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Beatles forums => The Beatles => Topic started by: nimrod on April 25, 2013, 12:03:24 AM

Title: Being very famous
Post by: nimrod on April 25, 2013, 12:03:24 AM
I remember reading in the book by Fred Seaman , he described going into a restaurant with John.....nearly everyone in the place knew it was John and after a short time of sitting there assessing people he told Fred quietly how each and every one of them would behave......apparently he was bang on, it was something I found quite fascinating to read.
It seems John hated being so famous and that is one of the reasons he eventually became a somewhat of a recluse at the Dakota building.

Paul seems to relish in being famous, whereas George seemed to prefer privacy, not sure about Ringo

How would you handle fame, would you enjoy great service and people fawning over you ?  or would it be a massive pain in the arse ? ha2ha
Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: tkitna on April 25, 2013, 01:06:10 AM
It would be a massive pain in the ass. I just watched Conan last night and Jennifer Lawrence was on. He asked her if she ever went out. She looked at him like an alien and said that she wasnt able to go out. She has to stay at home all the time. That would suck.
Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: Kevin on April 25, 2013, 07:07:25 AM

It seems John hated being so famous and that is one of the reasons he eventually became a somewhat of a recluse at the Dakota building.

Hi Nimrod.
I would need more convincing of that. John seemed quite happy with fame all through the Beatle years, and from 68 to 73 he seemed to actively court it more than most. This was the man after all  happy to have the world share his wedding bed for a week. Fame was fine when it suited him (like most celebs).
If there was a change it was after his fall out with Yoko and the american public after STINYC. And could there not be an arguement that fame fell out with Lennon, not the other way round.
I think we could come up with a list of a few reasons John "retired" in 1975, but gosh I would need some strong convincing that fame should be high on that list.
I don't imagine the experience he had in that diner was different to that experienced by a mulitude of A listers, and certainly doeasn't to me send a signal that he disliked fame, or found it any more wearisome,  any more than any of them. It's a nice romantic view, John just wanting to be left alone, but I'm not sure the facts bare this out.
Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: nimrod on April 25, 2013, 12:12:50 PM
Hi Nimrod.
I would need more convincing of that. John seemed quite happy with fame all through the Beatle years, and from 68 to 73 he seemed to actively court it more than most. This was the man after all  happy to have the world share his wedding bed for a week. Fame was fine when it suited him (like most celebs).
If there was a change it was after his fall out with Yoko and the american public after STINYC. And could there not be an arguement that fame fell out with Lennon, not the other way round.
I think we could come up with a list of a few reasons John "retired" in 1975, but gosh I would need some strong convincing that fame should be high on that list.
I don't imagine the experience he had in that diner was different to that experienced by a mulitude of A listers, and certainly doeasn't to me send a signal that he disliked fame, or found it any more wearisome,  any more than any of them. It's a nice romantic view, John just wanting to be left alone, but I'm not sure the facts bare this out.

Yes your probably right Kevin, but the message coming all through Freds book is that John just wanted anonymity, as he told Andy Peebles in his last interview, he loved New York as he could 'walk down the street and go in a restaurant etc without being bugged...you wanna know how great that is ? '

I think he was very much in the spotlight during his early years with Yoko due to their peace campaign so publicity suited him greatly, I was more meaning his quiet years at the Dakota where he made no records for 5 years (Freds time with him) he seemed just to want to be left alone, seldom going out. Not wanting to jam with anyone.
His happiest time seemed to be on the Yacht The Megan Jane, away from the limelight
The episode in the restaurant could indeed have been described by several A listers but this is the first time Ive read a description of how people behave around a very famous person who is suddenly in their presence, thats why I mentioned it.

One thing is sure, John could change his views on anything, even being famous
Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: Klang on April 25, 2013, 09:42:23 PM

Would not enjoy fame. Too many nuts out there.

 roll:)

Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: Klang on April 26, 2013, 10:05:44 AM

I should know. I'm one of them.

