Ringo Starr’s screen-worn jacket from the 1965 film Help! The predominantly black wool double-breasted suit jacket bears soft gray vertical line patterns, a keystone layout of six black buttons, and four more on the end of each cuff. A D.A. Millings & Sons label sewn inside the inner right pocket, “Ringo,” and a costume notation in an unknown hand on the upper lining of the right sleeve reads, “Ringo No. 1.” In fine condition. Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Tracks and a letter of provenance from the original recipient, reading, in part: “Since the late 1950’s I have been a friend of the Starkey–Graves family. Ringo or Ritchie as he was known to us and his girlfriend was one of a group of friends socializing together…During the sixties while visiting Ringo’s parents Elsie and Harry I was given a suit which I was informed had been worn by Ringo in the film Help.” Also accompanied by an unsigned glossy 7.25 x 9.5 photo Ringo wearing the jacket in the film, and a pair of screenshots of Starr from the film.
This dapper suit jacket is clearly visible during a pivotal sequence in Help! in which Ringo frets over a ring secretly entrusted to him by Ahme, a mysterious high priestess. Once confronted and told of the danger the sacrificial ring carries, Ringo desperately tries to remove it, but is unable. Only with the help of his fellow Beatles and the beautiful Ahme does Ringo find the means and courage to unfasten the accursed red jewel. Making a brief yet seminal appearance in the Fab Four’s second film, this immaculately kempt and tailored suit jacket is a modish and highly desirable piece of rock–cinema history.
