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List of images on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

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The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has a widely recognized album cover that depicts several dozen celebrities and other images.

Contents

It was created by Jann Haworth and Peter Blake, who in 1967 won the Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts for their work on it. Many people have speculated about the cover's intended meaning.

Top row

  • Sri Yukteswar Giri (Hindu guru)
  • Aleister Crowley (occultist)
  • Mae West (actress)
  • Lenny Bruce (comedian)
  • Karlheinz Stockhausen (composer)
  • W. C. Fields (comedian/actor)
  • Carl Gustav Jung (psychiatrist)
  • Edgar Allan Poe (writer)
  • Fred Astaire (actor/dancer)
  • Richard Merkin (artist)
  • The Vargas Girl (by artist Alberto Vargas)
  • Huntz Hall (actor)
  • Simon Rodia (designer and builder of the Watts Towers)
  • Bob Dylan (singer/songwriter)

    • Second row

  • Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator)
  • Sir Robert Peel (19th century British Prime Minister)
  • Aldous Huxley (writer)
  • Dylan Thomas (poet)
  • Terry Southern (writer)
  • Dion Dimucci (singer/songwriter)
  • Tony Curtis (actor)
  • Wallace Berman (artist)
  • Tommy Handley (comedian)
  • Marilyn Monroe (actress)
  • William S. Burroughs (writer)
  • Sri Mahavatar Babaji (Hindu guru)
  • Stan Laurel (actor/comedian)
  • Richard Lindner (artist)
  • Oliver Hardy (actor/comedian)
  • Karl Marx (political philosopher)
  • H. G. Wells (writer)
  • Sri Paramahansa Yogananda (Hindu guru)
  • James Joyce (Irish poet and novelist) – barely visible below Bob Dylan
  • Anonymous (hairdresser's wax dummy)

    • Third row

  • Stuart Sutcliffe (artist/former Beatle)
  • Anonymous (hairdresser's wax dummy)
  • Max Miller (comedian)
  • A "Petty Girl" (by artist George Petty)
  • Marlon Brando (actor)
  • Tom Mix (actor)
  • Oscar Wilde (writer)
  • Tyrone Power (actor)
  • Larry Bell (artist)
  • David Livingstone (missionary/explorer)
  • Johnny Weissmuller (Olympic swimmer/Tarzan actor)
  • Stephen Crane (writer) – barely visible between Issy Bonn's head and raised arm
  • Issy Bonn (comedian)
  • George Bernard Shaw (playwright)
  • H. C. Westermann (sculptor)
  • Albert Stubbins (English footballer)
  • Sri Lahiri Mahasaya (guru)
  • Lewis Carroll (writer)
  • T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia")

    • Front row

  • Wax model of Sonny Liston (boxer)
  • A "Petty Girl" (by George Petty)
  • Wax model of George Harrison
  • Wax model of John Lennon
  • Shirley Temple (child actress) – barely visible behind the wax models of John and Ringo, first of three appearances on the cover
  • Wax model of Ringo Starr
  • Wax model of Paul McCartney
  • Albert Einstein (physicist) – largely obscured
  • John Lennon holding a french horn
  • Ringo Starr holding a trumpet
  • Paul McCartney holding a cor anglais
  • George Harrison holding a piccolo
  • Bette Davis (actress) – hair barely visible on top of George's shoulder
  • Bobby Breen (singer)
  • Marlene Dietrich (actress/singer)
  • Shirley Temple (child actress) – second appearance on the cover
  • An American legionnaire
  • Wax model of Diana Dors (actress)

    • Props on the cover

  • Cloth grandmother-figure by Jann Haworth
  • Cloth doll by Haworth of Shirley Temple wearing a sweater that reads "Welcome The Rolling Stones Good Guys" – third and last appearance on the cover
  • A ceramic Mexican craft known as a Tree of Life from Metepec
  • A 9-inch Sony television set, apparently owned by Paul McCartney – the receipt, bearing McCartney's signature, is owned by a curator of a museum dedicated to The Beatles in Japan.
  • A stone figure of a girl
  • Another stone figure
  • A statue brought over from John Lennon's house
  • A trophy
  • A doll of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi
  • A drum skin, designed by fairground artist Joe Ephgrave
  • A hookah (water pipe)
  • A velvet snake
  • A Fukusuke, Japanese china figure
  • A stone figure of Snow White
  • A garden gnome
  • A Baritone horn
  • A three-stringed flower guitar

    • People excluded from the cover

  • Leo Gorcey – was modelled and originally included to the left of Huntz Hall, but was subsequently removed when a fee of $400 was requested for the use of the actor's likeness.
  • Mohandas Gandhi – was modelled and originally included to the right of Lewis Carroll, but was subsequently removed. According to McCartney, "Gandhi also had to go because the head of EMI, Sir Joe Lockwood, said that in India they wouldn't allow the record to be printed".
  • Jesus Christ – was requested by Lennon, but not modelled because the LP would be released just over a year since Lennon's Jesus statement.
  • Adolf Hitler – was modelled and was visible in early photographs of the montage, positioned to the right of Larry Bell, but was eventually removed as it was considered offensive.
  • Timothy Carey – was modelled and originally included, but was completely obscured by George Harrison on the final version of the cover.[1]
  • Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni – behind the Beatles waxworks.

    • References

    List of images on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA