Anniversary Letter

Two parts of a letter (only pages 6 and 7. Pages 1 thru 5 are unknown whereabouts) written by John to his wife Cynthia while on tour with The Beatles in Los Angeles on August 23, 1965 - their 3rd wedding anniversary. John was expressing how much he missed Julian and not being able to spend the time together. Cynthia was away that month of August visiting her elder brother Charles in Libya. (I already covered that subject; check out the Label ➡ Libya) 

Many years later, after being published for the first time in Ray Coleman's biography Lennon, Cynthia sold this letter in auction. Then, some years after that, the owner decided to return it back in auction. This time Paul McCartney bought it. He had them framed and presented to Julian, much to Cynthia's delight. I wish I knew when Paul bought it from auction... Anyway, Cynthia wrote in her book John that this letter raises mixed emotions in her recent years. John may have felt genuine remorse in his absence, but old habits don't die easily. 

Just a week prior (August 15th), The Beatles performed Shea Stadium, the first music group to ever hold a concert at a stadium.

In Awe

Ron Howard with John and Julian on the set of Happy Days

 

Jeans For Julian

 

Hugs

Photographed by Michael Wainwright 

Julian and Dhani Harrison hugging at the book launch of John Varvatos: Rock In Fashion at John Varvatos store in Los Angeles on November 7, 2013. 

Happy Daze For Julian

Don Most, Ron Howard, John, Anson Williams, Julian, Henry Winkler, Jerry Paris, and guest star Alan Abelew on the set of Happy Days on January 28, 1974 at Paramount Pictures Studio in Los Angeles.

“YES the fab photo of John Lennon and his wonderful son Julian is VERY real and an outstanding memory AND what a day it was”

Henry Winkler, 2013

“I met John Lennon. He brought his son Julian to the set of Happy Days. It’s one of the most important pictures I have in my house. I tried to have a conversation with John and he was very shy. It was really hard to pry a sentence out of him until I mentioned the song Mother, which was a primal scream on his first solo album. Suddenly he opened like a garden. I think of it as one of the great memories of my life.” 

Henry Winkler, 2024

While trying to find activities and places to entertain Julian while visiting from England in Los Angeles, May Pang managed to arrange a set visit with Paramount Studios where a bunch of television shows were filmed, including Mannix and Happy Days. On January 28, 1974, John, May, and Julian toured around the lot. Happy Days had just started airing since January 15th and I supposed the first episode made a great first impression on Julian who wanted to meet The Fonz (Arthur Fonzarelli, played by Henry Winkler). At the time, Happy Days was filmed without a studio audience with one single camera; by the third season, Happy Days had a studio audience and three cameras. Plus, in the first season, Fonzie had this pale wind jacket thanks to the higher up suits of ABC who thought black leather jackets were threatening before compromising that Fonzie could wear leather while on his motorcycle. Eventually that wind jacket went to the dumpster and Fonzie wore the leather jacket permanently until the show's cancellation in 1984. The cast was filming an episode called Guess Who's Coming to Visit about a midnight drag race. I honestly don't know how long John, May, and Julian stayed - half of the recollections say 15 minutes, the other half say the whole day. Yet, no matter the stay length, it sounded like both John and Julian enjoyed their stay as much as did the cast! Some, including crew members, got art doodles by John. 

“Well, it was the first year of the show and we were a minor hit at the time. It was early morning, we were just filming some kitchen scenes. Ron Howard was there, Donny Most, Henry and myself and a guest star. It was just a normal day, I go over to grab a cup of coffee, a big ol’ tin, and I see this guy and like a 10 year old kid. He looks really familiar, hmmm. So, go back to the guys and I said, ‘There’s a man and a kid, the man looks like John Lennon.’ ‘Oh get out of here!’ I know! I mean, it’s gotta be a grip or something. It’s John Lennon! With his son Julian, who was 10 years old at the time. He was a fan of the ’50s, fan of Happy Days brought his son down and spent the entire day on the set.

He was so kind, so gentle and shy. Absolutely,  truly shy, so kind. He spent the entire 12 hours on the set until we wrapped. He was doing doodles for the crew, personal things like this. But do we get one? Oh no, we’re professionals! We’re too cool, oh no no no. Could’ve bought a house today! He was such a wonderfully, honestly, humble guy. It was surreal. It was surreal to have that opportunity.”

