20

Interview discussing Paul, Linda, Yoko, Brian Epstein and Allen Klein

John Lennon

Typescript Signed, with numerous holograph corrections,

transcription of Robert Schonfeld and Peter McCabe's interview with Lennon and Ono from August 31, 1971, which appeared in the September 1984 issue of Penthouse magazine and which provided source material for Schonfeld and McCabe's books, Apple to the Core (1972) and John Lennon: For the Record (1984). The corrections, in black ink from felt-tip pen, approximately 30 words, plus editorial marks, plus a 7-line Autograph Note on terminal page: "[I] think it important to / tell about my statement / that 'we were going broke' / to the [E]nglish music papers / which gave the red [green?] light to / [Beatles manager from 1969] Allen Klein to move in! / [D]on't you [think so, too]?" Signed after the typed text on recto of terminal leaf, where a holograph comment refers to a circled passage about Linda McCartney: "[F]or [C]hrist['s] sake don't use this!" 8½ pages, 4to, bound together with staple at upper left, written on rectos except note on verso of terminal leaf; faint staining affecting note on terminal page, underlining and some marginal notations in editor's hand.

[New York], 31 August 1971.

  • Notes: ". . . Paul always wanted the home l[i]fe you see. He liked it with Daddy and the brother and he missed his mother. He wouldn't go against his dad and wear drainpipes [tight-fitting trousers]. And his dad was always trying to get me out of the group behind me back, I found out later. He'd be saying to George, 'why don't you get rid of John, he's just a lot of trouble.' Y'know, cut your hair nice and wear baggy trousers. I was the bad influence because I was the eldest and so I had all the gear first usually. I was always saying, 'face up to him y'know, tell him to fuck off--He can't hit you . . . .' . . . I was always brought up by a woman. Maybe it was different y'know, but I wouldn't let the old man treat me like that. . . . His Dad told him to get a job, he fuckin' dropped the group and started workin' on the fuckin' lorries, sayin' 'I need a steady career,' y'know we couldn't believe it . . . . I told him on the phone either come or you're out, so he had to make a decision between his dad and me . . . . [H]e chose me in the end, but it was a long trip . . . ."

    Provenance: From the private files of Robert Schonfeld.
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November 6, 2025 12:00 PM EST
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