 :P

Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: Kevin on April 26, 2013, 07:19:13 PM
Gosh - am I alone in liking the idea of fame. Think I could handle it. Its always bothered me that for maybe 5 years after my death a very small handful of folk will say "remember that Kevin......". A few years after it'll be "what was that guys name...Keith,Kelvin" then it would be "whose that?" when people look at old photos.
I would like to leave my mark on the world, hopefully in a positive way. Being a childless, godless man in his mid fifties don't help any.
Five years ago, thanks to the british public records office I was able to follow in the footsteps of my long dead ( and never met) grandads unit around Belgium in 1918. I found a little graveyard in a small church where about ten of his unit buddies were buried, killed in the same action that grandad was wounded, 1 month before the armistice. In an untypical fit of sentimentality I went to each gravestone, touched it, and said each mans name out loud, because I thought there names might not have been said or remembered for nearly a century. I'm not sure that will happen to me.
His name was frank vernon wallis. Please say it.
Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: nimrod on April 26, 2013, 11:11:26 PM
Gosh - am I alone in liking the idea of fame. Think I could handle it. Its always bothered me that for maybe 5 years after my death a very small handful of folk will say "remember that Kevin......". A few years after it'll be "what was that guys name...Keith,Kelvin" then it would be "whose that?" when people look at old photos.
I would like to leave my mark on the world, hopefully in a positive way. Being a childless, godless man in his mid fifties don't help any.
Five years ago, thanks to the british public records office I was able to follow in the footsteps of my long dead ( and never met) grandads unit around Belgium in 1918. I found a little graveyard in a small church where about ten of his unit buddies were buried, killed in the same action that grandad was wounded, 1 month before the armistice. In an untypical fit of sentimentality I went to each gravestone, touched it, and said each mans name out loud, because I thought there names might not have been said or remembered for nearly a century. I'm not sure that will happen to me.
His name was frank vernon wallis. Please say it.


thats a lovely thing to do at their graves Kevin......good on you.

We had ANZAC day on the 25th and I get a bit emotional when I think of all the young men who left the shores of Australia & New Zealand never to return...........God bless them all.
Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: Kevin on April 27, 2013, 07:27:37 AM
Cheers Nimrod. Where are you from (I'm from Wellington originally)
Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: nimrod on April 27, 2013, 09:25:18 AM
Im a Mancunian born & bred Kevin but Ive lived in Brisbane since 1987

Before Brisbane I worked in Los Angeles, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur & Hong Kong
Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: Hello Goodbye on April 27, 2013, 10:25:31 PM
I was born in Brooklyn.


(http://onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/alg_brooklyn_sign.jpg)



Welcome Back Kotter Theme Song HQ (Opening) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VlGyMG0ksg#)
Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: Dcazz on April 28, 2013, 01:06:20 AM
thats a lovely thing to do at their graves Kevin......good on you.

We had ANZAC day on the 25th and I get a bit emotional when I think of all the young men who left the shores of Australia & New Zealand never to return...........God bless them all.
Amen!
Title: Re: Being very famous
Post by: Kaleidoscope_Eyes on May 01, 2013, 12:55:08 AM
We have the Dawn service on ANZAC day.... but alas I never wake up in time. We'll meet again always comes to mind to me on that day.

Yes your probably right Kevin, but the message coming all through Freds book is that John just wanted anonymity, as he told Andy Peebles in his last interview, he loved New York as he could 'walk down the street and go in a restaurant etc without being bugged...you wanna know how great that is ? '

I think he was very much in the spotlight during his early years with Yoko due to their peace campaign so publicity suited him greatly, I was more meaning his quiet years at the Dakota where he made no records for 5 years (Freds time with him) he seemed just to want to be left alone, seldom going out. Not wanting to jam with anyone.
His happiest time seemed to be on the Yacht The Megan Jane, away from the limelight
The episode in the restaurant could indeed have been described by several A listers but this is the first time Ive read a description of how people behave around a very famous person who is suddenly in their presence, thats why I mentioned it.

One thing is sure, John could change his views on anything, even being famous
Totally agree. I think in the begining he liked it and once he started settling in with Yoko and as the years went on - it just got too much into him.

But this happens with everyone and everything I think. Life seems to be a bell curve, so to speak.

And yes, John was a very wise man, and perhaps he wanted people to view him as such as oppose to a Beatle, or that-Beatle-that-married-Yoko