Monday, October 12, 2015

Elliot Mintz photo questions



I am sure that most everyone that checks this blog is familiar with Elliot Mintz.    He is an interesting character in the story of John Lennon's life.     He has posted above photo of himself and John on a boat in the 1970's on facebook with this story on John's 75th birthday

i was in new york at a hotel i always stayed in. it had been a late night, so i left a 'do not disturb' on the phone so i could sleep in.
at some unreasonable hour the operator rang and said theire was a man 'claiming to be john lennon on the line and insisting it was o,k, to wake you.'
he sounded excited. 'have you ever been on a sailboat'?, he asked. 'no', i replied. 'i don't know how to swim, so i try to avoid boats'.
'o.k. get dressed. i'll meet you in the lobby in 20 minutes'...and hung up.

a few hours later we were on a rather small boat in new york harbor with a mutual friend. it may have been late 1973 or 4.
he had been taking lessons and was eager to demonstrate his newly acquired nautical skills.
i watched him at the helm. he seemed completely at ease and in control of the vessel. we did not speak much. he was truly 'in his element'' and i did not want to distract him.
we had no 'time limit' or destination.
john approached each of his experiences in life with equal intensity and commitment. it diid not matter if he was making music or baking bread. it all mattered.
he would have been 75 today and so many people around the world are thinking about him and connecting with john in some manner that is 'real' for them.
each memory is meaningful. during his 40
years he gave us so much to remember.
he remains a truly unforgettable man.....
(courtesy: yoko ono)


Since posting this photo, there has been a lot of questions asking if it is a real photo or if it is  photoshop.   I have to agree that Elliot's head looks very strange on the photo--like it was added on later.   As I looked through Elliot's facebook page of photos, I noticed that most of the older photos in his album appeared to have been touched up and worked on in some way.    If you look at this photo from his page of John, Yoko, and Elliot you will see that it too looks to have been worked on.  However, photos often appear to be photoshopped when really it is the lighting in the room, the type of camera used or even the angle of the photographer while taking the photo that makes things look a little different. 





I tend to think the photo is the real deal, however, Elliot may have had some work done on the photo to make himself and John look better.   Why would Elliot Mintz fake a photo of himself with John Lennon when there are lots of photos out there of him and John and we all know they knew each other.   There is no need for him to lie about that. 

What do you think about the photo?

29 comments:

  1. I wonder who's the mutual friend that took the photo...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I will always be thankful to Elliot for his Radio series "The Lost Lennon Tapes" I listen to every one of them at a time when I was, as was everybody else at a loss for the late John Lennon. RIP

    ReplyDelete
  3. John wear this jeansshirt since 1974 (see W&B-Session with Elton John), but the UFO-Button on his left appears at first when he met the people around Rick Sklar of WABC (ca. 3rd of October 1974?). But he never (?) wear his "Imagine"-glasses then, I think.
    So we find in Giulianos book, Lennon in America at pages 94f the story of Johns sailing trip in New York Harbor with Mintz and (here is the photographer) friend Richard Ross: September 1975. It's believable!
    Joerg

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've done a lot of photoshop work over the years and the head on the boat pic is very unnatural looking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Could it be that someone tried to do a mask to maybe enhance some pic area?

      Delete
    2. I agree. Elliot looks totally fabricated. I doubt that Elliot was there AT ALL!! UH HUH!!

      Delete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's cz' "U CAN'T FRIGGIN' HANDLE THE TRUTH!!" BTW, if it's supposed to have been removed, BONZO, HOW COME I CAN SEE IT.........JUST FINE!!! HUH?? BONZO!!

      Delete
    2. The censorship police, huh? That's all u are!! BIMBOS!! Self-appointed arbiters WHO ARE BIMBOS!! Ohhhhhh YEAH!!

      Delete
    3. I am the "blog administrator" and the only reason I would have removed a comment is because someone asked me to. I don't remember in this particular case. Unless something is very hurtful (especially toward me), I do not remove or censor comments. So how I am a Bonzo? (do you mean Bozo as in the clown?" and a bimbo?

      Delete
    4. I didn't realize that SO MANY comments were deleted. I know I did not delete all of these -- maybe it was the blogger site?

      Delete
  6. I also tend to think this is from Sept 1975 as John only had hair that long back then and again in August 1980 but he never wore his granny glasses in 1980.
    I also agree that 90% of Mintz's photos on his facebook page have been either touched up (badly) or completely photoshopped putting him into the photo of a celeb. Elliot is a strange man but what I didn't know was he goes back to 1963 interviewing celebs and even had his own TV show in 1971 so he does actually know an awful lot of famous people but he still creeps me out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Like many a rich & famous ju, he's overly impressed w/ himself! I asked him how he avoided the draft & instead of just ignoring the question, he banned me from his page. WHAT AN AWHOL!!

      Delete
  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Incredibly great and rare photo of John. Thank you for posting.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I agree Sara. There's no reason for him to lie about being with John. Surely Yoko could verify this particular trip. However, I do believe Elliot Mintz may be a little vain (given his penchant for the spray tan) so I certainly don't think it's out of the question that he would doctor the images. The face in the sailing pic looks very fake but it could very well have been taken on the same trip and he preferred the way it looked to this particular shot. I do think John valued Elliots opinion on many things and it does seem as though he was crucial in keeping John and Yoko in touch during the lost weekend. Anyway, I'm off to Photoshop myself into the same image....

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  14. anon 10/30 - am curious: what did yoko pay mintz to keep his mouth shut about?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. would like to know about that too

      Delete
  15. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  16. In 2017, Mintz posted a second photo taken on the same occasion https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155408275194794&set=t.503519793&type=3&theater

    ReplyDelete
  17. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sure, The Beatles were surrounded by alot of check cashers over the years, but Elliott may have been the most annoying. Probably because he did his job so well. Or too well.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Well, if it ain't real, Elliott did a good job mentioning he can't swim.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Of course it’s real, for goodness sake. Why would he fake it? People are so paranoid nowadays lol.

    ReplyDelete