{"id":1520,"date":"2014-02-06T06:47:09","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T14:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/66.147.244.209\/~canadiu3\/?p=1520"},"modified":"2014-02-06T07:02:29","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T15:02:29","slug":"1964-ed-sullivan-beatles-memorabilia-headed-to-nyc-auction-estimate-800000-to-1m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/02\/06\/1964-ed-sullivan-beatles-memorabilia-headed-to-nyc-auction-estimate-800000-to-1m\/","title":{"rendered":"1964 Ed Sullivan Beatles\u2019 memorabilia headed to NYC auction; estimate: $800,000 to $1M"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"BERLIN:<\/a>
BERLIN: the wax figures of the “Beatles” with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison\u2014official opening of the waxworks “Madame Tussauds Berlin,” Berlin. Photo by 360b \/ Shutterstock.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK\u2014A large piece of stage backdrop autographed by the Beatles during their first live U.S. concert 50 years ago is headed to auction, where it could draw $800,000 to $1 million.<\/p>\n

Face caricatures accompany the signatures that the Fab Four penned between sets of their historic Ed Sullivan appearance on Feb. 9, 1964, which they opened with \u201cAll My Loving\u201d in front of 700 screeching fans in the audience and 73 million television viewers.<\/p>\n

The current owner of the 4-foot-by-2-foot plastic wall section is Andy Geller, a longtime Beatles collector and television and film voice-over artist. It is being sold in New York City on April 26 through the Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auctions.<\/p>\n

A stagehand is responsible for getting the band members to sign the back of the wall section known as a hardwall traveller, which is rolled back and forth to reveal the next act. It\u2019s believed to be the largest Beatles autograph.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a spur of the moment thing,\u201d 81-year-old Jerry Gort said in a telephone interview from his Calabasas, Calif., home. \u201cThey came down from stage right from their dressing rooms, I gave them a marker and asked them to sign the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band signed vertically from the bottom up: John Lennon first, then Paul McCartney, who scribbled \u201cUncle Paul McCartney,\u201d followed by George Harris. Ringo Starr, shorter than the rest, couldn\u2019t reach the top so \u201cI put my arms around him and lifted him,\u201d said Gort, simultaneously putting his foot on the wall to keep it from opening until Ringo finished signing the piece.<\/p>\n

Gort said Ringo then \u201cmade a mad dash to get to his drums\u201d and the band launched into \u201cI Saw Her Standing There\u201d and \u201cI Want to Hold Your Hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wall also contains the signature of other acts that followed later in the television season, notably from the Searchers, another British band, which signed \u201cThe Searchers Were Here with Kilroy 4\/5\/64.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the season, the wall was destined for the trash heap\u2014but was saved by another carpenter for a young disabled Beatles fan.<\/p>\n

Geller said he purchased the wall privately for more than $100,000 in 2002 without knowing its history.<\/p>\n

According to Gort, his grandson called him excitedly in 2006 to say he had read an article in Rolling Stone magazine that mentioned a guy in Los Angeles who owned the Beatles-autographed wall that Gort so often talked about. The grandson located a telephone number for Geller\u2019s agent and before long, Gort and Geller met. It turned out they lived only miles apart.<\/p>\n

The wall\u2019s whereabouts between when the boy owned it and Geller purchased it remains a mystery. It\u2019s rumoured to have hung in a Baton Rouge bar once and was owned by another Beatles collector. But Geller said he dealt with a middleman and does not know who had it before him.<\/p>\n

The 53-year-old Geller said the artifact was prominently displayed in his home in a framed picture box and was his most significant piece of Beatles memorabilia. He said he was selling it because \u201cI\u2019m not sure I\u2019ll be here for the 75th\u201d anniversary of the Beatles\u2019 U.S. invasion.<\/p>\n

More practically, the father of three said he\u2019s always used the excuse that he bought it as an investment. \u201cNow I kind of get to prove that it is an investment,\u201d said Geller, who has voiced trailers for such movies as \u201cArmaggedon\u201d and \u201cFinding Nemo.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wall is being sold with a signed letter from Gort and a letter of authenticity from noted Beatles autograph expert Frank Caiazzo.<\/p>\n

It will be on display in the window of Heritage Auctions\u2019 Park Avenue gallery in time for Beatlefest, an autograph and memorabilia event at the Grand Hyatt New York that runs Friday through Sunday.<\/p>\n

The priciest Beatles collectible is John Lennon\u2019s hand-painted Rolls Royce Phantom V, which sold at a 1985 auction for $2.23 million. The most expensive Beatles hand-written lyric is for \u201cAll You Need is Love,\u201d auctioned for $1.25 million in 2005.<\/p>\n

Heritage\u2019s music memorabilia consignment director Garry Schrum called the wall \u201can amazing wild card,\u201d which could go for \u201c$800,000 to $1 million, maybe more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u2014A large piece of stage backdrop autographed by the Beatles during their first live U.S. concert 50 years ago …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":1540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-art-and-culture","mauthors-ula-ilnytzky","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}