Editing Magic Alex (section)

==London and the Beatles==
The 23-year-old Yannis Alexis Mardas first arrived in England on a student visa in 1965, befriending [[John Dunbar (artist)|John Dunbar]] of the Indica Gallery in London, and later moving in with him in a flat on Bentinck Street, which was where Mardas first met Lennon. Known at this time as Yannis Mardas, he found employment as a television repairman.{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=373}} Dunbar later introduced Mardas to [[Brian Jones]],{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=704}} after Mardas exhibited his ''Kinetic Light Sculptures'' at the Indica Gallery.<ref name="AcidArtWorkToAuction" /> Dunbar worked with Mardas on the "psychedelic light box" for [[the Rolling Stones]]' three-week tour of Europe in 1967,{{sfn|Brown|Gaines|1983|p=205}} although they were not impressed with the results.<ref name="AcidArtWorkToAuction"/> Dunbar later said: "He was quite cunning in the way he pitched his thing. He knew enough to know how to wind people up and to what extent. He was a fucking TV repairman: Yannis Mardas, none of this 'Magic Alex' shit!"{{sfn|Miles|1997|pp=373-374}}<ref name="designersbelievein">{{cite magazine |first=Sam |last=Jacob |url=http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/the-critics/columnists/just-what-do-designers-believe-in?/5201279.article |title=Just what do designers believe in? |magazine=The Architects' Journal |date=30 April 2009 |access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref>

Jones introduced Mardas to Lennon, and it was at this point that Mardas impressed Lennon with the ''Nothing Box''; a small plastic box with randomly blinking lights that Lennon would stare at for hours while under the influence of [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]].<ref name="TheBeatlesAnthologyDVD1">The Beatles ''Anthology'' DVD (2003) (Episode 8 - 0:29:53) George Martin talking about the toys that Mardas gave Lennon.</ref> Lennon later introduced the renamed John Alexis Mardas as his "new guru", calling him "Magic Alex".{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=705}} Mardas allegedly told Lennon about ideas for futuristic electronic devices he was "working on", which he later disavowed either promising or discussing: a telephone that responded to its owner's voice and could identify who was calling,{{sfn|Miles|1997|pp=442-443}} a force field that would surround [[the Beatles]]' homes, an X-ray camera, paint that would make anything invisible, car paint that would change colour by flicking a switch, and wallpaper speakers,{{sfn|Brown|Gaines|1983|p=206}} which would actually be a part of the wallpaper.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=705}} Mardas later asked for the [[V12 engine|V-12]] engines from Lennon's [[Rolls-Royce Limited|Rolls-Royce]] and [[George Harrison]]'s [[Ferrari]] Berlinetta car, so he could build a [[flying saucer]].{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=705}} Mardas had denied these in a formal statement.<ref name="StatementbyMardas">{{cite web|url=http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/arts/Mardas.pdf |title=Statement by John Alexis Mardas|work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 2010 |access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref>

The Beatles set up a company for Mardas called Fiftyshapes Ltd. in September 1967;{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=159}} he later became one of the first employees of the newly formed [[Apple Corps]], earning £40 a week (equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|40|1967|r=-2}} in {{inflation-year|UK}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} and receiving 10% of any profits made from his inventions.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=728}}

The Beatles often called Mardas the "Greek wizard",<ref name="16MagazineSep1968p48">''[[16 (magazine)|16]]'', September 1968. p48</ref> and [[Paul McCartney]] remembered being interested in his ideas: "Well, if you [Mardas] could do that, we’d like one". It was always, 'We'd like one{{' "}}.{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=376}} Mardas' ideas were not confined to the realms of electronic wizardry, but included songwriting involvement, with a Lennon–Mardas composition, "[[What's the New Mary Jane]]", originally meant for inclusion on the Beatles' [[The Beatles (album)|self-titled double album]] (also known as the White Album). Lennon later removed Mardas' songwriting credit for unknown reasons.{{sfn|Turner|1999|p=264}}

