John Lennon Is Still a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

As a reverential crowd of 1,500 spontaneously broke into the chorus of “Give Peace a Chance,” a star for John Lennon was unveiled Friday by his widow, Yoko Ono, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The ceremony for Lennon, who helped spark a cultural revolution through his words and music, was held just north of the Capitol Records Tower on Vine Street, on the same block where stars have already been dedicated to a host of decidedly more Establishment figures, including Roy Rogers, Eddie Cantor and a movie-making German shepherd of the 1920s, Strong-heart.

“This star, hopefully, will go on for many, many centuries to come, for people to come and touch John’s spirit,” declared Ono, who choked up while addressing her brief remarks to the cheering throng.

“I didn’t expect such a beautiful warm welcome at a time when the family is going through some trials and tribulations,” she noted, referring to the recent publication of a biography that paints the ex-Beatle as a pitiful, drug-addicted brawler and Ono herself as a dragon lady.

Lennon--singer, songwriter, poet and peace activist--was shot to death in New York in 1980 by a young drifter and Beatle fan for whom he had signed an autograph just hours before.

Once the subject of deportation proceedings by the Nixon Administration, Lennon has now been memorialized in two of the best-known crossroads of America--the Hollywood Walk and New York’s Central Park, where a garden was dubbed “Strawberry Fields,” after one of his psychedelic hit songs.

“We have nothing but the greatest respect and admiration for his work, for peace and love,” declared emcee Johnny Grant, chairman of the walk committee, during the fifteen-minute ceremony.

“L.A. was a very special city” for her husband, Ono said before the ceremony. “He went to primal therapy here, you know. And this is where he met Elvis.”

Once, she said, she was walking through Hollywood with her husband when he looked down at the stars and “wonder(ed) why he wasn’t there.”

Friday’s ceremony took place three days after vandals scrawled the words “I buried John” on the newly installed star, the 1,877th. The star was cleaned off and placed under 24-hour guard.

Generation Growing Old

“This is a peaceful, mellow, middle-aged crowd,” noted Police Sgt. Mike Butler. “Most of John Lennon’s fans are now middle-aged folks who are losing their hair.”

Indeed, there were nearly as many toddlers as teen-agers in attendance.

“I liked John Lennon because he’s a good man,” murmured one such youngster, Logan Carson, 6, garbed in Ono-style wrap-around sunglasses while perched on the shoulders of his father, Kit Carson of Newport Beach.

The elder Carson, who was carrying a dozen roses intended for Yoko, expanded on the theme.

“John’s ‘Imagine’ was the most important statement in rock ‘n’ roll ever sung--no countries, no religion, one planet, one people,” he said. “He was the intellect who drove the dream, much like Thomas Paine did for the American Revolution.”

Many in the crowd said Lennon had fueled their personal dreams, through his songs and his diatribes against war and poverty.

“He’s my absolute positive idol. Idol is not the word. He’s probably something close to God for me,” enthused Jeannie Moss, a Simi Valley housewife.

No one in the crowd, however, was more dramatically affected by the mop-topped Lennon than was Bob Lamont, a graying 48-year-old tourist from Fort Wayne, Ind.

“He ran me out of business--I was a barber,” explained Lamont, now a cop.

Among those not on hand Friday were Lennon’s three fellow Beatles, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Paul McCartney, all of whom declined invitations to attend.

The Beatles, along with Paul Newman, are among the biggest entertainment heroes who are not yet commemorated on the Hollywood Walk. To earn a star, nominees must attain longevity in the entertainment industry and make a contribution to show business or the world at large. They must also agree to appear at the dedication.

‘File Is Pending’

“The Beatles were selected about 10 years ago, but they just never came forward,” said Hollywood Chamber of Commerce publicist Anna Martinez. “Their file is pending, we’re just waiting for them to call us to schedule it.”

There’s also the matter of a $3,500 fee for the cost of the star. In Lennon’s case, the bill was paid by Warner Bros., which just so happens to be releasing the documentary film “Imagine: John Lennon” next week.

At a pre-unveiling press conference in a Capitol sound studio, Ono told reporters that the film and Walk of Fame tribute were “coincidental” to the recent release of “The Lives of John Lennon.” Ono, however, refused to discuss specific allegations in the scathing biography by Albert Goldman.

Rather, Ono heaped lavish praise on the film and termed the star ceremony “an incredible honor.”

Outside, some Lennon lovers in the crowd questioned the cultural implications of a Walk of Fame star for Lennon. “I think he would be laughing; it’s sort of like Elvis going to Las Vegas,” said Joey Crawford, 37, of Hollywood.

But Ono, who repeatedly flashed peace signs to the crowd, maintained: “John would have loved it.”