Beatles -Sgt. Pepper’s- album cover Mysteries and Secrets 1/4 : Pascal Gauthier
The Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the best selling albums in the world with over 32 million copies sold. It was officially released in 1967 and not without controversy. I guess they used that controversy as a tool for popularity. Here are two quotes I found about controversy ; Seldes, Gilbert ; “All great ideas are controversial, or have been at one time.” Hazlitt, William ; “When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.” The Sgt. Pepper’s album cover is no exception to controversy and mystery. Its filled with hidden messages and secrets. Everything was carefully calculated and placed strategically to create the myth it now is.
Every personalities on the cover were people the Beatles admired as their personal heroes. They also said they would of liked to have all these people in the audience : ” I asked them to make lists of people they would like to have in the audience at this imaginary concert.” Peter Blake (designed the cover).
For the part 1 of my study I will show you who all these personalities are. I’ve numbered each of them to make it easier for you.
Top row :
(1) Sri Yukteswar Giri (Hindu guru), (2) Aleister Crowley (occultist), (3) Mae West (actress), (4) Lenny Bruce (comedian), (5) Karlheinz Stockhausen (composer), (6) W. C. Fields (comedian/actor),(7) Carl Gustav Jung (psychiatrist), (8) Edgar Allan Poe (writer), (9) Fred Astaire (actor/dancer), (10) Richard Merkin (artist), (11) The Vargas Girl (by artist Alberto Vargas), (12) Huntz Hall (actor), (13) Simon Rodia (designer and builder of the Watts Towers), (14) Bob Dylan (singer/songwriter)
Second row:
(15) Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator), (16) Sir Robert Peel (19th century British Prime Minister), (17) Aldous Huxley (writer), (18) Dylan Thomas (poet), (19) Terry Southern (writer), (20) Dion (singer), (21) Tony Curtis (actor), (22) Wallace Berman (artist), (23) Tommy Handley (comedian), (24) Marilyn Monroe (actress), (25) William S. Burroughs (writer), (26) Sri Mahavatar Babaji (Hindu guru), (27) Stan Laurel (actor/comedian), (28) Richard Lindner (artist), (29) Oliver Hardy (actor/comedian), (30) Karl Marx (political philosopher), (31) H. G. Wells (writer), (32) Sri Paramahansa Yogananda (Hindu guru),
(33)Either Sigmund Freud (psychiatrist) according to wikipedia or James Joyce according to many – (barely visible) ; (update)Thanks to Sergey (RimS) the mysterie is solved, the person is in fact James Joyce as you can se below.

(34) Anonymous (hairdresser’s wax dummy)
Third row: (35) Stuart Sutcliffe (artist/former Beatle), (36) Anonymous (hairdresser’s wax dummy), (37) Max Miller (comedian), (38) A “Petty Girl” (by artist George Petty), (39) Marlon Brando (actor), (40) Tom Mix (actor), (41) Oscar Wilde (writer), (42) Tyrone Power (actor), (43) Larry Bell (artist), (44) Dr. David Livingstone (missionary/explorer), (45) Johnny Weissmuller (Olympic swimmer/Tarzan actor), (46) Stephen Crane (writer) – barely visible ;

(47) Issy Bonn (comedian), (48) George Bernard Shaw (playwright), (49)H. C. Westermann (sculptor), (50) Albert Stubbins (football player), (51) Sri Lahiri Mahasaya (guru), (52) Lewis Carroll (writer), (53) T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”),
Front row: (54) Wax model of Sonny Liston (boxer), (55) A “Petty Girl” (by George Petty), (56) Wax model of George Harrison, (57) Wax model of John Lennon,(58) Shirley Temple (child actress) - barely visible;

(59) Wax model of Ringo Starr, (60) Wax model of Paul McCartney, (61) Albert Einstein (physicist) – Hidden behind ;

(62) John Lennon, (63) Ringo Starr, (64) Paul McCartney, (65)George Harrison, (66) Bobby Breen (singer), (67) Marlene Dietrich (actress/singer), (68) Legionnaire from the Order of the Buffalos, (69) Diana Dors (actress), (70) (Shirley Temple Again. So now you are familiar with the personalities on the album cover. Remember everyone is there because they are heroes for the Beatles, so maybe you want to really check in to these people. Try to figure out why each is considered as such.
On my next post ( part 2 of this study) I will talk about the people who were originally suposed to appear on the cover, and were eventually cut out for number of reasons. And we will cover the hidden images and other mysteries of this fascinating album.
Till then Good day folks !
Pascal Gauthier
Leave a comment !