Town & Country's June 1966 debutante special posed an urgent question: "Is today's deb more a product of Peyton Place than of Emily Post?" On the issue's cover, Brian Jones turns to Bill Wyman, as if to ask another: What the hell is Peyton Place?

Alexandra Chace, of New York City and Tuxedo, the smiling girl to Jones' right, was the product of the Rolling Stones. (Also, her profile notes, Bob Dylan, Donovan, and the Birds [sic].) Inside, "The Way-Out Fantastical—But Why Not Possible—Dream World of the Debutante" matched eight other debs with their idols, including Andy Warhol and Jerry Schatzberg, the "'in' lensman" who shot the portfolio, as well as the cover of Dylan's Blonde on Blonde.

Schatzberg had thrown a party for the Stones in his studio loft two years earlier, a night described by Tom Wolfe in a profile of "Baby" Jane Holzer. According to Wolfe, "everybody but Bailey" was there. Holzer "is a socialite in the sense that she lives in a twelve room apartment on Park Avenue," Wolfe wrote. "And yet she is not Society the way the Good Book, the Social Register, thinks of Society . . . Furthermore, her stance is that she doesn't care, and she would rather be known as a friend of the Stones anyway." Against this groovy backdrop, Schatzberg and T&C art director Jerold Smokler came up with the idea for the cover. An assistant recalled, "This was quite controversial at the time because previously the Stones had been confined to teenage magazines and to sensational newspaper stories about 'unruly' behavior."

The issue was on newsstands across America when the band rode the SS Sea Panther around Manhattan to promote their latest album, Aftermath. The assistant, Linda Eastman, and a colleague were also on board. "Maybe it was because they felt favorably disposed towards Town & Country after having a front cover," she later speculated. "Maybe it was because the Stones fancied a young, blond-haired girl on board as, in those days, the press they had to face was largely made up of older men who knew little about rock and roll."

And maybe it was because her colleague, Christina Berlin, daughter of the president of the Hearst Corporation, willed it so. Previously, Berlin had a Hearst tabloid press pass produced in order to bear witness when the Beatles arrived at JFK. Later, Mikhail Baryshnikov credited her with the diplomatic machinations behind his 1974 defection from the U.S.S.R. (Her sister, Brigid, was a fixture in Warhol's Factory, appearing in Chelsea Girls and Ciao! Manhattan.) Berlin already knew the Stones, having engineered a meeting with the band during a previous American tour.

Eastman left the 79th street boat basin an aspiring photographer and returned a freelance professional. Her pictures ran in Hullaballoo, Datebook, and Rolling Stone. She also accepted a date with Mick Jagger, an evening for which Berlin made the tomboyish Eastman wear a dress, a pair of earrings, and a bra. "She was fighting me all the way," Berlin recalled, "but I kept saying, 'Trust me, you'll thank me . . . My God, you're still representing Town & Country, you know."

In London, the following year, Eastman traded a print of Brian Jones on the boat for access to the Sergeant Pepper's press release, where Eastman took her first photographs of the Beatles. By chance she had met Paul McCartney, her future husband of 29 years, at the Bag O'Nails pub the previous night. Linda McCartney later concluded that her cruise aboard the Sea Panther "set the course of my life."

[www.townandcountrymag.com]

Photo from that boat session...most have seen them. Just go to google images for>>

jagger boat linda eastman

or

[www.bing.com]

Brian there

[www.bing.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-01-22 23:03 by triceratops.

Jerry Schatzberg

HMN

I read somewhere that MJ and Linda had a dalliance before she met Paul...I presume it was here.

Quote
stonehearted

In London, the following year, Eastman traded a print of Brian Jones on the boat for access to the Sergeant Pepper's press release, where Eastman took her first photographs of the Beatles. By chance she had met Paul McCartney, her future husband of 29 years, at the Bag O'Nails pub the previous night. Linda McCartney later concluded that her cruise aboard the Sea Panther "set the course of my life."

Common mistake in there, that sub editors at Town & Country should have picked up. The well known album by The Beatles is actually called Sgt Pepper's (etc) with a possibility of it being Sgt. Pepper's (etc), but never, ever Sergeant Pepper's (etc)

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Captain Corella
60 Years a Fan