Post by Athenais on Jan 22, 2005 15:24:41 GMT -5
Most intriguing is the article already mentioned in a previous post, written by J. Marks (note spelling) for the New York Times on 2 November 1969. Marks had apparently been a close companion (just good friends, I'm sure) of Linda Eastman, as she was known then. Marks and Eastman, working on a book, went "star-hopping", has he termed it, in London during Fall 1967, and he quotes Ms. Eastman as complaining that she'd likely never get close to McCartney "because of Jane Asher".
At a party given by Beatles' hangers-on, The Fool (who designed the Apple Boutique), an unnamed "friend of the Beatles" brought up the curious topic that "Paul was killed last year" (1966), and continued to lampoon what seemed to have been an oftrepeated rumor of Paul's untimely demise---assuring Ms. Eastman that Jane would eventually tire of Paul's "double" and Linda could have a go. At the time, though offered jocularly, it seems clear that no "clues" were suggested---no entreaties to play records backwards, look for badges or graves made of flowers or Scandinavian (or Greek or Eskimo) symbols of death. It was, in 1967, just an odd bit of hearsay, and no more developed than that. But it was obviously a joke---its origins clouded in mystery but not, by any account, attributable to the Beatles themselves.
What is worth noting here is that, at least in Fall 1967, several parallels existed to the later American myth: Paul's "death", his "double", and the assumption that his enamorata would eventually be removed from the scene as a result of the switch. (Marks mentioned that he knew it was all balderdash, but was nevertheless brought up short when Paul and Jane *did* split, and Linda took up with Paul shortly thereafter).
At a party given by Beatles' hangers-on, The Fool (who designed the Apple Boutique), an unnamed "friend of the Beatles" brought up the curious topic that "Paul was killed last year" (1966), and continued to lampoon what seemed to have been an oftrepeated rumor of Paul's untimely demise---assuring Ms. Eastman that Jane would eventually tire of Paul's "double" and Linda could have a go. At the time, though offered jocularly, it seems clear that no "clues" were suggested---no entreaties to play records backwards, look for badges or graves made of flowers or Scandinavian (or Greek or Eskimo) symbols of death. It was, in 1967, just an odd bit of hearsay, and no more developed than that. But it was obviously a joke---its origins clouded in mystery but not, by any account, attributable to the Beatles themselves.
What is worth noting here is that, at least in Fall 1967, several parallels existed to the later American myth: Paul's "death", his "double", and the assumption that his enamorata would eventually be removed from the scene as a result of the switch. (Marks mentioned that he knew it was all balderdash, but was nevertheless brought up short when Paul and Jane *did* split, and Linda took up with Paul shortly thereafter).
www.recmusicbeatles.com/public/files/saki/pid12794.html