Unbootlegged John Lennon Imagine Perfomance? Any details?

[silver_2000]

Was on Beatles On Film website today, and noticed a section about John performing Imagine live in 1971. This was apparently captured on film but has been locked away ever since.

I copy'd and pasted the information about it

-
"John & Yoko were invited to the official luncheon for Sithu U Thant, the retiring secretary-general of the United Nations.
John was asked to perform and so borrowed a guitar and performed his song "Imagine".
Cameras from the local New York WCBS news were there and filmed the performance and managed a brief interview with John which was shown on that nights news broadcast.
Reuters were also on hand and filmed the occasion including a whole 2 seconds of John & Yoko at the luncheon (sadly they didn`t include any of John`s performance).
The WCBS footage is currently not available but does still exist in the WCBS archives."
-

Has it ever been leaked out to private collectors? or is it soley in the hands of the WCBS archives? I would imagine the old Lenono estate would want their hands on this, Lennon doing Imagine on a acoustic guitar for the U.N secretary-general, seems like great "marketing" for the man of peace John Lennon image, as well as just being a real cool performance.

If anybody has any more info on this clip, let me know!

[B-ED]

That is all the info i have on that one, still looking for it but might not have been filmed.

[silver_2000]

That is all the info i have on that one, still looking for it but might not have been filmed.

Thanks for the response sir.

[Hitachi]

Hi
Back in 2004 when I was doing research for a book I was planning to write about "The Solo Beatles on film" (it ended up being most of the website you quoted from) I had heard that John had been interviewed at the UThant party and it was rumoured John actually performed "Imagine". I found out that the journalist James C. Mitchell actually interviewed John for TV station WCBS and that it was reportedly broadcast during the WCBS nightly news that evening.
Anyway I somehow managed to track down Mr Mitchell and sent him off an email, however he did not actually say whether or not John's performance of "Imagine" was filmed (but surely it was) and until the actual b/c version turns up we won't know if any of the performance was broadcast but you would assume so.. probably only a few seconds if the news item was your typical 2-3 minute length during the nightly news but does the raw footage still exist in the archives I wonder?
This was Mr Mitchell's responses to my questions:


Occasion: Retirement Party for the Secretary General of The United Nations, UThant.
Location: Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York
Date: December 15, 1971

Mr Mitchell, could I indulge you with some questions I'd greatly appreciate you answering regarding the interview:

Does this date and location seem accurate?
I can't swear to the date. The UN may have a record. The luncheon was organized by Norman Cousins, I think, and included a roomful of New York
and diplomatic dignitaries.

Exactly where did the interview take place - at the Waldorf?
Yes. A hotel ballroom where the luncheon was held.

For what TV station/show where you working for?
WCBS-TV, New York City.

What TV station/TV Show was the interview broadcast on?
6 o'clock news. (6:00 p.m.)

When was it Broadcast. That same night?
Yes.

Was the Interview ever re-broadcast or published in a newspaper or magazine?
Not to my knowledge. Perhaps WCBS-TV used old footage when Lennon was murdered, but I don't know.

Did John perform "Imagine" at the actual party or privately for your interview?
It was at the luncheon. He stood at the podium/microphone used by the speakers, sang and played a guitar he had brought.

Is there any photos of John from this day that you are aware of?
There must have been. I don't personally have any, though.

Does this interview still exist and do you have a copy of it?
I don't know if it exists. I don't have a copy.

Good luck with your project.

JM
James C. Mitchell
author of LOVERS CROSSING
St. Martin's Minotaur Books
http://www.jamescmitchell.net

[silver_2000]

Hi
Back in 2004 when I was doing research for a book I was planning to write about "The Solo Beatles on film" (it ended up being most of the website you quoted from) I had heard that John had been interviewed at the UThant party and it was rumoured John actually performed "Imagine". I found out that the journalist James C. Mitchell actually interviewed John for TV station WCBS and that it was reportedly broadcast during the WCBS nightly news that evening.
Anyway I somehow managed to track down Mr Mitchell and sent him off an email, however he did not actually say whether or not John's performance of "Imagine" was filmed (but surely it was) and until the actual b/c version turns up we won't know if any of the performance was broadcast but you would assume so.. probably only a few seconds if the news item was your typical 2-3 minute length during the nightly news but does the raw footage still exist in the archives I wonder?
This was Mr Mitchell's responses to my questions:


Occasion: Retirement Party for the Secretary General of The United Nations, UThant.
Location: Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York
Date: December 15, 1971

Mr Mitchell, could I indulge you with some questions I'd greatly appreciate you answering regarding the interview:

Does this date and location seem accurate?
I can't swear to the date. The UN may have a record. The luncheon was organized by Norman Cousins, I think, and included a roomful of New York
and diplomatic dignitaries.

Exactly where did the interview take place - at the Waldorf?
Yes. A hotel ballroom where the luncheon was held.

For what TV station/show where you working for?
WCBS-TV, New York City.

What TV station/TV Show was the interview broadcast on?
6 o'clock news. (6:00 p.m.)

When was it Broadcast. That same night?
Yes.

Was the Interview ever re-broadcast or published in a newspaper or magazine?
Not to my knowledge. Perhaps WCBS-TV used old footage when Lennon was murdered, but I don't know.

Did John perform "Imagine" at the actual party or privately for your interview?
It was at the luncheon. He stood at the podium/microphone used by the speakers, sang and played a guitar he had brought.

