Lennon pal sues art school over piano
PUSSSYKATT
N.Y. Daily News Staff Writers
A chum of slain ex-Beatle John Lennon has filed a lawsuit against the New York
Academy of Art, demanding the return of a Lennon piano he claims he lent to the
school in 1988.
The only problem: He says the school sold the $1.6 million concert grand for a
song.
Sam Green, a Manhattan art dealer and one-time intimate pal of John and wife,
Yoko Ono, received the piano as a gift from the couple in 1979, according to
his court papers.
Its provenance is backed up by published photographs that show a small,
engraved plaque above the keyboard that reads, "For Sam — Love From Yoko and
John — 1979."
But a source familiar with the situation says the piano was sold for $3,000
during a round of housecleaning at the SoHo school.
Officials at the New York Academy of Art did not return repeated calls for
comment.
According to the complaint, Green lent the piano to the school, where he was a
member of the board of directors, with the proviso that it would be returned to
him whenever he wanted it back.
"It was for limited use at special events," said Green's attorney, Mahendra
Ramgopal. "He thought it would enhance the reputation of the school."
But when Green recently requested that it be returned, the school couldn't find
it, Ramgopal said. To Green's amazement, he learned from other sources that it
had been sold to a piano tuner for a paltry sum.
But another board member, art dealer Margot Gordon, disputed Green's account.
She said Green gave the piano to the school.
Ramgopal said that if the piano is not returned, Green is demanding damages of
$1.6 million. That was the value placed on another Lennon piano — the one he
used to compose his 1971 hit, "Imagine" — that will be auctioned on the
Internet in July.
Green often played host to the rock legend at his Fire Island vacation
compound.
Lennon was shot and killed outside his Manhattan apartment in 1980. In his
will, he named Green "successor guardian" of son Sean in the event Yoko died
before him.
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