The WHO • "TOMMY" at the Met - Alternate B&W Poster 1970

I had already created a “TOMMY @ the Fillmore East” Poster the year before this (1969) Bill Graham called me to say he had booked The Who performing their rock opera, TOMMY, at the Metropolitan Opera, where no Pop act had ever performed, whose boards had seen only Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, & Wagner. This was another first in rock mythology, and I had three days to do a poster. For the centerpiece art I created a Busby Berkley Pinball Backboard, surrounded by my much-used Deco borders holding some Neo-Deco typography of the day, all in black on a silver paper. In the full-page ad in the NY Times the censors painted a black jockstrap over Tommy's little genitalia. The Silver Poster is no longer available. This piece was created as a Black & White & Gray Alternative to be printed on white stock, but never used. Signed • 17x22.