Lennon & McCartney Promote Apple Corps in New York – 14 May 1968
Tuesday 14 May 1968 | Press Conference, Americana Hotel, New York City
On the afternoon of Tuesday 14th May 1968, John Lennon and Paul McCartney walked into a press conference at the Americana Hotel at 155 West 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan and attempted to explain Apple Corps to a room full of sceptical American journalists. It was, by most accounts, a chaotic, funny, and occasionally confrontational hour — a collision between two of the most famous men in the world and a press corps that wasn't quite sure what to make of them.
It was also the day that Linda Eastman gave Paul McCartney her telephone number, written on an unused cheque. Within a year, they would be married.
📝 Read the full press conference transcript →
The Americana Hotel: Setting the Scene
The Americana Hotel — now the Sheraton New York Times Square — was one of Midtown Manhattan's most prominent venues for press events and celebrity appearances in the 1960s. Located at 155 West 47th Street, just off Times Square, it was the kind of place where serious business was conducted in deliberately glamorous surroundings.
For Lennon and McCartney, it was their first visit to New York in four years. The Beatles had last toured America in August 1966, and had stopped touring altogether shortly afterwards. The press conference was not a musical event — it was a business announcement, and the journalists in the room treated it as such, peppering the pair with questions about capitalisation, distribution deals, and corporate structure that neither man was remotely equipped to answer.
What Was Apple Corps?
Apple Corps had been incorporated earlier in 1968 as the umbrella company for The Beatles' various business interests following the death of their manager Brian Epstein in August 1967. It was structured around four divisions: Apple Records, Apple Films, Apple Electronics, and a retail operation that would briefly include the Apple Boutique on Baker Street in London.
The vision, as Lennon and McCartney articulated it that day, was characteristically idealistic. Apple was to be a vehicle for creative people who couldn't get their work made through conventional channels — a record label that would sign artists on the strength of their talent rather than their commercial potential, a film fund that would finance projects like Andy Warhol's Empire that no studio would touch, an electronics division developing genuinely revolutionary technology.
“It's a business concerning records, films, electronics, and – as a sideline – manufacturing,” Lennon told the assembled press. “We just want to set up a system whereby people who just want to make a film about anything don't have to go on their knees in somebody's office – probably yours!”
The reality, as McCartney later acknowledged, was rather less structured. “We hadn't done the business planning,” he admitted in the Anthology. “We were just goofing off and having a lot of fun.”
Derek Taylor and the Press
The conference was managed by Derek Taylor, The Beatles' press officer and one of the most gifted publicists of the era. Taylor had worked with the group since the height of Beatlemania and understood, better than almost anyone, how to handle the relationship between The Beatles and the media. On this occasion, he fielded questions and attempted to impose some order on proceedings that were, by design, resistant to it.
The journalists in the room represented a different kind of press from the pop music reporters The Beatles had dealt with during their touring years. Publications like Fortune magazine were present, treating Apple Corps as a serious economic proposition. McCartney later recalled the discomfort this caused him: “We were talking to media like Fortune magazine, and they were interviewing us as a serious economic force – which we weren't.”
McCartney's ‘Personal Paranoia’
By his own admission, Paul McCartney was not at his best that afternoon. He later described suffering from a “personal paranoia” — possibly, he suggested, connected to substances he had taken — that left him unusually withdrawn and anxious throughout the conference.
“I had a real personal paranoia,” he recalled in The Beatles Anthology. “I don't know if it was what I was smoking at the time, but it was very strange for me. I remember sitting up there and being interviewed. John was wearing a bus driver's or a prefect's badge, and he was doing well.”
The result was that Lennon did the majority of the talking — and he was, by the account of those present, in characteristically sharp form. Confrontational, witty, and occasionally deliberately obtuse, he gave the journalists exactly enough to write about while revealing almost nothing of substance. When asked to be more specific about Apple's plans, he simply said: “No.” When asked why they had chosen the name Apple, he replied: “Why did you choose the names your kids have got?”
