arts&life
art
Come
Together
A Beatles fan and art collector-turned distributor brings signed
prints from John, Paul, George and Ringo to Danielle Peleg
Gallery — plus, Paul McCartney comes to Detroit .
LYNNE KONSTANTIN ARTS & LIFE EDITOR
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September 28 • 2017
jn
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N
eal Glaser had met
Ringo Starr a couple of
times.
As an art distributor and pub-
lisher outside Philadelphia, he’d
rubbed shoulders with a few
celebrities. He’d handled Jimi
Hendrix’s estate and met his
sister. He met Paul McCartney’s
brother-in-law.
So it was a huge deal for the
lifelong Beatles fan to meet
Ringo, but not entirely out of
the realm of possibility. Glaser
knew that Starr was an artist,
so he asked the former Beatle
if he was interested in putting
something together with his art.
Starr said no.
They met again, and Glaser
asked again. Starr said no.
A few months later, Glaser’s
phone rang. He picked it up and
a voice said, “It’s Ringo.”
Glaser said, “Who is this?”
“Ay, it’s Ringo.”
Glaser said, “Who is this?”
Starr responded with an
expletive, “It’s … Ringo!”
“You don’t expect Ringo Starr
to call you at home,” Glaser
says.
“You’ve been asking about
my art,” Starr says to Glaser, “so
I’m calling ya. You want to get
together tomorrow?”
Glaser says absolutely. Starr
tells him his assistant will give
him details on how to get to his
home in L.A.
“We’re ready to hang up,”
Glaser says, “and Ringo asks
me where I am. I said outside
Philadelphia. He says, ‘You can’t
be there tomorrow!’”
Starr offers Glaser a differ-
ent day, and they make a plan.
“When Ringo Starr says, ‘Come
over,’ you come over. I was ready
to hang up the phone and drive
to the airport.”
As an adult in his 20s, Glaser
got into the gas-station busi-
ness and moved from his native
New York to Litchfield, Conn.
But he had always been pas-
sionate about both art and
music — especially the Beatles,
since he first saw them on Ed
Sullivan when he was 10 years
old. In Connecticut, he began
collecting — which led to
meeting other serious collec-
tors. He also met caricaturist
Al Hirschfeld — whose work
appeared in books, theater,
record covers, postage stamps
and every major publication of
the time — including a 75-year
relationship with the New York
Times.
“Al Hirschfeld became instru-
mental to me,” Glaser says. “I
loved the man. I asked him
why he never did any work
with rock and roll, and he said
‘Commission me.’ I did, to make
a Beatles piece, which I then
gave as a gift to Ringo Starr,
who was a fan of Hirschfeld’s.”
After meeting Hirschfeld,
Glaser turned what started as
his own personal collection
into ArtCelebs (artcelebs.com),
which presents and publishes
works by celebrities not usually
known as fine artists, includ-
ing David Bowie, Frank Sinatra,
Jerry Garcia, James Dean — and
each of the four members of the
Beatles.
Among them, of course, is
Paul McCartney, whose upcom-
ing appearance at Little Caesars
Arena Oct. 1-2 spurred the tim-
ing of “The Beatles Art Show
& Sale” at the Danielle Peleg
Gallery in West Bloomfield Sept.
30-Oct. 3. The exhibit features
hand-signed artwork from John,