Paul McCartney flies to New York to promote Apple

On June 20, 1968, Paul McCartney travelled to the USA for Apple’s promotional activities. His mission was to attend the Capitol Convention in Los Angeles and present The Beatles’ vision for their new label, Apple, to the Capitol Records executives. A promotional film, directed by Apple’s Tony Bramwell and shot on June 11, 1968, in the EMI Studios at Abbey Road, was prepared for the occasion.

Accompanying Paul on this journey were Tony Bramwell, Ron Kass, the head of Apple Records, and Ivan Vaughan, the childhood friend who introduced him to John Lennon on July 6, 1957.

With no direct flight from London to Los Angeles available, they stopped in New York. Upon arrival, Paul attempted to contact Linda Eastman, whom he had last met in May 1968 during a promotional trip to New York with John Lennon, and who would become his wife in March 1969.

Actress Peggy Lipton, who had a short-lived romance with Paul in August 1964, recounts in her autobiography that Paul also called her upon landing in New York, inviting her to meet him in Los Angeles. 

The next day, they continued on to Los Angeles, where Linda would meet up with Paul a couple of days later.

During this American trip, the other Beatles continued the recording of the new album, focusing their efforts on the songs “Revolution 1” and “Revolution 9“. On June 26, Paul would be back in the studio, recording “Sour Milk Sea” for Apple-signed artist Jackie Lomax.

We literally rushed to the airport to get flights and, since we couldn’t get a direct flight to LA, had to make a stopover in New York. The first thing Paul did on arrival at Kennedy on June 20, 1968, was to dig out that check with Linda’s number on it that, tellingly, he had carefully kept in his wallet, and telephoned her. She was out, so he got her answering service.

‘Hey, I’m in America!’ he said. ‘Come and hang out for a couple of days. I’m staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel.’ He seemed disappointed that she hadn’t been in to answer the telephone herself.

Tony Bramwell – From “Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles“, 2005

It was at the Apple press conference [in May 1968] that my relationship with Paul was rekindled. I managed to slip him my phone number. […] The next time I heard from Paul was the following month when he left a message with my answering service saying that he was on his way to LA to do some Apple business and attend the Capitol Records Convention with his school friend Ivan Vaughan, and he wanted me to join him. I had just got back from taking pictures of Jimi Hendrix at the Drake Hotel when I picked up the message, and I later spoke to Paul and arranged to meet at the Beverly Hills Hotel where he was staying.

Linda McCartney – from “Linda McCartney’s Sixties“, 1992

I wish I could say Paul McCartney never crossed my mind. But two years after the last (and I thought final) fling with him, he returned to Los Angeles for a short holiday. My god. I thought. Not again. I’d been through so much crazy pain, and was finally over it — or so I thought. Still, an alcoholic goes back for just one more drink thinking, “Come on, I can handle it.“

He called me at work. “Hi,” he said. “It’s Paul. I’m in New York.” “Oh, hi.” “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Oh, really?’’ was all I could say. What I thought was: Looking for me, like, how? Every two years for a few minutes? “I’m coming out to California and want to know if I can see you.”

I was able to spit our a few words, and for once they were the right ones, even though I was being hypocritical by still being with Lou. I just couldn’t help myself. ”I can’t see you if you’re seeing other girls. I just can’t do it.” 

”There’s no one else, luv. The only person who’s around is a photographer who’s traveling with us. I think she likes me, but other than that, there’s no one, honest.” Maybe I should have wondered about that long explanation. “Okay,” I said, “but don’t bother calling me unless you’re really free.” With that said, I felt that I had at least put some limits on my obsession with him. I was wrong.

“Peggy, can you come over to the Beverly Hills Hotel?” he asked. “I really need to see you.” He then proceeded to fall asleep while talking to me on the phone. Then he woke up, talked a bit more… and fell asleep again. Did this stop me from wanting to see him again? Wanting to feel his kisses and burn in the very hot unpredictable cauldron of love? Absolutely not.

“Please, please come over,” Paul said, in one of his waking moments. Well, what else could I do? I went. I actually snuck out of Lou’s house and jumped into my little red Porsche convertible, hair flying in the night air, and whizzed over to the Beverly Hills Hotel. I’d been living with this man for a year. It didn’t matter now. I had to see Paul. […]

Peggy Lipton – From “Breathing Out: A Memoir” by Peggy Lipton, David Dalton, Coco Dalton, 2005

WITH PAUL TO HOLLYWOOD (by Tony Bramwell)

PAUL was due to fly from London Airport to Los Angeles at two o’clock on Thursday afternoon, June 20. At one o’clock he invited me to go with him which meant delaying our flight until later in the day. We caught a 6 p.m. plane, got to New York seven hours later, switched flights and arrived in Los Angeles in the middle of the night. Third member of the party was Paul’s old friend Ivan Vaughan, the guy who introduced him to John something like 12 years ago in Liverpool.

We went straight to the Beverly Hills Hotel where we shared a vast 3-bed-roomed bungalow—one of a dozen dotted around the grounds of the hotel in amongst the palm trees and other luxuriant Californian greenery. […]

Tony Bramwell – From the Beatles Monthly Book, N°61, August 1968

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