The Chinese Theater in Hollywood Blvd is famous for its many footprints and handprints of celebrities set into concrete blocks, but where can you find bumprints? For that, you have to fly to the English coastal city of Plymouth, to the low limestone cliffs facing the English channel. It was here, in 1967, members of one of the most influential bands of our time sat on the grass to enjoy the cool ocean breeze. Photographer David Redfern, who was following the band like a hound as they were touring the West Country for their album The Magical Mystery Tour, snapped this famous photograph.
Half a century later, local metalsmiths, a father and son team who calls themselves Thrussell and Thrussell, unveiled four copper casts of the backside of the four-member-band and installed them on the Hoe, presumably at the exact spot where John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr sat. The artwork is made of a galvanized steel framework, coated in copper and includes prints of the bum, legs as well as palms. The new artwork enables people to sit in exactly the same positions as the Beatles did.
The moulds were prepared from the bottoms of Beatles impersonators, “The Fab Beatles”—a band established in 1991 as a tribute to the original Beatles. The band members sing like the Beatles, dress like the Beatles and even look like the Beatles.
David Quantick, a music journalist who helped unveil the sculpture stated: “What Plymouth has done is brilliant. It has brought a bit of fun, a bit of affection, a bit of art to the Hoe.”
Photo: Abi Skipp/Flickr
Photo: Glamhag/Flickr
Photo: Glamhag/Flickr
Photo: Glamhag/Flickr
Photo: Glamhag/Flickr
#beatlebums @visitplymouth @awctg Another lovely group trying out an iconic position on #PlymouthHoe, this time my group is from #Austria. @whimsicaltours pic.twitter.com/viLokoY5TF
— Kerstin Müller (@GuidingIsQueen) June 30, 2019
In our recreation of the #beatlebums photo, John is played by John! pic.twitter.com/QrLoo3toaA
— Brian Knight (@brnknght) May 23, 2019
References:
# Plymouth Museums Galleries Archives, https://plymhearts.org/arts-and-culture/public-art/public-art-permanent/beatles-sculpture-by-thrussell-and-thrussell/
# Devon Life, https://www.devonlife.co.uk/people/arts-2-24559/plymouth-reveals-copper-bottomed-scheme-to-celebrate-famous-beatles-photo-1-4317194
