Remembering a few days in the life of John Lennon (1980)

 

The young Beatles posed for this picture with press agent Jerry Pam during the filming of "Help!" on Balmoral Island in Nassau, Bahamas.  From left, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and John Lennon.  The shot was made by Life photographer Henry Grossman

Remembering a Few Days in the Life of John Lennon

By Jerry Pam

Vareity

December 12, 1980

    My first meeting with the Beatles took place in Nassau on their second film, which at that time was called Eight Arms to Hold You. When I arrived, Shenson said that he would do the introductions. 

    John Lennon, my first Beatles, started to sing a new song he had composed in honor of the occasion. It was entitled, "What is a Jerry Pam?" The group refused to believe a fellow Englishman could have such a moniker.

     I really thought that I would now be famous, which is not what a good press agent should be. But alas, the song was never published. Perhaps someone, an archivist, will rescue me from obscurity.

     George Harrison and Paul McCartney then came over, and were charming and asked loads of questions about Hollywood and their idol, Elvis Presley. Two years later, Colonel Parker would come to the rented house where the Beatles were staying in Benedict Canyon during one of the two concerts here, and invite the famed four to meet Elvis. This started a one-hour discussion as to what location should be used for this rock summit. After much wrangling, Paul ended the stalemate by saying, "While we are in the States, we go to his house, and when he comes to England, he can come to ours." And so it was. 

    The shooting of Help! on the Balmoral Island in the Bahamas was smooth but tense. Henry Grossman of Life magazine came in, and the group wouldn't pose at all.  But Shenson and I established, after collective evidence, that Grossman was John F Kennedy's favorite lenser, and the stills were accomplished.

     The night before the company departed the Bahamas, a dinner party was given by the Beatles. And I sat with Lennon and Derek Taylor, who at one time was their PR representative. Taylor was taping for La radio station KRLA. During the party, Lennon told me that he was writing a second book, A Spaniard in the Works, and hoped that somebody would publish it. He seemed to protect himself with a sincere innocence of his clout, while another part of him knew or sensed how to use that clout adroitly

    I next saw the Beatles in Los Angeles prior to the Hollywood Bowl concert that was organized by Bob Eubanks. A press conference at the Capitol tower building was almost aborted. The group was to be transported by an armored truck, and as it arrived in the parking lot, a sea of fans came down on the truck like a tsunami, very nearly tipping it over.

     Security was always a problem. And although I tried to convince the group's manager, Brian Epstein, to separate the group, he was adamant that they traveled together.

     With the concert at Dodger Stadium, we thought we had a foolproof plan. The stage was set up on the pitcher's mound with a tent alongside, ostensibly to act as a dummy dressing room. Inside, there was a car to transport the Beatles to the center field gates and out of the stadium. But the car went to the wrong gate, and before it could back up, 1000s of fans were in its way. The driver had the sense to drive to the player's dugout, and the Beatles were escorted to safety. But there was a problem. Someone had stolen the keys to the car. Three hours later, John, Paul, George, and Ringo were secreted out of the stadium in an ambulance. 

    There were many stories relating to the group's stay in Hollywood. Some are even true. Since the four were virtually prisoners in the rented house, the studios provided them with current picks and projection equipment. One night, they requested Cat Ballou. The next day, Lennon, usually positive, surprised me with some very negative reaction to the film. He was annoyed by the laugh track on the film every time something funny occurred. The studio, it seemed, had sent down a print with an experimental laugh track to be used in drive-ins. When I reported Lennon's reaction, the laugh tracks were dumped without further testing. Lennon spoke accurately for his generation.

     Lennon was always amused at reviews in which certain deep symbolisms were read into or out of his work in A Hard Day's Night, the basic and unfailing laugh line concurred Wilford Bramble being referred to as a "clean old man". Certain reviewers felt the line was used to show that the Beatles were clean despite their long hair. Others referred to their antics as similar to the Marx Brothers and made long analyses of Marxists (brothers, that is) derivations. None of the Beatles had ever even seen a Marx Brothers film.

     On one occasion, four teenagers hired a helicopter to fly over the rented Benedict Canyon house, on the off chance that they would see one of the Beatles. I invited the four teens to a press conference after finding out that they had saved for six months to rent the helicopter. John liked the idea and immediately complied with some of my press requests he had previously refused.