Paul McCartney invites Linda Eastman to London

Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman first met in May 1967 in London, spent additional time together when Paul and John visited New York in May 1968 for Apple’s promotion, and their romance blossomed in June 1968 during Paul’s promotional trip to Los Angeles for Apple.

In mid-August 1968, Paul invited Linda to visit him in London. Around that time, he ended his brief relationship with Francie Schwartz, an American scriptwriter, which had lasted a couple of months.

Before departing, Linda needed to organize her affairs, particularly ensuring that Heather, her daughter from a previous marriage, was settled into her first school, as she planned to leave her in New York while travelling to London.

Linda eventually arrived in London between September 23 and 25, 1968. Meanwhile, Paul took a holiday with another woman, Maggie McGivern. On September 29, a press article announced that Maggie was Paul’s new girlfriend.

Before leaving for Los Angeles in August 1968 to work on a major photo shoot for Mademoiselle magazine, probably the most lucrative assignment she’d ever had, Linda had a phone call from Paul inviting her to stay with him in London. The excellent biography of Paul by Barry Miles, Many Years from Now, quotes Linda as saying the call came in late September, but it was in August. […]

Linda and I had dinner at a nice, long-since-gone restaurant on Sunset Boulevard one night, after she’d spent a memorable afternoon photographing Aretha Franklin in a little park in Beverly Hills. […] After recounting the Aretha session while we dawdled over drinks, Linda became silent, nervous, and fidgety. She looked down at the table, and then right into my eyes.

“Paul asked me to come to London,” she announced.

I said, “Great!“

“But do you think he says that to lots of girls so that he’s never without one? He didn’t say anything specific, just to come over and call him when I get there. What if he wasn’t serious?“

“How can you take a chance that he’s not serious? You love him. What can you lose? At the worst, you’ll find out you’re one of many — which I don’t think, because no one is that callous — it’ll cost you a plane ticket, and you’ll get enough pictures while you’re there to pay for the trip. On the other hand, if he’s serious, Linda… well, if he’s serious you’d better find out. Just go.” It was one of my finer lectures.

“Hmm…” she replied. “Maybe I should go.” As if she really needed convincing.

Danny Fields – From “Linda McCartney – A Portrait” by Danny Fields, 2000

Then in September 1968 [sic – mid August according to Danny Fields] Paul rang me out of the blue and asked me if I fancied coming over to England. He said The Beatles were recording an album and that I should just show up. I was still carefully preserving my independence so I waited a while and then bought my own ticket and boarded a plane for London. I just wanted to see what would happen.

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

And then I got a phone call: ‘Why don’t you come over?’ It was September. I remember Heather was just going to start Dalton and my parents were so furious with me. She got into Dalton. It would have been great. It was really good for Heather; I wish she had had that kind of life, instead of this crazy life. Dalton and then do well at school, go to university, whatever. But I had no feeling of responsibility […]

Linda McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

The only time he ever mentioned Linda, the girl he later married, was during a discussion of how hard it is for “people” to make contact with each other. He said he had “made contact” with her right after he met me.

“So why isn’t she here when you’re so fucked up? Why don’t you send for her?”

“I want to try it with you,” he said, a little wistfully, knowing he had not given me the evenest of breaks.

Francie Schwartz – From “Body Count“, 1972

In the late summer of 1968, Paul McCartney extended an invitation to singer and model Nico for a brief stay at his Cavendish Avenue home in London. As Linda’s visit approached and Nico’s stay unexpectedly prolonged, Paul sought assistance from Paul Morrissey, Nico’s manager whom he had met in 1967 alongside Andy Warhol, to persuade Nico to leave his residence.

I didn’t know what [Paul] wanted, until he said it was about Nico. I knew she was in London, but not until that moment did I have any idea that she was staying at Paul McCartney’s house. So I went over there, and he showed me the house, and then he said, ‘You know I have Nico here, I invited her to stay here about two weeks ago; she had no money and I just thought it was for a few days, and she had nowhere else to go. I like her and she’s very nice, but I have to ask her to leave and I don’t know how to do this, and I thought since you’re here, and you’re her manager, maybe you could do that.’

Paul Morrissey – From “Linda McCartney – A Portrait” by Danny Fields, 2000

Paul was very polite, and I said, “Oh yeah, sure,” because I knew Nico could be something of a burden, and then he told me that a journalist was coming over from New York to interview him and he didn’t have any extra bedrooms. So I asked him who the journalist was, because maybe I knew who it was, and he answered, “Oh, do you know Linda Eastman?” and I said that I knew her very well and, “Yes, she’s great.” I was supposed to understand that Linda was coming to do some in-depth story and needed to be there for a few days. And it made sense to me that he was giving this girl a place to stay, like he did for Nico, and I just thought it was a nice thing for him to do. I knew that there was nothing romantic between him and Nico, or she would have told me before this, or would have made some reference to it. She would have called me from anywhere in the world if that had been what was happening. But later, when Linda and Paul got married, I tried to think of that time he mentioned that a “journalist” was coming, and I said to myself, “Oh, he did have this glint in his eye when he told me who it was.”

Paul Morrissey – From “Linda McCartney – A Portrait” by Danny Fields, 2000

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