Photograph taken by Ringo Starr of high school friends peering out of Chevrolet is reconstructed 50 years on as group is reunited



The photo was taken when the band first arrived in America 49 years ago at JFK airport



Ringo Starr: 'How great that they found these people! And how cool to now know a little of their story'



Bob Toth, 66, who still lives in New Jersey, has stepped forward as the passenger in the car



Best friend, inventor Gary Van Deursen, 67, who now lives in Connecticut, was at the wheel



Starr had appealed for the youngsters to come forward after publishing the photograph in a new book

Chance meeting took place on a New York highway in 1964 after the group had skipped school to see the band




Nearly fifty years may have passed, but the smiles and excitement remain the same between five Beatles fans who have been reunited to recreate a now- iconic shot taken by Ringo Starr five decades ago.



The friends were photographed by the drummer after they skipped school to see the Fab Four during their first trip to the US in 1964.



But they had no idea the photo existed until a search began after Starr, 73, wrote in his new book, 'Photograph' how much he would like to know who the teenagers were in the Chevrolet Impala who he snapped with his personal camera when they drew up next to his limousine.



And now their teen dreams of Beatlemania are about to be revisited as next month Starr has invited them to Las Vegas, Nevada, to watch his concert and meet him after the show.



The trip was arranged by NBC after the search ended with the group appearing on the Today show to reconstruct the black and white photograph.

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Reunited: Fifty years may have passed, but the smiles and excitement remain the same between five Beatles fans who have been reunited to recreate an iconic shot taken by Ringo Starr five decades ago

Caught: Bob Toth (front passenger seat, left), Gary Van Deursen, (next to him) Suzanne Rayot, Arlene Norbe Ressler and Charlie Schwartz pictured by Ringo Starr on the day they cut class to see their idols The Beatles

And excited to learn the identities of his subjects Starr issued a statement saying: 'How great that they found these people! And how cool to now know a little of their story and what that moment was like from their perspective,' said Starr in the statement. 'Right now I'm off in Latin America on tour and I won't be back until November when we play two shows at the Palms in Las Vegas. I look forward to meeting them when I get back. See you in Las Vegas!'



The teenagers who have now been identified as Bob Toth, Gary Van Deursen, Suzanne Rayot, Arlene Norbe Ressler, Charlie Scwartz and Matt Blender were all suspended as soon as they got back to High School.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline Bob Toth, 66, shown in the passenger seat of the car said: ‘The principal certainly suspended me for three days as soon as we got back to school.



'The story didn’t even make it into the yearbook because he didn’t want to look like he was encouraging kids to cut school.’

Forty years later he met his former principal at church: ‘He said to me, “You know, in retrospect what you did that day was a very good idea."'

'It's just a great shot,' he wrote. 'They're looking at us, and I'm photographing them.'

Dream: Their teen dreams of Beatlemania are about to be revisited as next month Starr has invited them to Las Vegas, Nevada, to watch his concert and meet him after the show.The trip was arranged by NBC after the group appeared on the Today show to reconstruct the photo





And Mr Toth admitted that he had no idea the photograph even existed until recently. He said: ‘It’s kind of nice to have something legitimise the story we’ve all told on and off over the years.'



The car belonged to Mr Toth's best friend, Gary Van Deursen, 67, who today revealed himself to be the driver in the photograph.

He told MailOnline that none of his friends had believed his story until now.

The chance meeting took place on February 7, 1964 when The Beatles were to arrive at JFK, two days before their first appearance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show'.

No invention: Gary Van Deursen at his home in Connecticut holding a copy of the picture (he is circled) caught by Ringo Starr on February 7 1964 and left as a schoolboy



The way they were: Bob Toth,66, today pointing to himself in the Ringo Starr picture that has become a sensation. He was in the front of the car next to best friend Gary Van Deursen, 67. Left, Mr Toth as a teenager at school



Van Deursen explained: 'I took my Chevy convertible – it was white with a red interior. We cut school and decided we'd try to see The Beatles. It was so hyped so of course we got to the airport and it was mobbed.

'We went up to the top of the international building I believe it was. There was a crowd on the roof and reporters and one of my friends, Matt Blender, put on a British accent.

'A reporter overheard him and interviewed him life on the local radio. I was laughing so hard I had to move away.'

He continued: 'As we were driving home, back across George Washington bridge a limousine passed us, then another, then another, then another and we realised it was The Beatles each in a separate limo.

'I crossed over lanes and overtook so they would all pass us again. The last one had Ringo Starr in it and the reporter from TIME magazine – though we didn't know that then.'

According to Mr Toth until then the friends had actually left JFK disappointed: ‘It was such a mad scene at JFK that we left disappointed because we just thought there was no way we’d get close to the band.



'Then we saw all these limousines as we were driving home and pretty soon realised it wasn’t a funeral it was the Beatles.’

