#Photographed by Mary McCartney

[marymccartneyphotos]

Linda and Paul McCartney

Photographed by Mary McCartney

[nedison]

here they are side-by-side for maximum effect

[beatleswings]

LINDA and STELLA McCARTNEY. Jamaica. 1995. Photo taken by PAUL McCARTNEY. (x)

[transistoradio]

PJ Harvey photographed by Mary McCartney.

[dangdangboom]

[laurolive]

And They Said It Wouldn’t Work

Came across this lovely photo of Linda on the cover of the April 30, 1977, issue of the U.K. weekly Woman. Her interview is titled “All you Need is Love, and a Beatle called Paul: Linda McCartney's story” by Bonnie Estridge (p. 28).

That’s all the info I have since the story is not reproduced anywhere online that I can see (though it’s obtainable from other sources).

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Turning my attention to the cover text, when “they” said the marriage wouldn’t work, “they” were not without just cause, IMO. Circumstances pointed to a relationship destined for failure.

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McCartney juggled multiple girlfriends simultaneously and had never practiced commitment in his adult life. Linda counted among her lovers many of the rock musicians she photographed. McCartney pursued and slept with Linda (among others) while engaged to someone else (Jane Asher).

So here we have a courtship, begun in deceit and sneaking around, between two people who still appeared to be enjoying the free love era. “If he’ll cheat WITH you, he’ll cheat ON you” goes the adage. The guy couldn’t even stay faithful to his fiancée. Is this the behaviour of a future responsible family man?

Beatles biographer Hunter Davies didn’t think the marriage would last [link]. John Lennon gave it two years [link]. The civil wedding seemed to be arranged in a rush with a bride who was three months’ pregnant. The night before the big day, the couple had such a huge argument they nearly canceled the ceremony [link]. No wonder the marriage was given such poor prospects.

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Yet it became rock music’s most famous love affair and its most enduring monogamous union. HOW? For one, it goes to show that it’s easy to make predictions based on superficial knowledge.

Observers saw a womanizing Beatle rock star who would never settle down with one woman. It turns out McCartney had deeper layers than met the eye, and they meshed with Linda’s. We just didn’t know his REAL values in life until he talked about them.

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Some men are womanizers and stay womanizers. That’s who they are deep down inside. Monogamy has no appeal.

Some men are womanizers when young. It’s an experience to try, not a routine to live by. I think Paul falls into this category. Deep inside, he was a family man. Going by his interviews, where he often speaks tenderly of Linda and rhapsodizes about fatherhood, one can sense that he believed in romantic love. He wanted a soulmate; he wanted children. He matured, and his ingrained values came to the forefront.

He didn’t become husband material right off the bat. It was a process, probably a difficult one given his status. When he played the field in the later 60s, perhaps it was not totally to have fun, but also to seek out girlfriends with whom he had a real connection. These he called his “serious relationships” [link]. Some of those girlfriends claimed he wanted to marry them [link1, link2]; yet even when he did get engaged, he seemed to be unsure and still searching. (I guess he didn’t consider it cheating if he wasn’t married.) Recalling those days for the 2001 documentary Wingspan, McCartney tells his interviewer (who is also his daughter Mary) that it was time to get serious; and he especially felt that way with her mother. He didn’t want to remain a bachelor playboy all his life.

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And so he got serious. Once he committed, he was husband and father all the way.

“I had my wild life,” he declared in a 1974 interview [New York News magazine: Just an Old-Fashioned Beatle, April 7, 1974]. “But I told Linda everything about that and all the rest. I have no secrets from Linda. I had my time, in my time. But I am much happier now. This new life means more to me.”

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He expressed similar sentiments in other interviews over the years, such as TV interview with Barbara Howar, Aug. 23, 1986 and The Guardian: After Linda by Simon Hattenstone, Sept. 11, 2000, just to name two.

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©️ laurolive, laurolive.tumblr.com, www.tumblr.com/laurolive, www.tumblr.com/blog/laurolive, 2024

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[the-paper-apricot]

John, Paul & the Shangri-Las

Whatever happened to The life that we once knew?

It's fairly well known that these lines from the bridge of 'Free as a Bird' are adapted from the lyric of 'Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)', written & produced by Shadow Morton and performed by the Shangri-Las. Where the Beatles, in lyrics begun but not completed by John, call up shared memories, Mary Weiss sang of "the boy that I once knew". That John reused these lines to voice his own preoccupation with an unresolved past adds much tenderness to 'Free as a Bird'. Being a Shangs fan, there are a couple of other connections that I just wanted to write about.

The Shangs looking dangerous.

Today I love you more than yesterday

'I Know (I Know)' from Mind Games (1973).