Mardas was given his own laboratory called Apple Electronics, at 34 Boston Place, [[Westminster, London]], and was helped to obtain a British work [[Visa (document)|visa]].<ref name="StatementbyMardas" /> His pay eventually rose to £6,000 per year (equivalent to £{{format price|{{Inflation|UK|6000|1968}}}} in {{inflation-year|UK}}),<ref name="inflation-UK" /><ref name="StatementbyMardas" /> and an American patent attorney, Alfred Crotti, moved to England to assist Mardas.<ref name="StatementbyMardas" /> In a historical TV promo for Apple Corps included on the Beatles ''Anthology'' DVD, Mardas is shown wearing a white laboratory assistant's coat in Apple Electronics (with loud oscillating noises in the background) saying, "Hello, I'm Alexis, from Apple Electronics. I would like to say 'Hello' to all my brothers around the world, and to all the girls around the world, and to all the electronic people around the world. That is Apple Electronics." Mardas then turns and points back to a collection of two portable 2-track recorders in wooden boxes, a 2-track studio recording machine, voltage meters, a hi-fi amplifier, an [[oscilloscope]], and a TV screen showing pulsating psychedelic balloon shapes.<ref name="TheBeatlesAnthologyDVD2">The Beatles ''Anthology'' DVD (2003) (Episode 8 - 0:30:02) Mardas in the Apple Electronics studio.</ref> A mysterious fire at the laboratory prevented Mardas from presenting his inventions, but he later said: "I'm a rock gardener, and now I'm doing electronics. Maybe next year, I make films or poems. I have no formal training in any of these, but this is irrelevant".{{sfn|Miles|1997|pp=531–532}}

===Greece===
The Beatles had tried in 1964 to buy the {{convert|14|acre|adj=on}} Trinity Island, (Greek: Αγια Τριάδα), off the coast of the Greek island of [[Euboea]] (resembling a guitar in shape) but the owners were not interested in a sale.<ref name="CountryLifeMagazine">{{cite web |url=http://www.countrylife.co.uk/property/guidesinternational/article/149163/Greek_islands_for_sale.html |title=Greek islands for sale |date=11 October 2007 |publisher=[[Country Life (magazine)|Country Life]] |access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref> Lennon was still interested in buying or leasing an island to live on together, and discussed it with the other Beatles on 19 July 1967.{{sfn|Miles|Badman|2001|p=272}} Mardas' father was a major in the Greek secret police, and Mardas explained that through him the Beatles would have access to Greek government connections, which would speed the acquisition of an island, because many islands did not have the right certificates of ownership and were subject to government restrictions.<ref name="CountryLifeMagazine" /> On 22 July 1967, Harrison and his wife [[Pattie Boyd]], [[Ringo Starr]] and [[Neil Aspinall]] flew to Athens, where they stayed in Mardas' parents' house overnight, until Lennon, along with [[Cynthia Lennon]] and their son [[Julian Lennon]], McCartney and [[Jane Asher]], Pattie Boyd's 16-year-old sister Paula, [[Mal Evans]] and [[Alistair Taylor]] set off for Athens.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=704}}

Their chartered yacht, the MV ''Arvi'', was detained in Crete because of bad weather, so the party had to wait in Athens for three days.{{sfn|Miles|Badman|2001|p=272}} Taylor complained that on a trip to a small hill village, "We came round a corner of the peaceful road only to find hundreds of photographers clicking away at us", which Mardas had organised. McCartney later said that while sailing around Greek islands, everybody just sat around and took LSD.{{sfn|Miles|1997|pp=379-380}}<ref name="TheBeatlesAnthologyDVD3">The Beatles ''Anthology'' DVD (2003) (Episode 6 - 1:06:18) Harrison talking about the trip to Greece to buy an island.</ref> They eventually found what is referred to as the {{convert|80|acre|adj=on}} island of Leslo (although no Greek island is officially known by this name). The island had a small fishing village, four beaches, and a large olive grove. Four small neighbouring islands surrounded it (one for each Beatle). The Beatles sent Alistair Taylor back to London to handle the purchase of the island. Taylor received permission from the Greek government to purchase the island, and £90,000 of special "export dollars" required for the transaction were purchased. However, the Beatles changed their minds before the deal went through, and the export dollars were sold for a £11,400 profit a few months later when exchange rates went up (one of the few profitable business ventures for the Beatles).<ref>[https://www.beatlesbible.com/1967/07/26/beatles-visit-greek-island/ "The Beatles visit a Greek island they intended to purchase"], ''[[The Beatles Bible]]''. Retrieved on 30 March 2019.</ref>