Starr, he said, was ‘the friendly one,' who leaned out of the window and spoke over the screams of the two female passengers who, Toth laughed, could not contain their excitement.



He said: ‘Suzanne was behind me, screaming her lungs out. It was crazy.'

School Days: Charlie Schwartz (left) has also recounted the excitment of meeting Starr - but how no one believed them. He said that his closest friend from the group, Matt Blender (right) has since died

Highlight of their lives: Suzanne Rayot pictured in her yearbook in 1965, the year after that unforgettable day

Mr Van Deursen continued: 'Ringo gestured to us to wind down the window so we did. He asked where we were from and one of the kids in the car held up his jacket with the school name on it because it was hard to hear Fair Lawn.

'We didn't have tickets to the show which was sold out and we asked Ringo if he could get us any. He said he was sorry he couldn't help.'

Today the friends who drove to JFK that day are scattered across the country, but Mr Toth still lives in New Jersey where he works as a Senior Sales Engineer for an Air conditioning and Heating firm and lives with wife Nanci, 49.

Mr Van Deursen runs his own company as an inventor and designer. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Alison, with whom he has a son and daughter. His career as an industrial designer and inventor has seen him live in Europe as Vice President and Head of Design for Black & Decker as well as Head of Design for General Electric and Coleman Outdoor Camping Equipment.

But however successful his career and life since that day on George Washington bridge he said: ‘It was the highlight of our lives really. Though I should say it was reported in TIME that I lost control of the car – I never did. Still we were glad when that piece came out.

'We had gone back to school and told everyone the story about how we had seen the Beatles and spoken to Ringo Starr and nobody believed us. They thought it was just some crazy story we were all making up.'

Suzanne Rayot never told her family about the the once-in-a-life experience saying she knew her parents would have grounded her.



Now living not too far away from her childhood home in Hawthorne New Jersey, the travel executive who works for American Express, told The Daily Telegraph: 'When Ringo rolled down the window, we were so excited. He said "Hello love." I didn't know who was saying that to but I hoped it was me.'

Arlene Norbe, 66, is excited about seeing the Las Vegas show saying her favourite song is I Want To Hold Your Hand. 'It takes me back to turning 17. Wonderful.'



Now living in southern New Jersey, she started university in Missouri, but left after one term.



She has worked as a receptionist and in a home for the elderly. Recently her 42-year marriage to husband Paul broke down and then their younger son, Corey, died at just 22, after an accidental drug overdose.



She says her older son. Todd, 35, lives in New Jersey and is 'the love of my life'.



School days: Norbe is circled again. She is now believed to be living with her husband in New Jersey

Youth: Arlene Norbe, circled, also joined the group in skipping school in an attempt to see the band

Charlie Schwartz, now 67, recounted his experience decades ag o .

'We were hardcore rock-and-rollers,' Schwartz told the New Jersey Record. 'It was all about the music.'

Schwartz, then 17, had just arrived at the school student lounge when Van Deursen said he had a car and was going to drive to see the musicians.

Schwartz said: 'He said, "Are you in or are you out?" I said, "I'm in".'

They skipped class - the only time Schwartz ever did - and headed to Queens.

But when they arrived it was madness so they were forced to turn the car around for the direction of home, they came across the group.

He recounted how they pulled up alongside Ringo's car and that the musician began snapping away at them.

The 67-year-old moved to San Francisco and worked as a barman before meeting his wife Stacey Lynn Cook 15 years ago. The pair moved to Sonoma and worked for Project Fit, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to improve children's fitness.

Memories: Starr stands beside the image at Genesis Publications unveiling of the book on Wednesday

He said he is no longer in touch with the others in the car and said that Blender - his closest friend - has since passed away.



The Daily Telegraph reported that Blender died of heart failure two years ago in Portland Oregon, having worked as a music promoter and IT analyst.



Schwartz said Ringo's team has not yet contacted him, but the media has been knocking, he said.

'The whole thing seems quite surreal, but it’s a gas,' he said. 'It's a lot of fun. I've talked to people I haven't talked to for quite a while. I’ve gotten calls from all around the country.'



The picture is being published for the first time in Starr’s new book Photograph, along with over 200 never-before-seen shots.



Beatlemania: The Beatles arrive at Kennedy Airport, in New York, for their first U.S. visit. The image shows a car full of teens trying to catch a glimpse of the fab four when they skipped school

Fab Four: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr shot to stardom as The Beatles

The Beatles formed in Liverpool in the late 1950s with their most famous line-up being John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.

The group’s first big hit in the States was I Want To Hold Your Hand, which sold 1.5 million copies in less than three weeks.



A crowd of thousands greeted them at the airport in New York when they arrived for their tour and one radio station even aired a running commentary on the event.



Their first gig in America took place in Washington DC and their first US TV appearance – on the Ed Sullivan Show - attracted around 70 million viewers.