It was 3:00 a.m. after a concert at the Olympia in Paris in January 1964. They had so much pent up energy after a performance, and they really couldn't go out because they would be mobbed. So we were sitting around talking and drinking. Their manager, Brian Epstein, burst into their suite at the Hotel George V to tell them 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' was number one on the American charts which meant they were going to America to be on the Ed Sullivan Show. That also meant I was going to America with them, and I was pleased. America had always fascinated me. Ever since I was a boy in Glasgow watching James Cagney gangster movies, I knew that was where I wanted to be. They were excited about having a number one hit in America. I had heard the Beatles talking about a pillow fight they had had a few nights before, so I suggested it. I thought it would make a good photo to celebrate.- Harry Benson, Harry Benson Photographs,60 Years of Photograph, powerHouse Books
Harry Benson Beatles Pillow Fight, Paris, 1964
Archival Pigment, Framed
Edition of 35
Size : 30 x 30 in. Frame : Black Cap Framed Size : 42 x 42 x 1 in. Harry Benson
Harry Benson's exquisite portraits and incisive photojournalism bring the world to a standstill, breathing life into slices of history, while at the same time preserving them for history. In order to capture these moments, Harry has spent over 60 years making sure to be in the right place at the right time. More than anything, Benson guides history with his pictures by getting at the center of the story, not the edges. Born in Glasgow amid the drama of WWII with bombs dropping overhead, he managed to escape through the lens of a camera. Benson's curious fortune struck when he was given a particular assignment in 1964: to capture The Beatles in France and on their first journey to the United States. This experience not only made for some of the most famous Beatles photography, but sent Benson's life in a completely new direction. Once he came to America, he never went back. His 60-year career as a photojournalist included a contract with LIFE Magazine and photographs on the covers and inside major magazines worldwide, including: Life, Time, Newsweek, Town & Country, Vanity Fair, Quest, Paris Match, G.Q., Esquire, W, The London Sunday Times Magazine, People, Vogue, Architectural Digest and Vice Magazine. During the civil war in the Dominican Republic, he was captured by both sides in one day. He caught the horror on Ethel Kennedy's face in the Ambassador Hotel after her husband Senator Robert Kennedy had been shot.