(This interview was conducted via email. We thank his publicist, Anne Kramer, and Kevin Hendryx for alerting us to his book.)
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Q: How did you first come in contact with the Beatles and Apple?
A: In fall ’66, after extended travels to Paris, Athens, Morocco, Madrid and Ibiza - were we worked, designed fashions for boutiques and had an art exhibition in Madrid - Marijke and I arrived in London. There we continued our ‘mission’, which was introducing bright colours in a grey world of pinstriped suits and homburgs under a dreary sky. One day, John and Paul knocked on our door; they had heard about us and had seen our work around town. (We had designed stage outfits for The Hollies and Cream. Marijke made some posters that caught the eye through it’s marvellous technique. Moreover, she had designed the program covers for Brian Epstein’s Saville Theatre. Later we created album covers for other groups, for instance the Incredible String Band and the Move. Also, we created stage outfits for Procol Harum.) During John and Paul’s first visit to our house in Bayswater, they saw the ‘Wonderwall’, a composition consisting of a decorated armoire and a bust, against an arched wall, painted in the style that was up until then new to the world. “I love it, I want to live in it,” John said when he saw the ‘Wonderwall’, and Paul agreed. Afterwards, Marijke laid the tarot cards for Paul. It turned out to be his inspiration for writing "The Fool on the Hill." (The Fool, the zero, being the one of the deck.)
Later, in ’67, the film director Joe Massot was inspired by the "installation" and it became the title of the film he was working on, starring Iain Quarrier, Jane Birkin and Jack MacGowran. The "Wonderwall" was used as a set in the movie and The Fool – Marijke Koger, Josje Leger, Barry Finch and my person – was instrumental to have George Harrison writing the score. Oasis’s single Wonderwall must have been inspired by George’s record and the film. I wonder if they knew the background story.
Q: What did they (or if it was one Beatle in particular, he) initially ask you to do?
A: To hang out and make some personal outfits. We were invited at the recording session for A Day in the Life. Then we were commissioned to do the inside album cover for "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band." The portraits of the Beatles would be in the open space (left top) and the text in the other. Later, Marijke and Josje designed the costumes for the "All You Need Is Love" worldwide broadcast. During the summer of ’67, Simon and Marijke painted John’s piano and the mural over George and Pattie Harrison’s fire place in Kinfauns, Surrey. After that, we did the Apple Store.
Q: What was it like working for both the Beatles and Apple?
A: A gas!
Q: Any stories about the opening or closing of the Apple boutique?
Q: Contrary to the popular story, we didn’t hire some twenty art students for painting the Apple mural and it did not take weeks. Marijke and I painted the mural together on scaffolds in a weekend. We had one assistant, Micky Finn, who we did not know. He happened to pass by when we just started and offered his help. Later, he would be T. Rex’s drummer. There was such a crowd at the Apple opening party that The Fool could not even get in. By the time the Apple Store closed, The Fool had already arrived in the Big Apple to cut our first record, The Fool, produced by Graham Nash, who just had left The Hollies to join David Crosby and Stephen Stills. In ‘72, Seemon & Maryke cut another record in Los Angeles, titled Son of America, again produced by Graham Nash. The single "I Saw You" became a world hit, except for the UK and the U.S.A.
Q: Were you present at the rooftop concert?
A: No, we were already in the U.S.A.Q: What was your favorite memory of your time there?
Driving the cream coloured Bentley, decorated with The Fool’s logo on the doors and yellow stars on a blue rooftop, through London at night and visiting the private clubs and listening to ska music. Q: How did the Fool's association with the Beatles end? Q: Abrupt, but no regrets on either side. Apple was our last involvement with the Beatles. Marijke and I saw John one more time in Hollywood at a party at Gary Kellgren’s (of the Record Plant). John was quite drunk and was in May Pang’s company. He crawled on hands and knees across the room to we were sitting. He embraced us and said, “We sure did something truly incredible, didn’t we?” All this and so much more is written in my autobiography, "A Fool Such As I." 600 pages including 65 photographs, many in colour, and some pictures of The Beatles that were never published. (Simon Posthuma's autobiography, "A Fool Such As I," printed in Dutch only, is available through the Nieuw Amsterdam website.)