Once there was a way...Photographs of the Beatles [Hardcover]

Harry Benson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2003

The Beatles are always in the news and in our hearts. February 2004 marks the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' first trip to America, an historic event that was captured by the young photojournalist Harry Benson.

Benson was commissioned to accompany the Beatles to Paris in January 1964, where he took his famous photograph of the pillow fight the night they learned that "I Want to Hold Your Hand" had climbed to number one on the U.S. pop charts. He was with them on February 7, when they stepped out of their plane in New York and into the pandemonium of Beatlemania, American-style. In Miami, he introduced the Beatles to Muhammad Ali, and later that year he covered the filming of A Hard Day's Night. He was with them in Chicago in 1966, when John Lennon was quoted as saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, and covered their last tour as a band. He documented the eye of the hurricane: four guys in their twenties at the center of the known universe. This handsome, large-format book is a record of those amazing times.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two photographers indelibly etched the early image of The Beatles: Robert Freeman, whose trend-setting work graced early album covers including Meet The Beatles and Rubber Soul, and Harry Benson, a seasoned photojournalist for London newspapers whose b&w backstage and onstage pictures of The Beatles touring Paris, New York and Miami became the template for the neo-realism of the film A Hard Day's Night. Published in anticipation of the 40th anniversary of The Beatles' arrival in the U.S. in February 1964, this thoroughly entertaining coffee-table-sized volume offers excellent prints of photos that will be immediately recognized by Beatles fans, who may not have known that they all were the work of one man. All of Benson's most memorable images from 1964 are here: The Fab Four shopping on the Champs Elysees, and pillow-fighting at the Hotel George V; riding in a carriage through Central Park and performing on the Ed Sullivan Show; clowning in a boxing ring with the then-Cassius Clay; and relaxing between-takes on the set of their first movie. The book also includes Freeman's famous pictures from The Beatles' final tour in 1966, including the Chicago press conference where John Lennon had to explain his controversial statement that The Beatles were "more popular that Jesus." Benson supplements the images with pithy comments and insider facts, such as the information that the band had actually wanted to meet the fighter whom Clay later beat, Sonny Liston.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Benson initially nixed schlepping to Paris to photograph a rock band. He preferred shooting breaking news. But his paper ordered him--and he got his most famous shot, of the Beatles having a pillow fight in their hotel. He got on well with the quartet, especially George Harrison, who subsequently didn't mind Benson showing up on a Barbados beach during his supposedly secret honeymoon with his first wife, Patti Boyd. Pictures from that occasion appear just beyond the center of an album otherwise depicting the Beatles commuting during the shooting of A Hard Day's Night, in Amsterdam in 1964, and on tour in the U.S. in 1964 and 1966. Benson's comments second others' opinions that the Beatles were willing performers and refresh memories of how closely they followed manager Brian Epstein's direction, and his energetic black-and-white pictures, most printed to fill entire 11-by-14-inch pages, of maximally keyed-up fans and four youngsters enjoying and enduring celebrity are historic as well as charming. (The guy sitting next to George on the train isn't Richard Lester, though.) Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (September 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810946432
• ISBN-13: 978-0810946439
• Product Dimensions: 14.3 x 11.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #989,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If Only There Were a Way to Describe How Great this Book Is!, October 28, 2003

By 

"grahamgrn" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once there was a way...Photographs of the Beatles (Hardcover)

Once there was a way to get back home--a haunting and beautiful lyric if there ever was one. But now there is another beautiful way to get back to the early days of the Beatles and beyond and to see in black and white what it must have been like to be with them during some of their most intimate moments!This large, arresting photographic journey back to the Beatles is a coffee table sized book that would make a perfect Christmas gift for any Beatles aficianado! Benson was there when it all began, and his stories and the photos of the Beatles at their best take us all on a long and winding road back to when the world was younger, and we were too--a time when there was a way, and the way seemed clear and lovely.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Beatles forever, March 1, 2004

By 

Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once there was a way...Photographs of the Beatles (Hardcover)

It grieves me to give any Beatles photograph book only four stars, but I have to say these photos have almost all been published previously. If you're new to the Fabs or don't have many photograph compilations of them, then this will be a magnificent book. But if you've collected on them for years and own Benson's previous book, then many of the pictures will be recycled ones to you.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter, any book featuring the boys is always a treat, even if the information has been read a thousand times before. The quality of the book is good, the photos are reproduced beautifully, what's not to like? Incidentally, the cover photo of John, Paul and Ringo is one of the more evocative photos in the book, they usually crop poor Ringo out of this one. Enjoy!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fab Shots, November 6, 2003

By 

R. DelParto "Rose2" (Virginia Beach, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Once there was a way...Photographs of the Beatles (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful coffee table book. Unfortunately, I had to give this book four stars, and it's The Beatles! However, I was quite disappointed with the pictures that were displayed. I own a previous photo book that Harry Benson had published several years back that was smaller in size, and it was quite better than this one. I guess, I have been fabbed out with the pictures that have been released of The Beatles, and there is not a shot that I have not already seen before from a different angle or shown either in film or video form. I guess it just didn't fulfill my expectations.

But nevertheless, I recommend this book for those who have not yet experienced the remarkable photography of Harry Benson, and the photogenic traits of the topper most popper most band that ever existed. For all you black and white photo aficionados, you'll love the blow ups.