John looking good in these screen shots

 

Remembering Leon Wildes

Sad to learn of the death of John Lennon's immigration lawyer, Leon Wildes.  Leon was a great friend to John and Yoko and really is the person who helped John every step of the way until he obtained his green card.   When I met him in 2017, I thanked him for all he did to help John.   Thinking of Leon's son and the rest of his family during this hard time.   Here's to you Leon!  
 

Make way for the Lennons!

 

Meanwhile back at immigration....

 May 17, 1972

...and no immigration too

 May 12, 1972 

Another time at the immigration office

Photo by Dave Morrell 

 April 18, 1972 

John and Yoko want to stay in the USA

 March 16, 1972 

Immigration peace

John and Leon

John Lennon vs. the U.S.A. - A book review

The book John Lennon vs. the U.S.A. by Leon Wildes is my favorite Beatles book of 2016 (so far--and not including my own book).     It is a must-read for anyone who is like me and loves reading about John Lennon's life.

Leon Wildes was the immigration attorney who took on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's deportation case in 1972.   When he met John and Yoko for the first time in their Bank Street Apartment, he honestly had no idea who they were, and he surely had no clue what a messy and complicated ordeal it would be to keep John Lennon in the United States.


Wildes soon became familiar with John and Yoko and began to understand the main reason they desperately wanted to stay in the United States was because Yoko was separated from her daughter, Kyoko, and had no idea where her ex-husband had taken her. Wildes thought he had a pretty solid case to keep the couple in the United States.  However, he wasn't aware that the FBI was tracking everything not only John and Yoko were doing but also tapping his phones as well.  It was a VERY difficult road for Wildes and the Lennons to get to stay in the United States and a battle that was very difficult to win. Wildes had lawsuits and appeals and all sorts of red tape to go through.

Leon Wildes with John and Yoko during their deportation case in 1972. It was his idea that they dress alike to show that they are one unit and not two individuals. 

Of course, many fans (and I bet many of you out there) were out passing around petitions and getting signatures at Beatles conventions and through fan magazines to keep John in the United States.  And it was cool to see that was actually shown in court (it didn't really count for much).   At the end of it all, Leon Wildes, being the genius that he is, found a little used law at the time that fit for John Lennon, and by working through this law for many, many years, he was able to not only allow for John to stay in America but for him to actually get his green card.  Leon called up John on October 8, 1975, to give him the amazing news, and John informed him that he was on his way to the hospital where Yoko was to give birth to their only child, Sean, on John's birthday. What an incredible gift!

The book wasn't easy to read because it was full of legal information; however, I was really impressed how Leon Wildes uses "laymen's wording" in helping me, someone without a law background, to understand exactly what he was talking about. Overall this is an excellent book and I am grateful to Leon Wildes for helping John achieve his dream and for writing this book.  It is going to be helpful for Lennon fans and legal students for many years to come.


You can order the book on Amazon and the Fest

The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this book.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/4a18qyv

U.S. vs. John Lennon (documentary) - Review

10 years ago, I went to a movie theater and saw the documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon for the first time.    At that time, I had the infant version of this blog on Myspace (remember Myspace?), where I posted photos and did reviews.  I think I had about 50 followers.   I reviewed the film, and I remember stating how I spent more time memorizing the new footage in the film and that it was hard to actually pay attention to the film.     

Photo I took outside of the movie theater in 2006

Since I have just read the Leon Wildes book (review coming soon), I wanted to watch the DVD of The U.S. vs. John Lennon.  Overall, it is a good film.  Yoko looks amazing in the movie, and she comes across as very intelligent and thoughtful.   She usually impresses me when she is interviewed for documentaries, but I especially enjoyed Yoko in this one.  I thought they did a nice job of keeping John's input alive in the film through a variety of clips from over the years.  Also, a good selection of people from the early 1970s in John Lennon's life was interviewed, so you were able to hear all sides of the story.   The clips that were used were great and the highlight of the film.  I loved seeing John coming and going into the INS office, and the footage of him getting his green card is amazing!

I thought too much time was spent on John's activities prior to coming to the United States in 1971.  I understand that background information was necessary, but way too much time was spent on the Bed-in and Bagism and things along those lines because there are other films that just focus on the Bed-in, and while it is important to the story, it was just too long. I wanted to watch and hear more about the immigration hearings and see more footage and photos from that time instead.  There was one man who was interviewed who made a very bold statement about how John Lennon equates to life and how Nixon and Bush led to death. I remember when I heard that in 2006, and I thought, "Wow--that is pretty bold," but today, in 2016, it just seems like an outdated statement.  I wish he had left Bush out of the statement because it just takes us out of John and Yoko in the 1970s and suddenly puts us in a decade where John isn't alive.

 I personally didn't like the film ending with the gunshots and John's death. I would have loved to have ended it with John smiling with his green card, however that isn't' very realistic. I know that the filmmakers had to go further and include his murder, and maybe what I really don't like is that John was murdered. That he worked so hard to get his green card and stay in the United States just to be killed in the country that he struggled to be in.  I didn't like the feeling of the harsh reality of it all, which isn't to blame the film in any way because they can't change how John's story ended.

