The photographs of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in bed in Amsterdam's Hilton Hotel are world famous. The Bed-In for Peace in March 1969 was a protest for world peace. But there is little known about what actually happened in the hotel room in that week.
 The press crowd around John & Yoko's bed (Photo: Bert Sprenkeling) |
John Lennon and Yoko Ono lay in bed for a week with the international press literally at their feet. This month it was 40 years ago that Lennon and Ono held their protest. Together with two colleagues, Journalist Jan van Galen has written a book about that week. "This story has never been written about properly. An awful lot has been written about the Beatles, but in all the thick volumes of books on John Lennon and the Beatles usually only one page is dedicated to the bed-in. We thought it would be a good idea to look up everybody who was involved. Why were they there, what did they do, who did they speak to, what happened?"
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- Room 902 - Gallery owner and former photographer for De Telegraaf Nico Koster was one of the many photographers invited to room 902 of Amterdam's Hilton Hotel by John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the end of March 1969. The newlyweds invited him back the next day on his own. He had all the time he wanted to take pictures of the couple relaxing. The result is a historical series of 20 unique pictures the world has never seen before. The couple in bed surrounded by flowers, John and Yoko having breakfast, John playing guitar, Yoko massaging John's feet, John on the phone. The photos were mislaid for several years, until recently Nico Koster's daughter found the negatives after searching through a box of baby photos. Realising the significance of her find she phoned her father with the good news. The pictures can be seen at Galerie Moderne in the Spiegelstraat, Amsterdam. |
John Lennon and Yoko Ono got married in Gibraltar in March 1969, away from the glare of media attention. During their honeymoon they visited Paris. When Dutchman Hans Boskamp, who worked for a record company, heard about it he rushed off to the French capital. There he dreamt up the idea with John Lennon to hold a peace protest in the Hilton. Hans Boskamp:
Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton
Talking in our beds for a week
The news people said, say what're you doing in bed?
I said we're only trying to get us some peace
(The Ballad of John and Yoko, Lennon-McCartney, April 1969)
Critical voices
In the photos, it looks like the press simply accept everything John and Yoko say. But in Jan van Galen's book it appears that there were critical voices. Jan van Galen:
"Some people thought it was fantastic, even the journalists. But others said: 'What does this mean for God's sake? What is the point of lying in an expensive hotel when you are extremely rich? Do you want everyone to do the same? Should Mrs Jansen from Harderwijk take a week off to lie in bed? Will that stop the Vietnam War? No, it won't.' But it did have an enormous impact. At the end of the 1960s, there were several anti-authoritarian movements, lots of protests, students rebelled. It was a time of protest and of course it was a Beatle who was lying there and the Beatles were incredibly popular."
But the fact that many people, including young people still know in 2009 that John Lennon and Yoko Ono protested for peace in the 1960s by staying in bed says a lot. The book has been dedicated to the Portuguese chambermaid who made John Lennon and Yoko Ono's bed. She is called Maria de Soledade Alves. The authors tried to trace her, but failed.
A night in room 702 (formerly 902) where the bed-in took place will cost visitors 1750 euros. But the Hilton Hotel is opening its doors free-of-charge to non-guests for a week of bed-in festivities. From Holland With Peace runs from 20 March to 29 March. The exhibition consists of three smaller exhibitions:
The exhibition ends on 29 March with a Lennon memorial day with live music from cover bands and the punk opera CheLennon. |
Message by photo 1969 - 2009 is a choice of 40 images on peace, made between 1969 - 2009. * RNW translation + additional material (nc)
Tags: 1969, Amsterdam, bed, Hans Boskamp, Hilton, John Lennon, peace, room 902, Yoko Ono