There weren't any photos that went with this story, although it mentions in the story several times that photos were taken. The best I can do is post photos that we have all seen from May 1976 (this story took place in April of that year). The best line in this story is the one that says "I'm not wasting my color film on Simon!"
By Vickie McCartney
MacLen June 1976
Hello again, MacLen friends!
Tis little old me, Vickie McCartney with another article, that I hope
you’ll all like. On April 10, 1976, I
went into New York and at that famous meeting place, Port Authority; I met Peggy
S. and Meena S. We first walked around
Broadway, buying posters of Paul. Then we
headed over to a placed called “Johnny’s T-shirt Shop” in the Village. We had special black t-shirts with a saying
in silver glitter, for Macca’s N.Y. concerts.
Anyroad, we stopped at McDonald’s and then headed over to the Dakota or
better known as “John’s house.” We met
Laura D. And Karen B. there, who
informed us that the nurse had taken Sean out and we missed him by 10
minutes. The three of us good naturedly
cursed each other for stopping at McDonald’s.
Laura and Karen told us that Sean’s nurse must be at least 15 years
older than Yoko and looked like a karate expert. We decided a) John wasn’t home or b) it must
be a trick, sending Sean out with the nurse, so we’d think no one was home and
leave. We all stayed. A green station wagon pulled into the
driveway, empty. We didn’t pay any
attention to it. We took photos of the
building and Peggy took a pic of the rest of us in front of the building. I think Peggy was the first one to notice
John. I only remember a shaky voice
whispering “there he is!” And before you
could say a word, John and Yoko got into the car and all hell broke loose. We all threw our belonging at Peggy, who was
wondering where everyone was going, and took off after the car, cameras clicking away. I almost got run down by some twit and John,
who was sitting by the window, watching all of this, for some reason found this
a bit hysterical. We chased the car for
2 ½ blocks. The car stopped for a red
light and just as I was about to snap another photo, John rolled the window
down. Without thinking about it, I said,
“I’m so sorry you have no time, I wanted you both to autograph your books for
me. I have them and they’re both
beautiful.” Yoko is smiling at me and
John says, “I’m so sorry, but we have to go someplace.” The
light changes and they leave.
We all return to the Dakota, happy and smiling. We decide to wait for their return. As we wait, Paul Simon comes past us with two
kids, giving us strange looks. Meena
says, “There’s Paul Simon.” He turned
around and gives us more weird looks. We
don’t care and I say loud enough for him to hear: “I’m not wasting my color film on Simon, I’m saving
it for John!” Simon takes off, as everyone is laughing. Five hours later, John and Yoko return. I start to take out their books for
autographs, then I say, “Oh, you’re busy.”
John, being so nice, says, “No, come on, let’s have it.” Yoko asks if I have a pen and I give it to
her. Before she signs, she asks my
name. I can’t get over how petite she
is. She finishes signing and hands the
pen to John. Yoko is really nice, not phony
like someone else (I’m sure you all know who I mean). John hands me back my book and pen and I am
surprised and happy to see he wrote my name.
A few last photos are taken, we thank them and they go into the
house. We are all thrilled, jumping up
and down, yelling, people can’t figure out why.
Karen starts to cry and before you know it, we’re all crying. After this, we each part for the day. Tired, but happy!!
FLASH FLASH FLASH!
One of our members, Laura D., who was mentioned in the above article
about John, received a postcard recently from the one and only George
Harrison! You see, Laura is a very close
friend of Eric Idle, one of the Pythons.
Anyroad, she missed George when he appeared on stage with the Pythons in
New York and it seems that Eric did a bit of talking about her to George. A couple of weeks later, she received a
postcard from George telling her that he was sorry that he has missed meeting
her at the Python’s show. I must say,
that is quite an honor – to have George Harrison miss you! Congratulations to you, Lauri! I’m sure you’re still on Cloud 9!
Awwww, an adorable story!! You really feel like you're there with them!!
ReplyDeleteI like how she keeps using "anyroad", cute.
Poor Paul Simon!! First John disses him during a drunken session, during the Lost Weekend. Then he disses him as "the singing dwarf" on the diary tape (which, hopefully, he's never heard!)...and now this!
I know this isn't called Meet Paul Simon For Real, but actually, a friend of mine met him recently, and told me he's very nice.
This cracked me up: "Yoko is really nice, not phony like someone else (I’m sure you all know who I mean)."
HA!!! Who could that mean, aw, I think I know who it means. But let's not speak ill of the deceased.
But the sweetest part of the story has to be the end, when one of them starts crying and before you know it, they're all crying! Adorable.
Thanks for typing this one up, Sara! I was able to read it on my break, instead of taking it home, for a change!