MY ANGEL, LENNON, McCARTNEY AND THE 60’ MUSIC

 

 

 

 

 

MY ANGEL, LENNON, McCARTNEY  AND THE 60’ MUSIC                 The Last Photos of John Lennon and Yoko Ono reveal couple's 'unclouded happiness' in the months before deranged gunman tragically ended ex-Beatle's life Before John was murdered in 1980, his days with Yoko were captured on camera by noted photographer Kishin Shinoyama John had been obsessed with alcohol, women and drugs, John told the photographer, until Yoko came into into his life The couple worked tirelessly on Double Fantasy - John's last album 'Coming to New York gave him freedom. I think this was the moment when he took off his armor,' writes Yoko,  in what proved to be tragic irony In the months before John Lennon was tragically gunned down outside The Dakota in New York City on December 8, 1980, by deranged killer Mark David Chapman, life for the ex Beatle and his bride Yoko Ono was full of 'unclouded happiness'. And those moments, during the creation of what would be their last album together, are captured in the collection of photographs of the couple, published for the first time in the book, Double Fantasy. The photographs were taken by Kishin Shinoyama, who has now written about them in a book by him and Yoko Ono, published by Taschen Books in multiple international editions. The touching and beautiful collection of never-before-seen photographs were shot while they were making their last album together: the Double Fantasy Album. Scroll down for video +11 Woman: John confided to the photographer who shot these pictures that he had been obsessed with alcohol, women and drugs until Yoko came into into his life +11 Double Fantasy, which won the Grammy award for album of the year, was a love story in song +11 Cozy: John and Yoko schmooze in the outdoor patio of a Manhattan restaurant. +11 'John couldn't go out anywhere while he was in the UK because of his fame,' writes Yoko. 'Coming to New York gave him freedom. I think this was the moment when he took off his armor.' Ironically, John was killed in front of the New York City apartments building behind the couple, where they lived +11 John and Yoko leave their apartment at The Dakota and head to Central Park across the street The Beatles had broken up a decade before. John had embraced a new life he described as 'househusband' and he was now focused on creative, political and musical projects. The couple had made international news in 1969 with their Vietnam War protest, the Bed-In in Amsterdam and Montreal. The Double Fantasy album was going to be John's comeback at age forty, reflecting his personal growth in music and self that he attributed to Yoko, now 82, the first woman who told him that his previous lifestyle of wantonly pursuing women, alcohol and drugs was meaningless. Paul McCartney and John had finally resolved a bitter rift that dissolved when both men bonded over fatherhood and baking bread. They were once again 'good friends', McCartney told Jonathan Ross on his show last December. McCartney was one of three people that Yoko called when she returned home from the hospital that fateful night to say that John had not survived the five hollow-point bullets Mark David Chapman fired at the singer just outside their apartment at The Dakota, across the street from Central Park. 'It was just so horrific that you couldn't take it in – I couldn't take it in', McCartney said. 'Just for days, you just couldn't think that he was gone. It was just a huge shock and then I had to tell Linda and the kids. It was very difficult for everyone. That was like a really big shock, I think, in most people's lives. A bit like Kennedy there were certain moments like that.' Shinoyama: Photographing John Lennon and Yoko Ono +11 Beautiful boy: John relaxing with son Sean Lennon at their Dakota apartment +11 Hanging out: The couple, in the New York living room, loved living in the city +11 At work: The couple worked intensely for over a month, recording 28 songs  - 14 of John's and 14 of Yoko's +11 The concept of Double Fantasy was a back-and-forth dialogue, a kind of musical conversation between them George Harrison was deeply shocked by his bandmate's murder but had had little contact with him in the years prior to the murder. Broken up emotionally, Ringo Starr and his wife, Barbara Bach, immediately flew to New York to offer comfort to Yoko. 'They were two people in one,' Ringo said. Lennon was the unofficial leader of the Beatles, 'the cheeky wit and sardonic soul of the Beatles', Newsweek wrote in 2014. His death was the end of an era. Yoko remembers the last time the couple went into the studio together in 1978, the Hit Factory in New York. Yoko introduces the collection of photos in the book. 'When John and I decided to make the album Double Fantasy, breaking a five-year silence, we wondered whom we should ask to take the photographs. As the two of us thought about it, suddenly the face of Kishin Shinoyama came to mind. 