Saturday 28 June 2014

76. For Linda

As I said in my last post I wanted to consider the life and treatment in the media of Linda Eastman McCartney. Specifically I want to look both at the misogyny she had to deal with in life and her ‘canonisation’ since her tragically early death.

Linda Eastman was born the daughter of Lee Eastman (a highly successful lawyer) and Linda Sarah Eastman in September 1941. Her father had show business connections even then and got Jack Lawrence to write a song ‘Linda’ in her honour when she was one (this song was first recorded by Buddy Clark in 1947 but would later be recorded by Jan and Dean.

Johnathan Gould in his book ‘Can’t buy me love: the Beatles, Britain and America’ write about the many similarities in the early life stories of Linda Eastman and Yoko Ono. Both came from wealthy backgrounds. Both apparently had emotionally distant fathers and glamorous mothers who would die early in their daughter’s lives. Linda Sarah Eastman would die in a plane crash in March 1962. The effect on her daughter can be show that in June 1962 20 year old Linda would marry Joseph Melville See Jr. and give birth to their daughter Heather in December 1962. As would be expected, a marriage formed under such circumstances was not destined for success and the couple divorced in 1965.

Linda managed to develop her gift for photography and was eventually asked to be the house photographer at the Fillmore East. She combined this with freelance work such as talking the group portrait of the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Alice statute in Central Park which was supposed to be the cover of the‘Electric Ladyland’ album (Jimi Hendrix was apparently appalled by the cover photo full of naked women that was eventually used).This was just one of many commissions she received. As I said in the previous post she was the first female photographer to have a photo featured on the cover of ‘Rolling Stone’. It is important to realize that this was a period where rock photography was in its infancy and Linda was one of its pioneers. It is also important to recall she was doing this while raising her young daughter Heather as a single mother.

Linda’s wikipedia page refers to the fact she ‘supposedly became a popular groupie’ during this period of her life. I am not going to speculate but the double standard that applies to men and women in sexual morality seems to be coming into play here. Even if Linda did have an active sex life during this period, this does not mean she was a ‘groupie’ looking to service famous men.Why should it not be she was as in control and enjoying her sexuality in and of itself like her male colleagues?

I related in the last post how Linda and Paul met in May 1967. They would eventually become an established item in September 1968. Of course this was in large part that up to fact that up to July 1968 Paul was in a relationship with Jane Asher (that’s for another post!). Linda, like Yoko Ono, received hostility from Beatle fans initially.A brash Yank had taken the place of an English rose.It is interesting to read in Hunter Davies afterword to the most recent edition of his official biography. This reveals Davies’ initial reactions to meeting Linda . He received a phone call in late 1968 from Paul McCartney asking if he could visit Davies and his family in Portugal. Davies had not been in contact with the Beatles for some months after finishing his official biography. He was not aware that Paul and Jane Asher had split up but not surprised when Paul turned up with Linda and young Heather. He did not know how serious the relationship between Paul and Linda was as he had seen Paul have casual relationships with other women in spite of his relationship with Jane Asher.Davies apologies in the afterword for not realizing how serious were between Paul and Linda. He would not have been the only person though.

It is interesting that in ‘Let it be’, Linda’s visiting the studio with young Heather is not a cause of friction for the other Beatles (As I wrote in my other post, they were happy to have Linda take photos during the recording of ‘Abbey Road’). ‘The long and winding road’ was one very early song inspired by Paul and Linda’s relationship. It was inspired by the long drives they would take together.

Paul made a very revealing comment that he married Linda because where all the other women he had dated had been ‘girls’, Linda was a ‘woman’. (I really do have to feel sorry for Jane Asher).Obviously the fact she had dealt with losing her mother at a young age, as Paul had done, and had raised a small daughter while holding down a career was a large part of this.

It is as well to note that in early 1969 Paul decided that he wanted his business affairs handled by his father in Law Lee. This compounded tensions within the Beatles as John , George and Ringo decided they wanted their business affairs handled by Allen Klein. Paul acknowledges that the other three Beatles may have been right to take that fact that Lee Eastman as his father in law  may not have been entirely unbiased in how he may have treated the individual Beatles. However he did handle Paul's business affairs far better that Allen Klein handled John, George and Ringos!

