Candid Photos Of Beatles Found
More than 500 never-before-seen photographs of the Beatles have been discovered in Scotland.
The rare pictures were snapped by photojournalist Michael Peto more than 30 years ago as the Fab Four was on the brink of becoming the most famous band in history. Many of the pictures show John, Paul, George and Ringo relaxing on the set of the movie "Help."
On The Early Show, Pat Whatley from the University of Dundee said Peto's collection of 130,000 images were in negative format, but thanks to digitization, 22,000 more images have come to light.
Peto's photographs of the Beatles are not the usual staged shots of the group from that era but show them casually, drinking a cup of tea ,for example, Whatley said. "Some fairly notable photographers remember him as being very un-intrusive, he would suddenly disappear and take photographs when people were relaxing."
Beatles historian and the author of the book "Ticket to Ride," Denny Somach, said in 1965 when the photos were taken, the Beatles were in the early years, still touring and doing their second movie.
"The Beatles, remember, they were always on. Because they became international superstars literally overnight. So to see them in candid settings like that is very unusual," said Somach adding, "If you were an archaeologist, this would be what, you know, you'd be looking for."
Somach said it is hard to estimate the value of the photographs now. "Obviously I'd like to see them first. But I'm sure it's going to be substantial," he said.
Whatley agreed.
"Christie's, the auctioneers, have said that it's very significant. But until they see them, they can't put a value on them. And I'm sure some of them are more valuable than others. But it's part of a knockout collection. So the real value is in the content of the pictures," she said.
Only five of them were seen on The Early Show, but they will be all eventually digitized and available on a Web site, WWW.VISUAL-EVIDENCE.AC.UK.
"We want to make them as accessible as possible and we want to attract students to the university to come and use them for the cultural history courses and to promote Dundee. And we want everyone to see them. But I'm afraid it won't be immediate. But it won't be too long before we have some exhibitions. Possibly to launch a publication," Whatley said.
Peto was well known for documenting life in postwar Europe and Britain in the 1960s.
"He was a people photographer. All his 130,000 photographs are about people and they document social cultural history of Britain and other parts of the world at that time," said Whatley.
"He was a Hungarian Jew. He came over during the war, and he taught himself photography, and he worked for a number of agencies. He worked for Save the Children, he worked for Prospect Youth Company, Royal Ballet. But always in a backstage position," she added.