Beatles Memorabilia Hits the Auction Block!

Dallas, Texas: The Fab Four. The Lads from Liverpool. John, Paul, George and Ringo. The Beatles.

For many, these four young musicians personified the turbulent decade of the 1960s. From their straight-ahead rock-and-roll hits like, "She Loves You," and "Help!" to the more psychedelic and experimental pieces such as "A Day in the Life" and "Within You, Without You," the Beatles not only set the style for the decade, but also reflected those changing trends in each successive album.

As befits such iconic performers, Beatles memorabilia is highly prized by collectors. Each new piece that comes to market is eagerly snatched up by fans of the legendary foursome.

"Beatles memorabilia has always led the pack in terms of desirability," said Doug Norwine, Director of Entertainment Memorabilia Auctions for Heritage Auction Galleries. "Their fans are absolutely insatiable in their demand for new material."

"We're pleased to present two exciting Beatles pieces in our upcoming auction," Norwine said. "The first is a set of press proofs and a color key for one of the Beatles' earliest ? and most desirable ? albums, The Beatles and Frank Ifield On Stage."

"It's hard to believe it now," Norwine said, "but the Beatles -- generally considered the world's most popular Rock/Pop music act of all time -- found it hard to translate their early success back home in England over to America. Capitol Records was the American subsidiary to EMI, the British label that released the Beatles material, and had first rights to the new group. Failure to break earlier U. K. acts like Cliff Richards in the States caused Capitol to initially pass on the group, so Vee-Jay, a small Chicago-based label, picked up that option. At first, it seemed Capitol was right, as the original Vee-Jay Beatle singles failed to chart. Finally bowing to EMI's pressure, Capitol could resist no more, and signed the band. Seemingly overnight, the sounds of 'She Loves You' and 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' filled American airwaves, and Beatlemania was in full swing across the country. Vee-Jay, knowing their option on the group would soon expire, released several albums of the early material in a number of different formats, all in an attempt to cash in; the rarest of them all was this reissue of their 'Jolly What!' album, pairing four songs from the Beatles with eight by British crooner Frank Ifield, now presented with a nice painted portrait of John, Paul, George, and Ringo on the cover."

"We're offering some extremely rare 'press proof' material for that front cover," Norwine said, "including a beautiful set of color keys (four film positive sheets that seen together form a single full-color image), plus two press proof sheets, one in full color, the other printed in only blue and yellow. Also included is the original set of four film negatives, one each for red (magenta), blue (cyan), yellow, and black, as well as the original manila envelope they were stored in. This material is incredibly rare, especially considering the fact Vee-Jay knew they would not be able to reuse them for future pressings."

"Complimenting this incredible lot is something that sums up 1960s Beatles fandom," Norwine said. "In October of 1963, The Beatles expanded their international horizons and made their way to Sweden for what would be the band's first European tour outside of the U. K. Beatlemania quickly grabbed hold in Sweden as the band embarked on an 8-day, 5-show tour. A media intensive trip, the band made numerous appearances on Swedish television and radio, and was also scheduled for a variety of interviews, including Sweden's highly popular Expressen newspaper. On the evening of October 26, 1963, The Beatles sat down with Swedish journalist and Expressen reporter Lars Widding, who decided to bring his teenaged daughter along for the evening so that she could attend the concert and also have an opportunity to meet the group. As many did during the time, Widding's daughter had created an homage to the group in the form of a handwritten lyric book, accented by a variety of vintage newspaper clippings of the Beatles' images along the front and back covers."

"At her memorable meeting with the Fab Four," Norwine added, "Widding's daughter presented her lyric book to the band in hopes of getting them to sign the inside. Not only did the group sign, but they were apparently quite amused by the creation and took time to browse through the book before handing it back at the end of the interview. We're pleased to present Ms. Widding's book, completely intact in its original form, beautifully signed by the Beatles on the first two pages: 'Paul McCartney,' 'John Lennon,' 'Best wishes from George Harrison,' and 'Ringo Starr.' All four signatures are accomplished in a strong blue ballpoint ink on clean lined pages, with small clipped photographs of each Beatle directly above their respective signatures."

"Adding to the uniqueness of this item," Norwine continued, "Paul McCartney apparently took a special interest in this book. While reading through the pages of lyrics, McCartney decided to pick up a pen and make handwritten annotations and multiple corrections to the lyrics written by Widding. Among the 47 lyric pages in this book, McCartney has made corrections on five pages, including adding the lyric, 'these few words 'til we're together,' to the song 'PS: I Love You,' as well as making notations to the songs 'Twist and Shout,' 'Please, Please Me,' 'Money,' and 'You Really Got A Hold on Me.' Capping off his thorough examination, McCartney has signed again in full on the inside back cover of the book, 'Paul McCartney, Beatles.' This is an exceptional item that any Beatles fan would be proud to own."

Heritage Auction Galleries will offer the Beatles and Frank Ifield On Stage Press Proofs and Color Key and The Beatles Signed Lyric Book with Handwritten Annotations in their upcoming Signature auction, to be held April 14 & 15, 2006 at their headquarters in Dallas, TX.

The Beatles and Frank Ifield On Stage Press Proofs and Color Key bears a pre-auction estimate of $10,000 and up. The Beatles Signed Lyric Book with Handwritten Annotations has a pre-auction estimate of $6,000 and up.

For more information about Heritage's auctions, and a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit www.HeritageAuctions.com.

Prospective consignors and sellers of Entertainment, Celebrity or Hollywood memorabilia are invited to www.HeritageAuctions.com/Entertainment and click on the "Sell Now" tab. Or simply email Doug Norwine at DougN@HeritageAuctions.com.

To reserve your copy of any Heritage auction catalog, please contact Nicole Jewell at 1-800-872-6467, ext. 272, or visit www.HeritageAuctions.com to order by email.