Paul McCartney Photo Exhibit: A Beautiful Trip Back In Time

On February 9, 1964, my parents sat me in front of the television to watch Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on Ed Sullivan. Sadly I have no memory of that magical moment, but 73 million other people did. Shortly after, I became a mega Beatles fan, and I haven't looked back since. Last week at the Brooklyn Museum, I took a beautiful trip back in time by seeing Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes Of The Storm, Paul McCartney's Photo Exhibit. It was the final weekend it would be there, and I didn't want to miss out. I "day tripped" it to the City, taking Amtrak to Penn Station, then hopped on the 2 train to Grand Army Plaza. There's actually a Brooklyn Museum stop on the 2, but I wanted to walk around the neighborhood a bit. Getting off a stop early also gave me the chance to walk by the gorgeous Brooklyn Botanic Garden on my way. If you've never been to the Brooklyn Museum, it's a gorgeous facility. I met my long time friend, Brooklyn resident and fellow Beatles fan Ashok, out front. As soon as you walk toward the entrance, one of the first things you see is Deborah Kass' iconic "YO/OY" sculpture, the same one that adorns the entrance of the Weitzman National Museum Of American Jewish History on Independence Mall. Of course, I had to pose on the "YO" side, being from Philly but, in Brooklyn, the "OY" side likely gets more traffic. There were several exhibits going on at the museum but, from the looks of us, the person who greeted us inside knew where we were headed. "Here for the Paul McCartney Exhibit?" "Ohhh yes!" Up we went to the 5th floor of the museum. We walked in and were instantly transported on a beautiful trip back in time. While Ringo was long thought to be the band's unofficial backstage photographer of events around the Beatles arrival in America in 1964, all four Beatles were given nice Pentax 35mm cameras sometime in 1963, and we see that Paul took an astonishing amount of photos. The exhibit goes back to January, 1964, when The Beatles played a dozen and a half shows at Paris' Olympia Theater. During that time, Paul snapped away backstage, in their hotel rooms, and on the streets of Paris. The series below is one of my favorites of the exhibit. Harrison/Lennon in Paris: I have to say my favorite photos of the Paris trip were the shots Paul took inside EMI's Pathe Marconi Studios. It was there The Beatles recorded the German versions of "She Loves You" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand," as well as "Cant Buy Me Love." While there didn't appear to be shots of The Beatles recording inside the studio, it was still really cool to see it from the inside. Next, of course, were the photos from The Beatles' first trip to America. I loved seeing this historic trip through the lens of Paul McCartney. You could feel the excitement browsing these photos, everything from the thousands of fans gathered on the streets of New York, to all the action going on inside their rooms at the Plaza Hotel. You see Brian Epstein, Cynthia Lennon, Ronnie Spector and Murray The K in many of the photos, hanging out and soaking in all of this excitement. My friend Ashok checking out the exhibit. Paul also seemed to really enjoy photographing ordinary people he saw in his travels. One shot of a train man standing next to a big train engine, presumably taken on the band's trip from New York to Washington, D.C., is a wonderful moment in time. Once in Miami, Paul got some color film for his Pentax, and the shots are stunning. There's one of George Harrison, poolside in dark glasses, being handed a drink. You only see the bottom half of a bikini-clad woman serving it to him, but the look on his face was that of a young man fully enjoying the riches of success. The exhibit wraps up with shots taken during The Beatles' first U.S. Tour. There are cool shots in the airplane between gigs, and photos of the opening acts, Jackie De Shannon, The Exciters and Clarence "Frogman" Henry. I was happy to see Paul included a photo of Frogman in his exhibit! There were also two video presentations going on, one involved the Ed Sullivan performance, with the boys performing a snippet of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" from the broadcast. The other was a collage of color photos from the Miami trip, and Paul's lovely instrumental b-side, "222," served as the soundtrack. I cannot tell you how glad I was that I made the trip to see this exhibition. There was a smile on my face throughout, and it totally transported me back to a wonderful time. I can't recommend Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes Of The Storm enough and, while its time in Brooklyn is over, four more cities will get to host this wonderful experience, Tokyo, Portland, Osaka and San Francisco. Get the dates here. [select-listicle listicle_id="958622" syndication_name="a-bootleg-inspired-paul-mccartneys-first-live-album" description="yes"]