Category: Prue Bury and Swinging London

One of the first Mary Quant models, Prudence Bury was part of Swinging London at its beginning. Prue appeared with the Beatles in “A Hard Day’s Night” before Mary sent her to New York to introduce the miniskirt to America.

LIFE misses the Beat

LIFE Magazine, or what’s left of it, has an online George Harrison tribute. There’s also a print edition of the LIFE tribute to George, but it has an error that kept me from buying the issue. It’s a particularly annoying error, that was probably repeated from Bob Spitz’s useless, mistake-filled book, The Beatles: The Biography. The error is that Pattie Boyd appeared in A Hard Day’s Night with her sister Jenny. This is incorrect. Jenny “Jennifer Juniper” Boyd was not in AHDN. The girl with Pattie was, of course, my friend Prudence Bury. The paragraph below was scanned from Hunter Davies’ book The Beatles, in which Pattie mentions her two sisters (Jenny and Paula), as well as Prue.

A couple of years ago I said that Prue’s hair stylist was her friend Vidal Sassoon. Here is a picture of Prue sporting a Sassoon cut. Vidal is on the right, and the man in the middle is Alexander Plunkett-Green, husband of fashion designer Mary Quant.

Prue Bury, by Ringo Starr

It’s Easter, and a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the lovely and wonderful Prudence Bury. As promised, here is a very special picture of Prue. It was taken by Ringo Starr on the set of A Hard Day’s Night.

The caption reads, “This gorgeous girl is Pru Berry. She plays my girlfriend in our movie. Too bad it’s only make believe!” Amen to that! Ringo was actually paired with Tina Williams for the famous hair-combing publicity photos, and Prue was with Paul. She was 22 at the time, and Prue says of this portrait, “I love it, I look grown up!!” (Oh, the lure of evil ciggies to make one appear grown up!)

Prue had told me that Ringo was “snap-happy” with his camera during the filming of A Hard Day’s Night, and she said that he had taken some snapshots of her. (The sequence where Ringo went “parading” around town was built around him taking pictures.) Prue and I have been wondering if Ringo’s pictures had appeared anywhere, and the answer is yes. They’re in Ringo’s Photo-Album, published in 1964. Hover over the image below to see the back cover.

I have scanned the entire magazine and it’ll be featured later. My thanks go to noted Rock journalist Marcus Gray, for finding this treasure. I’ve seen many Beatles-related items, but I’d never spotted this one before. Marcus is the leading expert on The Clash, having written two books on the legendary British Punk Rock band — one a comprehensive and authoritative biography, the other a definitive study of their landmark album London Calling. Having been a Clash fan myself, I have both tomes and they are in my must-read stack. Marcus is also, to his credit, a Prue fan.

Pretty ballerina

This Easter Sunday is Prue Bury’s birthday, and for it I’ll be posting a very special photograph of her, taken by a Beatle on the set of A Hard Day’s Night. Prue’s on the right in this photo, age 17, at the Royal School of Ballet in London.

In 1958, Antony Armstrong-Jones, later titled the First Earl of Snowdon, was appointed the court photographer for the Royal Family. That same eventful year, Armstrong-Jones took this portrait of Prue.

Prudence Bury, age 17

Soon afterwards, Prue would meet Mary Quant and Vidal Sassoon, and be a witness to, and a part of, the start of what later came to be known as Swinging London.

http://youtu.be/uyIZtrvzGEM

Prue Bury in Astrid’s new book

I have Astrid Kirchherr – a retrospective, a new book that’s a companion to Astrid’s exhibit at the Victoria Gallery and Museum in Liverpool, that runs through the end of January. I am very pleased to see that the book includes a photo with my dear friend, Prudence Bury.