May Pang has always carried a camera on her and this day was no different.
She was sitting inside the Regency Hotel in New York City in 1970 when her boss and soon-to-be boyfriend noticed she was aiming her lens his way.
“He just turned to me and smiled. And he’s holding his Dr Pepper,” Pang recalled in a recent interview with Newsday.
It was the first photo she ever took of The Beatles’ John Lennon, but not the last.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUNDPhotos taken of May Pang during her relationship with John Lennon will be displayed in Sag Harbor at Keyes Art from Friday to Sunday. Pang will attend the exhibition.The 18-month-long period dubbed “The Lost Weekend” occurred when Lennon and Yoko Ono were separated from early 1973 to late 1975.Lennon produced the albums “Mind Games,” “Walls and Bridges,” and “Rock ‘N’ Roll” during the period, and it was a time when he reconnected with significant figures in his life, including his son, Julian.
May Pang with John Lennon in New York City in November 1974. Credit: Getty Images/Keystone
Pang, who worked as Lennon’s personal assistant and was later promoted to production coordinator, had been encouraged by his estranged wife Yoko Ono to pursue a relationship with him.
When Lennon decided to take a trip to Los Angeles, he invited Pang to join him. That was the beginning of what would become an infamous 18-month-long period dubbed “The Lost Weekend,” when Lennon and Ono were separated from early 1973 to late 1975.
It is also considered Lennon’s most artistically and commercially productive period, producing the albums “Mind Games” (1973), “Walls and Bridges” (1974), and “Rock ‘N’ Roll” (1975), and it was a time when Lennon reconnected with significant figures in his life, including his son, Julian.
These were moments all captured by Pang’s camera, but for years, they remained out of the public eye.
Many of these images will be on display in Sag Harbor at Keyes Art from Friday to Sunday during “The Lost Weekend: The Photography of May Pang” exhibition, during which attendees can purchase photos and meet Pang.
John Lennon in a photo taken by May Pang titled “Social Commentary, NYC 1974.” Credit: May Pang
“John Lennon was this guy who happened to be famous, but who was my very first deep relationship that I had, and he was the first guy I ever lived with,” Pang said.
Her business partner, Scott Segelbaum, had been encouraging her for years to share the images from her private collection, but she “didn’t think people would be interested,” Pang said.
It wasn’t until after she made the documentary, “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story,” which was released in 2022, that Pang said it felt like the right time to share the photos with the world.
Pang has been on the road for two years with her exhibit, which showcases candid photos taken during their relationship. Through them, fans can see a different side of Lennon.
Ted Spero, from the O Museum in Washington D.C., which displayed Pang’s photos in June, described the exhibition as “really intimate, personal photos where you see John as … who he really was.”
“Father & Son, Long Island Sound, NY 1974,” a photo by May Pang of John Lennon and his son Julian. Credit: May Pang
Pang has a hard time picking which photo is her personal favorite, but loves the ones titled “Dream Dream Away, Long Island Sound, NY 1974,” and “Here Comes The Sun, Long Island Sound, NY 1974,” where he’s seen swimming in the Long Island Sound. Pang points out that if you look close enough, you can see droplets on his nose in the latter photo.
“He loved it, and it was peaceful for him,” Pang said. “He just loved that water.”
One of the photos in the exhibition includes “chopsticks?, Santa Monica, CA March 1974,” in which Lennon and Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr are seated in front of a beige piano at the Santa Monica Beach House. Starr, in a bright orange shirt, looks over at Lennon, in a bright green shirt, as he smiles down at the instrument. The camera’s flash casts a spotlight on their faces.
In the black-and-white photo “If You Only Knew, Disney World, FL, December 1974,” Lennon is looking away, “lost in thought,” wearing a cap, with his curly hair grazing his left shoulder, and a pair of sunglasses concealing his face. His right hand holds a cigarette close to his mouth.
John Lennon is deep in thought in this photo taken by May Pang called, “If You Only Knew, Disney World, FL, December 1974.” Credit: May Pang
The photograph was taken while on vacation with Lennon’s son at Walt Disney World. It was during their Disney vacation that Lennon would sign the legal documents to dissolve The Beatles.
Jan Reiss-Weitzman, of Artforms Gallery in Albany, which hosted the exhibition last June, said it attracted people from as far as Syracuse and the Adirondacks.
The photos “crossed so many demographics,” she said. “It was stunning in the breadth of the kind of clients that came in.”
Pang believes Lennon would be happy to see these photos shared, that the exhibit “shows another side to where he’s smiling. He’s in a different mood.”