Anson Williams, 2018

“We got word that John Lennon wanted to come by and bring his son Julian, and he was a big Fonzie fan. I managed to sneak in a picture. He was graciously cool, but mostly it was for his kid, which we all really appreciated.”

Ron Howard, 2013

"His son really wanted to see our set and meet Henry. Henry was desperate to meet John Lennon, too. I had nothing but admiration for John Lennon but I was nothing quite as fervent – for Henry it was a practically religious experience. I just said hello – it was all over in 10 or 15 minutes. Ringo and Keith Moon wandered onto our set a few years later, but they were in a state in which I wouldn’t expect them to remember very much of the experience!” 

Ron Howard, 2016

"I could not believe that they were on our set. My fingers have just stopped there are no words."

Henry Winkler 2022

“He was so shy, and I didn’t know how to get into a conversation with John Lennon. And then I just started talking about his-the Imagine-the album that he made solo, and there’s a cut on it called Mother, which is like a primal scream. I started talking to him about that, and he opened like a flower. It was amazing.” 

Henry Winkler, 2021

I don't know if John and Julian continued to watch Happy Days, though I believe they did. Especially John, as he lived in America until his death. Not sure if Happy Days aired in England until much later. But whatever the case, Julian does seem to remain a fan of the show and actors.

Julian visiting Henry Winkler at Paramount Studios offices in 1985 while filming his Stick Around music video

Julian with Scott Baio, Henry Winkler, and two guests at his Stand By Me: A Portrait Of Julian Lennon documentary at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel on November 23, 1985

In 1985, Julian appeared on Solid Gold and decided to drop in on Henry who had his production office there while doing MacGyver (working behind the scenes). 

“Cut to ten years later, and I’m in my office on the Paramount lot, and there’s a knock on the door. I open it and the man says, 'I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Julian…' He now has a hit record, and he was there at Paramount doing his song on Solid Gold and he came to say hi! And I said, 'Julian, I think I would remember you.' What a wonderful circle, you know?”

Henry Winkler, 2017

I guess then Julian invited Henry, and Scott Baio (who joined the Happy Days cast in 1977) to his Stand By Me: A Portrait Of Julian Lennon documentary at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel on November 23, 1985. As far as I know, and as of the time of this writing, Julian and Henry hadn't seen each other since - but there's social media! In 2018, Henry did a Q&A and mentioned John and Julian visiting the set of Happy Days: 

What is your most treasured possession? 

A picture of the cast of Happy Days with John and Julian Lennon.

Julian saw it and responded from Twitter (now X):

Thank You Henry! A fond Memory of mine too... Happy Days... 🙏🏻 x 

Olivia Harrison, Ron Howard, and Yoko Ono at the The Beatles: Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years premiere at Odeon Leicester Square on September 15, 2016 in London.

In 2016, Ron produced and directed Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years with the cooperation with The Beatles/Apple. Since it was mostly focused on their tours, there was a picture by Robert Whitaker of John, Cynthia, and Julian shown while Ringo was talking that at this time they were settling down with families (a picture of Maureen, Zak, and Ringo was also shown). I have no idea if Ron and Julian have seen each other since 1975.

Julian and Anson Williams in New York City on April 4, 2018 in the lobby of SiriusXM Radio Studios.

From Julian's Instagram

However in April of 2018, Julian and Anson ran into each other while at SiriusXM Radio Studios and took a moment for a selfie and a brief catch up. 

As far as I know, well, don't know at all, if John and Julian met Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, and Erin Moran while on the set. 

Cast of Happy Days:

Richie Cunningham ... Ron Howard

Arthur (Fonzie) Fonzarelli ... Henry Winkler

Howard Cunningham ... Tom Bosley

Marion Cunningham ... Marion Ross

Joanie Cunningham ... Erin Moran

Warren (Potsie) Webber .... Anson Williams

Ralph Malph ... Don Most

Charles (Chachi) Arcola ... Scott Baio

Midway to Refuel

 

Oscar Nominated Brother

Congratulations to Sean on his Oscar nomination in short film for War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko. In February, Julian and Sean were in Los Angeles (Julian for business, Sean for Oscar luncheons and other awards) and managed to get together. They even watched the Superbowl (February 11th) together, clueless on the game! 
 

