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The "Blonde On Blonde" Missing Pictures

The outside layout	Original 1966 LP 9-photo inside layout with Claudia Cardinale and unknown whisperer	Bob with photographer Jerry Schatzberg, 1965, from "Bob Dylan par Jerry Schatzberg" edited by Luc Bellier and Olivier Lorquin, Galleries Luc Bellier & Dina Vierny, France, 2006	"Saturday Evening Post" 30 Jun 1966, photo by Jerry Schatzberg from the same location as the Blonde On Blonde scarf photo, scan by Bob Egan
	Replacement 1968 LP 7-photo inside layout, same on the left but Claudia and the whisperer have gone from the right!	Columbia 4-43683 (USA) - front scan by Sam C. Visser (photo by Jerry Schatzberg from the same location as the Blonde On Blonde scarf photo)

This page shows the pictures on the gatefold sleeve of the vinyl release of 1966’s Blonde On Blonde that have not made it into the regular CD insert (the artwork for the gold CD is different as shown below). If you know who any of these people are, please contact me or make a posting to my Facebook page. The inside layout was revised in the USA from 1968 onwards to remove the picture of Claudia Cardinale, but printings outside the USA preserved the original layout. Both the 2002 re-release of the US mono mix of Blonde On Blonde by Sundazed and the 2010 re-release of the mono set by Columbia/Legacy/Sony Music use the 7-photo picture shown above, they have not managed to get permission to reproduce the original sleeve. For more details see International Mono Releases.

Thanks to Jerry Schatzberg, his assistant Tim White, Charlie Steiner, and Rod MacBeath for their input to this page. Thanks to Hervé from France for the two Jerry Schatzberg books cited here. Thanks to Bob Egan for his work in tracking down the New York locations used by Jerry in the photoshoot, for more details see . About the fold-out picture on the front, Jerry says: "I wanted to find an interesting location out of the studio. We went to the west side, where the Chelsea Art galleries are now. At the time it was the meat-packing district of New York and I liked the look of it. It was freezing and I was very cold. The frame he chose for the cover is blurred and out of focus. Of course everyone was trying to interpret the meaning, saying it must represent getting high or an LSD trip. It was none of the above; we were just cold and the two of us were shivering. There were other images that were sharp and in focus, but to his credit, Dylan liked that photograph."

Bob And Who?

This photo remains on the sleeve, but who's the man with his back to the camera facing Bob? Jerry Schatzberg confirms it's Albert Grossman: "Albert Grossman is the figure with his back to the camera talking to Dylan".

This second picture appeared for years in the regular CD insert in a cropped form only, omitting Bob’s companion. Rod MacBeath, in his "Telegraph 50" article, "Looking Up Dylan's Sleeves", identifies the person as Albert Grossman, but Jerry Schatzberg says: "The photograph that identifies Albert Grossman as the second figure, is incorrect, it is (Lady) Sandra Suffolk. She contacted me with the pretext of a photo shoot for "Queen" magazine. She really wanted an interview with Dylan. I spoke to him and he agreed to meet with her if I would come along. I did, it was just the three of us."

Picture from the original LP sleeve, Lady Sandra Suffolk on right in shadow

Picture from the regular UK CD (before the SA-CD release)

In "Bob Dylan par Jerry Schatzberg" edited by Luc Bellier and Olivier Lorquin, Galleries Luc Bellier & Dina Vierny, France, 2006, Jerry tells the story of the design change, refuting the long-held belief that it was done at Claudia's request: "For the inside cover of Blonde On Blonde, Dylan wanted a self-portrait of me that I had in my studio... He also wanted a photo of Claudia Cardinale that I had taken and that he saw in my studio to feature on the sleeve. After we'd done the first printing his agents - probably without informing her - refused to let her portrait to be used in that way. I supposed they didn't want her being used to promote someone else. Anyway, the photo disappeared from the later printings and I think the original cover is now a collector's item..."

Unknown Woman: not Edie Sedgwick but maybe Carole Adler?

This picture is still in the insert for the UK gold CD - however we still don't know for certain the identity of the woman whispering in Bob's ear. Rod MacBeath says in his "Telegraph 50" article that she could be Edie Sedgwick, but a contemporary says Edie was "rail-thin and a platinum blonde" (see her picture below), so this would appear not to be her. Anyone know who she is? One suggestion is Carole Adler (daughter of harmonica player Larry), who hung around with Bob at this time. She later became a copywriter. Tim White thinks the picture was taken at a New York night club called Ondine (see Tim's comments below). Jerry Schatzberg confirms this, but doesn't know the whisperer. The picture on the right was taken by Jerry at Ondine on 5 Oct 1965 and shows from left Rick Danko, Bob Dylan, Bob Neuwirth, David Blue and Venetia Cunningham.