It is often overlooked that Linda more or less put her own successful career as a photographer aside when she married Paul. The fact that this is seen as unremarkable is a sign of what we expect of women. She concentrated on raising Heather (who Paul would adopt) and her and Paul’s three children Mary, Stella, and James. Mary has become a respected photographer like Linda. I also feel that Linda must have been such a massive influence on Stella and helped give her the grounding that has helped her to achieve the extraordinary career she has had. It also needs to be pointed out that both Mary and Stella are mothers of four children each. No doubt Linda’s example of being a working mother would have been a great example to them.

Now-I want to put on record my perceptions of the way Linda was treated by the media during her lifetime.

I am putting a link to the below article because it is sadly a good example of the misogynistic way some continue to portray Linda even after her death. This article also sadly serves as a good example of a misogynistic portrayal of Linda as being a ‘gold-digger (Why I am not surprised it appeared in the Daily Mail/fail?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1303363/Paul-McCartneys-turbulent-love-life-Linda-snare-Beatle--matter-stood-way.html

Linda was pilloried initially for creating a line of vegetarian food. One example I recall Jonathan Meades sneering reaction to eating one of her lines of Veggie sausages on a programme he made attacking vegetarianism. The media took some glee in discovering meat protein had accidentally found its way in to a product shortly after Linda launched the line. I also recall a snide comment at the end of a 1995 article about Olivia that her work in Romania in 1995 as being better contribution to humanity that a veggie burger. These are just some examples I can think of. No doubt part of this hostility is due to hostility towards vegetarianism. However Linda made a major success of her food line, and Paul and Mary McCartney continue her work promoting vegetarianism.

But the main crime Linda ‘committed’ was her involvement with Paul’s music. I hold, like other, that both Linda and Yoko’s main crime was not replacing Jane and Cynthia as Paul and John’s partners but for replacing John and Paul in the studio/stage.

In all of this there is an underlying assumption that as a woman, Linda should have known her place and kept quiet.There is a line in Jimmy Guterman and Owen O’Dowell’s critique of Paul McCartney where as a postscript they ask the reader to note they have not criticized Linda or her musical skills (while directly doing so!) Even shortly after her death she was pilloried as Victor Lewis Smith used what was allegedly a recording of her singing on stage on his ‘TV offal’ programme. I will not repeat the deeply misogynistic joke about Linda which still gets told.

In spite of all this Paul made it clear that he and Linda were a team. He always involved her in his projects. I have massive respect for him for this. In the end people had to take Paul’s partnership with Linda seriously as it lasted so long.

In 1992, Linda decided to put out a book of her photographs from her period as a rock photographer called ‘Linda McCartney’s Sixties’. It was delightful to see Linda remind the world he had a successful career before she married Paul. There was a good BBC documentary about Linda that was broadcast at the time of the books release which focused on this period of her career. The McCartney family continue to make sure that Linda’s photographic career gets the attention it deserves.
Linda would take the official photographs of ‘The Threetles’ (Paul, George and Ringo) for the Anthology project.

Sadly, Linda was diagnosed with Breast cancer in 1995. The press was supportive of Linda but could not resist headlines speculating about her condition.It was not lost on the press that Paul had lost his mother to Breast Cancer. She died in April 1998 at the age of only 56. By all accounts, especially Linda and Paul’s son James, Paul was completely inconsolable after Linda’s death and it took at least two years before he felt ready to face the public again.  Paul would speak about going to counselling to deal with his grief. Paul, Ringo and George would sing together at Linda’s memorial service – a sign of how deeply both Ringo and George respected and cared about her.

As with many people who should have received the respect during their life time only receiving it when it is too late, Linda has been canonized.A dead woman poses less threat to the established order than a live one. Linda became the ‘good girl’ in opposition to Heather Mills’ ‘Bad girl’. More disturbingly she became the ‘good dead wife’ in opposition to Heather’s ‘bad living wife'. This has somewhat changed since Paul's marriage to Nancy Sherwell.

Interesting some people (I can think of Deborah Orr) criticized Paul for marrying only a few years after Linda’s death.Paul’s woes due to his divorce from Heather Mills may have some part in ‘redeeming’ him

Paul makes it clear that Linda was a major part of his life and composed the oratario 'Ecce Cor Meum' in her memory. It is clear that Linda was such a positive and loving influence in Paul's life and in the lives of her four children.

Thursday 5 June 2014

75: Linda Eastman McCartney, Beatles, Babies and visions of masculinity- or why is this image (in my opinion!) is so revolutionary

I plan to write a proper blog post with my thoughts about the way Linda Eastman McCartney has been treated by the media and public opinion.

