Paul At Indica Gallery 1966
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Remember all the talk about this? Turns out only Maggie McGivern is with Paul:
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Someone posted on Pinterest that besides Maggie, that Linda, Jane and Francie were also in this photo, and that it must have been awkward for Paul to have all 4 love interests in the room at the same time!!
The blonde woman in the background does look like Linda, but she wasn't with Paul in 1966.
The lady in the polka dot dress next to Paul (with back to camera) MIGHT be Jane, but we have no way of knowing for sure.
Francie wasn't in the picture at all in 1966 and don't know which lady the Pinterest poster thought was her... unless they thought it was the woman at right with the white bow in her hair... but Francie's hair was short!
I'm glad you were able to find a site that identified the date of this photo, there's been false information posted about it around the internet, specifically that Linda, Jane and Francie (besides Maggie) were all in this photo, which isn't true.... only one besides Maggie that COULD be in the photo is Jane, but that is still unproven.
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LadyLeslie wrote:
Someone posted on Pinterest that besides Maggie, that Linda, Jane and Francie were also in this photo, and that it must have been awkward for Paul to have all 4 love interests in the room at the same time!!
The blonde woman in the background does look like Linda, but she wasn't with Paul in 1966.
The lady in the polka dot dress next to Paul (with back to camera) MIGHT be Jane, but we have no way of knowing for sure.
Francie wasn't in the picture at all in 1966 and don't know which lady the Pinterest poster thought was her... unless they thought it was the woman at right with the white bow in her hair... but Francie's hair was short!
I'm glad you were able to find a site that identified the date of this photo, there's been false information posted about it around the internet, specifically that Linda, Jane and Francie (besides Maggie) were all in this photo, which isn't true.... only one besides Maggie that COULD be in the photo is Jane, but that is still unproven.
I can’t imagine that Paul would be dumb enough to take Jane there if he knew Maggie was going to be there! I bet that is Kate Wallhead in the polka dot dress and not Jane.
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Nancy R wrote:
I can’t imagine that Paul would be dumb enough to take Jane there if he knew Maggie was going to be there! I bet that is Kate Wallhead in the polka dot dress and not Jane.
As Kate Wallhead is credited as being the lady in the polka dot dress and as all the other subjects have been identified correctly, there's no reason why it isn't Kate.
This must be one of the first photos (taken on 28th January 1966) of Paul & Maggie together. Paul met her when she was employed as a nanny for John Dunbar & Marianne Faithfull's child Nicholas, who had only been born on 10th November 1965.
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Kestrel wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
I can’t imagine that Paul would be dumb enough to take Jane there if he knew Maggie was going to be there! I bet that is Kate Wallhead in the polka dot dress and not Jane.
As Kate Wallhead is credited as being the lady in the polka dot dress and as all the other subjects have been identified correctly, there's no reason why it isn't Kate.
This must be one of the first photos (taken on 28th January 1966) of Paul & Maggie together. Paul met her when she was employed as a nanny for John Dunbar & Marianne Faithfull's child Nicholas, who had only been born on 10th November 1965.
Thanks, Kestrel, do you happen to know who Kate Wallhead is? Was she an artist/owner of the Gallery, or was she the girlfriend of someone Paul knew? Another secret love interest of Paul's?
Googling turns up nothing... -
I love some of the comments here!
http://beatlephotoblog.com/indica-with-maggie-mcgivern-was-jane-serving-the-canapes
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LadyLeslie wrote:
Thanks, Kestrel, do you happen to know who Kate Wallhead is? Was she an artist/owner of the Gallery, or was she the girlfriend of someone Paul knew? Another secret love interest of Paul's?
Googling turns up nothing...No, sorry I don't. As far as being on-line is concerned, she doesn't seem to exist outside being identified in that photograph. She must have been known to the person who identified most of the party goers though. Perhaps her name has been mis-spelt? I assume 'Kate' was an invited friend of John Dunbar or Barry Miles who set up the book shop.
