Exile on Main St. featured a gatefold cover and included a series of 12 perforated postcards with a sequence of images inserts, all of which were shot by photographer Norman Seeff. The back cover features various photos of the Stones; the “mystery woman” pictured in the lower left side is Chris O’Dell, their personal assistant. The album photography and concept was by Robert Frank and includes images from his seminal 1958 book The Americans. The “Joe Allen” pictured in the collage is of a postcard-style advertisement by Frank of the contortionist, Joe Allen, billed as “The Human Corkscrew” for his ability to wiggle and twist through the “13 1/2 inch hoop” approximately 25,000 times during his circus career, according to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on 8 May 1950. The man with the three balls (a tennis ball, a golf ball, and a “5” billiard ball) in his mouth is formally known as “Three Ball Charlie”, a 1930’s sideshow performer from Humboldt, Nebraska who could also not only balance on several balls at once, but could also juggle balls, and whistle, all while performing all 4 tasks simultaneously, according to Ripley’s.
Well, here it is.
After years of trying to hunt this rarity down, I found it. And now, I own it. This one came from my buddy Jeff Gold of Recordmecca. Still gets the rarest shit around.
http://recordmecca.com/
Here’s the original photo this was taken from. Referred to as “Three Ball Charlie.”
Below Charlie and Keith wearing Charlie.
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