However I wanted to discuss one of her most famous photographs as I think it is such an important and indeed unique photo. This is the photo of Paul cradling their daughter Mary that appeared on the back of his first solo album ‘McCartney’. This was the photo of Paul McCartney used on the back of his first solo album ‘McCartney’ which was issued in April 1970. It was in the press release for this album (which took the form of Paul interviewing himself) that Paul announced to the world The Beatles were no more.


Please note this is not my image- it is from the teenage headbag blog - felt however it was important to include a copy of this image in this blog post!
http://theteenagehead.com/blog/2012/08/4482/

This photo functions on two levels (at least!) On one level it is a respected rock photographer’s photo of one of the most famous musician of all time at a critical point of his career when he was launching his solo career after being in the most famous band of all time. On another level it is an intimate family snap by a woman of her husband and their baby. This double meaning is absolutely meant. It is important to remember the context in which this album was issued (mentioned above). The cover art was an overturned bowl of cherries (a comment on the end of the Beatles).

Paul McCartney is very media savy and aware of what image he wants to project. He was used to being portrayed with the other Beatles. In establishing his identity as a solo artist he wanted to make it clear that there was a new group that he owed his allegiance to- his wife and children. Even though Linda is not visually present in the photo, her presence is vital to understanding it. It is towards her that Paul is looking with such tenderness. The viewer would have been very aware of this. Paul knew that there was resentment towards Linda for a variety of reasons. His response was to make it very clear that he and Linda were a team , and that she was here to stay.

I have previously written about the misogyny that the Beatles partners have had to put up with. In particular both Linda Eastman and Yoko Ono both have had to put up with consid-erable attacks for their purported roles in undermining Paul and John’s relationship and sup-posedly contributing to the break-up of the Beatles. Both Paul and John responded by making it clear that Linda and Yoko were their partners, not just in life but in their art.
http://www.june42.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/53-wedding-bells-are-breaking-up-that.html

Linda Eastman was a pioneering rock photographer who was the first woman to have taken photograph used on the front of Rolling Stone in May 1968 (ironically enough this was of Eric Clapton). What is remarkable about this is she managed to establish this career as well as raising her young daughter Heather (from her first, brief marriage) as a single mother. It was in her role as a photographer that she first met Paul in May 1967. She would take photographs of the Beatles at the launch party for ‘Sgt. Peppers’ Lonely hearts club band’ (although they had met a few days before). After she married Paul in March 1969 she would go on to take some wonderful photographs of The Beatles in the studio recording ‘Abbey Road’. These are some of the best photographs of the Beatles in the studio because the band are all comfortable and relaxed with Linda’s presence, something that was not always the case with photogra-phers who came to visited them in the studio. Some of these photos are held at the National Portrait Gallery in London, showing their quality. Linda would also take the official photo-graphs of ‘The Threetles’ (Paul, George and Ringo) for the Anthology project in 1995. She would also take other photographs of Paul which were used for artwork on his records throughout their marriage.
Linda Eastman McCartney is not the only Beatle partner to issue photographs of their husbands, or indeed to take historically important photos. I have not got space here to consider Yoko Ono’s photos or artworks involving John Lennon. Pattie Boyd now exhibits as a photographer and has professionally reproduced some of the photographs she took of George during their marriage and after. Indeed it is Pattie who took the last known film footage of the Beatles in August 1969 which is used at the very end of the Anthology series. She also took the last known photograph of ‘The Threetles’ (Paul, Ringo and George) at Ringo’s 60th birthday party in July 2000 which appeared in her autobiography ‘Wonderful today’. Olivia Arias Harrison had several of her photographs of George reproduced in the ‘Living in the material world’ book. She also took the last publically available photograph of George which ap-peared in the sleeve-notes of Jules Holland’s album ‘Small world, big band’. However neither Pattie or Olivia are professional photographers (although Pattie now makes a healthy living from her photography) and their photos were not originally intended for public distribution. But as with Linda’s photo of Paul and Mary, these photos now are a tool by which both Pattie and Olivia place their relationship with George on the public record.
I also feel this is a very interesting image of fatherhood. Paul is shown being a ‘hands on’ father who is not afraid to be affectionate or behave in a manner which is perceived as maternal (i.e. cradling baby Mary close to his chest). He is clearly comfortable to be portrayed in such a manner. In an age where hyper masculinity was becoming almost mandatory for rock musicians (i.e. Led Zepplin, Rolling Stones), this image presents an image of a man as nurturing and caring towards both his wife and baby daughter. This image was the beginning of Paul’s reinvention of himself as a family man, putting his days in the ultimate ‘boy gang’ The Beatles’ behind him.
This photo and its message did not go unnoticed or uncommented on by the other ex-Beatles. Check out George’s parody…. (It is worth pointing out George and Pattie Boyd’s marriage was childless to both their dismay and so the issue of fatherhood may have been a bit of a sore point for George) http://thateventuality.tumblr.com/post/19283783517/oh-george

(thank you Andrea so much for pointing this out !)