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There's more information about the opening of Indica at http://beaconfilms2011.blogspot.com/2012/04/magick-circle-john-dunbar.html
According to above link, John Dunbar (who was married to Marianne Faithfull) was the owner of the Indica gallery, and Barry Miles took care of the bookshop operations at the gallery. Marianne is quoted in above link as saying Paul and his girlfriend Jane Asher helped support the opening of Indica:
'It was a wonderful time,' declares Marianne Faithfull today from Paris, in her rich rock'n'roll contralto. 'The opening night of Indica was complete chaos. Everyone was trying to get the place ready - John, Barry Miles [who ran the bookshop side of Indica], Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, our friend David Courts, so many people ... but nobody had thought to clean the lavatory, which was, of course, filthy. I remember I was wearing a beautiful dress and very pale tights, and there I was, on my hands and knees, scrubbing the loo. Because of John, I was very much a part of it all, and I'm so proud that I was.'
.... Dunbar found the premises, Peter Asher put up the £2,100 it took to get started, lending Dunbar and Miles £700 each so all three had equal shares. 'Then I took lots of speed, painted the whole place white and put the shelves up ...' Paul McCartney, Indica's first customer, merrily mucked in. Dunbar had to smear Windolene over the glass because workmen kept peering in, hoping to glimpse a Beatle doing manual labour. Jane Asher donated an old-fashioned till she had once used as a toy. McCartney designed Indica's wrapping paper.
After reading the above it seems logical Jane would want to be at the opening with Paul... but if someone says that's "Kate Wallhead" in the photo instead..
I dunno... Kate Wallhead sounds like some name Paul would make up 
Since John Dunbar and Marianne Faithfull were instrumental in starting Indica, it seems logical that they'd invite their nanny, Maggie McGivern, to the opening... but wouldn't you think they'd need a babysitter that night?
(Of course it's possible she hadn't started working for them yet... )Another photo from the opening of Indica, January 1966
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Wouldn’t you have just loved to have been there that night? Or anywhere Paul was at in London, like the Bag’O Nails, the Speakeasy, The Scotch Of St. James (at 13 Masons Yard, diagonal from the Indica Gallery)
2011 photo of 13 Masons Yard
2011 photo of Indica Gallery location in Masons Yard:
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Yes, I'd have loved to have been there that night, there's a good chance (if Asher wasn't there) that Paul would hit on you, LOL. Discreetly so Peter Asher wouldn't notice. I was quite taken aback and amazed when I first learned about Maggie McGivern, that Paul carried on a three year affair with her behind Jane's back ! I wondered how and why he did it. He made such a show of being with Jane, that she was his girlfriend. Jane was away acting in plays a good bit of the time, which enabled him. That's one reason he could. Well, he was just young and a bit wild, the biggest pop star and had girls throwing themselves at him all the time, and I can't say that I really blame him. He was sewing his wild oats, as he said.
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
Yes, I'd have loved to have been there that night, there's a good chance (if Asher wasn't there) that Paul would hit on you, LOL. Discreetly so Peter Asher wouldn't notice. I was quite taken aback and amazed when I first learned about Maggie McGivern, that Paul carried on a three year affair with her behind Jane's back ! I wondered how and why he did it. He made such a show of being with Jane, that she was his girlfriend. Jane was away acting in plays a good bit of the time, which enabled him. That's one reason he could. Well, he was just young and a bit wild, the biggest pop star and had girls throwing themselves at him all the time, and I can't say that I really blame him. He was sewing his wild oats, as he said.
The affair was not 3 years. Lasted from sometime in 1966 until early Sept. 1968. Did you read the link I posted on FB in that thread where we were talking about all this? Here it is again:
http://sentstarr.tripod.com/beatgirls/mcgiv.html
P.S. It’s “sowing” his wild oats, and he certainly did a lot of that!
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Yep, there Maggie McGivern was, brazen as anything, in public at Indica bookshop standing beside Paul. He must have passed her off as "just a friend." Maybe Jane was away acting in a play in the provinces that night.
