This was a long, eventful, and crazy day for John and Paul. In the afternoon they held a press conference, during which they may both have been stoned out of their gourds. Said Paul:
I had a strange feeling and I was very nervous. I had a real personal paranoia. I don’t know if it was what I was smoking at the time, but it was very strange for me.
As for John, according to Bob Spitz, he and Derek Taylor had been binging on “speed and a ‘mild and extremely benign hallucinogen’ called Purple Holiday.”1 But however high they were, the two Beatles carried on manfully with their media responsibilities:
At some point Paul looked out into the crowd and saw a familiar face: that of Linda Eastman, whom he had met almost exactly a year previously in London. As a professional photographer, she had a legitimate reason to be there, but had long made no secret of having designs on Paul. As, of course, did many, many people; the difference in Linda’s case was that it worked.
After the press conference Paul and Linda talked, and Linda ended up giving him her number written on a blank check. (Symbolic, no?) Before she could even get home, Paul had called. The only space he had available in his busy schedule was during the ride to the airport the next day, and so he invited her along. More on that tomorrow.
Also today, John and Paul sat down for a private interview with one Mitchelle Krause. There’s a lot of talk about social issues, which quite frankly is not either Beatle’s strong suit; they come across as very young and probably still stoned.
Finally, tonight John and Paul appeared on The Tonight Show, which was being guest-hosted by sports announcer Joe Garagiola. For a long time only the audio of this was extant:
But a few years ago this grainy footage popped up:
The expression on Paul’s face in the still photo there says he’s not quite sure where he is or who he’s talking to (possibly “what he was smoking” again). He looks a little more comfortable in this photo:
That’s Ed McMahon, America’s drunk uncle, on the left. Actress Tallulah Bankhead is sharing the desk with Garagiola for some reason. The whole thing was very strange and I’ll bet John and Paul were eager to get back to England, where at least things were weird in a way they understood — although John loved New York City; he would move there with Yoko in 1971 and stay there for the rest of his life.
John and Paul took this opportunity to publicly put some space between themselves and the Maharishi, who had recently suffered some bad publicity from a tour with the Beach Boys that had widely been deemed a fiasco. (“A commercial and critical failure,” says Wikipedia. “Twenty-nine concerts were originally scheduled, many of them in college venues, but the venture was abandoned after three days of low ticket sales and hostile audience reaction.”) They gently but firmly make it clear that they are no longer riding with the MMY. “Nice trip, thank you very much,” says John with a sneer.
And that was the end of a very full day for the Fab Two. Or was it? Did they maybe go back to the hotel and get back into the Purple Holiday or whatever it was they were smoking? All they had to do the next day was ride a limo to the airport, though I’m sure Paul wanted to make a good impression on Linda. I hope he got some sleep at least.