Bob Dylan in Washington Square Park with the Gilford brothers, Sam (left) and Joe (right), Sept. 7, 1963.

The photo was taken by their mother, Madeline Lee Gilford.

The story of the photoshoot will follow, along with more details about the location.

You can click to ENLARGE most of the pictures.

(photo: Madeline Lee Gilford)

(additional research for this PopSpot by Marie Fotini)

The site of the photo, near the children's playground in Washington Square Park in Greenwich VIllage.

(photo: Bob Egan/PopSpots)

The PopSpot: Bob Dylan in Washington Square Park with the Gilford brothers, Sam and Joe, on September 7, 1963.

(Dylan photo: Madeline Lee Gilford)

Washington Square Park in the 1940's. To the left of the center of the arch is a lamp-pole. The photo would have been taken just to the left of that under the trees. The kids park is just to the left of that.

(photo: possibly NYU Archives)

This is a 1950's partial map to Washington Square Park. To the right of the arch you can see a playground. The photo was taken just to the left of the playground on the grass.

In this overhead photo of the park taken on May 1, 1959 by Fred McDarrah, Dylan and the Gilford brothers would be where the red arrow is pointing.

In 2024 I went back to the site with one of the participants - Joe Gilford. He knelt next to where he where he was kneeling and playing banjo next to Dylan.

Here's Joe imitating the expression of his former self, along with his brother, Sam (left), and young Bob.

THE STORY BEHIND THE DYLAN PHOTO

Joe Gilford grew up on Bank Street in Greenwich Village.

As a child, he and his brother Sam would "busk" (play music for money) on weekends in Washington Square Park to make money to buy comics and candybars.

As Joe tells it, one day, as they were performing together near the children's playground, their mother came by to take their pictures. As she did, she noticed Bob Dylan, then becoming fairly well-known among VIllagers who were into music, walk by and look at her kids.

"Bob! Can I take your picture with my kids? she asked in a way that he could not resist. And future legend Bob Dylan say down on the grass and posed for one of his earliest pictures with fans in New York.

The Gilford family had the picture on their kitchen wall on Bank Street for many years. When the elder Gilfords passed, Joe kept the picture and later allowed it to be printed in a friend''s book: "Keys to the Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia by Oliver Trager (Billboard Books, 2004)

Another picture of Dylan taken that day by Madeline Lee Gilford, of Dylan partly hidden behind a tree, is published below for the first time with permission by Joe Gilford. Thank you, Joe.

Joe Gilford is writer of plays, film, and books. Since 1999, Joe has taught screenwriting at NYU's Tisch Undergraduate Film & TV Program. Joe adapted his parents experiences as blacklisted actors in the 1950 in his acclaimed off-Broadway play "FInks," later filmed for Lincoln Center's archives. One of his recent books is Why Does the Screenwriter Cross the Road? . . . and Other Screenwriting Secrets." His website is StoryRescue.com where he helps screenwriters with their works.

Sam Max Gilford is a multi-disciplanary artist and archivist.

Dylan was photographed sitting with in the park with two friends either before or after the photos of the Gilfords were taken. Dylan was either sitting in the same place or had moved nearby. The day written on the photograph by Village Voice photographer Fred McDarrah was September 7, 1963.

Dylan's friend on the left is thought to be John Hammond Jr, a blues musician who's father John Hammond signed Dylan up to Columbia Records. His friend to the right seems to be either Tony Glover, or TIm Hardin both musicians and friends of Dylan. More on them below.

Dylan again with the man on the right. The book the man is reading is by Taylor Mead, an East ViIllage artist. It is called Excerpts from the Anonymous Diary of a New York Youth (1962).

Here's the front cover of the book the man is reading.

This is a photo of John Hammond, Jr. who we think is the man sitting to Dylan's left side.

The man to Dylan's left, also looks like this man, at left, in a black shirt, shown listening to folksingers in Washington Square Park in this photo from 1961, two years earlier.

This is a photo of Tony Glover, seen here at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. We think he is the man sitting to Dylan's right. Tony Glover was a friend of Dylan's from Minnesota and a blues harmonica musician who released albums playing with "Spider" John Koerner and Dave "Snake" Ray.

(photo by Dave Gahr)

We think he's the man to Dylan's right because of three reasons: the sideburns, the ring, and the watch all seem to match Glover from another photo. (click to enlarge)

. . . however . . .Here's a photo of Village folksinger TIm Hardin. He also loooks a little like the man on the right because of his high forehead and somewhat curly hair.

(photo by Jim Marshall)

After (or before) Madeline Lee Gilford took the picture of Dylan with her sons, She also took this picture of Dylan who is obscured by a tree.

The street in back of Dylan would likely be Washington Square North.

(photo by Madeline Lee Gilford; from the Gilford family archive)

This is a photo of Madeline Lee Gilford, who took the Dylan pictures, and her husband Jack Gilford, They are the parents of Sam and Joe Gilford.

The Gilfords had long careers in show business as actors on radio, stage, screen, and television. Both being social activists, they were blacklisted in the 1950's during the McCarthy era, but both resumed their careers years later. Madeline worked into her 80's and late in life she acted on TV shows like "Law and Order" and "Sex in the City."

Jack Gilford made his comeback from the Blacklist era in the 1962 musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and also acted in the film version which came out in 1966.

He is most well known, however, to the 50's and 60's TV generation as the beloved smily-faced Cracker Jack vendor in a series of Cracker Jack commericals that usually included the jingle:

"Candy coated popcorn,
peanuts, and a prize!
That's what
You get
In
Crackerjack!

The photo below is from a 1967 commercial for Cracker Jack featuring Jack Gilford.

You can see the commercial here.

The commercial was filmed on the boardwalk at Rockaway Beach, New York. The foodstand and the clock still remain. You can see them in Google Street VIew - here.