Swimming Pool

Photographed by Yoko Ono

John and Kyoko at the swimming pool in Bel Air, California, June of 1970. Today is Kyoko's 60th birthday and I thought to be nice to wish her a Happy Birthday! Kyoko is a very nice woman and I love these photographs of John and Kyoko having fun during the short time they had together.

Past & Present

Cynthia and Julian with Jim Keltner's wife Cynthia and their three children in Los Angeles, 1974.

Julian was spending time with his father John and May Pang (John was more likely recording an album with Jim, a drummer, at this moment... or he wasn't pictured... I don't know where John was?) while Cynthia was staying with Jim and his family. In her John book, Cynthia wrote that Jim's children called her Mary Poppins because of her English accent.

 Jim and Cynthia are still married, and Jim recently met up with Julian on February 24, 2023 in Los Angeles for a re-do for Julia's 1991 song Saltwater and new song Save Me with Eva Gardner, Steve Porcaro, Laurence Juber (from Paul McCartney's Wings), and Willie Samuels. Any proceeds will go to White Feather Foundation and Save the Sea Country. The following day after recording, Jim with his wife Cynthia and Julian happened to be sitting next to each other for dinner at a restaurant.

"I had met him with my mom Cynthia on a number of occasions that Mum brought me over to America to rekindle and reconnect with Dad. So, we spent quite a lot of time with Jim Keltner and his family, and I haven't seen him since I was a kid. But he looked just the same. Because of that connection, they sent me a picture that I'd never seen. My mom Cynthia and his wife Cynthia when I was about 10 years old. We've reunited. That was so special."

Julian, 2023

Double Point

 

Olivia & The Boys

 

Hey, Hey, With The Monkees

The recent death of Michael Nesmith inspired this blog post. John, Cynthia, and Julian has had quite a few encounters with The Monkees - Davy Jones (RIP 2012), Peter Tork (RIP 2019), Mike Nesmith (RIP 2021), and Micky Dolenz (still with us!) 

As you probably already know, The Monkees were a television show inspired by The Beatles, a fictional band that became a real band. They came to England (Davy's home turf) in 1967. Before I go into 1967, let me give a shout out tidbit that back in February of 1964, The Beatles and Davy were on the same bill on The Ed Sullivan Show; Davy was in the cast Oliver! as the Artful Dodger ... there's a very good chance that Davy and The Beatles crossed paths backstage, iffy on Cynthia as she stayed in the shadows. Okay, back to 1967: In February, Micky, Mike, his wife Phyllis, and Davy arrived in England while The Beatles were recording Sgt. Pepper's. I guess Peter missed this trip, as I don't recall him being around at all for this but came to London later that year. Micky hung out with Paul, and met Samantha Juste (who he later married the following year) while Mike and Phyllis hung out with John and Cynthia.

Cynthia, Phyllis Nesmith, Michael Nesmith, and Ringo Starr at Abbey Road Studios for the orchestra recording sessions for A Day in the Life on February 10, 1967.