'I said, "For once, I'd really like to have a Japanese photographer." John quickly agreed, saying, "Right, that sounds good." I never expected that "for once" would turn out to be the last album John and I made together, and that "for once" would live on forever'. Kishin Shinoyama remembers that last recording session: 'I checked in at the Hotel Lexington, and by early afternoon I was down the street at the door of The Hit Factory on West 48th Street, the recording studio where John and Yoko were working on the final parts of the record, inserting choruses and other additional layers of sounds. 'The two had been working intensely for over a month, recording 28 songs — 14 of John's and 14 of Yoko's. The concept of Double Fantasy was a back-and-forth dialogue, a kind of musical conversation between them. 'As I entered the studio, the atmosphere was of creativity and concentration. Yoko greeted me and immediatelyintroduced me to John. He was slim and dressed all in black. His demeanor was very sweet, gentle . . . almost tender. He welcomed me warmly and then returned his attention to four backup singers, directing them as they laid down the chorus to a song he had written called "Woman". John Lennon and Yoko Ono promote peace in 1969 with bed-in +11 Chill: John was trying to clear away those feelings - of fame, of the past - in order to become a new person, says the photographer +11 'Throughout the sessions, I noticed that John always spoke with the staff and the studio musicians in a quiet, clear manner, remaining calm and focused, despite the seemingly endless days and nights of work. Overall, there was a feeling of both relief and exhaustion in the air, a sense that this important and cathartic project was finally nearing completion'. While dining later at Mr Chow's, Kishin learned that he and John were both 40 years old.John revealed 'he was at a turning point, that he wanted to forget everything that had come before and start again', Kishin writes.'He was trying to clear away those feelings — of fame, of the past — in order to become a new person. 'He explained to me that without Yoko, he wouldn't be there now -  that the first part of his life he had been obsessed with alcohol and women and drugs, and that Yoko had been the first woman to tell him that what he was obsessed with was meaningless. Day trippers: Sir Paul McCartney and wife Nancy Shevell turn heads as they casually stroll through New York...after surprise gig in Times Square He had just performed a surprise gig which caused havoc in Times Square, but legendary musician Sir Paul McCartney had no delusions of grandeur in New York City. After thousands of fans watched him deliver an unprecedented live set in the heart of the city, the 71 year-old singer simply strolled back to his hotel. Arm-in-arm with his wife Nancy Shevell, the former Beatle turned heads as he walked across Fifth Avenue. Love me do: Paul McCartney walks arm in arm with wife Nancy Shevell after performing a surprise concert in Times Square Arm in arm: The happy couple looked happy and well-matched as they navigated New York City The happy couple, who celebrated their second wedding anniversary yesterday, looked very much in love as they laughed and joked - seemingly oblivious to the fuss they were creating. Sir Paul wore black jeans with a retro-inspired black and white shirt, topped with a black Puffa jacket. His hair, a very consistent block shade of brown, looked casually disheveled. Meanwhile, Nancy kept her cool in a simple ensemble which consisted of a silver top and black cardigan with skinny jeans. She accessorised with a long beaded necklace. Celebrations: The two celebrated their second wedding anniversary on Thursday Black and white: The pair looked almost in sync as they wore similar shades of clothing The ordinary scene was a stark contrast to just moments earlier when Paul delivered a rousing, unexpected four-song set to shocked onlookers in Times Square. The Twitter-announced concert, which was designed to publicise his latest album New, saw modern New York experience the crazy days of Beatlemania. Crowds bayed for a sight of the suited former Beatle - and when he appeared the screaming was pitched to the heights of the Swinging Sixties. They'd wait in line for Eight Days a Week! Paul McCartney and his band give a surprise pop up concert in Times Square on Thursday to the delight of hundreds of fans Clearly, Sir Paul's popularity has not waned in the city that never sleeps as scenes were reminiscent of the Beatles' now iconic arrival at Kennedy Airport in 1964. Fans of all ages - and not just Baby Boomers - were quick to react after Macca Tweeted: 'Wow! Really excited to be playing New York Times Square at 1pm this afternoon'. Here, There