The Press Conference: Key Exchanges
The transcript of the conference is one of the most entertaining documents of the Apple era — a masterclass in Lennon's ability to deflect, disarm, and occasionally wrong-foot an entire room of professional journalists. Some of the most revealing exchanges:
On the Maharishi: “I think the Maharishi was a mistake. His teachings have some truth in them, but I think that we made a mistake.” McCartney added: “He's human, that's all. We thought that there was more to him than what there was.”
On new philosophical leaders: McCartney said no. Lennon said: “Me!”
On Yellow Submarine: “We never saw it. But the drawings are nice.”
On Vietnam: “We came out against it years ago. Where have you been?” McCartney: “In Vietnam?”
On Apple's capitalisation: “I don't know – and that's the joke!”
On the meaning of I Am the Walrus: “It just means, I am the walrus. Or I was when I sat down, you know.”
📝 Read every question and answer: Full press conference transcript →
Alex Mardas and the Electronics Division
One of the more intriguing threads running through the conference was the repeated references to “Alex” — Alexis Mardas, known as Magic Alex, the Greek electronics inventor appointed head of Apple Electronics. McCartney described him as “a genius” and “just incredible.” Lennon: “There's no such thing as a genius, you know. But if there are any, he's one.”
Mardas's promised 72-track recording studio for Apple's Savile Row headquarters proved technically unworkable and was abandoned.
Linda Eastman and the Cheque
Among the photographers present was Linda Eastman. After the conference she approached McCartney, reassured him it had gone well, and wrote her telephone number on an unused cheque. McCartney kept it. They married on 12 March 1969.
The cheque with the telephone number is one of the great small details of Beatles history: a moment of connection, in the middle of a chaotic press conference, that changed two lives.
The Tonight Show
Lennon and McCartney also recorded an interview for Mitchell Krause for Channel 13's Newsfront, and in the evening appeared on The Tonight Show, hosted by guest presenter Joe Garagiola.
Apple Corps: What Happened Next
The retail boutique closed in July 1968. Apple Electronics produced nothing of commercial value. But Apple Records — launched in August 1968 with Hey Jude — became one of the most significant independent labels of the era, signing James Taylor, Mary Hopkin, Badfinger, and Billy Preston. The label still exists today.
Key Facts: 14 May 1968
- Date: Tuesday 14 May 1968
- Venue: Americana Hotel, 155 West 47th Street, New York City (now Sheraton New York Times Square)
- Present: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Derek Taylor, Alexis Mardas (Magic Alex)
- Also present: Linda Eastman (photographer)
- Evening: The Tonight Show, hosted by Joe Garagiola
- Also recorded: Channel 13 Newsfront interview with Mitchell Krause
- Significance: First New York visit by any Beatle in four years; Linda Eastman gives McCartney her phone number
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the Apple Corps press conference in New York in 1968?
On 14 May 1968, John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a press conference at the Americana Hotel in Midtown Manhattan to announce the US launch of Apple Corps, managed by Derek Taylor.
Where was the Americana Hotel in New York?
At 155 West 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan, just off Times Square. The building still stands as the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel.
Did Linda Eastman meet Paul McCartney at the Apple Corps press conference?
Yes. She was present as a photographer, and afterwards gave McCartney her telephone number written on an unused cheque. They married on 12 March 1969.
Why did John Lennon do most of the talking at the 1968 Apple press conference?
McCartney later admitted he was suffering from a “personal paranoia” that day, leaving him unusually anxious. Lennon handled the majority of the questions.
What happened to Apple Corps after the 1968 press conference?
Apple Records launched in August 1968 with Hey Jude and became one of the most significant independent labels of the era. The boutique and electronics division wound down within a year. Apple Corps still exists today.
→ John Lennon | Paul McCartney | George Harrison | Ringo Starr
Shop Beatles Merch: The Beatles: Beatlemania Collection | Shop by Era
0 comments