"When Mike and I left for our first vacation in England I had some wild ideas about what I wanted to see and do, but I never dreamed we would spend an entire weekend with John and Cynthia Lennon! When we first arrived in London, we wanted to call John Lennon, even though we’d never met him. We wanted very much to take them to dinner so we sent a telegram. John never responded to our telegram, but the next night we received an invitation to the Beatles’ recording session. John met us there and told us he got our telegram and he thought it was lovely. He knew it would be hard to get together, so he waited to invite us to the session. At the end of the session John and Cyn invited us to spend the weekend with them! The session, itself, was the wildest thing I’ve seen in my whole life. First of all, it was a very private thing—everyone was there by invitation only. The Stones were there, Marianne Faithful, Patti Harrison. The only wife who wasn’t there was Maureen because she wasn’t feeling well. I was so nervous because it seemed like such a freaky scene because I didn’t know what went on. The four Beatles were so cordial, I can’t begin to tell you! We walked in and sat by the door on two little chairs and Paul came over and said 'Hello, how are you, its good to see you.' We had met Paul at a club the night before. When we first came in, everyone else was seated at one end of the studio and they were laughing and talking and the orchestra was tuning up. And you should have seen the orchestra! They wore white ties and tails and they all had false noses and weird glasses! Paul was doing most of the work with the orchestra, so George came over to us and he was so outgoing and nice. Finally John came over and thanked us for the telegram and said, 'Come on down and meet Cyn", and he made us feel so at ease. We all went down and John introduced me to Cynthia and I sat down and said, 'I’m so nervous.' She said, 'Hold on, this isn’t really my scene, you know, I’m nervous too.' She said that John had told her to put on something wild, so she wore these wild purple pajama pants. Everyone else was really dressed freaky. When we sat down, the idea of the session was to record everyone talking and laughing. All the girls except Cynthia and I were walking around the orchestra with sparklers. Cynthia and I talked and we found that our reactions to our husbands and their fame were so much alike we really hit it off. We agreed that it was important to our family and our husbands to maintain a sense of proportion throughout the whole thing. It wasn’t so much expressed in words, I knew she felt the same way. We said that it was hard to be married to a person who was affected by so many outside things. You really have to be on your toes and you have to really love in order for that not to make any difference. You have to be able to sort out the hang-ups that come from the outside and affect your husband—what really pertains to your own relationship and really keep a sense of proportion about that, then you’re going to have a groovy relationship no matter what it looks like to the outside world. I think John acts toward Cyn very much like Mike acts towards me—he sort of keeps her in good humor. She has a tendency, like I do, to be overly sensitive. Like John teases her and she starts to take offense and then he says, 'Oh, Cyn, don’t do that.' Then she can laugh and she knows it doesn’t have anything to do with her. Cynthia is very thoughtful and very quiet. She’s very sensitive because she had an awful lot to go through. I never traveled on tour with Mike, so I don’t go through the airport scenes. I don’t go to any press interviews or anything like that. And I don’t feel left out because I understand that when Mike is going through all of that, it’s very hard on him. There is a lot of loneliness and inactivity being on tour—sitting in a hotel room, getting all excited about the performance, being let down when it’s over. You go through changes and I know if I were with Mike for more than two or three days on tour there would be tension between us. John was telling us that Cynthia never goes with him because he treats her so crumby and he feels bad about taking it out on her. I’m sure that Cynthia loves her husband and I don’t think she’s unhappy at all. I think living with John Lennon forces her to grow, expand her life and outlook—people are like weather vanes, they change. She may wish for peaceful moments and they may not come to her too often, but that’s not unhappiness. She is as vital to John as his right arm and I’m sure she knows that. I haven’t always been perfectly content, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to say I’m fulfilled because that seems like such a nothing state of being to me. There is something more than that sense of accomplishment, it’s progress and growing, never standing still. Sometimes you think that it’s unhappiness, but it isn’t, it’s learning. The Lennons live in a big old brick house with lots of high ceilings and staircases that wind up three floors. Mike and I sort of wandered through the house during our weekend there. I remember the dining room—there’s a huge banquet table and the walls are covered in purple velvet. It’s very rich and very comfortable; it’s great. John has a lot of freaky psychedelic art, just little objects that are hard to explain. There was so much stuff all over. In the breakfast room John has wildly colored shelves. He’s on a kick of wildly colored things, so he had a friend paint a piano with flowers and designs and every key is a different color. It goes through all the shades from light to the darkest. The wildest thing of all is his Rolls Royce car. It’s yellow with all the flowers on the side. It really blew our minds; it’s beautiful. The Rolls is really fantastic. It has a record player, a TV, a tape recorder and a telephone. We didn’t go many places, except that Cyn took me to Maureen Starr’s house. I never did meet Ringo’s little boy—he was out for a walk. But we had tea with Maureen and talked. We enjoyed that. Julian Lennon is a very withdrawn child. He may be going through one of those stages where he’s very shy, but he didn’t want to talk to us. A record was on and he was dancing. He amuses himself nicely. He’s very quiet. The whole weekend was so relaxing. Cyn and I cooked a big Sunday dinner. She made a roast and some great potatoes. The potatoes are really the best thing about English cooking I watched how she made them to learn how. She peeled them, cut them into pieces, boiled them for awhile, then about 20 minutes before the roast was done she put them all together to cook. The outside of the potatoes were all brown and the inside was almost as soft as mashed potatoes. They were the best potatoes I’ve ever put in my mouth. John showed us some movies the first night we were there. They were really weird films—like art films. Then we talked for awhile and went to bed. The next day we just sat around and had tea and talked. John played the unfinished tracks to Sgt. Pepper (it wasn’t out then) and that was so exciting to us. I’ll never forget the weekend, it was great just to relax and get to know such wonderful people. They mentioned to us they loved fresh grapefruit, but couldn’t get it in London; when we got home I went to Farmers’ Market and had a whole crate sent to them. I hope they liked it."

