How a wily teen met 'the Walrus'

How One Day with John Lennon

Changed My Life Forever

By Jerry Levitan

HarperCollins, 168 pages, $33

In May 1969, Jerry Levitan, a 14-year-old Beatles fan growing up in Toronto, heard rumours that John Lennon and Yoko Ono were in town for a day on their way to their now legendary "bed-in" for peace in Montreal.

Levitan was no ordinary Beatles fan, and was determined to find Lennon. He did, and the story behind his meeting with "the Walrus" is both incredible and touching.

Levitan's story is told with an intimacy that puts the reader beside him during that exhilarating encounter. Richly illustrated by Montreal artist James Braithwaite and with photos Levitan took himself, it is a slim book but lovingly put together. It is a captivating story of a kid with moxie.

Still living in Toronto, Levitan is a children's performer, a lawyer, actor, musician and filmmaker. His 2008 film I Met the Walrus, on which this book is based, was nominated for an Oscar in the documentary category.

The book's epilogue captures the excitement surrounding the film and the Academy Awards. But first Levitan details the circumstances of his strange meeting with Lennon, and its effects on his life.

And a strange meeting it was. Having previously talked his way into the Jerry Lewis Labour Day Telethon by posing as a reporter from the non-existent "Canadian News," Levitan used the same ruse to gain access to Lennon.

Skulking around the King Edward Hotel, he found Lennon and Ono's room and immersed himself in an impromptu press conference, using his sister's camera as a prop. He surprised Lennon with his original copy of Two Virgins (then banned in Canada) and struck up a conversation with his idol.

He asked Lennon (who had written the song I Am the Walrus for the Beatles' 1967 album Magical Mystery Tour), if he could have an interview "for the kids." The spontaneous request paid off when Lennon told him to return later and instructed his manager to set up the meeting.

The interview appears twice, as the book includes a DVD with the taped interview, as well as photos and video that Levitan took on his borrowed camera.

The video has no sound, and is mostly haphazard vignettes of the earlier press conference in the hotel room. (Levitan admits that he didn't know how to properly use the movie camera, and only turned it on so that he wouldn't be found out as an imposter.)

The interview itself is relatively short, and isn't particularly revealing. Lennon gets in a few short quips about the Beatles' longevity and new music (the Bee Gees, for example), and a comment or two about peaceful protest and action.

Peace and protest were clearly on Lennon's mind. Days later he penned Give Peace a Chance during his Montreal bed-in. The first true solo hit by a Beatle while the Beatles were still together, it hovered near the top of the charts in North America and Europe and became an anthem of the anti-war protest movement.

The set-up to the encounter is exciting: loose in Toronto, Levitan used his wiles to get an audience with the biggest pop star the day.

It might be a quibble, but he says that day changed his life but doesn't explain how. This was a bright and passionate kid, wise beyond his years. He comes across more validated than changed.

But none of that takes away from a truly astonishing tale of a devout fan, a gifted artist, and a thrilling day in 1969.

George A. MacLean, the head of political studies at the University of Manitoba, does not have a favourite Beatle.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 7, 2009 D4