Commemorative special edition of the notorious autobiography of Francie Schwartz, first published by Rolling Stone's Straight Arrow Books in 1972. Most controversial for Chapter 8, entitled, "Don't Cry, I'm a ....", which details her spring and summer with Paul McCartney and the Beatles, as Paul's livein girlfriend, backup singer on the White Album, and assistant Apple publicist under and around the late Derek Taylor. Also noted for its lack of explicit sexual detail, this book tells what living the 60's media myth was really like. From L.A.'s rock publicity circuit to New York's East side bar scene and ad agency maelstrom, to London in '68 and back! A survivor's story.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"It's been out of print (and a rarely seen collectible) for so long - and its intimate tale of an affair with a Beatle so much discussed by so many who've never read it - that this book has become the stuff of legend. Now that the author has it back in print in a self-published reprint edition, McCartney/Beatle fans can find out for themselves what all the fuss was about... she provides an unvarnished, somewhat negative and yet strangely human and appealing portrait of a McCartney that the public has never been allowed to see anywhere else. 'He wanted to be one of the boys, but he wanted to be the one-man band as well,' she writes. And there, with a flair, you have the Beatles circa '68 summed up rather nicely." -- Beatlefan Magazine #117, March-April, 1999, Malcolm Tucker
About the Author
Native of Allentown PA, Francie grew up in Brentwood and married her childhood sweetheart, an artist and Santa Monica lifeguard in 1962, and divorced him in 1963. After acquiring her degree in Advertising Design from Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles (with a special scholarship from the Los Angeles Society of Illustrators and the Disney Foundation covering her tuition in her senior year) she moved to New York and started her checkered job history in the Corporate Design Dept. at CBS.
When Doyle Dane Bernbach told her she needed a penis to become an art director, she switched to the copy side. Fed up with typecasting as a writer for women's products, she took freelance work that led her to the Russian Tea Room on a cold March night in 1968. The movie treatment she wrote about the street violinist she met that night got her to London and into McCartney's clutches. The rest is herstory.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Desperately hanging on to 15 minutes of fame...,
By Oriole Adams (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Body Count (Paperback)
I bought and read "Body Count" when it was originally published in the early 70s. Schwartz's "hipper-than-thou" writing style gets tedious very quickly, as do her complaints about men "using" her. (Goodness, she falls into bed with most of them within 10 minutes of meeting them - how dare they not see her as the deep, intellectual, caring individual she truly is.) Schwartz has admitted elsewhere that, according to her passport, she was only in England for a little over three months that Summer of 1968, yet to hear her tell it, she fits in somewhere between Patti Boyd and Yoko Ono in the Beatle legend. Overall, "Body Count" reads like a high-school slam book; if you're that interested in her Paul McCartney gossip, save your money and find that chapter online somewhere.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
For Beatles scholars,
By A Customer
This review is from: Body Count (Paperback)
The "Body Count" of the title refers to the number of men Schwartz aimlessly "balled" in her youth, in a haphazard search for true love I suppose, though often she seems to be doing it just for the hell of it. And she wonders why she gets used! I wonder what's become of her since. So, for the most part these are the curt ramblings of a would-be hipster journalist, without much detail or interest. But then, hardcore Beatle fans will definitely want to check it out for the famous chapter on Paul McCartney - indeed, this chapter does offer fascinating insight into a side of McCartney seen nowhere else in print, perhaps even moreso than Carol Bedford's "Waiting for the Beatles" shed light on George Harrison. Yes, Paul in the summer of '68 was a tormented, unhappy man, Jane Asher having failed to give him the kind of security he so desperately craved, while John's new infatuation with Yoko (both of whom Schwartz views as benevolent friends to Paul and to herself) accidentally aggravated Paul's hidden yearnings. Seen in this light, Linda McCartney becomes both and inevitable part of the story, and even a savior of sorts, which Schwartz inherently recognizes she herself cannot be. (One wonders how Paul is bearing up now that Linda is gone.) The grand result of all these important and previously shadowy moods was "Hey Jude"; yes, it is more about Paul than about Julian. In just one chapter of an otherwise tedious book, Schwartz manages to make all of this abundantly clear, despite generally vague writing style. She is a valuable primary source for Beatle scholars, to be compared and included with other sources.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Save your Money,
By A Customer
This review is from: Body Count (Paperback)
Unless you're addicted to Hard Copy or for some reason enjoy reading books by self-indulgent parasites who overstay their welcome, there's no reason to read this book. There are plenty other books out there with far more insight and much more credibility. But if you're really a Beatle scholar, you already know that. I hate having to give it even one star.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
|
|
