Blake's iconic sleeve design for Sgt Pepper
Probably the most well-known album design ever made.
Io Herodotus's explanation of the people featured on the sleeve.
Here is a list of those people followed by a list of some who were left out. You may notice that there is not a perfect correspondence between the two pictures because changes were constantly being made:
Top row
(1) Sri Yukteswar Giri (Hindu guru)
(2) Aleister Crowley (occultist)
(4) Lenny Bruce (comedian)
(6) W. C. Fields (comedian/actor)
(7) Carl Jung (psychiatrist)
(8) Edgar Allan Poe (writer)
(9) Fred Astaire (actor/dancer)
(10) Richard Merkin (artist)
(11) The
Vargas Girl (by artist Alberto Vargas)
(12) Leo Gorcey (image
was removed from cover, but the space remains between "The Vargas
Girl" and "Huntz Hall")
(13) Huntz Hall (actor)
(14) Simon Rodia (designer
and builder of the Watts
Towers)
(15) Bob Dylan (singer/songwriter)
Second row
(16) Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator)
(17) Sir Robert Peel (19th
century British Prime Minister)
(18) Aldous Huxley (writer)
(19) Dylan Thomas (poet)
(20) Terry Southern (writer)
(21) Dion DiMucci (singer/songwriter)
(22) Tony Curtis (actor)
(23) Wallace Berman (artist)
(24) Tommy Handley (comedian)
(25) Marilyn Monroe (actress)
(26) William
S. Burroughs (writer)
(27) Sri Mahavatar Babaji (Hindu
guru)
(28) Stan Laurel (actor/comedian)
(29) Richard Lindner (artist)
(30) Oliver Hardy (actor/comedian)
(31) Karl Marx (political
philosopher)
(32) H. G. Wells (writer)
(34A) James Joyce (Irish
poet and novelist) – barely visible below Bob Dylan(34) Anonymous (hairdresser's
wax dummy)
Third row
(35) Stuart Sutcliffe (artist/former
Beatle)
(36) Anonymous (hairdresser's
wax dummy)
(37) Max Miller (comedian)
(38) A "Petty
Girl" (by artist George Petty)
(39) Marlon
Brando (actor)
(40) Tom Mix (actor)
(41) Oscar
Wilde (writer)
(42) Tyrone
Power (actor)
(43) Larry
Bell (artist)
(44) David
Livingstone (missionary/explorer)
(45) Johnny
Weissmuller (Olympic swimmer/Tarzan actor)
(46) Stephen
Crane (writer) – barely visible between Issy Bonn's head and
raised arm
(47) Issy
Bonn (comedian)
(48) George
Bernard Shaw (playwright)
(49) H.
C. Westermann (sculptor)
(50) Albert Stubbins (English
footballer)
(51) Sri Lahiri
Mahasaya (guru)
(52) Lewis
Carroll (writer)
(53) T.
E. Lawrence ("Lawrence
of Arabia")
Front row
(54) Wax model of Sonny Liston (boxer)
(55) A "Petty
Girl" (by George Petty)
(56) Wax model of George Harrison
(57) Wax model of John Lennon
(58) Shirley
Temple (child actress) – barely visible behind the wax models
of John and Ringo, first of three
ppearances on the cover
(59) Wax model of Ringo Starr
(60) Wax model of Paul McCartney
(61) Albert
Einstein (physicist) – largely obscured
(62) John
Lennon holding a french horn
(63) Ringo
Starr holding a trumpet
(64) Paul
McCartney holding a cor anglais
(65) George
Harrison holding a piccolo
(65A) Bette
Davis (actress) – hair barely visible on top of George's
shoulder
(66) Bobby
Breen (singer)
(67) Marlene
Dietrich (actress/singer)
(68) Mahatma
Gandhi was planned for this position, but was deleted prior to
publication
(69) An American legionnaire[2]
(70) Wax model of Diana
Dors (actress)
(71) Shirley
Temple (child actress) – second appearance on the cover
People excluded from the cover
(12) Leo Gorcey –
was modelled and originally included to the left of Huntz Hall, but was
subsequently removed when a fee of $400 was requested for the use of the
actor's likeness.[5][6]
(54A) Unidentified laughing figure - barely visible
(56A) Sophia
Loren (actress) - behind the Beatles waxworks
(57A) Marcelo
Mastroianni (actor) - behind the Beatles waxworks
(65A) Timothy
Carey (actor) - was modelled and originally included but
largely obscured by George Harrison in the final picture
(68) Mahatma
Gandhi – was modelled and originally included to the right of
Lewis Carroll, but was subsequently removed According to McCartney,
"Gandhi also had to go because the head of EMI, Sir Joe Lockwood,
said that in India they wouldn't allow the record to be printed".
Jesus Christ –
was requested by Lennon, but not modelled because the LP would be released
just over a year after Lennon’s Jesus remark.
(C) Adolf Hitler –
was modelled and was visible in early photographs of the montage, positioned to
the right of Larry Bell, but was eventually removed when his inclusion was
considered offensive.
17 comments:
Hello Bazza, Thanks for all the information on this iconic image. It is one of the greatest of the Victorian-Psychedelic fusion works so popular in the 1960's. It is such an odd image, and so fraught with potential meaning (although perhaps hard to pin down) that anyone's real or potential inclusion or omission seems sublimely important.
By the way, my brother used to watch those terrible Leo Gorcey movies, so I remember them. I see that he died in 1969, so he did not have much time to ponder his exclusion from immortality.
--Jim
That was fun matching up the people to their pictures. I bet Leo Gorcey’s descendants are very sad that he made that $400 bad decision.
Jim: Yes, I think the importance of inclusion (or not) was fairly arbitrary. There were plenty of people whom the various Beatles admired but also some very obscure and inexplicable ones. The design remains an interesting signifier of the sixties though!
Arleen: I never knew Leo Gorcey's name but when I checked him out I knew straight away who he was. Yes, he turned down the chance of near immortality!
Hi Bazza - thanks so much for this and for the interesting history - which I knew nothing about ... I will definitely be back to read more about the sleeve and the links from your information - which I'll look into ... so glad you gave us the details ... cheers Hilary
Hilary: I have often said that I write this Blog for myself and I am delighted if others enjoy it too! This post is something of real interest to me as were the Beatles generally.
It is like finding a list of travellers on the Titanic.. long gone, but fixed forever in history.
P.S. I love Hels' comment--she stated the impact of this image so beautifully. --Jim
Hels & Jim: Quite so, that's a powerful metaphor. It's almost ancient history now!
Hi bazza,
As well as having a copy of the album (on CD, not vinyl I'm afraid!), I have a poster of Blake's cover art on my bedroom wall. It's interesting to know now the names of all those included in the picture. I've spent years wondering who the less well known ones were!
Best Wishes,
David.
David: So have I although some are quite obvious. Also, some of the more obscure ones are people I never heard of before!
Shirley Temple is on that? How very interesting. Thanks for identifying all the people in the cover art.
Sherry: I think the Beatles were referencing all of their childhoods!
Just having a quick dive into your blog before the train pulls in. Great to see you're still going strong. Keep it up!
Hi Stephen. Great to hear from you. We are thinking of returning to Oz next year!
I hope you and the family are all well.
Love to see you and Leah again. The kids are now teenagers in the tail end of high school, shy but adorable.
I will be sure to contact you Stephen! Your kids were charming when we met them.
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