Elliot Mintz

What does everyone think of Elliot? <Good> or <Bad>
And does anyone know anything about his own family? Was he ever married or have any children?

a good friend for John and later for Sean and Julian


Interview with Mintz





i believe he is a Promotor for Stars (u.a. Don Johnson)???

Elliot Mintz was John Lennon’s publicist for several years; he is still the publicist for Yoko Ono, David Crosby, Bob Dylan, and others. Mintz was born February 16, 1945.12 (He is 59 as of this writing, nearly five years younger than Lennon.) Mintz was probably a colleague of Terry Melcher’s. Both Mintz and Melcher had direct connections with the Beatles. They also had direct connections with the Byrds. Both Mintz and Melcher lived in Los Angeles.13 As previously stated, Melcher produced the Byrds’ first two albums.14 Mintz is the publicist for David Crosby, a founding member of the Byrds.15

I have never read that Mintz and Melcher were close associates, or even friends, but given that they both worked directly with members of two of the biggest rock bands in the Sixties, the Beatles and the Byrds, and given they both lived in LA, it is plausible that they may have known each other quite well. I don’t know this absolutely, but the likelihood is quite strong. Ironically, Lennon’s career began to fade as soon as Mintz came became his publicist in 1972. Although John and Yoko apparently trusted Mintz completely, others hold a different opinion. In 2000, Michael Gray published a biography of Bob Dylan, Song & Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan, which was extremely critical of Mintz. Gray quoted Paul Zollo who interviewed Dylan in 1991 for Songtalk magazine. Zollo said Mintz not only sat in on the entire interview, but tried to control the questions asked beforehand and censor Dylan’s answers afterwards. This is what Zollo said about Dylan and Mintz:

Elliot Mintz & John Lennon

Mintz maneuvered his way into Lennon’s inner circle by flattering and befriending Yoko Ono. The following is an excerpt from Lennon, by Ray Coleman, which describes how this was accomplished:



Elliot Mintz’s closeness to John developed, curiously, from his association with Yoko. In 1972 Mintz was working as a disc jockey and star television interviewer, well on the road to becoming a Dick Cavett-style commentator; in Los Angeles he reported for Eye-Witness News and had a growing reputation as a penetrating interviewer of statesmen, politicians, and celebrities. When John and Yoko’s controversial album Some Time in New York City was released in June of that year, Mintz conducted a one-hour interview/profile for the radio station KLOS with Yoko, tracing the background to her meeting with John. He asked her unusual questions: whether the people in her dreams spoke English or Japanese, what quotes from her book Grapefruit meant to her, and how she wanted to be remembered when she died. Her answer was, ‘Just say that John and I loved, lived, and died.’ Next day she called to ask for a correction to be taped to that sentence: it was recorded to say: ‘John and I lived, loved, and died.’ …’It was really quite a beautiful interview,’ said Yoko, ‘and we loved the tone of it.’


A few days later about three hundred letters had arrived at Mintz’s office enthusiastically inquiring about the Yoko interview. Hesitantly, Mintz phoned Yoko to tell her about the letters. To his surprise, she was fascinated to hear about every one. And that conversation began a unique telephone friendship between Yoko and Mintz that went on nightly for many months. …With Mintz in California and Yoko in New York, they spoke every night on everything—religion, films, politics, love, death, books, romance. …


Finally, after months of these nightly conversations, John could stand the curiosity no longer. Who was this disc jockey his wife was always talking to? Typically, he decided to get in on the act and did a radio interview with Mintz.


Within months of striking up the telephone friendship, John and Yoko decided to take a car journey across America in their old station wagon, with a driver. … A meeting with the mysterious Mintz was part of the program. When they met him at the house they had rented in Santa Barbara, they presented him with the demonstration record of Some Time in New York City, [released June 12, 197218] the highly charged political album containing ‘Woman is the Nigger of the World’ and a song about Attica State Prison. After spending the day with John and Yoko, Mintz returned to Los Angeles and broadcast the entire album, freezing all commercials and inviting listeners’ reactions. Next day John and Yoko phoned him to ask how it went.


‘I have the good news and the bad news,’ replied Mintz. ‘The good news is that it went great, the bad news is that I was fired.’ The lyrical content of the album had offended the sponsors. John and Yoko thought it was hilarious.


‘My radio career had just collapsed,’ said Mintz, ‘and they just sat there laughing.’


John said: ‘Oh well, now you don’t have a job, you might as well come with us. We’re going up to San Francisco.’ Mintz did just that, spending a month with them at the Miyako Hotel in San Francisco, and from that first meeting he became John Lennon’s close friend and confidant. Lennon trusted him completely.19




It appears that Mintz won Lennon’s confidence in two ways: first, by flattering his wife about her book, Grapefruit; and second, by getting fired from KLOS radio station for playing Lennon’s entire album Some Time in New York City. Let’s step back for a moment. Is it believable that a popular LA disc jockey would get fired for playing a new John Lennon album hot off the presses? Granted, the album was highly political, but John Lennon was a superstar. It doesn’t seem believable that a radio station would fire a rising disc jockey because he played a newly released Lennon album, regardless of the content.