Some interesting comments from Tim White: "My name is Tim White and I was working with Jerry Schatzberg when the shots of Dylan you are curious about were taken! I can confirm that the girl is definitely not Edie Sedgwick. We photographed her several times with Andy, she was definitely blonde at the time. I remember that the guy you are concerned about [Albert Grossman - see above] was quite tall, if I'm right, had steel rimmed round glasses and may have been Bob's record producer. I think he would have been about 45-55, it was a long time back! Jerry was about 38 at the time, the studio was 1st. Floor, 333 Park Avenue South. I was also present when the cover was shot. I remember going to the location with Jerry in Bob's Mustang! I also did all Jerry's black and white printing. I remember printing the shot with the painting and the pliers and I pretty certainly made the print of the guy with his back to us. I suspect that the shot of Bob with the girl may have been taken by Jerry at Ondine which was a night club that Jerry owned but I cannot remember." Jerry confirms this, apart from the fact that his studio was on the 3rd floor, not the 1st. Thanks to Jerry Schatzberg and Tricia Jungwirth for information about Jerry's large-format limited edition book of Dylan photographs called "Thin Wild Mercury: Touching Dylan's Edge", published by Genesis Publications Ltd in 2006.

Pictures of "Thin Wild Mercury: Touching Dylan's Edge" by Jerry Schatzberg from Genesis Publications web-site

Page 66 of the book shown on right above is called "Bob Dylan Party at Ondine", taken at the nightclub on 5 Oct 1965. This page shows a wider version of the picture from which the shot on the album was cropped and some proof sheet frames. The screen shot above right of Bob at Ondine on 5 Oct 1965 is from the Genesis Publications web-site. For more information see here:.

Picture of Bob with Andy Warhol from 4.bp.blogspot.com

Two pictures of Edie Sedgwick with Andy Warhol

Edie Sedgwick photographed by Jerry Schatzberg

Edie Sedgwick photographed by Jerry Schatzberg

Even if she isn't pictured on the sleeve, Edith Minturn Sedgwick, who became the girlfriend of Bob's sidekick Bob Neuwirth, was still a major inspiration for Blonde On Blonde - when she died Patti Smith, who was part of the same New York City mid-1960s scene, wrote an elegy for her saying as much (see below). As well as having possibly inspired Like A Rolling Stone (the story in the song is very much Edie's, and Andy Warhol was accused of being the diplomat in the chrome horse with the Siamese cat), allusions to Edie are said to be found in both Just Like A Woman and Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat. Clinton Heylin even supposes that She's Your Lover Now might (his italics) be about Bob, Edie and Bob Neuwirth. See Mono 7" Singles: 1965 - Like A Rolling Stone for more information.

Visit the Edie Sedgwick Internet Site

The UK press reported in Nov 2004 that Sienna Miller was set to star in a biography of Edie Sedgwick to be called "Factory Girl", due then for release in mid-2005. The film, to be directed by George Hickenlooper, reportedly "revolves around an unconventional love triangle of sorts that developed between Edie Sedgwick, Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol". Bob Dylan's lawyers made moves to stop the project, and the Bob Dylan character (played by Hayden Christensen of "Star Wars" fame) was renamed Billy Quinn (as of course in Quinn The Eskimo and also the lawyer character played by Richard Gere in the musical "Chicago"). The film was eventually released in 2007, with no mention of Bob by name or use of Bob's music. The fact that the character played by Hayden Christensen wore a corduroy cap and played a guitar and a harmonica in a holder was purely coincidence... The picture on the right is from the cover of 1965's Bringing It All Back Home. The short-haired woman in the striped sweater giving Bob a head massage is sculptress Barbara Rubin, who introduced him to Andy Warhol and the Factory.

Bob Live

I'd previously thought all the pictures on the inner sleeve were taken by Jerry Schatzberg, but "Scott" informs me that this picture of Bob live in 1966 at bottom left was taken by Charlie Steiner, and Charlie himself confirms this.

Stuck Inside Of Mobile With "Thee"

The title of the song "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again" was incorrectly printed on the first US printing of this album as "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The" (later replaced by just "Memphis Blues Again"). When the album reached the UK, the typesetter realised this was a mistake and (obviously without checking it out) "corrected" it as shown below. The mistake is repeated on the record label. Thanks to Carsten Wohlfeld for pointing out that the "Millennium Edition" of Blonde On Blonde was issued in a double card CD sleeve reproducing the original UK artwork, and therefore repeated this mistake!

Side 2 labels of the US stereo album have three different variants of the song title: "Memphis Blues Again", "Stuck Inside Of Memphis With The" and one release (sadly not illustrated here) has the full correct title on two lines!

Al and "Blonde On Blonde"

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