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Permalink Reply by Jim Cushman on March 28, 2024 at 10:12am

On May 16...17...& 18, 1975...Philadelphia radio station WFIL held it's annual "Helping Hands Marathon" to raise money for local charities. That year John Lennon was asked to participate in the program. Lennon agreed...and he went to Philly to answer phones...play requests...and take pledges from the public. The crowds outside were really starting to swell...so management asked John if he would go outside and meet the fans. Lennon went outside to say "Hello" and then started to sign autographs. Pretty soon WFIL announced that Lennon would sign for a small donation...and soon...everybody showed up with Beatles albums...solo albums...magazines...Beatles photographs...anything to get Lennon's autograph! Soon John auctioned off his socks...a jacket and shirt he had to raise money for the charity. Lots of autographs from that weekend in 1975..."Helping Hands" ...show up on the market. Because of the "rushed" style of John's signature from that time....they are easy to copy...and you have to be very careful when buying one because LOTS of them are forgeries.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 28, 2024 at 10:15am

Remember "the WFIL man" or whatever he called himself? ;)

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Permalink Reply by Jim Cushman on March 28, 2024 at 11:08am

Hey Eric...Sure do...he was on here for a while...trying to sell his WFIL Lennon's...he's still on different sites with the same old stuff.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 28, 2024 at 11:12am

I'm not sure it's that old ;)

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Permalink Reply by JK on March 28, 2024 at 11:22am

And those glasses that were supposedly owned by John Lennon and gifted to someone at a party.  (I guess John miraculously recovered perfect vision that night).  The "provenance" was comical - original owner deceased, his brother sold them to someone else, a vague letter with no verification of the writer's identity, etc 

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 28, 2024 at 11:27am

I recall Paul saying that early on John would come over to his place to write and walk home about 2 blocks over. One night John said "Paul, those are some very strange people on your corner, playing cards all night like that," Paul revealed it was a plastic Nativity scene...

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Permalink Reply by Jim Cushman on March 28, 2024 at 11:43am

Yeah...I love that story...a CLASSIC!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Cushman on March 28, 2024 at 11:46am

"Hey John...can I have your glasses?...Sure...catch!" I love those stories! "I got them from a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy!'...Good enough for me!

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