===Apple Boutique and marriage===
On 1 August 1967, Mardas, Aspinall and [[Derek Taylor]] were invited by George Harrison to stay at the home of Robert Fitzpatrick on Blue Jay Way in Los Angeles, and on 7 August 1967, Harrison and his wife Pattie visited San Francisco's [[Haight-Ashbury]] district with Mardas.<ref name="TheBeatlesAnthologyDVD4">The Beatles ''Anthology'' DVD (2003) (Episode 7 - 0:06:42) Harrison talking about visiting Haight-Ashbury, with photos of Mardas sitting/standing next to him.</ref> The [[Apple Boutique]], at 94 [[Baker Street]], London, was one of the first business ventures made by the Beatles' fledgling Apple Corps, and Mardas (at great expense) was commissioned to create one of his ideas: an "artificial sun" which would light up the night-time sky{{sfn|Shotton|Schaffner|1983|p=150}} for the opening on 7 December 1967.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=730}} When the time came for Mardas to demonstrate his artificial sun for the Beatles,{{sfn|Harry|2000|p=717}} he claimed that there was not a strong enough energy supply to power it; the Beatles accepted this explanation.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=732}} Mardas appeared (uncredited) in the Beatles' TV movie ''[[Magical Mystery Tour (film)|Magical Mystery Tour]]'',{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=159}} which was first broadcast on [[BBC1]] on [[Boxing Day]] in 1967. On 11 July 1968, 26-year-old Mardas married 22-year-old [[Euphrosyne Doxiadis|Eufrosyne Doxiades]] (the daughter of a respected Greek architect) at [[Saint Sophia (London)|St Sophia's Church]], London.<ref name="16MagazineNov1968p64">''[[16 (magazine)|16]]'', November 1968. p64</ref> Harrison and his wife attended, and Lennon (who was there with [[Yoko Ono]]) was joint best man, along with [[Donovan]].<ref name="16MagazineNov1968p64" />

===Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and India===
{{Main|The Beatles in India}}
[[File:MahareshiYogi2.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]]
Mardas and Aspinall joined Lennon and Harrison in India, where they were studying meditation under the tutelage of [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]]; Starr had returned to England complaining that the Indian food did not agree with him, and McCartney had left on 24 March 1968.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=755}} When Mardas first met the Maharishi, {{clarify span|date=December 2024|he said}} sarcastically, "I know you! Didn’t I meet you in Greece years ago?"{{sfn|Badman|Bacon|2004|p=214}}

Mardas was jealous of the control the Maharishi had over Lennon, and during one of their frequent walks through the woods he asked Lennon why the Maharishi always had an accountant by his side.<ref name="MaharishiMaheshYogiSpiritualLeaderTheIndependent">{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/maharishi-mahesh-yogi-spiritual-leader-who-introduced-millions-including-the-beatles-to-transcendental-meditation-779109.html |title=Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Spiritual leader who introduced millions, including the Beatles, to transcendental meditation |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=7 February 2008 |access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref> Lennon replied that the Beatles (or Lennon and Harrison) were considering donating a large part of their income to the Maharishi's bank accounts in Switzerland.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|pp=755-756}} When Mardas questioned the Maharishi about this, he offered money to Mardas to build a high-powered radio station, so he could broadcast Maharishi's teachings to the whole of India.{{sfn|Brown|Gaines|1983|p=261}}

Alcohol was not allowed in the Maharishi's [[ashram]], but Mardas smuggled some in from [[Dehra Dun]],{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=755}} and later reported to Lennon and Harrison that the Maharishi had sex with a young American student,<ref name="TheBeatlestheMaharishiandme">{{cite web|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3340963.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516223837/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3340963.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 May 2008 |date=10 February 2008|title=The Beatles, the Maharishi and me |first= Cynthia|last=Lennon |work=[[The Sunday Times]]|publisher=Times Newspapers |access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref> and had made a sexual advance toward [[Mia Farrow]].{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=756}} This was not supported in Farrow's autobiography ''What Falls Away'' (1997), in which she wrote that she may have misinterpreted the supposed sexual advance.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=756}} Mardas continued to insist the Maharishi was not what he said he was, making even Harrison unsure. Lennon mused in 1970: "Well, it must be true, because if George is doubting him, there must be something in it".{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=756}} Lennon and Harrison confronted the Maharishi, but the startled Maharishi's answers did not satisfy them, and they decided to leave the camp.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=756}} Mardas insisted that they (Lennon, Harrison and their wives) must leave the camp at once, or the Maharishi might send down some "black magic" on them. Mardas then went down to Dehra Dun to organise taxis for the next morning to take them all to [[Delhi]].{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=756}}