and Everywhere: McCartney's been cheerfully promoting his album all over the world, including at a 15 set historic gig on Hollywood Boulevard last month Love Me Do: Paul tweeted about the concert just minutes before to let his fans know, but they all clamoured to see him Magical Mystery Tour: The piano's colours hark back to the 1967 album and film Come Together: Concert goers got a treat of a lifetime as they got to be part of an historic concert I Feel Fine: Paul pumped up the crowd with by singing a few tunes from his new album At 1pm, as promised, McCartney and his band casually pulled up in yellow cabs in a moment that could only have been more exciting for Beatles fans had it been newspaper taxis appearing at the shore. He emerged to huge cheers and climbed up onto the truck which was transformed into a small stage replete with what his band refer to as 'the magic piano' as it's painted in the psychedelic colours of 1967's Magical Mystery Tour. 'OK, we're just going to do a few songs from my new album,' McCartney, who played Hollywood Boulevard last month, announced. Beaming despite the grey day, Sir Paul rocked through title track New, then rattled through the catchy Save Us. A Little Help from his Friends: McCartney always likes to get his fans involved in the gig 'We're basically busking,' McCartney quipped, 'I'll be putting a hat out there later.' Paul's wife Nacy Shevell could be spotted dancing to future sing-a-long Everybody Out There but it was soon time to go. McCartney rounded off the set with Queenie Eye. The concert came one day following another surprise concert for 500 high school students in Queens. Band on the Run: Paul's lucky crew are having a whale of a time touring with the legend A Day in the Life: It's an epic mini tour to promote the album but Sir Paul loves to tour 'This beats going to class,' McCartney told excited students at the performance according to ABC, who weren't born at the height of his fame.       . Cynthia, the secret wife John Lennon treated so very cruelly dies, aged 75: How the Beatles star's wife watched from the sidelines in silence as her husband was adored by millions Cynthia Lennon, the first wife of John Lennon, died yesterday aged 75 in Majorca following a battle with cancer They’d met at Liverpool Art College in their first term, when she, from Hoylake, was 18 and John, from the Wirral, 17 But, after the pair married, she was forced to live in silence through Beatlemania and had to deny being his wife When the secret was out, she lived as a housewife in their Surrey home as the drugs began destroying her husband After several affairs, he finally cheated on her with Yoko, prompting a swift divorce in which she received £100,000 The musician later denied ever being in love with Cynthia - despite his love letters telling the exact opposite story You will go a long way before you meet anyone who knew her who won’t have a kind word to say about Cynthia Lennon, the first wife of John Lennon, who died, aged 75, in Majorca yesterday. Because she was just a very, very nice person who, as a teenager, fell in love with a mercurial, talented boy, despite the fact that few thought he would ever go anywhere in life. A pretty girl who then watched from the sidelines as the boy some thought was a layabout became one of the most famous and artistically celebrated young men in the world. Scroll down for video +11 The bad boy and the nice girl: Cynthia Lennon and John Lennon, who met at Liverpool Art College as teenagers, pictured in 1960   Domestic bliss: The couple on holiday in Dorset on one of their days out (left) and at home with Julian in Surre in 1965 (right) before drugs began to have a destructive effect on the musician Later, she lived through all the excitement of Beatlemania and seeing her husband being adored by millions, while she had to hide in the background and endure the pain of having to deny being his wife — it being an unspoken rule that rock stars were unmarried in those days to protect their image as a teen idol. And she never complained, not publicly anyway, and only in a very small voice to him. I liked John Lennon a lot. But I liked Cynthia, too. And it seemed that John treated her badly and was unnecessarily cruel to her, denying after their marriage was over that he had ever been in love with her, when his love letters had told the exact opposite. He wouldn’t have married her, he used to say, if she hadn’t got pregnant. ‘Julian,’ he told an American magazine in 1970, ‘was born out of a bottle of whiskey on a Saturday night.’ That was cruel,’ Cynthia would say years later. ‘Inhuman.’ Before adding wryly: ‘The question should be: “Would I have married him?” She smiled at that, adding: ‘No. He wasn’t the best husband. But he wasn’t the worst.’ But Lennon did have a habit of making dramatic over-statements. They’d met at Liverpool Art College in 1957 in their first term, when she was 18 and John 17. Some students thought Cynthia Powell, as she then was, must be posh because she came from Hoylake, which was ‘over the water’, Liverpudlian slang for the middle-class Wirral. Actually, she wasn’t any posher than John Lennon, who also had a middle-class upbringing with his Aunt Mimi, but she was certainly more reserved, and felt intimidated by his endless bravado, tight jeans and long, greasy hair. Cynthia (pictured left at Heathrow with John and right at Luton airport), watched from the sidelines as the boy some thought was a layabout became one of the most famous and artistically celebrated young men in the world John Lennon shares tender moment with Cynthia in 1967   +11 His wife, the mother of his son Julian, never complained - not publicly anyway - about having to hide the couple's marriage They weren’t in the same class, but he was quickly smitten, telling his friends that she looked like Brigitte Bardot, and making jokes about her, determined to catch her attention. Secretly, she would hang around him, dazzled by his rebellious charisma. They got together after a Christmas party during their second year in 1958. Her widowed mother was not best pleased at her choice, Cynthia having dropped a Hoylake boyfriend of two years for John. Cynthia was now watching the birth of The Beatles as Paul McCartney and George Harrison, who were at the school next door, would join John at lunchtimes in the college for rehearsals. It had to be exciting, as were John’s passionate, not say erotic, love letters to her when he dropped out of college to go to Hamburg with The Beatles. He was, the letters made clear (as did several of The Beatles’ early songs which were about letter-writing) desperate that she would stay faithful to him while he was away. +11 Man about town: John Lennon and Cynthia with Paul McCartney and his then girlfriend Jane Asher in 1968 Cynthia Lennon joins The Beatles at A Hard Day's Night premiere +11 Lennon and Cynthia in 1967. Cynthia was first a secret for Lennon - and she was then left behind, as Beatlemania continued to grip the world The reverse, however, never seemed to apply, to John. ‘It was all “love, love, love” and, of course, other things which are unprintable,’ she would remember. ‘I suppose I fell in love with a bad boy, whom I knew to be a bad boy. My father had died a couple of years earlier. If he’d still been alive, he wouldn’t have let John get past the front door.’ Altogether, John was a jealous, suspicious, unfaithful, bohemian boyfriend. She was a lower middle-class, very reasonable, faithful girl, and she waited for him. Soon he was back in Liverpool, playing at the Cavern Club, when, almost on the brink of The Beatles’ first recording session, Cynthia discovered she was pregnant. It was August 1962. ‘There’s only thing for it, Cyn. We’ll have to get married,’ John said as soon as she told him. Aunt Mimi was furious. She and Cynthia never got on. Manager Brian Epstein arranged a very quiet wedding, and the happy couple moved into a little flat in Liverpool where Cynthia, and then baby Julian, would stay a secret, as The Beatles became the biggest act in the world. +11 Cynthia with Lennon and fellow Beatle George Harrison at a film premiere in 1965. The couple's divorce was swift and acrimonious  ‘The more successful The Beatles became, the further away from me John seemed to be,’ she told me. After a year of her reclusive existence, the truth eventually leaked out and she and Julian joined John in London, first in a flat in Kensington and then, as the money poured in, in a grand house in Surrey’s stockbroker belt. But the nature of their relationship had changed. The very nice, friendly girl from Hoylake was no longer as erotically exciting as she’d once seemed. John had affairs, usually with clever, upmarket women. ‘I wasn’t passive or a dimwit. I think it was more a case of being patient. But I was beginning to be aware that these women could be dangerous. Most people now know about sex, drugs and rock and roll, but I don’t think I was aware so much then. I thought he was working all the time.’ Cynthia once told me that the only normal family day out she can remember they ever had when Julian was a little boy was in 1965. John had bought his Aunt Mimi a seaside home in Dorset and John, Cynthia and Julian went to see her and spent the day on the beach, John hiding under a large sunhat. ‘It was heaven,’ she told me. ‘We made sandcastles for Julian with his buckets and spades. And planned to do it again. But we never did’ Most of the time John was touring, filming or recording. They had a beautiful house, with lots of staff, but he was bored, and then irritated when Cynthia’s mother came to stay. He saw himself increasingly as an avant-garde artist and Cynthia as just a housewife. She did her best to keep the peace in the house. ‘But little by little, John’s personality began to change as drugs became an important part of his life,’ she told me, ‘leading him to the destruction of so much that he valued. At home, he would be lost in a daydream . . . present, but absent. I’d talk to him, but he wouldn’t hear me.’ Once she had been a secret. Now she was feeling left behind. +11 Palatial home: The Surrey home where the family lived in the Sixties. But beneath the exterior of the lavish home, there was trouble - John had affairs, usually with clever, upmarket women, while Cynthia patiently tried to keep the peace When The Beatles suddenly became interested in transcendental meditation and rushed off to see the Maharishi in Bangor, North Wales, she missed the train and was left on the platform as it pulled out. The end came when John met Yoko Ono, who sent him letters while The Beatles were staying in Rishikesh in the Himalayas studying meditation in 1968. During all the time they were there, John refused to have sex with Cynthia, who had joined him, insisting that he slept in a separate room, as he looked forward to Yoko’s letters arriving at the post office at the ashram where they were staying. The end of the marriage came shortly afterwards, when, upset by his indifference towards her, Cynthia took a short holiday in Greece. On returning, she found John and Yoko in the kitchen, John in his dressing gown, Yoko wearing Cynthia’s. They’d obviously only just got up. What hurt most was that John knew that she was on her way home. ‘It was vicious,’ she told me. The divorce was swift and unpleasant. John, normally the most generous of men, showed a vindictive side to his character. ‘My final offer is £75,000,’ he shouted at her. ‘That’s like winning the pools for you, so what are you moaning about. You’re not worth any more.’ Finally, in 1970, she accepted £100,000 for her and Julian.The family home was sold. For a time, she lived in Kensington and saw old friends, though she was hurt that the other Beatles didn’t stay in touch with her. She didn’t stay single for long, first marrying Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini, and then a very nice engineer called John Twist. +11 Come together: Sean Lennon, Yoko, Cynthia and Julian Lennon in New York in 2010. Cynthia, who went on to remarry three times, has died aged 75 following a battle with cancer Julian Lennon creates moving tribute to his mother Cynthia to be associated with John, and probably difficult for her second and third husbands, too. It can’t have been easy following in Lennon’s footsteps. Then, in 2002, she married Noel Charles, a friend of Julian, a former nightclub owner. They lived happily together until Noel died in 2013. Julian was at her bedside for her last moments. In a tribute, he said: ‘You gave your life for me, you gave your life for love. The love you left will carry on.’ Some have said Cynthia should have fought to keep John Lennon. I think that she was a terrific woman, calm and quiet, who did her best under very trying circumstances. She and John Lennon were opposites. She knew that when she began going out with him. That was probably why she fell in love with him. I like to think that, in the final years, she was finally happy.     The photographs of 'Lovely Linda' McCartney capture the Beatles, Mick Jagger, Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw in a stunning portfolio of her work Paul McCartney's wife Linda Eastman McCartney amassed a major portfolio of photographs of rock musicians from the 1960s to the 1990s 'I can think of no one else who captured the essence better than Linda,' Paul writes Linda died tragically of breast cancer at 56 'Who was the most important photographer covering the sixties' rock and roll music scene? I can think of no one else whose work was so comprehensive and who captured the essence better than Linda,' Paul McCartney writes about his wife who died tragically of breast cancer at 56. Paul McCartney remembers his adored wife who died in 1998 with portraits from this family album he states is a testament to her artistic talent. Linda's passion for music inspired her to work independently and she amassed a major portfolio of photographs of rock musicians from the 1960s to the 1990s. Linda Eastman McCartney was born in New York City in 1941 and raised in suburban Westchester County. Scroll down for video +8 Lovely Linda: Eastman met Paul McCartney in London in 1967 at the Bag O'Nails Club. They met up again days later at the launch album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.The couple married in March 1969, had four children together and remained close until her untimely death of advancing breast cancer at age fifty-six in 1998 +8 Paul,  the last of the Beatles to marry poses with his bride Linda Eastman and her daughter Heather after their wedding Linda McCartney exhibition in 2011 for 'Life in Photographs' She was not related to the George Eastman family of Eastman Kodak fame. Rather, her father, Leopold Vail Epstein, was the son of Jewish Russian immigrants and had changed his name to Lee Eastman. After high school, Linda headed west and was living in Arizona where a friend encouraged her to take an art history course at the Tucson Art Center with Hazel Archer. Archer introduced Linda to the great photographers Walker Evan, Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams and told Eastman to 'Borrow a camera, buy a roll of film and take pictures'. 