Toronto teen braved Lennon interview
As the world pauses this week to remember that night 25 years ago when John Lennon was gunned down outside his New York City apartment, Toronto lawyer Jerry Levitan has a fonder memory of the music legend.
Eleven years earlier, in 1969, Levitan was only 14, “ a total Beatle freak,” when he had a moment that recalls the Cameron Crowe movie Almost Famous.
Hearing news reports that Lennon and Yoko Ono were holed up at the city’s King Edward Hotel during their give- peace- a- chance tour — they were days away from their bed- in in Montreal — Levitan made a bold decision. He skipped school, “borrowed” his brother’s Super 8 movie camera and headed downtown. The plan was to find the Lennon hotel suite, pass himself off as press and secure an exclusive. He began on the hotel’s top floor and began to knock on every door. Walking down a hall he encountered Yoko’s little daughter on her stomach, drawing in a colouring book. His heart was thumping. A CBC camera crew knocked on the suite door and was promptly let in. So he knocked, too.
“ It opened up and I said ‘ Canadian news!’ It opened a bit more and I walked in. I sat down and looked up and John and Yoko are sitting six or seven feet away, in the middle of an interview.” Not sure what to do, Levitan then began to fumble with the Super 8, zooming in and out, not even sure there was any film loaded. ( There was.) When he asked for an interview, Lennon’s press agent Derek Taylor said to come back around 6 p. m.
Leaving the suite, Levitan was on Cloud 9. But then he realized he didn’t even own a tape recorder. So he called CHUM Radio, told them about his exclusive, and they agreed to send along someone to do the recording provided they could share the tape.
Sitting at John and Yoko’s feet, Levitan suddenly had a horrible realization. “ It dawned on me, I hadn’t planned one question. Talk about panic. Like, I’m about to meet God!” But he bravely soldiered on as an audio excerpt from that interview reveals:
Levitan: “ What can we as the youth of Toronto, what can we do to help you?”
Lennon: “ Help me by helping yourselves. Protest non- violently. Violence begets violence. If you run around wild you get smacked!” Asked what Lennon might think of today’s world at the age of 65, Levitan said he’d probably be the coolest senior citizen. “ He would not be a violent guy . . . he would be totally into trying to calm things down with a peace message.”