JOHN LENNON – WHEN I’M 75

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It was 75 years ago today . . . October 9, 1940 when “Chief Beatle”, John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool, England. To many of us, it seems like yesterday when the leader of The Fab Four was just 23 years old, and The Beatles invaded “The Colonies”. It was February 7, 1964. Two days later, The Beatles made their legendary first appearance on TV’s “Ed Sullivan Show”.

Sgt. Pepper may have taught the band to play . . . but, it took Ed Sullivan to deliver them an audience of 73 million viewers. It was a cold New York afternoon when The Beatles touched down at Kennedy International Airport. They were greeted by the roar of 5,000 screaming teenagers, clamoring to get their first look at the four lads from Liverpool. Two evenings later – 73 million Americans tuned into the Ed Sullivan Show – for their first look. Our photo for today features the faces of Beatlemania – The Fans.

A year and a half ago, I was pleasantly surprised to get a phone call from a woman who in 1964 was the brunette teenage girl on the far left of the photo. She had spotted it online, when we posted our colorized image for the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. She shared the backstory with me – of the original black and white photo, taken by a news photographer. We never know who’s going to call our studio!

QUEEN OF SURF GUITAR (1963)

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The year is 1963. Kathy Marshall was only 13 or 14 years-old – but she was jamming onstage with such surf music luminaries as Dick Dale & His Del-Tones, The Crossfires, and Eddie & The Showmen (shown here). Dick Dale claims to have bestowed on her the title “Queen of Surf Guitar”. Surprisingly, Kathy never formed her own group – nor did she ever record professionally. But, those who remember seeing her perform with top local surf bands, say she held her own on stage with the best surf guitarists of the mid-1960s.

As you can see, the original photo was shot in color. However, the color had degraded so much that I had to not only restore the image presence, but it was necessary to add fresh color to it, in order to get the image back to 1963. Now, HERE’S an image befitting a Queen!

ELVIS PRESLEY & FANS (1956)

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The year is 1956. The King of Rock & Roll is riding a bicycle around the Paramount back lot in Hollywood, greeting fans along the way. This is a very relaxed moment for Elvis – a chance to just be the fun-loving Memphis boy from 1034 Audubon Drive.

SINGING HOT DOGS VIDEO (2007)

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The year is 1958. To kick off “4th Of Julie Week” at the American Photo Colorizing.com photo blog – we’re presenting some of our photo animation and great Doo Wop/Rock & Roll music by The Pyramids. The song is “Hot Dog Dooly Wah” recorded in 1958. So, turn up the volume to “11” – and roll back the rug. It’s Singing Hot Dogs video time, as produced a few years ago at American Photo Colorizing.com’s “Redwood Avenue Studio” on the beach in Southern California.

Maximize your viewer to Full Screen, crank up the speakers, pedal to the metal, and “Straight on ’til morning!”

At American Photo Colorizing, our goal is to shred the black & white veil that separates us from the exciting, vibrant lives of those who came before us. It’s time to “Go Color” with your vintage and antique family photos. Your ancestors are counting on you!

EDDIE COCHRAN IN MUSIC CITY (1959)

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The year is 1959. Rock & Roll star Eddie Cochran and girlfriend, Sharon Sheeley check out the record racks at Wallichs Music City, corner of Sunset and Vine in Hollywood. We’ve featured Eddie previously, so I won’t rehash his story here.

Sharon Sheeley, at 18 years-old, became the youngest woman to write a U.S. #1 hit record, Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool”. Nelson scored not only his personal first #1 record – but, the first #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. She went on to co-write other hits, including Eddie Cochran’s “Somethin’ Else”.

Wallichs Music City was also known for a number of “firsts”. It was the first U.S. record store to have listening booths, one of the first to seal their record covers in cellophane, and display their products in specially-designed record racks. Owner, Glenn E. Wallichs, was one of the founders of Capitol Records, which originally operated from the same location. In 1956 Capitol moved to its distinctive tower up Vine Street from Wallichs. Music City is where the “stars” purchased their music.

At American Photo Colorizing, our goal is to shred the black & white veil that separates us from the exciting, vibrant lives of those who came before us. It’s time to “Go Color” with your vintage and antique family photos. Your ancestors are counting on you!

RADIO SPOT FOR WALLICH’S MUSIC CITY

BUDDY HOLLY LIVES (1959)

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The year is 1959. Here is a bit of the crazy, playful side of Buddy Holly. In these images, Buddy mugs for a photo booth camera in Grand Central Station, New York City. He would never know of the tremendous impact his music would have on future generations of singers and musicians. See, Buddy had only 10 more days to live. Fifty-five years ago today, February 3, 1959 – Buddy, Ritchie Valens, and JP “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in the crash of a Beechcraft Bonanza airplane only a couple of hours after entertaining thousands of teens at Clear Lake, Iowa’s Surf Ballroom, during the “Winter Dance Party” tour. It’s known as “The Day The Music Died”. But, I’d rather remember Buddy this way – as the young Texas Rock ‘n’ Roller who changed the course of pop music.

EVERLY BROTHERS & CRICKETS (1960)

Welcome to the American Photo Colorizing.com photo blog! We colorize black & white photos for museums, media, multi-media, and families like yours. Our online Photo Gallery features 100s of colorized vintage images available for purchase. These images are HD-quality, and can be enlarged to at least 18″x24″. They look beautify when framed or mounted as a canvas wrap.

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The year is 1960. Today we have something a little different for us. The original is a photograph of the Everly Brothers (Phil on Left, Don on Right), performing their multi-million selling record, “Cathy’s Clown” – backed by the late Buddy Holly’s band, The Crickets L-R: Joe B. Mauldin, Jerry Allison, Sonny Curtis). What makes this different is, the picture was taken of a TV broadcast. So, the original is not as crisp as what I usually work from, but this is one I wanted to do, to honor Phil Everly, who went home to the Lord on January 3rd. The color is not quite up to my standard, due to the quality of the original photo. But, all things considered, I decided, “let’s go with it”. So here it is.