Although the melodies are completely different, the Shangri-Las song 'Love You More Than Yesterday' seems to find an echo in the most emotive lines in the bridge of John Lennon's 'I Know (I Know)'. The song was a B-side to their 1966 spoken-word ballad 'Past, Present & Future' (which, incidentally, took Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' as its theme, like the Beatles' song 'Because' after it). Quite rightly the nod to 'Yesterday' is what strikes us most, but I'm not at all sure that the similarity to the Shangri-Las title is pure coincidence. We saw in Get Back how easily song titles and lyrics were used by John and Paul in the current of their talk.

It proved difficult to find John speaking about the Shangri-Las, despite the Beatles' enjoyment of records by other girl groups like the Shirelles, and they're not among the artists on John's famous 40-disc mobile juke box that he brought when the Beatles went out on tour. (Only one woman, Fontella Bass, appears among the discs. The juke box doesn't even include 'Angel Baby' by Rosie and the Originals, whose fresh, unrefined first-love sentimentality appealed to him so much he covered it.) It's a little easier to find something from Paul on the subject however.

Mary and Betty Weiss from the Shangri-Las, photographed by Jini Dellaccio in 1966 (left: screenshot by @ohhellno on tumblr*; right, my screenshot, both from the documentary Her Aim is True, about the photographer).

Of course he calls out "Shangri-Las versus The Village People!" at the beginning of 'Mr. H. Atom'. But glorious as that is, perhaps more informative are the occasions where Paul has spoken of his enjoyment of the Shangri-Las' style, and the way he appreciated Linda's voice in this mode.

If she’s a singer, she’s very much a Shangri-Las type singer; I don’t think any of them could get into opera, but I prefer them to opera. Linda wouldn’t put herself up as a great vocalist, but she’s got a great style. I think anyway.

'McCartney Gets Hungry Again', Musician, Feb. 1988

I've always maintained that she has a kind of Shangri-Las type of appeal.

'Can Paul McCartney Get Back?' Rolling Stone, June 1989

When you know how warmly Paul regarded their style, you can't miss the similarity of Linda's spoken intro and closing of 'Wide Prairie' ("I was in Paris, waiting for a flight..."), answered by Paul, to the chat in Shangri-Las songs like 'Give Him a Great Big Kiss', where the other girls ask Mary Weiss whether her guy is tall ("Well, I gotta look up!") or if he's a good dancer.

Did they meet?

On the 20th September 1964, the Shangri-Las performed on the same bill as the Beatles, at a benefit concert in New York for a cerebral palsy charity. Mary Weiss explained that Mary Ann Ganser was jostled backstage as one of the Beatles sought them out:

“She turned around and it was Ringo. So that was some contact, anyway. I almost wanted her to take his drumsticks.”

'Weiss Leads Again', the New York Sun, September 2007.

This seems to be the only documented contact between the groups, although if you know of others, or further instances where John or Paul spoke about the Shangs, I'd love to hear about them. The music that the Beatles listened to has been written about extensively, and there's almost a canon of influences that's become pretty standard. Given their admiration of their performance, and seemingly in John's case, of Shadow Morton's words**, I hope for some recognition of both Lennon and McCartney's creative responses to the Shangri-Las.

(* Many thanks to @ohhellno for letting me use this great screenshot.)

(** The interest was of course mutual, as Morton produced the Beattle-ettes single 'Only Seventeen', supposedly a response to the Beatles from the girl's perspective, with hand claps and cries of "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" The single, by an untraced group, was released in 1964. In summer the same year his first songwriting hit, 'Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)' was the breakout success for the Shangri-Las. It was racing up the Billboard Hot 100 as the Beatles toured the States in the second half of August. By the time they had a day off in Key West, on the tenth of September, it had reached the top ten, one place below 'A Hard Day's Night'. If John or Paul tuned to a pop radio station, they'd have heard it. The song peaked at number five.)

from the Billboard Hot 100, week ending 12th September, 1964.

[lenetaylor]

Paul McCartney, CEO of London

Before he was the Prince of London™ in 1967, Paul McCartney did a photoshoot in March 1966 with French photographer Jean-Marie Périer. It was shot in and around Abbey Road Studios (but not during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, as is sometimes claimed). Paul wore a very well-tailored business suit and looks like a young, supremely confident CEO.

Most of these photos are available at Photo 12; I've tried to find non-watermarked versions.

[filmdaya]

Dev Patel photographed by Mary McCartney for Mandarin Oriental

2017

[ludmilachaibemachado]

Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Heather McCartney and Tatum O’Neal on the Queen Mary boat in Long Beach, California, at a party to celebrate the end of recording their Wings' album Venus & Mars on March 24, 1975. Photographed by Harry Benson

Via @thebeatleswomen on Instagram

[voguefashion]

Ralph Fiennes & Natascha Mcelhone photographed by Mary McCartney Donald on the cover of Harper's & Queen, March 2003.