Phyllis Nesmith, 1967

Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Pattie Boyd Harrison, John, Michael and Phyllis Nesmith at Abbey Road Studios for the orchestra recording sessions for A Day in the Life on February 10, 1967.

In both Cynthia's books, she wrote that Phyllis seemed to live for Mike and would hover over her as she was cooking, saying, "Mike doesn't like it like that, he likes the way I do this," while taking over the cooking! It drove Cynthia nuts and had no idea how she managed not to thump Phyllis. In Mike's autobiography, Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff, he wrote:

"I don't know what part of the message worked, but he called a few hours after I sent it and invited me and Phyllis to stay with him and his wife, Cynthia, at his house. He sent his big black Rolls Royce to pick us up. ... John then asked if I wanted a drink, and without thinking I said I would love a glass of milk. There was a breath of a pause as he looked at Cynthia and said, 'Well, we're in for a good time, aren't we?' At first I was embarrassed, because I thought he thought I had refused to drink with him. Then I made the connection between the offer and the Safe As Milk LP he was holding and it dawned on me that he thought I had been cleverly iconic. I laughed and said, 'I'd loved a drink of something in a moment. I really would like a glass of milk now to settle my stomach from the ride out.' John smiled, and Cynthia got me a glass of milk. ... My times with John and Cynthia were pleasant nights out at clubs to watch someone perform, a good meal to talk things over, after-dinner drinks, and lying on the floor of cabs to get back to my hotel through the paparazzi."

Michael Nesmith, 2017

Mike and Phyllis were married in 1964 and had three children before divorcing by 1972. Phyllis died in 2010.

John, Anne Murray, Alice Cooper, and Micky Dolenz in Hollywood, 1974.

Fast forward several years later by 1974, this time with Micky, who was going through his own separation from his wife Samantha and became part of John's Lost Weekend (while separated from Yoko Ono and living with May Pang) gang with Harry Nilsson and  Ringo (divorcing Maureen). I must admit that I'm not entirely sure of Micky encountered Julian while he was visiting John and May, but there's a chance that they have. Many years later, Micky and Julian crossed paths quite a bit. 

Julian and Micky Dolenz at The Morrison Hotel Gallery opening at The Sunset Marquis in Hollywood, California on February 7, 2013. 

Micky Dolenz, Pattie Boyd, and Julian at her Newly Discovered Photo Exhibition at Morrison Hotel Gallery on June 28, 2013 in Hollywood, California.

Micky Dolenz and May Pang at Rockers On Broadway on November 11, 2013 at Poisson Rouge in New York City.

Cynthia and Peter Tork at her Lennon's restaurant in London, around 1988 

In November of 1967, Peter spent a few days in London with Davy Jones when they encountered Cynthia at a recording session in while George was recording the soundtrack of Wonderwall, which is very interesting to me that Cynthia came to visit on a Beatle (that's not her husband) on his solo project. I don't know the circumstances at all other than this was published in a teen magazine about the brief encounter: Peter ran into Davy Jones, among others; and then spent quite a while talking with Cynthia Lennon who had met at the recording session earlier. Cyn was dressed in a fabulous outfit of satin blouse, satin skirt and satin boots! Peter was really knocked out by Cynthia, whom he considers 'a lovely lady.'  

Cynthia and Peter crossed paths again at her Lennon's restaurant years later.

 

Sunset

From Julian's Instagram

Julian and Sean in Malibu after a day of driving through mountains to the sea on November 21, 2021 to spend time before Sean leaves California. 

Get Back

From Stella McCartney Instagram

From Julian's Instagram

From Julian's Instagram

Julian attended Stella McCartney's Get Back Capsule Fashion Collection and documentary release of Peter Jackson's Get Back at The Jim Henson Company on November 18, 2021 in Los Angeles with host Stella, Sean, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, and Olivia Harrison.