BETHEL, New York -- John and Yoko hung out in their pajamas for eight days during their ''bed-in'' at a Montreal hotel in 1969. Reclining on a king-size bed, the famous Beatle and his new wife read Lao Tzu, snuggled and recorded the anthem Give Peace a Chance.

But mostly they talked about peace and lorded over the chaos in a room crammed tight with star-struck kids, reporters, disc jockeys, Hare Krishnas, Timothy Leary, Tommy Smothers and hangers-on.

Photographer Gerry Deiter, on assignment for Life magazine, was there for all of it. His pictures weren't published; the magazine spiked the piece.

Forty years later, Deiter's images are now being exposed to a wide audience in the exhibit, Give Peace A Chance: John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Bed-In For Peace at The Museum at Bethel Woods, which sits at the upstate New York site of the original Woodstock concert held that August.

Deiter's shots in room 1742 of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel show Lennon in white pajamas strumming his acoustic guitar; a shirtless, smiling Leary and the couple being filmed during breakfast.

Lennon and Ono held two bed-ins in 1969, when Lennon was transitioning from the Beatles and into a role as a prominent peace activist. The events essentially boiled down to the newlyweds chatting up folks about peace from their hotel beds, but they also allowed the ever-clever Lennon to be viewed as an idealist, a provocateur and an avant-garde wiseguy.

The first bed-in, immortalized in the Beatles' song The Ballad of John and Yoko, was held at the Amsterdam Hilton. The second was supposed to be in New York City, but Lennon could not enter the United States because of a marijuana conviction.

The enduring moment of the Montreal bed-in was the recording of Give Peace a Chance, with people in the room banging on tables. Deiter's many shots of the recording include an image of the big poster on the wall that served as a cheat sheet with Lennon's lyrics: `` . . . ragism, tagism, this-ism, that-ism.''

Music producer Andre Perry, called out of the blue to record the song, recalls setting up his four-track recorder in a room with lousy acoustics and dozens of people singing and playing percussion, some quite badly.

''There were people with bells and people banging on all kinds of stuff, and it was like a bit of a disaster,'' Perry says. ``It sounded like a brawl, a little bit.''

Perry says Lennon's energetic singing and strumming (aided by co-guitarist Smothers) was enough to make the tune succeed. The producer later added extra voices and created a thumping beat by pounding a telephone directory.

Deiter also caught one of the strangest cultural confrontations of the decade when Li'l Abner cartoonist Al Capp stopped by, cheerfully introduced himself as a ''Neanderthal fascist'' and ridiculed the couple for several minutes.

Amid the constant hubbub, Deiter zeroed in to capture affecting images of Lennon sniffing a blossom and of Lennon and Ono, heads resting on big white pillows, gazing at each other.

Exhibit curator Joan Athey says Deiter captured the obvious affection they shared.

''Even though they were constantly surrounded by people, they were in this bubble,'' says Athey, author of a book about the photos.

Athey says the weeklong assignment changed Deiter, who moved west to British Columbia and packed away the negatives. He lived to see some of his photos displayed in a Canadian museum before he suffered a fatal heart attack on Dec. 9, 2005, a day after commemorating the 25th anniversary of Lennon's death.

The exhibit debuted in May in Liverpool and runs at Bethel through Sept. 7.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@