Cynthia Lennon personally believed that Mardas invented the story about sexual impropriety to undermine the Maharishi's influence on the Beatles, as Mardas was always jealous of anyone having Lennon's attention.{{sfn|Brown|Gaines|1983|p=264}}{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=429}}<ref>Musician magazine, September 1992, p. 43 "There was nothing that ever happened except that there was a fella who was supposedly a friend of ours who stirred up and created this big fantasy. There was never anything that took place".</ref> Harrison and McCartney later offered their apologies to the Maharishi (McCartney said that he did not believe the accusation at all).<ref name="ManWhoSavedTheBeatles">{{cite news |first=Allan |last=Kozinn |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/arts/music/07yogi.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/S/Starr,%20Ringo |title=Meditation on the Man Who Saved the Beatles |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=7 February 2008 |access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref> In 2010, Mardas issued a statement to ''[[The New York Times]]'' denying that he had spread rumours.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/pageoneplus/corrections.html|title=Corrections|date=4 March 2010|work=The New York Times|access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref>

===Lennon's divorce===
After returning to England in May 1968, Lennon suggested that Cynthia take a holiday in Greece with Mardas, Donovan, Boyd, and her sister.<ref name="Uncutmagazine">Hunt, Chris ([[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]) December 2005</ref> Lennon said that he would be very busy recording what would become ''[[The Beatles (album)|The White Album]]'' and that it would do her some good to take a break with Mardas, his girlfriend [[Jenny Boyd]], and others.{{sfn|Lennon|2005|pp=281-282}} Cynthia arrived home one day early from Greece on 22 May 1968. She and Mardas discovered Lennon and Yoko Ono sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring into each other's eyes, and found Ono's slippers outside the Lennons' marital bedroom door.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=772}} Cynthia asked Boyd and Mardas if she could spend the night at their apartment. At the apartment Boyd went straight to bed, but Mardas got Cynthia drunk and tried to convince her that they should both run away together. After Cynthia had vomited in the bathroom she collapsed on a bed in the spare bedroom, but Mardas joined her and tried to kiss her until she (in her words) "pushed him away".{{sfn|Lennon|2005|pp=288-289}} [[Brian Epstein]]'s personal assistant, [[Peter Brown (music industry)|Peter Brown]], maintains that Cynthia did sleep with Mardas, saying: "She knew it was a mistake the moment it happened, especially with Alex [Mardas], whom she had never trusted, nor even liked".{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=772}}

Lennon went to New York with McCartney shortly afterward, telling Cynthia she could not go with them, so she went on a trip to Italy with her mother.{{sfn|Lennon|2005|pp=292-293}} During Cynthia's holiday in Italy, an "agitated" Mardas unexpectedly arrived (pacing up and down outside her hotel until she returned){{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=773}} and gave the news that Lennon was planning to sue Cynthia for [[divorce]] on grounds of [[adultery]], seek sole custody of Julian, and send Cynthia "back to Hoylake".{{sfn|Coleman|1995|p=464}} Mardas also said that he intended to testify in court that Cynthia had committed adultery with him. She said in 2005: "The mere fact that Magic Alex [Mardas] arrived in Italy in the middle of the night without any prior knowledge of where I was staying made me extremely suspicious. I was being coerced into making it easy for John [Lennon] and Yoko to accuse me of doing something that would make them not look so bad".<ref>''The Loves Of John Lennon'' by [[Chris Hunt]], [[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]], John Lennon Special, 2005.</ref>

===Apple Studio===
[[File:3 Savile Row.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Apple Corps offices, at 3 Savile Row, where Mardas was asked to build a studio in the basement]]
Mardas had often said that the [[Abbey Road Studios|Abbey Road]] studio was "no good",<ref name="TheBeatlesAnthologyDVD5">The Beatles ''Anthology'' DVD, (2003) (Episode 8 – 0:29:56) George Martin talking about Mardas saying that Abbey Road was "No good".</ref> much to producer [[George Martin]]'s annoyance: "The trouble was that Alex was always coming to the studios to see what we were doing and to learn from it, while at the same time saying 'These people are so out of date.' But I found it very difficult to chuck him out, because the boys liked him so much. Since it was very obvious that I didn't, a minor schism developed".{{sfn|Martin|1994|p=173}} Mardas boasted that he could build a much better studio, with a 72-track [[magnetic tape|tape]] machine,{{sfn|Lewisohn|1990|p=164}} instead of the 4-track at Abbey {{nowrap|Road{{tsp}}{{mdash}}{{tsp}}}}which was being updated at the time to an {{nowrap|8-track{{tsp}}{{mdash}}{{tsp}}}}so he was given the job of designing the new Apple Studio in the basement of Apple headquarters on Savile Row.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=768}} One of Mardas' more outrageous plans was to replace the [[sound baffle|acoustic baffles]] around Starr's drums with an [[Standing wave#Opposing waves|invisible sonic force field]].{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=810}} Starr remembered that Mardas bought some "huge" surplus computers from [[British Aerospace]], which were stored in his barn, but "they never left the barn", and were later sold as scrap metal.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=810}}

