CLUB SANDWICH 45

Peter Blake's first sketches of cover ideas

for the Beatles' Apple boutique later in the year. Even after the 'Pepper' theme was conceived, the original design - all swirling greens, orange and purple -was intended for the centrefold until it transpired that the picture was not in the right proportions for the cover.
            It was when it became apparent that the new album was going to be more than just the latest collection of tracks by the Beatles, that it had an identity as a whole, that the idea for the classic cover began to evolve.
            There was a feeling that the tracks should link thematically, but clearly they didn't as such. The only two tracks with a common theme - 'Strawberry Fields' and 'Penny Lane' (both about childhood Liverpool) - had been released as a single although they were originally intended for the album.
            So the link came with the idea that the Beatles were another band...Sgt. Pepper's.
            The uniform idea was developed in some preliminary sketches made by Paul at the time. An early idea, when 'Strawberry Fields' was to be included, was to feature Salvation Army uniforms (Strawberry Field being a 'Sally Army' orphanage).
            Eventually the fabric samples arrived from theatrical outfitters Berman and Nathans; the day-glo colours clinched it, and the Sgt. Pepper band was born.
            It was at this stage the London art gallery owner Robert Fraser was called in by Brian Epstein as co-ordinator of the artwork, and it was on Fraser's suggestion that the Beatles engage 'professional' artist Peter Blake to actually execute the project.
            Blake was already respected in the art world. His brand of Pop Art shied away from the inevitable Americanisms of most of his contemporaries in the genre. There was an Englishness about his work, with its fairground wrestlers and Fry's Cocoa tins, that neatly mirrored the parochial side of the Lennon and McCartney repertoire at the time, drawing as it did on Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll and the British music hall as well as transatlantic pop.
            Peter Blake had also always been a great fan - be it of jazz, prize fighters or old-time movie stars - and it was that fan's enthusiasm that doubtless endeared him to the Beatles.
            The group put to Blake their notion about the band-within-a-band, and after discussing the idea at great length, he got them to draw up a list of who they would invite to a mythical concert by their alter egos. Added to this was his own choice, and that of Robert Fraser, so they worked from six lists of names. The idea was that after a 'concert' in a park or such, the band would pose with their audience, and that would be the cover picture.
            Some of the names suggested were rejected by EMI Records on the grounds of likely controversy, including two of John's choices Jesus and Hitler! Elvis had to be left out for fear of copyright problems, as did Gandhi - one of George's list of gurus-in case it offended EMI's interests in India.
            Various people approached were initially cautious about their picture appearing on the album. Former Hollywood child star Shirley Temple insisted on hearing the music first, in case it was overtly promoting drugs. 'Thirties screen vamp Mae West declined - "What would I be doing in a lonely hearts club?"- only to change her mind when the Beatles wrote to her personally.
            Leo Gorcey, a kids' movie matinee favourite from the early 'fifties as one of the 'Bowery Boys', insisted on a fee; EMI decided it would be a case of 'pay one, pay all', so he was withdrawn.
            A young photographer and business partner of Robert Fraser, Michael Cooper, was commissioned to do the photography, and Blake (with his then wife artist Jann Haworth) set about constructing the tableau.