The intimate photos were taken by a music executive in a New York
apartment where Harrison asked his former bandmate to perform at the
Concert for Bangladesh
Candid photographs showing John Lennon and
George Harrison reuniting a year after the Beatles split are set to go
under the hammer.
The intimate photos
were taken by a music executive in a New York apartment where Harrison
asked his former bandmate to perform in a landmark charity concert he
was putting on for refugees in Bangladesh.
But
soon after the pictures were taken things turned sour between the pair,
as the meeting sparked a row between Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono.
The pictures were taken by an executive
for Apple Records and Decca who worked with Harrison and Lennon on the
Beatles' final album Let It Be.
The
pictures were taken in July 1971, a month before the New York Concert
for Bangladesh which Harrison organised in aid of refugees caught up in
the genocide.
He kept hold of the
photos for 46 years but has now decided to put them up for auction,
where they are expected to fetch some £3,000.
In
one, Lennon can be seen holding up a white John Lennon T-shirt. He is
stood next to Harrison who is wearing a Yoko Ono T-shirt underneath his
black jacket.
Another snap shows Lennon wearing a
T-shirt and jeans, sporting his trademark round glasses as he sits on a
sofa reading a newspaper.
Two more
images show a smiling Harrison in the hallway and Lennon deep in
concentration as he tried his hand at Japanese calligraphy.
Harrison
had stipulated it was only Lennon he wanted to perform and not his
musician wife, who was partly blamed for causing the Fab Four to break
up.
When Lennon initially agreed to this he and Yoko argued before he pulled out of the concert.
Brendan Ryan, auctioneer at Butterscotch
Auctions of New York, where the photos are being sold, said: 'The
consignor became involved with the Beatles when the Let It Be project
came to New York to be remixed by Phil Spector.
'He
even filled in for Spector at times during his collaborations with
John. He told me that John preferred to get to the studio around 6pm,
but Spector would always show up at 9pm or later, and so he helped set
up the sessions while they were all waiting for Spector to arrive.
'While he worked with John in the studio, he said that he worked closer with George Harrison and became good friends with him.
'He
was one of the first people to hear All Things Must Pass in full and
was instrumental in organising George's Concert for Bangladesh in 1971.
'The
polaroid pictures are personal photographs taken by him, who was
present during this New York meeting between John and George.
'As
such, they are quite rare, intimate images of the bandmates and give
insight into how they would spend their free time and socialise.'
Towards the end of his Beatles career
Harrison converted to Hinduism and became friends with Indian sita
master Ravi Shankar who asked him to put on the benefit concert.
The
Concert for Bangladesh was the collective name for two benefit gigs
concerts held on August 1, 1971 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
They
were organised to raise international awareness and fund relief efforts
for refugees from East Pakistan following the Bangladesh Liberation
War-related genocide.
Ringo Starr
interrupted the filming of his movie Blindman in Spain in order to
attend but Paul McCartney declined to take part, citing the bad feelings
caused by the Beatles' legal problems on their break-up.
The photos are being sold on July 16.
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