Photographer May Pang Credit: Scott Segelbaum

Did you know that one of the most monumental moments in the history of music happened right here at the Most Magical Place on Earth? At the height of the rock & roll revolution, college dropout May Pang bluffed her way into a secretarial job at ABKCO Music & Records (managers of the Rolling Stones and Apple Corps) and soon found herself serving as personal assistant to Yoko Ono and John Lennon. During the couple’s 18-month “Lost Weekend” separation, Pang became Lennon’s companion and collaborator, documenting iconic moments with her 35mm Nikon camera — including the December 1974 dissolution of the Beatles at Walt Disney World’s Polynesian Resort.

Pang will appear at Winter Garden’s Grotto at Stoneybrook West this Friday through Sunday with The Lost Weekend — The Photography of May Pang, an exhibition of photographs from that Disney trip, among other intimate images of rock royalty. She recently spoke with me via video chat about growing up in 1960s Manhattan with Chinese immigrant parents, her documentary The Lost Weekend: A Love Story (available on streaming), and much more.

“A Face in the Crowd: John at Disney World” (1974) Credit: May Pang

Her lifelong love of music:

Since I was a kid, music was always my life; it was my lifeline. People always say [that], but music really saved me in the sense of, there was always discord in my house. My father thought he was still living in China, constantly arguing with my mother. My mother [was] getting used to the world here, that women had some rights. Even though I’m a non-musician, I understood music so well that John was always surprised. We’d talk about music all the time.

Learning analog photography in Central Park as a teenager:

To this day, I don’t say I’m a photographer; I don’t do sessions [but] I’m very honored when professionals come up to me and say, “No, you’re a photographer.” I was always known to carry my camera, and I think about it now, and I’m feeling the weight of it.  … I just would take my camera on leisurely days and just wander around, and if I thought I saw something interesting, I would just take it. That was my whole premise, just on the spur of the moment.

Working for John and Yoko:

I was a personal assistant, secretary, you name it: You need to go to the grocery store, you need to go and help buy clothes with them, you need to set up interviews. You name it, I’ve done it. I don’t know why they chose me, but I got chosen, and they kept me on.

I ended up going to England [for the shooting of the 1972 Imagine film] and John said to me, “Oh, I need you to bring something back.” It was his Rickenbacker black and white [guitar] that he used on Ed Sullivan. So I brought that back to America, [and] to avoid paying the taxes I said it was mine. The [customs] guy said, “Can you play it?” and I wanted to be honest, because if I said yes and he made me play it, that would not have been good. So I said, “No, I really don’t know how to play it yet,” and he let me go.

“If You Only Knew” Credit: May Pang

John’s delay signing paperwork dissolving the Beatles:

One of the one of the major reasons was he was so freaked out at knowing that he’d be the only [former Beatle] living in America at that time and be responsible for a million dollars’ worth of taxes. … Everybody thought that Yoko was part of this. Yoko was not involved in any of John’s managing his life until John went back [in 1975]; she had nothing to do with it. It was the two lawyers and John and myself in the room [at the Polynesian]. Julian was off in the other room, and when John signed he had to coax me into [photographing] it. … I didn’t even know if I had a picture, because the room was dark and I didn’t have a flash.

Lennon’s post-Beatles reunion with Paul McCartney:

It was like nothing happened. … Paul and Linda showed up unexpectedly [at a recording session] and the door opens and I look up and I went, “Oh my God, John, Paul and Linda!” And he looks over and goes, “Hey,” like nothing. In January [1975], Paul and Linda came by for a visit, and John said, “What’s your next project?” He goes, “We’re thinking of going to New Orleans to do our next record,” and I saw John’s eyes just lit up.

The day after, John [asks] “Do you think I should write with Paul again?” I am telling you, my neck was like The Exorcist. I said, “Of course you should, because as solo artists you’re good, but when the two of you get together, your writing is beyond that.” He sort of sat there and went, “Yeah, you’re right.” I knew that if I had gotten John down there, there would have been something.

“Say Cheese” Credit: May Pang

Lennon at Disney’s theme parks:

In early 1974 we went to Disneyland in California. We were there because we were working on the Rock and Roll album, and this was the first time [John] was going to see his son after three years. I’m making arrangements of what we can do. What’s the happiest place on earth for a young kid? It wasn’t about John anymore, it was really about [doing] something for Julian. … He was a father first, in this case. The second time around, we were going down to Florida, and again we said, “Where can we go? Let’s go to Disney World, because now that’s a newer version of the Disneyland.”

We were only there for like two days, so we really spent more time doing the rides. John loved being in the Haunted Mansion — all the holograms were just beginning at that point, and he enjoyed all that. He even enjoyed It’s a Small World.

We were sitting in the monorail and going back to our room. John and Julian were sitting opposite me [and] this father and son came on at the next stop. They sat right behind me, and the father leans over, and says, “Son, I hear there’s a Beatle that’s here at Disney World.” The little kid goes, “Who is it, Dad? Which one?” He goes, “I think George Harrison.”

I started laughing, and John’s looking across from me, motioning like, why are you hysterical? The father and son heard us laughing and cackling, [and] he’s looking at us not seeing John at all. I asked him, “Why aren’t you [recognized]?” [He said] “Because everybody is so interested in going to the next ride, they’re not interested in seeing me.”

4-7 p.m. Friday, noon-6 p.m. Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Sunday, March 20-22; The Grotto at Stoneybrook West, 12572 Stoneybrook West Parkway, Winter Garden; 321-236-1970; free.

“Social Commentary” Credit: May Pang

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This article appears in March 18-24, 2026.