Is there any photos of John from this day that you are aware of?
There must have been. I don't personally have any, though.

Does this interview still exist and do you have a copy of it?
I don't know if it exists. I don't have a copy.

Good luck with your project.

JM
James C. Mitchell
author of LOVERS CROSSING
St. Martin's Minotaur Books
http://www.jamescmitchell.net

Thanks for the response, you probably are the best person I can ask, do you know if "stand by me" was filmed for the Salute To Sir Lew Grade? Its one of Lennon's top 5 most popular solo songs so just weird that its stayed in acheives ever since.

This video someone sent me from youtube also got me thinking about Sir Lew,
-
according to the guy who uploaded it, he thinks they recorded a dress rehearsal, do you think that guess is correct?

Also you think its possible the 'master tapes' for this pefroamcne exists, there is a nice quality Imagine that the Lenono estate released, hoepfuly the full perfomance shows up in that quality one of these days.

And with that, I'll stop my questions, if you don't know the answers no pressure, I know they area rather geeky... just always have been fascinated by this last live appearance.

Thanks.

[naturalkatsup]

this feels like one of those films that'll have 10 seconds used for a news broadcast about it being "found", like totp 66

[Choking Smoker]

It's very interesting and I had never heard of this performance before. If it does still survive in the WCBS archives it'll more than likely just be the footage that was edited for that night's broadcast. I think it's unlikely that they would have archived all the raw footage unless they thought of it as something really important, I currently work in the press as a video editor and you get your raw footage, do a quick edit and then it's disposed of quickly afterwards. I guess it may have been different back then when it was all physical media but I somehow doubt that WCBS would have considered it that important at the time.

[Hitachi]

Thanks for the response, you probably are the best person I can ask, do you know if "stand by me" was filmed for the Salute To Sir Lew Grade? Its one of Lennon's top 5 most popular solo songs so just weird that its stayed in archives ever since.
This video someone sent me from youtube also got me thinking about Sir Lew,
according to the guy who uploaded it, he thinks they recorded a dress rehearsal, do you think that guess is correct?
Also you think its possible the 'master tapes' for this performance exists, there is a nice quality Imagine that the Lenono estate released, hopefuly the full performance shows up in that quality one of these days.
And with that, I'll stop my questions, if you don't know the answers no pressure, I know they area rather geeky... just always have been fascinated by this last live appearance.
Thanks.

From what I know "Stand By Me" was filmed as an audio tape of it is "out there" but so far no footage of the performance has emerged. The footage you linked to are from the one same performance just different camera edits. For some unknown reason the UK and US broadcasts of the TV special used totally different camera edits throughout and both broadcast copies are in the hands of collectors.

[AdamBound]

Thanks for the response, you probably are the best person I can ask, do you know if "stand by me" was filmed for the Salute To Sir Lew Grade? Its one of Lennon's top 5 most popular solo songs so just weird that its stayed in archives ever since.
This video someone sent me from youtube also got me thinking about Sir Lew,
according to the guy who uploaded it, he thinks they recorded a dress rehearsal, do you think that guess is correct?
Also you think its possible the 'master tapes' for this performance exists, there is a nice quality Imagine that the Lenono estate released, hopefuly the full performance shows up in that quality one of these days.
And with that, I'll stop my questions, if you don't know the answers no pressure, I know they area rather geeky... just always have been fascinated by this last live appearance.
Thanks.

From what I know "Stand By Me" was filmed as an audio tape of it is "out there" but so far no footage of the performance has emerged. The footage you linked to are from the one same performance just different camera edits. For some unknown reason the UK and US broadcasts of the TV special used totally different camera edits throughout and both broadcast copies are in the hands of collectors.

Take a look at 0:30 though, its the same moment in the song however John's movements do not match whatsoever, so I feel like maybe it could be footage of the dress rehearsal. Either that or maybe they attempted this song twice and we just don't have the documentation for it?

[Hitachi]

Thanks for the response, you probably are the best person I can ask, do you know if "stand by me" was filmed for the Salute To Sir Lew Grade? Its one of Lennon's top 5 most popular solo songs so just weird that its stayed in archives ever since.
This video someone sent me from youtube also got me thinking about Sir Lew,
according to the guy who uploaded it, he thinks they recorded a dress rehearsal, do you think that guess is correct?
Also you think its possible the 'master tapes' for this performance exists, there is a nice quality Imagine that the Lenono estate released, hopefuly the full performance shows up in that quality one of these days.
And with that, I'll stop my questions, if you don't know the answers no pressure, I know they area rather geeky... just always have been fascinated by this last live appearance.
Thanks.

From what I know "Stand By Me" was filmed as an audio tape of it is "out there" but so far no footage of the performance has emerged. The footage you linked to are from the one same performance just different camera edits. For some unknown reason the UK and US broadcasts of the TV special used totally different camera edits throughout and both broadcast copies are in the hands of collectors.

Take a look at 0:30 though, its the same moment in the song however John's movements do not match whatsoever, so I feel like maybe it could be footage of the dress rehearsal. Either that or maybe they attempted this song twice and we just don't have the documentation for it?

Wow you could be right. I reckon they must have filmed it twice and made edits from both takes. Very interesting. Maybe one for the UK and one for the US? Assuming the split screens sources are the UK/US variations.