披头士乐队新闻发布会录音带将被拍卖
The only known audio recording of a 1966 Beatles press conference, in which John Lennon is grilled about saying the band was more popular than Jesus, is expected to sell for about $20,000 at auction in June.
Auction house Bonhams & Butterfields said the 14 minute reel-to-reel tape recording was the only known surviving audio record of the August 17, 1966 press conference by the Fab Four at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto.
It includes John Lennon and Paul McCartney joking about how long The Beatles would stay together.
"We're obviously not gonna go around holding hands forever," Lennon is heard to say. McCartney adds " would be a bit, you know, embarrassing at (age) 35..."
Bonhams said journalists also had lots of questions about Lennon's controversial "Jesus" remark months earlier, and that Vietnam and the generation gap were also discussed.
The press conference was well reported at the time but there is no known television or audio record.
"We do know what they said that day. We have just never heard it," Margaret Barrett, director of entertainment memorabilia at Bonhams & Butterfields said.
She said the tapes were made by a young photojournalist and Beatles fan who attended the press conference.
"He tried to sell them in 1966, but no-one thought they were important," Barrett said.
The two reels lay in a drawer for over 40 years but now carry an estimated price of $20-25,000 and are among the most expensive items at the June 13 auction in Los Angeles.
Also up for sale is a rare watercolor from the animated 1940 Walt Disney film "Pinocchio," estimated at $30,000-$40,000, and another of Michael Jackson's white rhinestone gloves ($14,000-$16,000).
1966年披头士乐队一次新闻发布会的唯一一份现存已知的录音带将于下月拍卖，目前估价约为2万美元。在这次发布会上，该乐队主唱约翰•列侬因其之前发表的有关披头士比耶酥更受欢迎的言论而受到记者的盘问。
据美国宝龙伯得富拍卖行介绍，这盘时长14分钟的录音磁带是现在唯一知道的一份有关披头士乐队1966年8月17日的那场新闻发布会的记录。当年的这场新闻发布会在多伦多的爱德华国王酒店召开。
在发布会上，约翰•列侬和保罗•麦克卡特尼就有关披头士乐队将存在多久的问题开起了玩笑。
在录音带中，列侬说：“显然我们不可能永远呆在一起”。麦克卡特尼补充说道：“等我们到了35岁还在一起，那就有点难堪了。”
据宝龙伯得富拍卖行介绍，在这次新闻发布会上，列侬还受到记者有关他几个月前发表的饱受争议的“耶酥”言论的盘问，越南和代沟的问题也有所涉及。
当时，披头士的这场新闻发布会被大加报道，但并没有已知现存的电视或录音记录。
宝龙伯得富拍卖行娱乐拍卖部总监玛格丽特•巴雷特说：“我们的确知道他们那天说了些什么。但我们从未听到过相关的录音。”
她说，新闻发布会的录音带由披头士乐迷、参加当天发布会的一名年轻的摄影记者制作而成。
“当年他想把它给卖了，但没人会想到它们如此重要。”
这盘录音带在抽屉里藏了40多年，但现在预计能拍出2万至2.5万美元的价格，是下月13日将在洛杉矶举行的拍卖会上最为昂贵的拍品之一。
将于当天拍卖的其它物品还包括沃尔特•迪尼斯电影公司1940年出品的动画片《皮诺曹奇遇记》，预拍价为3万至4万美元，以及迈克尔•杰克逊的另外一幅白色人造钻手套（预拍价为1.4万至1.6万美元）。
Vocabulary:
grill: 拷问；盘问
Fab Four:指“披头士四人组”，即披头士乐队
photojournalist: 摄影记者