'She inspired me to become a photographer, because of the photographs she showed me, unlike fashion photography, they were photographs of life, of people, of sadness, of poverty, of nature, everything – I loved it'. Back in Manhattan, Linda's photographic break came while working as a receptionist at Town and Country Magazine. She used an extra invite to a Rolling Stone promotional party to shoot pictures of the band. That was the beginning of her career chronicling the musical revolution of the Sixties. She met Paul McCartney in London in 1967 at the Bag O'Nails Club and met up again days later at the launch of their album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The couple married in March 1969, had four children together and remained close until her untimely death of advancing breast cancer at age fifty-six in 1998. These photographs appear in Life In Photographs by Linda McCartney and, in a new edition of the book published by Taschen. Archive footage shows Paul and Linda McCartney marry in 1969 +8 Paul McCartney appears to be flying while diving into a swimming pool on vacation in Jamaica in 1971. He wrote the song 'Bluebird', apparently inspired by the act of 'flying,' with Linda and Denny Laine providing background harmony +8 Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw, Jamaica, 1973. Ali was Steve's second wife and the couple fell in love on the set of the film, The Getaway, 1972, in which she played his wife. They married the following year but the union only lasted five years. McQueen did not want his wife to make movies while they were together and allegedly cheated on Ali +8 Linda first met and photographed the Rolling Stones when she attended a Stones album promotional party on a freebie invite in 1966 that marked the beginning of her commercial photography career +8 Paul, Stella and James and Linda loved McCartney's modest farmhouse in High Park on the Kintyre Peninsula in Scotland in 1982. Paul bought the small farm after the breakup of the Beatles in 1970 and it saved him from the drug and the heavy drinking scene of London nightclubs. The simple lifestyle inspired him to write the song, The Long and Winding Road +8 The Beatles in London in 1968, a year after Linda and Paul first met. This was the first year that the Apple Boutique, a retail store located on the corner of Baker and Paddington Streets, opened in London, the first business undertaking by the Beatles under the name of Apple Corps. Paul described the shop as 'a beautiful place where beautiful people can buy beautiful things.' It closed that same year. Beatlemania: The Beatles arrive at Kennedy Airport, in New York, for their first U.S. visit. The image shows a car full of teens trying to catch a glimpse of the fab four when they skipped school             America's first supermodel: Evelyn Nesbit, born in 1884, was the most sought-after 'It girl' in the 20th century Forget Christy, Cindy and Naomi; America's first supermodel was Evelyn Nesbit, born in 1884. The fair-skinned beauty from Tarentum, Philadelphia, who died in 1967, was the most sought-after model in the 20th century; an era when fashion photography as an advertising medium was just beginning its ascendancy. Appearing in mass circulation newspaper and magazine advertisements, on souvenir items and calendars, Nesbit was a Gilded Age celebrity --  her fame peaking when she became embroiled in her ex-lover's murder in what was then dubbed 'the trial of the century'. Scroll down for video +12 Forget Christy, Cindy and Naomi; America's first supermodel was Evelyn Nesbit, born in 1884 After her father died, leaving her modest Scottish-Irish family in debt, Nesbit began to model -- fully clothed -- for artists as a way out of poverty. She quickly became high in demand, with artists like Violet Oakley, who specialized in portraits and stained glass, using Nesbit as a model for her stained-glass windows in churches throughout Philadelphia. In June 1900, the family moved to New York City to pursue Nesbit's modeling career. James Carroll Beckwith, whose main patron was John Jacob Astor, took her under his wing, introducing her to Manhattan's most renowned artists and illustrators. Soon, she