Sgt Pepper: Who is who?

Here’s something which I hope will be a good resource for Beatles scholars and students for years to come. This is a guide to who all the people on the “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” cover photo are. Every name is linked to the person’s own wikipedia entry, so this page will stay current forever. All the links will open in a new window. You can have acres of fun with this post for a long time. Enjoy!

1. SRI YUKTESWAR GIRI 1855-1936
2. ALEISTER CROWLEY 1875-1947
3. MAE WEST 1893-1980
4. LENNY BRUCE 1925-1966
5. KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN 1928-2007
6. W.C. FIELDS 1880-1946
7. CARL GUSTAV JUNG 1875-1961
8. EDGAR ALLEN POE 1809-1849
9. FRED ASTAIRE 1899-1987
10. RICHARD MERKIN 1938-2009
11. THE VARGA GIRL.
12. LEO GORCEY 1917-1969
13. HUNTZ HALL 1919-1999
14. SIMON RODIA 1879-1965
15. BOB DYLAN 1941-
16. AUBREY BEARDSLEY 1872-1898
17. SIR ROBERT PEEL 1788-1850
18. ALDOUS HUXLEY 1894-1963
19. DYLAN THOMAS 1914-1953
20. TERRY SOUTHERN 1924-1995
21. DION 1939-
22. TONY CURTIS 1925 – 2010
23. WALLACE BERMAN 1926-1976
24. TOMMY HANDLEY 1892-1949
25. MARILYN MONROE 1926-1962
26. WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS 1914-1997
27. SRI MAHAVATAR BABAJI unknown
28. STAN LAUREL 1890-1965
29. RICHARD LINDNER 1901-1978
30. OLIVER HARDY 1892-1957
31. KARL MARX 1818-1883
32. H.G. WELLS 1866-1946
33. SRI PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA 1893-1952
34. ANONYMOUS DUMMY.
35. STUART SUTCLIFFE 1940-1962
36. ANONYMOUS DUMMY.
37. MAX MILLER 1894-1963
38. THE PETTY GIRL. painting of his wife, Anna Mae Clift, by GEORGE PETTY 1894-1975
39. MARLON BRANDO 1924.-2004
40. TOM MIX 1880-1940
41. OSCAR WILDE 1854-1900
42. TYRONE POWER 1914-1958
43. LARRY BELL 1939 –
44. DR. DAVID LIVINGSTONE 1813-1873
45. JOHNNY WEISSMULLER 1904-1984
46. STEPHEN CRANE 1871-1900
47. ISSY BONN 1893-1977
48. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW 1856-1950
49. H.C. WESTERMANN 1922-1981
50. ALBERT STUBBINS 1920-2002
51. SRI LAHIRI MAHASAYA 1828-1895
52. LEWIS CARROLL 1832-1898
53. T.E. LAWRENCE¨1888-1935
54. SONNY LISTON 1928-1970
55. THE PETTY GIRL 2.
56. GEORGE HARRISON 1943-2001
57. JOHN LENNON 1940-1980
58. SHIRLEY TEMPLE 1928-
59. RINGO STARR 1940-
60. PAUL McCARTNEY 1942-
61. ALBERT EINSTEIN 1879-1955
62. JOHN LENNON. Again.
63. RINGO STARR. Again.
64. PAUL McCARTNEY. Again.
65. GEORGE HARRISON. Again.
66. BOBBY BREEN 1927-
67. MARLENE DIETRICH 1901-1992
68. MAHATMA GANDHI 1869-1948
69. LEGIONNAIRE FROM THE ORDER OF BUFFALOS
70. DIANA DORS 1931-1984
71. SHIRLEY TEMPLE. Again.

No. 12, Leo Gorcey was on the cover, but he was painted out before publication due to his manager requesting a fee of $400 for his participation.
No. 68, Mahatma Gandhi was also painted over, by request of EMI.

Here’s a recreation of how “the stage” looked like before the Beatles and their wax models entered.

Recreation of the set up before the wax models arrived

As you can see, more people are revealed.

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni

Hidden behind the wax models of The Beatles, you would have seen this image of Sophia Loren (1934- )and Marcello Mastroianni (1924-1996).

Adolf Hitler and Peter Blake

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was also one of the full figure cut-outs, but contrary to what Peter Blake later claimed, he was not hidden behind The Beatles, but stood in the wings when the Beatles entered the picture.

Bette Davis as Queen Elizabeth I

Hidden behind George in his Pepper suit is this image of Bette Davis (1908-1989) in her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603).

Also, an image of Timothy Carey (1929-1994) from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Killing” shows up behind George.

Shirley Temple in a still from the movie “Bright Eyes”

Rejects from the cover included:

• BRIGITTE BARDOT (1934- )
• RENE MARGRITTE (1898-1967)
• ALFRED JARRY (1873-1907)
• MARQUIS DE SADE (1740-1814)
• FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (1844-1900)
• LORD BUCKLEY (1906-1960)
• RICHMAL CROMPTON (1890-1969)
• DICK BARTON (fictional)
• JESUS CHRIST (ca 4BC – 30AC)
• JAMES JOYCE 1882-1941 (a cut-out of his head was made and they tried to fit it in somewhere, but gave up. At one point his head was where Lawrence of Arabia went.

What you see depicted above is a poster from the “Pepper” photo session. It is pretty close to the one that was used on the album, but you’ll notice slight differences, like John holding his instrument a bit higher. Compare it with this, uncropped photo: