Vintage Datebook magazine from September 1966, signed and inscribed on his full page image to Datebook publisher Arthur Unger, “To Art, with love from John C. Lennon.” The page also bears the second half of a two-page quote from Lennon for the article which reads, “I don’t know which will go first—Rocknroll or Christianity.” Lennon, whose real middle initial is W for Winston, reportedly told the controversial publisher, “You know what the C stands for” [Christ]. In very good but somewhat fragile condition, with uniform toning to signed page, fragile binding, scattered creasing and chipping to covers. In a 1965 interview, Lennon told a British newspaper that the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus.” Unger quickly reprinted the infamous quote, used it as a part of a front cover story…and sent it to Bible-belt radio stations. In the interview Lennon discussed his view of religion, “Christianity will go, It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now, I don’t know which will go first—rock and roll or Christianity.” While the interview was barely noticed in England, Lennon’s comments caused a stir of protests in the US and a rash of Beatles record and memorabilia burnings on the streets. The uproar was most intense in the American South, where the Ku Klux Klan and many preachers condemned Lennon’s remarks as blasphemous. Unger later recounted in a 1998 New York Times story that Beatles manager Brian Epstein was unconcerned, flippantly observing “They have to buy the records before they burn them.” Amidst the turmoil, Unger pleaded with Epstein to allow him to join the fast-approaching third American tour, and it was on this trip that Lennon signed the magazine for Unger. A possibly one-of-a-kind Lennon signature closely tied to one of the most controversial moments of Beatlemania! Pre-certified Roger Epperson/REAL and RRAuction COA.
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