To show how startling this image is it is worth comparing this photo to the other photos issued by the other Beatles when their children were born. Please note that I am only using official/semi-official photos that were issued for specific purposes here- as birth announc-ments/photo shoots/portraits. I do not count informal family photos or paparazzi photos as these are not used by the Beatles or their families for official purposes. Therefore while there are many photos of John and Julian and Sean as small children, these were not initially in-tended for public consumption.

Here are links to three photos issued by Ringo and his then wife Maureen on the birth of their three children- Zak born in 1965, Jason in 1967, and Lee in 1970. These are sweet but are fair-ly conventional, with traditional roles in place. Anyone who has read Hunter Davies offical biography knows that Ringo had the strongest attachment to traditional gender roles in family life. This was probably this was due to him wishing to be a better father figure for his children that his father had been to him (His father left Ringo and his mother Elsie when Ringo was three) http://maureenstarkey.tumblr.com/post/7897615966/maureen-ringo-and-zak-1965
http://maureenstarkey.tumblr.com/post/7896804857/maureen-ringo-and-jason
http://maureenstarkey.tumblr.com/post/7896894025/maureen-ringo-lee-jason-and-zak

Julian Lennon’s birth along with John’s marriage to Cynthia was of course initially concealed from the Beatles fans. However by 1965, when they were known to the public, there was at least one photoshoot with Robert Whitaker, who regularly photographed the Beatles during this period. Note that Cynthia holds a mop and is seated holding Julian and John plays the patriarch, standing over them both holding a hoe, either playing along with or gently satirizing (while not challenging) standard gender roles in the family.
http://johnlennonthighs.tumblr.com/image/12587389095
I have found this portrait of the Ono-Lennons by Bob Gruen shortly after Seans’s birth, which presents John in a very different manner. He is not the patriarch of Robert Whitaker’s photo but is happy to be a relaxed nurturing parent– almost maternal. https://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/photo/default.aspx?photographID=1797

It is also quite interesting to compare the portrait of Paul and baby Mary with the photo George and Olivia Harrison issued after Dhani Harrison’s birth. Notice that they are given equal importance- they will both be responsible for nurturing this child. Their matching perms act as a form of ‘mirroring’. In a reversal of standard gender roles, it is George who takes the usually female role of cradling the baby while Olivia takes the usually male role of supporting George. Unlike with the other photos I am discussing, George does not give us a conventional look of paternal pride but rather something tremulous and tender with the awareness that he wants to be a good parent with Olivia reassuring him that things will be fine.
http://not-now-john-lennon.tumblr.com/post/82471012591
However I feel this is not just a photo announcing Dhani’s birth. George and Olivia married shortly after Dhani’s birth (they had intended to marry sooner but George’s father Harold died shortly before the date they had originally intended). George and Olivia never issued a photo of their wedding, which they kept a private affair. In effect I feel this photo is George presenting both his wife and child to the world. However, the photo of George and baby Dhani at the control panel of the studio at Friar Park and the portrait from 1988 of George and Dhani by Terry O’Neill (third image down) which are what I would term classic ‘Lion and cub’ pose- George presents Dhani as his son and heir who will continue his work. Sadly, this proved prophetic as Dhani would have to complete George’s final album ‘Brainwashed’ and along with his mother Olivia administers George’s estate. http://economyclassbeatle.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/whatsoever-wednesday_22.html

To be fair to George, there are several photographs taken by him by Airport paparazzi where is he taking care of young Dhani. He was not ashamed to be seen ‘holding the baby!’

It is heartening to know that Mary McCartney, the baby in the photo, is now a successful photographer in her own right. She also keeps up her mother’s legacy in publicizing vegetarianism.

There is something of a sting in the tale of this photograph. For while Paul McCartney suc-cessfully continued and continues to balance his career with his role as a husband and father (and no grandfather), there was no such easy resolution for Linda Eastman McCartney. While this photograph marks a new beginning for Paul, it also marks a new beginning for Linda as the wife of a world famous man and the mother of his children, with the responsibilities and expectations this would bring from the public. This would not always be easy for Linda, and I hope to examine the ways she has been treated by public opinion in another blog post.