Paul & family dressed up for Halloween

The personal and professional lives of Paul and Linda McCartney were often closely intertwined. On October 31, 1970, while in New York to record “Ram,” Paul, Linda, and their daughters Heather and Mary dressed up in costumes for Halloween. A photograph from that day was later repurposed for a Christmas advertisement in several UK and US music magazines, and it also appeared in the collage featured on the inner sleeve of “Ram.”

Some later writers have noted that a few observers at the time interpreted the Christmas advertisement as a veiled reference to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Paul and Linda were wrapped in a sheet, which was seen as alluding to John and Yoko’s “bagism” initiative. In addition, Linda wore a Wimpy mask with narrow eyes, which some interpreted as a slight toward Yoko.

Below is an account from a group of New York–based fans who encountered Paul and his family on Halloween.

Halloween 1970 – By Joanne DiFilippe and Linda Rabe

There will never be another Halloween like this Halloween!  As you all know, Paul had arrived in New York on October 8, 1970.  We spent three desperate weeks looking for the man.  Well on October 30^th, we went down to CBS Recording Studios where Paul was recording.  After not seeing him for over a year we were quite happy.  The next day, we were sitting by John Eastman’s still trying to find out where he was staying.  That afternoon we were sitting by John’s and watching the little children dressed up for Halloween.  We then decided to go around to the store and buy candy to give to them.  After doing our good deed for the day, we decided to continue with our search.  After having no luck for most of the day, we decided to try 5th avenue.  As we crossed 81st street, we saw two women and a man coming up toward 5th.  They were dressed in yellow sheets with masks and the man was carrying a baby.  As they were approaching us at the corner, the man hid the baby’s face under the sheet and one of the women’s hands reached over to grab the man’s arm (which looked quite familiar!).  And as they came around the corner they were making these ghostly sounds.  We stopped dead in our tracks and figured we play along.  Suddenly thinking, “Oh no!” the guy with the baby came to each of us individually and made ghost sounds in our faces, coming so close he could have knocked us over.  It seemed funny that out of the 5 of us, who were there he came up to only the 4 who had been at the studio the night before.  As they turned to go into the Stanhope Hotel, which we were about to check, we noticed the groovy argyle socks (it was the socks!).  Which after a while, became a well-known trademark, convinced us that we were right.  After realizing that our search for Paul was ended we realized that if during the course of the day we had been off by one minute in anything, we would not have been this lucky.  Not only had our search been over but we realized we had been put on by a Beatle  But yet, we got our reward for treating instead of tricking on Halloween.  That was the first of many events that followed! 

From fanzine “5 Bites of the Apple” – Sept/October 1972 – Quoted in Meet The Beatles For Real

In its October 31, 1970 issue, Billboard published a short mention of the ongoing “Ram” sessions in New York. The article named Denny Seiwell and David Spinozza among the participating musicians, although Spinozza had in fact left the sessions on October 20.

Selling Sounds

Paul McCartney is in the Columbia Recording Studios to lay a few tracks for a new LP. Denny Seiwell and Dave Spinozza are sidemen.

From Billboard, October 31, 1970

Going further

The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1: 1969 – 73

In this first of a groundbreaking multivolume set, THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1: 1969-73 captures the life of Paul McCartney in the years immediately following the dissolution of the Beatles, a period in which McCartney recreated himself as both a man and a musician. Informed by hundreds of interviews, extensive ground up research, and thousands of never-before-seen documents THE MCCARTNEY LEGACY, VOL 1 is an in depth, revealing exploration of McCartney’s creative and personal lives beyond the Beatles.

Buy on Amazon

The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years

With greatly expanded text, this is the most revealing and frank personal 30-year chronicle of the group ever written. Insider Barry Miles covers the Beatles story from childhood to the break-up of the group.

Buy on Amazon

The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001

An updated edition of the best-seller. The story of what happened to the band members, their families and friends after the 1970 break-up is brought right up to date. A fascinating and meticulous piece of Beatles scholarship.

Buy on Amazon

Maccazine - Volume 40, Issue 3 - RAM Part 1 - Timeline

This very special RAM special is the first in a series. This is a Timeline for 1970 – 1971 when McCartney started writing and planning RAM in the summer of 1970 and ending with the release of the first Wings album WILD LIFE in December 1971. [...] One thing I noted when exploring the material inside the deluxe RAM remaster is that the book contains many mistakes. A couple of dates are completely inaccurate and the story is far from complete. For this reason, I started to compile a Timeline for the 1970/1971 period filling the gaps and correcting the mistakes. The result is this Maccazine special. As the Timeline was way too long for one special, we decided to do a double issue (issue 3, 2012 and issue 1, 2013).