VIDEORGY: Julian Lennon still isn’t a particularly...

VIDEORGY: Julian Lennon still isn’t a particularly charismatic stage performer, so the most interesting footage of the young popster in “Stand by Me: A Portrait of Julian Lennon” (airing on Showtime this Tuesday and again March 31) is the behind-the-scenes stuff. Along for the ride on his debut tour, we see teen fans in ecstasy (they even shout his name in unison), Julian battling stage fright and a nice, self-deprecating segment where Lennon reads his reviews aloud, seemingly more rattled by the references to his diminutive stature than the constant comparisons to his father (another one of which appears in Spring Album Roundup, Page 61).

According to Martin Lewis, who produced and directed the show, the credit for these revealing moments goes to Emmy Award-winning cameraman Jon Alpert, who was hired to tag along on tour with Lennon, shooting any scenes he found especially notable. “The whole idea was to capture Julian’s personality and his character,” Lewis said. “The notion was to place him in a situation where he’d be severely tested--his first concert dates--and see how he responded.”

Actually, the most intriguing remark about Lennon isn’t in the film at all. Before Lewis began shooting, he went to Peter Townshend to ask advice. “Pete was very perceptive,” Lewis said. “He said the biggest danger for Julian is not just making it on his own, but that he mustn’t be turned into a teddy bear for 35-year-old John Lennon fans.”