[marymccartneyphotos]

Paul McCartney

Photographed by Mary McCartney

[ringos-sexynose]

Paris 1972: American photographer, musician and animal rights activist Linda McCartney, with her husband singer and songwriter Paul McCartney and their daughters, Heather and Mary

[beatleswings]

PAUL McCARTNEY with JULIAN LENNON and MARY McCARTNEY at the private view of Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm at the National Portrait Gallery. London, England. June 26, 2023

[hollywoods-angel]

donyale <3

donyale luna was a supermodel and actress during the 1960s. she's cited as being the first black supermodel and the first black model to appear on vogue. she was a muse to salvador dali and starred in numerous underground films of the 1960s.

born peggy ann freeman to middle class parents she spent her teenager years studying typing, journalim and the performing arts. she later went by the name "donyale george luna"- a persona she'd created, and in 1963 she was discovered by a modelling agent who recommended she move to new york to find work as a model or actress. in 1964 donyale was introduced to the editor of harper's bazaar. the same year she wored with paco rabanne and witnessed him being harrased & spit on by american journalists for casting all black models.

in 1965 she moved to london due to the racism she was facing in america, and a mental breakdown. her likeness was also sketched onto the cover of harper's bazaar, but was marketed as being 'racially ambigious.' the same year she was photographed with supermodel jean shrimpton, and half of the beatles- paul mccartney and ringo starr. in 1966 she was the first black woman to be on the cover of british vogue, worked with mary quant and gained the title "model of the year.' she was one of the top models, and in 1967 she was on numerous album covers as well as the film 'tonite lets all make love in london.'

in 1968 she was in the rolling stones' rock n roll circus, and was friends with brian jones. in 1969 she was on the cover of american vogue. in 1973 and 1974 donyale stayed in north america, doing runways in new york and toronto. in 1974 she was on warhol's magazine (called interview) and in 1975 she was in playboy.

her career began to decline which was due to her drug use (which was controversial) and also being described as unpredictable to work with. she had small acting roles on tv and in counterculture films. notably in 1967 when she was in tonite let's all make love in london, as well as the rolling stones rock n roll circus.

donyale's legacy is one of faking it until you make it- creating a persona of sorts and embodying that. she faced racial discrimination during her time as a model, but nevertheless she worked hard and helped pave the way for other black models in the industry. she rejected being type-cast to a certain look, or fitting the 'exotic' look photographers wanted her to have. unfortunately this has led to the modeling industry forgetting about her, despite how hard she worked and how much she accomplished. although she isn't talked about much donyale has shaped modern modelling, and her silent legacy is still carried on.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

To be backstage during a play is to be in a twofold world of secrecy and revelation. It is to live in two periods at once: the time of your own life and the time of the character you are playing. There is a similar feeling in standing next to a river, a bonfire, on a platform when a fast train is approaching, or, I imagine, beside an open door on an aeroplane.

Backstage, I always have one ear to the house, judging the energy of the audience from their response to other scenes, enjoying the innovations and discoveries of my fellow actors, and privately harnessing the aspects of myself, the thoughts and actions, that are appropriate for my character. In Twelfth Night, I was playing the Countess Olivia, a grieving aristocrat who has inherited control of her house and its difficult occupants after the death of her beloved father and brother.

Just as there is a certain ritual to the action on stage, so there is backstage. The quiet preparation for an entrance, the quick costume change, the motivated exit that deflates rapidly in the dark, the jubilant energy you get with an expressive audience, the relaxed energy of actors who have finished their part and are waiting for the final call, the regular absence from the stage that allows for reading, correspondence or games of ping pong: all the backstage after-and-before shadows exactly what happens on stage; it is both a private and a social space.

The Belasco theatre, where these pictures were taken, is an old Broadway house with a large stage. We had room in the wings for two oak “standings”, an old Elizabethan term for raised platforms on which an audience could stand or sit. All our entrances were via two doors in a reconstructed oak screen, which also provided a high gallery for our musicians.

But we didn’t choose the Belasco for its size; we chose it for the great space underneath the stage, where those who wished could dress together, and where we could have a ping pong table and post-show social club (sometimes during the show as well). I had heard that Houdini had created this deep space under the Belasco, to enable an elephant to disappear by dropping through a trapdoor into a tank of water. My friends there denied this, but there was certainly room. It was so cold that winter, we spent many a memorable late evening in our Houdini cave, after the play had finished, playing ping pong and table football, entertaining guests. At our Christmas party, Stephen Fry donned his Santa Claus suit and passed out the gifts.

A good theatre feels like a great ship. Front of house, its stalls, circle and balcony, are like three great sails filled each day with the imaginative life of an audience. Backstage feels like life below decks. Enjoying a run of full houses – well, there’s nothing like it, in all the different jobs I have been lucky enough to experience, perhaps nothing like it in life. It is like sailing a fast ship on a sunny, windy day.-

-Mark Rylance, excerpts from a 2016 piece in The Guardian

All photographs by Mary McCartney.

[follies of god]