John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney all chose what famous people would appear photographed with them on The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album cover.
There were a few other famous people that were supposed to be included in the photo but for different reasons were either never made, obscured or airbrushed out of the final album cover. A cardboard cut-out of Adolf Hitler was made but was left out of the photo shoot at the last minute. Lennon had requested Jesus Christ but the cut-out was never made because it was only a few months after Lennon had made his famous “The Beatles are bigger then Jesus” statement. Below you will find a different photo taken from the Sgt. Pepper photo shoot on March 30, 1967, detailing who was missing from the final product…
1. Leo Gorcey – An American Movie Actor – He was in the original photo but removed when a fee of $400 was demanded by his agent. The image used was from the movie “Angels with Dirty Faces”.
2. Mohandas Gandhi – Was removed, because 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”
3. Timothy Carey – An American Film and Televison actor – Carey’s cut-out is obscured by George Harrison on the album cover and he can only be seen on out-take photos from the session. The image of Carey is from Stanley Kubrick’s movie “The Killing“.
4. Bette Davis– An American Actress – Like Carey, her cut-out was used for the photo but was obscured by Harrison as well. She can only be seen in photo out-takes from the session. Her cut-out image was taken from the 1939 movie “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex“.
5. Albert Einstein – His cut-out was mostly obscured in the final photo by John Lennon as only his hair is visible. Einstein can only be seen in the out-take photos.
Check out the story about Hitler being left off the cover…
You lost James Joyce, Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni: http://www.fab4art.com/sgt_pepper_shoot.htm