By Myrna Petlicki
May Pang had been an administrative assistant to former Beatle John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono for three years when Ono made a startling request. She asked Pang to date her husband.
Pang acquiesced, becoming Lennon’s lover, living and traveling with him from late 1973 through 1975. That 18-month period became known as the “Lost Weekend.”
Pang will be showing and selling candid photographs of Lennon that she took during the time they were lovers at Art Post Gallery, 984 G Willow Rd. (Willow and Waukegan), Northbrook. “The Lost Weekend — The Photography of May Pang” will be on exhibit from 4 to 8 p.m. June 16; 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 17; and 1 to 4 p.m. June 18. Pang will be there to greet visitors each day.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Pang described her reaction to Ono’s strange proposal.
“I was in shock. That came out of left field,” said Pang, who lives in the Queens borough of New York City. “She said that she thought that I was a good person; that I would be kind to John.”
Pang said she realized that the couple were having problems. “Anybody who was working in the house could feel it,” she said.
The 18 months they were together were packed with activities, Pang indicated. “We did a lot of music,” she recalled. “That was one of the big things we had in common.”
Lennon’s time with Pang is considered his most artistically and commercially productive period after the Beatles split. He recorded the albums “Mind Games” and “Walls and Bridges,” and collaborated with a number of rock legends.
More Top Picks Best Accent Chairs For Back Support
Pang encouraged Lennon to reconnect with people to whom he had been out of touch.
“We saw a lot of his friends again we hadn’t seen, which included Paul and George and Ringo,” she said of the other three Beatles. He also saw performer friends including Mick Jagger, Keith Moon and Harry Nilsson, and made some new ones, including Elton John and David Bowie.
Pang also reconnected Lennon with his son, Julian, who he hadn’t spoken to in three years. Julian spent holidays with them. Pang also encouraged Lennon to speak with his ex-wife Cynthia to give her closure.
– Original Credit:
Pang introduced Lennon to some sights he hadn’t seen during his years in this country. That included taking him on a bus ride around Manhattan. “It got crowded and people started to notice it was really him, and then we got off,” Pang recalled.
Throughout their time together, Lennon and Ono remained in contact.
“She called all the time,” Pang said.
Then one day Ono told him that she could help him quit smoking, Pang said. He went to her house for a session with the person who was going to help him — and didn’t come home that night. Eventually, Ono convinced him that he should live with her at the Dakota because it would help his immigration status, Pang said.
“We were about to buy a house,” Pang said. “We were about to go down to New Orleans to visit Paul (McCartney) and Linda, while they were doing the new album.” Lennon was considering writing with McCartney at the time, Pang said.
Many people don’t realize that she continued to see Lennon after their “split,” until his death, Pang said.
A documentary on Pang and Lennon, “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story” premiered in theaters in April. Pang also wrote three books about her time with Lennon, “Loving John,” “John Lennon — The Lost Weekend,” and “Instamatic Karma.”
As far as the Northbrook exhibit, Pang said, “There’s a story behind each photograph.”
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.