Mardas gave the Beatles regular reports of his progress, but when they required their new studio in January 1969, during the ''Get Back'' project that became ''[[Let It Be (album)|Let It Be]]'', they discovered an unusable studio: no 72-track tape deck (Mardas had reduced it to 16 tracks),{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=810}} no [[soundproofing]], no [[talkback (recording)|talkback]] ([[intercom]]) system, and not even a [[patch bay]] to run the wiring between the control room and the 16 speakers that Mardas had fixed haphazardly to the walls.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=810}} The only new piece of sound equipment present was a crude [[mixing console]] which Mardas had built, which looked (in the words of Martin's assistant, Dave Harries) like "bits of wood and an old oscilloscope".{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=810}} The console was scrapped after just one session. Harrison said it was "chaos", and that they had to "rip it all out and start again,"<ref name="TheBeatlesAnthologyDVD6">The Beatles ''Anthology'' DVD (2003) (Episode 8 – 0:30:32) Harrison talking about the chaos in the studio, and having to rip it all out.</ref> calling it "the biggest disaster of all time."{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=810}} Harrison's suspicions of Mardas' competence had been raised when he saw him wandering around in a white coat with a clipboard, and considered the possibility that Mardas had "just read the latest version of ''Science Weekly'', and used its ideas".{{sfn|Anthology (book)|2000|p=290}} Mardas later stated that he had never been in the basement of Savile Row, as the studio equipment he was building was being tested in Apple Electronics, at Boston Place, Marylebone.<ref name="StatementbyMardas" /> The Beatles asked producer Martin to come to the rescue, so he borrowed two portable four-track recorders from [[EMI]], and long-time Beatles' engineer [[Geoff Emerick]] was given the task of building and setting up a recording studio with the loaned equipment.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=811}}

During these sessions, Mardas gave the Beatles a prototype of a combination rhythm guitar and bass that had a swivel neck.<ref name="Con Artist">{{Cite web |last=Sokol |first=Tony |date=2021-12-01 |title=The Beatles: Get Back – Was Magic Alex a Con Artist or an Innovator? |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-beatles-get-back-magic-alex/ |access-date=2022-01-16 |website=Den of Geek}}</ref> In the film ''[[The Beatles: Get Back]],'' Lennon wondered how he would play guitar with the strings of the bass against his hand, and noted that it was impossible to tune.<ref name="Slate">{{Cite web |last=Moran |first=Meredith |date=2021-12-07 |title=Here's What Happened to Get Back's Non-Beatle Characters |url=https://slate.com/culture/2021/12/get-back-beatles-billy-preston-glyn-johns.html |access-date=2022-01-16 |website=Slate}}</ref>

After [[Allen Klein]] was brought in to be the Beatles' manager in 1969, he closed Apple Electronics<ref name="GetBackandothersetbacks">{{cite web |first=John |last=Robinson |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/nov/22/popandrock.thebeatles |title=Get Back and other setbacks |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=2 November 2003 |access-date=18 June 2011}}</ref> and Mardas left the company.<ref name="IndependentApology" />{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=546}} It was later estimated that Mardas' ideas and projects had cost the Beatles at least £300,000<ref name="CampbellNewStatesman3August1979" /> (£{{format price|{{inflation|UK|300000|1968}}}} in {{inflation-year|UK}} pounds if it was essentially spent in 1968). Starr once approved of one of Mardas' ideas: "He [Mardas] had an idea to stop people taping our records off the radio – you'd have to have a decoder to get the signal, and then we thought we could sell the time and put commercials on instead. We brought EMI and [[Capitol Records|Capitol]] in from America to look at it, but they weren't interested at all."{{sfn|Anthology (book)|2000|p=290}}

According to author [[Peter Doggett]], in the Beatles' history, Mardas is the only individual who occupies a place close to Klein's in terms of vilification from commentators and biographers.{{sfn|Doggett|2011|p=65}}