I've heard stories that he was very annoying and asked the dumbest questions! I have some bootleg tapes of Elliot interviewing John in 1973 Los Angelos and you can tell John was getting annoyed. John joked with him at one point and Ellion shouted, "Come on! Be serious!" It got on camera too. Not sure if I really like him that much.
-Kristi

What I would LIKE to think is that Elliot and John were best friends like he claims, but I have no idea what to think. If Yoko is still good friends with him and all that, I don't know what to believe.

Yeah, I've always heard about how he was more annoying than anything. Although, I don't know him personally or how good his relationship was or is with the Lennon's to comment.

On all of those specials about Lennon's death and his final days (E! Entertainment, A&E), they interview Elliot and he seems very sharp and thoughtful when he speaks of his relationship with John. I personally did not see any annoying side to him, or at least what I consider to be annoying. Even if he was, do you think that he and John were still pals?

I've seen some stuff where Elliot interviews John and the questions are kind of annoying but I guess it's just journalist stuff. He certainly seems a nice guy in some of the documentaries I've seen him in.

Yeah, those interviews..I've only really seen what John's respone has been to his questions (like in Imagine). To me, he seems very open and friendly to Elliot more so to any other journalist. The one part where they were both on the beach and Elliot asks about the Beatles getting back together sort of annoyed me, but then again...it might have just been something he HAD to ask for his job's sake. But John certainly refers to him as "Elly" and he seems warm towards him. "I don't know. You know me, I go on instinct"

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PennyandMe Posted:
What I would LIKE to think is that Elliot and John were best friends like he claims, but I have no idea what to think. If Yoko is still good friends with him and all that, I don't know what to believe.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is yer SN from the song Penny & Me from Hanson? Just wondering...

Ok, back to Beatles

Tiff Lennon

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BeatlesScruff Posted:
[ QUOTE ]
PennyandMe Posted:
What I would LIKE to think is that Elliot and John were best friends like he claims, but I have no idea what to think. If Yoko is still good friends with him and all that, I don't know what to believe.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is yer SN from the song Penny & Me from Hanson? Just wondering...

Ok, back to Beatles

Tiff Lennon

[/ QUOTE ]


Haha, glad you noticed that...yes, I admit, I am a big Hanson fan. Laugh if you will, but I have to say that it took some effort for you to know their new single.

I'm sure Elliot and John were very close friends. I don't doubt it. John spent a lot of time with him in the late 70s, according to many books- specifically Ray Coleman's. And to Elliot, from all I've hear/read/seen John and Yoko could do no wrong. He seemed/seems like a loyal friend of theirs.

However, and this is so mean of me, I kind of find him annoying in interviews. Sorry Elliot fans and devotees, but his voice is just SO...annoying and he is so very analytical and pronounces...every...single...word...in...such...a n...almost...flamboyantly...detailed...manner. I don't know. I have nothing against him personally, though I did read in May's book that he was a pain (as well as Seaman's, but I guess we should disregard that case because he's one to judge, right?), but I never met him personally and from what I do know of him he seems fine.

I'm glad that he has stayed so loyal to the Lennon family, since I did read Julian thank him on one of his albums and saw a recent photo of him walking out of a nightclub with Sean. I was touched by his words on the "Behind the Music" for John. On that program, he didn't frazzle me one bit with his speaking. I thought he said everything wonderfully.

When he interiewed John, though, he seemed to LISTEN to him and nodded and replied and John seemed pretty happen about that

Ok, I find him annoying. Maybe he's a nice guy, but he reminds me of one of those leecy, name-dropping sycophant types that cling to celebrities and are always ready for an interview. Plus his voice is irritating.

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Fly Posted:
Ok, I find him annoying. Maybe he's a nice guy, but he reminds me of one of those leecy, name-dropping sycophant types that cling to celebrities and are always ready for an interview. Plus his voice is irritating.

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Yeah, that's exactly how I feel. If he was as good of friends with John as he always says, then I'm glad for John. But I don't know... he grates on my nerves, and he seems like a bit of a cling-on.

It is really difficult to be able to see people how others did, isn't it? Maybe Elliot acted very differently when hanging around with John than he did while interviewing him...or Ellie, as he called him, aww...

I can't stand Elliot Mintz. He is so pompous and pretentious, it makes me want to puke. I don't know when he was friends with Julian because he spoke quite coldly and matter-of-factly about Julian's inheritance when there was a dispute. He always looks like he's wearing pink lipstick and you can tell that he is very impressed with himself (in that aggravating voice) still speaking on John's behalf. As for having a wife and kids, that's hard to imagine, he looks, sounds, and acts as gay as a picnic basket. As for being a 'friend' of John/Yoko's, he has gotten alot of mileage out of the relationship. I have to question John and Yoko's choice of people they allowed in their inner circle. Elliot Mintz?/Fred Seaman who stole all that stuff?, etc.. They weren't very good judges of character, but their numerologists and Tarot card readers and all that other crap they consulted with on a daily basis must have advised them otherwise.