John Lennon’s Night at the Roxy

When “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”  bowed at Los Angeles’ Roxy Theater on March 22, 1974, the hit British play (starring Tim Curry, who reprised his role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the 1975 film version) wasn’t the only Euro import that caused a fuss. Guests to the Stateside premiere included Mick and Bianca Jagger, Roman Polanski and John Lennon, who arrived with a young Asian woman who was decidedly not Yoko Ono. The femme in question was May Pang, Lennon’s once-secretary and rumored “other woman” during his marriage to Ono. The controversial couple wore similar circular specs — Lennon’s with a gradient tint — and chatted with the Jaggers and Hollywood superagent Sue Mengers at the after party, where, WWD reported, “the mariachis and margaritas helped put people in the mood for Mexican chow.” Also in attendance were stars of the American variety, like Jack Nicholson, Anjelica Huston and Cher, who gushed to WWD, “[The show] was great.…I can’t wait to meet Tim Curry.”