Do You Trust Elliot Mintz?

[Loyal Opposition]

For some reason, and I guess it's what he says, which is mostly narcissistic and pretentious, I've never completely trusted Elliot Mintz. Even during his interviews he'll always answer in the affirmative, and every other minute when he has no answer, he'll stress "That's between me and John" over and over.. I really don't know what his job is, but it seems to be in self-promotion.

And it appears to be just as close as my other hero, Mort Sahl, but he'll seem to bad mouth John to praise Yoko.

Anyway, I ask because I've read from people on here that "John Lennon hated Elliot Mintz and had to endure him because of Elliot was born 2 days after her" but like most things, they had no sources, but it's still on here.

[Norbert K]

If you read May Pang's book, you'll see her perspective that she and John sometimes tolerated Mintz, and used him as a chauffeur. However, when John presented May with the birthday present of a used car, they exulted "No more Elliot Mintz!"

One of the reasons I don't trust Mintz is that he can't keep his story straight. I saw a recent documentary in which Mintz claimed that he and Lennon spoke on the phone every single day during the "Lost Weekend" -- and each time, the only topic John wanted to discuss was his obsession with returning to Yoko. Mintz has forgotten his earlier story (told to Jonathan Weiner) that Lennon would call him up begging to be taken to strip clubs and porno theaters. (In my opinion, the purpose of the earlier story was to deny the existence of John's intimate relationship with May.)

Mintz has been up to another devious activity recently, that of badly Photoshopping his image on to celebrity photographs. See the article "Elliot Mintz Photo Questions" on meetthebeatlesforreal.com. There are a couple of examples on that page -- and others have uncovered many more examples of this.

Mintz has served as a spokesman for plenty of celebrities, so WTF would he do this? He wants to be perceived by the public not as a lackey for Yoko, but as a confidante of Lennon (among many others).

Mintz is obsessed with celebrities, and celebrities have used him to communicate dubious things to the public. I'm not sure that anyone finds him believable. There's a discussion between Mintz and Sean available online. For the occasion, Mintz over-decorated his suite with candles and flowers. Yet, even Sean shows some contempt for Mintz, making fun of some of his gestures and scolding him for a false promise he had made.

[Loyal Opposition]

Thanks for the site, and for replying... I'm not good at identifying fake vs. real pictures, but it seems older photos are harder to screw on..

After I posted this, I watched some stuff on YouTube..... Elliot Mintz kept saying how he was best friends with John Lennon, but I think he kisses Yoko's arse while at the same time ingratiating himself with John, since he isn't alive.. When Elliot did this 3-part interview with Mort Sahl, he mentioned Yoko, kept saying "She's the real deal".

I guess I just don't know how he went from unknown local DJ to publicist.. Actually, I have a guess. In his first interview with John, John tells Elliot how much he appreciates Elliot's positive writing about Yoko, which Elliot probably knew was the secret key to get into their lives.

[Norbert K]

That's a great question -- and a very plausible answer.

If you read Michael Gregg Michaud's biography of Sal Mineo, you'll learn that Elliot Mintz very quickly ingratiated himself with Mineo -- and would spend the night at Mineo's apartment.

You'll also learn that Mineo was down on his luck at the time. And what Mintz and Mineo would do is go to Italian restaurants and order lavish feasts. Then, as the waiter delivered the check, Mintz would pretend to be appalled. He'd point to Mineo and say, "Don't you know who that is?" He'd ramble on about what a legend Mineo was until the waiter was persuaded that Mineo should not be expected to pay.

I like to think that if I were one of those waiters, I'd retort: "I expect a generous tip in that case."

In any event, Mintz somehow went from scamming restaurants out of meals -- to, by the time John & May moved to LA, owning a house in the Hollywood hills and driving a jaguar.

Was all of Mintz's newfound conspicuous consumption due to support from the Lennons, I wonder?