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The Beatles NY Arrival on Pan Am

I have a photograph that appears to show the four Beatles after they deplaned from the Pan Am flight from London to NY in 1965 and which appears to bear the signatures of all four. It’s a glossy 8x10 black and white. The signatures of John, Paul, and George are quite prominent in a black marker. Ringo’s is in red or orange and is less prominent. The reverse side bears writing with the title “TWA ‘Beatle’ Flight”, identifies Flight # 703, the date August13, 1965, Flying Time 7 hr 10 min and the altitude 35,000. It has a signature which looks like “Bauer.” The photo has no creases but some very gentle “dents.” The provenance as told to me about 40 years ago from my friend, Bob Brown, is that the flight purser had a number of these and he handed them out to children in his neighborhood in suburban New Jersey. Bob would have been about 10-12 years old in 1965. During his life Bob displayed it in his home in a plain black glass frame. When he passed away about 12 years ago, his widow gifted it to me for favors I had done and assistance to Bob in his final illness. During a move the frame and glass broke without damaging the photo. However, the plain reverse side shows discoloration from the many years in a frame with a cardboard backing.

For the reasons described, I believe the photo and signatures are authentic, but I welcome your opinions and any other information on similar autographed copies of the photo.

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Permalink Reply by fab432 on August 10, 2024 at 10:32am

Whoops

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Permalink Reply by JK on August 10, 2024 at 2:35pm

If the purser had the memorable signed on the 1965 flight then the photo would have to be from an earlier flight. Presumably the details on the back are the flight he was on.

No idea on the signatures. I'll defer to others on that.

I will say that in general, the more detailed the backstory the more skeptical I become. The autographs have to stand on their own. As for the photo of the kids with Beatles memorabilia, it's interesting but ultimately doesn't prove anything. Maybe the purser created the "souvenirs" to make the kids happy or to get his name in the news. (I'm not saying that's what happened, just offering one theoretical explanation).

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on August 11, 2024 at 1:54am

As JK says, it is pretty clear that the "signed" photo would have had to have been from an earlier trip. I can't really see enough of the autographs to say for sure whether they are OK or not but the parts I can see (e.g. "Paul") make me have my doubts. Ballroom and Jim certainly know what they're talking about.

If you want to be really sure, I would ask a dealer like Tracks UK to make you an offer. If they're not interested you'll know where you stand. Otherwise you can go to a Beatles-specialist authenticator but that will cost money.

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Permalink Reply by fab432 on August 11, 2024 at 4:15am

A plausible scenario could have been the purser was given a stack of pre signed 1964 photos to give away to fans. Perhaps only 1 was pre signed. It would be interesting to know if the other photos the purser gave away in his neighbourhood were signed. The signatures don’t appear to be by Neil or Mal so most likely secretarial. Maybe a quick opinion from Roger Epperson would be worthwhile.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on August 11, 2024 at 6:15am

the Paul looks like it was copied from their 1964 Beatles B&W card set

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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on August 11, 2024 at 8:46am

Here’s a 45 that was given to a hostess on the flight that appears to have been signed by the same secretarial signer.

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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on August 11, 2024 at 9:47am

It’s looking like the signatures are in the hand of their road manager Mal Evans.

So, some of the autograph requests on that flight were given to Mal to sign on the Beatles’ behalf. That includes your photo and the 45 sleeve above. The purser labeled the photos on the back and later handed them out likely thinking they were signed by The Beatles.

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Permalink Reply by fab432 on August 11, 2024 at 12:49pm

Mystery solved. I must admit the signatures in the OP look almost too good to be signed by Mal the exception being John’s signature. I’ve been thinking how many photographs would be in a “stack”?

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Permalink Reply by Martin Peters on August 11, 2024 at 2:27pm

Definitely Mel.

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on August 12, 2024 at 12:46am

The Paul in the OP looks like the Paul in a set that Tracks didn't want to buy from me. My first "Beatles" set, bought around 2000 for GBP 1,300 including premiums, and much treasured for around ten years. Now just a reminder to be careful and not trust auction authenticators.

I can't get good photos as so much of it is signed in the dark parts of the photo - probably with good reason!