was the most in-demand model in New York. Sculptor George Grey Barnard’s piece Innocence, which now sits in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was modeled off Nesbit, as was Charles Dana Gibson’s 1905 piece, Women: The Eternal Question. It wasn't long before she was used on the illustrated covers of journals and magazines, such as Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, and Ladies’ Home Journal. +12 The copper-haired beauty from Philadelphia, who died in 1967, was the most sought-after model in the 20th century; an era when fashion photography as an advertising medium was just beginning its ascendancy +12 Appearing in mass circulation newspaper and magazine advertisements, on souvenir items and calendars, Nesbit was a Gilded Age celebrity -- her fame peaking when she became embroiled in her ex-lover's murder +12 After her father died, leaving her modest Scottish-Irish family in debt, Nesbit began to model -- fully clothed -- for artists as a way out of poverty +12 She quickly became high in demand, with artists like Violet Oakley, who specialized in portraits and stained glass, using Nesbit as a model for her stained-glass windows in churches throughout Philadelphia Nesbit then began to model for tobacco cards, calendars and lithographs, often posing for illustrators in costume, when fashion photography was just emerging. Just a year after moving to New York, she was given a role in the chorus line of Florodora, a popular Broadway musical. Soon after, she landed a speaking role in the Broadway play, The Wild Rose, and she began receiving attention from interested admirers. 'For that first heady decade of the 20th Century, Evelyn Nesbit was the American Dream Girl whose "face was her fortune" and whose life reflected the era's intoxicating, accelerated and daring mood,' explained Paula Uruburu, author of a biography of Nesbit, American Eve. 'She embodied all the contradictory impulses [of the Gilded Age]; at times she seemed a picture of Victorian sentimentality, but her bewitching… smile promised something forbidden.' Evelyn Nesbit shows off her singing voice in the 1930s See more on YouTube +12 In June 1900, the family moved to New York City to pursue Nesbit's modeling career. James Carroll Beckwith, whose main patron was John Jacob Astor, introduced her to Manhattan's most renowned artists +12 Sculptor George Grey Barnard’s piece Innocence, which now sits in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was modeled off Nesbit, as was Charles Dana Gibson’s 1905 piece, Women: The Eternal Question +12 It wasn't long before she was used on the illustrated covers of journals and magazines, such as Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, and Ladies’ Home Journal +12 Nesbit then began to model for tobacco cards, calendars and chromolithographs, often posing for illustrators in costume, when fashion photography was just emerging Architect and New York socialite Stanford White (his projects include the second Madison Square Garden, Tiffany's on 5th Avenue, and the Washington Square Arch) began pursing Nesbit, despite the fact that at 47, White was nearly three times her age. He bought her expensive gifts and introduced her to New York’s high society. But after their year-long relationship ended, Nesbit met millionaire Harry K Thaw. Following her mother's advice, she married Thaw in 1905. A year later, on June 25, 1906, Thaw took Nesbit to the opening performance of Mamzelle Champagne at the the rooftop cabaret theater at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Thaw approached her ex-lover, White, and shot him three times at point-blank range, twice in the face and once in the shoulder. +12 Nesbit starred in a handful of silent films from 1914 onward, including The Woman Who Gave (1918, pictured) +12 Nesbit met millionaire Harry K Thaw, and following her mother's advice, she married him in 1905. Here she is pictured 25 years later, returning to New York after a 'long absence' +12 Nesbit, pictured at age 69 in Los Angeles, taught ceramics and sculpting in her later years Nesbit, the star witness, became embroiled in the three-month trial which transfixed the nation. Thaw was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a second trial, and spent eight years in an asylum for the criminally insane. While Thaw was incarcerated, Nesbit returned to the stage and gave birth to a son. She made her film debut in Threads of Destiny in 1914, starred in a series of semi-autobiographical dramas, and wrote two memoirs. Nesbit was portrayed on screen by Joan Collins in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), which also starred Farley Granger as Harry Thaw and Ray Milland as Stanford White. The model and actress oversaw the film's production, to ensure accuracy.

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