with no song title); Chuck Berry, “Roll Over Beethoven”; The Schoolboys (with no song title or picture); Eddie Cooley and the Dimples, “Priscilla”; Ann Cole (no song title); The Moonglows (also no song title); Charles Brown (ditto); plus Paul Williams and his Big Orchestra.  Globe Posters – Baltimore.

Boy, you talk about hit-making power… the musicians featured on this Fats Domino Bill Doggett show placard combined for a total of 143 Top 20 rhythm & blues hits in their careers!  Whew!

So it’s extra interesting to make note that Fats Domino has no song titles by his name on this Biggest Show of Stars For ’57 ticket poster. Don’t let that mislead you, though… the very week of this concert, Mr. Domino had four singles in Billboard magazine’s current Top 100! And that was pop, not R&B!

You might be wondering why Bill Doggett, not exactly a household name, got co-headlining status with Fats on this Fats Domino Bill Doggett sign. It’s because “Honky Tonk” was a huge hit record for Doggett, spending three months at the number one spot on Billboard’s R&B singles chart.

This Fats Domino Bill Doggett tour poster is the product of a company named Super Attractions, Super Enterprises and Super Sonic Attractions  – their name varied over the years.

And this Biggest Show of Stars For ’57 telephone pole poster was actually the first “BSOS” concert tour to happen under that moniker, in what would turn out to be a 10-year run for the concert series, from 1957 to 1965. There were usually between two and four such tours per year.

It’s my personal opinion that Chuck Berry and “Roll Over Beethoven” carry the day on this Fats Domino Bill Doggett announcement. The lovely combination of Berry’s immense status, the snazzy fonts, a legendary song title, the snappy pink color and Chuck’s head-in-a-star design make him really jump off of this poster.

This Biggest Show of Stars For ’57 boxing-style concert poster is delved into deeply by me, poster collector Pete Howard (805-540-0020 / or pete@postercentral.com).  I will pay TOP DOLLAR for this poster from any stop along its two-month national trek in the spring of 1957, because I don’t have one; I was videotaping a friend’s.

And if you’re as taken with this Fats Domino Bill Doggett concert placard as I am, you can catch a few more standout examples on this page right here on my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/multi-act_1950s.htm

Posted in **All Posters, 1950s Rock ’N' Roll, Boxing-Style Concert Posters, Soul and R&B | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beatles Promo Poster for 1963 “From Me To You” Parlophone Single

Posted on September 21, 2013 by postercentral

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

Posted in **All Posters, *Beatles, British Invasion, Handbills & Flyers, Promo Posters & Displays | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment