'Two Virgins' Posters Sold in Square

More than 50 pedestrians in Harvard Square began their Christmas shopping early on Saturday--by buying a living color poster picturing Beatle John Lennon and His Japanese Soulmate Yoko Ono in the nude.

The posters--slightly censored reproductions of the banned "Two Virgins" album cover--were sold for $2 each from a panel truck parked next to Nini's newsstand. A loud-speaker on the truck blared snatches of old Beatles songs to attract passers-by.

"Like we love to play music," said Barry Pierce, a New York underground moviemaker who set up the mobile poster stand, adding that operating the stand helped to provide him and his wife Judy with a paid vacation. "It's sort of a honeymoon actually," he said. The couple, who have been selling the posters throughout the East Coast for a month, will hawk their wares in the Boston area for the next week before leaving for California, Pierce said.

"We made them from original art from Apple [the Beatles' recording company]" Pierce said. The posters feature Lennon and Yoko, arm-in-arm in the nude, with a CENSORED sign covering their genitals. The original, uncensored English album cover has been banned by the U.S. customs. If a court case to life the ban is success ful, "we'll print uncensored posters," Pierce said.

Though most of his 50-odd customers on Saturday appeared to be of college age, Pierce said that older persons also appreciated the posters: "It's unbelievable, the expressions on their faces. They frown and walk past but then come back and smile. From 6 to 86, it's the same reaction."

Pierce said that Cambridge policemen had not bothered him while selling the posters. "They were very, very nice about it," he said. A police spokesman last night said that no complaints had been received about the posters. "It's the first I heard of it," he said