H A R RY B E N S O N
“IT WAS REALLY IN PARIS that Beatlemania started to
really move—rumble, you know?” says Harry Benson, the photographer who offers a chronicle of the Beatles in Harry Benson: The Beatles (Taschen). On February 1, 1964, while the Beatles—and Harry Benson—were staying at the Hôtel George V, their manager reported that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Minutes later, he returned, announcing that the Beatles had been invited to appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Harry stages: “Paul was sitting, drinking. John slips away and gets a pillow and hits him in the back of the head with it. That was the pillow fight. That was how it started. I’m sure Beethoven and Mozart had a pillow fight too when they were young. The Beatles are icons to this day and I’m glad to have them having a pillow fight, nearly 50 years ago.” And, with that, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr were memorialized, by Harry Benson, in midair. “The Beatles had become a story—they were a major story,” says Harry. “They helped America get over J.F.K. It was only
two months after J.F.K. was assassinated that they came, and they helped to get America over it because, then, the songs were the thing.” The United States—struggling with a dissonance caused by the assassination of the President, as well as the anxiety of the Cold War and the disharmony of the Civil Rights Movement— experienced somewhat of a rejuvenation with the Beatles. The songs offered a positive refrain at the dénouement of Camelot. Was it a movement? “Absolutely,” says Harry. It was Beatlemania—the Beatles redefined the era. “It was right down the line. Everyone wanted to see them, touch them.” Harry recalls his assignment to photograph the Beatles in 1964, having been rerouted to France from Africa by his editor. Determined to continue as a photojournalist rather than a rock ’n’ roll photographer, he was disappointed with the news. But there he was, at Fountainebleau for a concert. “Now, I’m not altogether in a good mood,” says Harry. “I was wanting to be in Africa. Then I hear, ‘Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you...’ And I’m on the right story. This is the OCTOBER 2012 89