I have heard that The U.S. vs. John Lennon is being shown on television here in the U.S. on cable channels.  It is worth watching, especially if you are a John Lennon fan and want to see some rare interviews and news clips.  But just be expected to shake your head at what happens in this country and for a very tragic and sad ending.

The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this on DVD.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/49JgOmH

The fight for immigration (or the fight to get into the offices)

Let us fight for Freedom

Anyone recognize any familiar faces in the background of these Immigration photos?   John's frequent trips to the office of immigration made for a great opportunity for fans to catch a glimpse of John!

Immigration stampede

another one that I have to thank Kevin at WGYTTN blog!  

Let John and Yoko stay in the USA

In recently reading through fan magazines that I have obtained from the early and mid 1970's, I am reminded of the fact that Beatle fans worked very hard for John Lennon to stay in the U.S.A.   Each fanzine has addresses and petitions to send in for John.   It is easy after the fact to forget that it was John's fans that really did all that they could for John to get his green card.   I am not sure how much help it really gave John, but I'd like to think that it was maybe that little extra to help him win his case.   

Here is a story written by Barbara Clark for "McCartney Lovers and Friends" from January 1973 from when she and her friends hung around during one of John's immigration hearings in April 1972.

 

So I thought I would write about last April 18, 1972, when we went to see John at court.  We started off at 7am for the city, but heavy traffic, the car getting sick on the way (the car stalled out while turning a corner, and a taxi pushed us down the road, where we had to stop for over ½ hour) and the location of the 20 West Broadway (Immigration Office) being unfindable, slowed us down a bit and we didn’t arrive there until 9:30. 

Having missed John by a few minutes, we were killing each other, and then noticed that a crowd had already assembled (waiting for him to come out).  There were photographers, news reporters, groupies, teenyboppers and assorted people who didn’t know what the hell was going on, but stayed anyway just to see what was happening.  Three long hours passed, and finally John made his way out.  Seeing the reporters, he threw his arm around Yoko, and seemed to dread the upcoming serge.  They literally jumped on him.  He spent about 15 minutes answering questions about the court proceedings.  Answering some questions on the lighter side, he said that in kindergarten and all through school, nobody liked his face, and he seemed to always be in real bad trouble because of it.  He answered a girl’s question about his LP that was going to come out in a few weeks (He was really cheerful about that).  He finally pushed his way through the mob and smiled when he looked our way.  “Thomas” opened the car door and they were off.  Tommy, Marie, Sagi and I were at Apple on a hunch, when Geraldo Rivera from ABC news arrived along with some cameramen.  (They went inside to interview John, and it was on TV that night).  Marie suggested that he ask John to do a concert for the children of Willowbrook as George had done for Bangladesh.   He said that he would (Well it worked!)  He seemed to be rather snotty, he thinks he’s a real celebrity you know.  We waited and waited and waited.  Soon after, two true blue Beatle fans (guys) from New Jersey arrived.  They came to give John a letter.  It was about Yellow Matter Custard.  They kept asking Marie if she knew where John lived so that they could visit him and send him letters (“How should I know?” she said innocently).  Eventually, we saw Tom (his driver) come out from Apple, and John came out about five minutes later.  The two guys managed to speak to him and asked him about Yellow Matter Custard.  John told them to contact Dave Morrell (He’s about 17 ad calls himself the #1 Beatle fan because he has every LP and bootleg going and about $1000.00 worth of Beatle collections.)  Anyway, this Dave bloke was on the radio once bragging about his bootlegs, and John was interested in Yellow Matter Custard so he got to meet John and give him a copy (Oh yeah, he was also at Apple earlier in the dya).  Anyway he walked towards Marie’s car looked in and then saw Tom behind us and got into the blue station wagon.  They took off and when we decided to go our way we found that they were going in the same direction.  We almost went through a red light, got hit by a bus, and then found John in front of us.  His lane was going too slow and we didn’t know what to do.  A cab driver yelled out for us to pass him and Tommy yelled back, “but you don’t understand the situation!”  Marie, having one of her nervous attacks, kept saying “let’s take a vote on this.”   We had to pass, but I did look back and saw John resting his arm and hanging out the window smiling at all the people passing by. 

 

Peace

I do not know if the man in the polka-dot tie is part of John and Yoko's legal team or just a fan, but he sure looks happy!

overwhelmed

When it comes too all of legal work John and Yoko went through for John to stay in the United States, it is easy to tell why the couple would look so upset. 1972 had been a difficult year for the Lennons and so I don't blame John for throwing his hand up in the air in front of fans and press by the time they reached this May 19, 1972 appointment at the immigration office. This ordeal also is the reason behind one of the novelty songs that gets stuck in my head frequently, "Let John and Yoko Stay in the U.S.A." by the Justice League.