A Hard Day’s Night for John Lennon Tribute : Television: Internal fighting, failure to get big names to commit cause concert to fall short.

LONDON —  Two L.A. lawyers had a great idea for a big, big rock concert.

One of them had what’s known in show business as “a relationship” with Yoko Ono and they decided that, with her blessing, they could stage an internationally televised concert tribute to John Lennon. It would be the creme de la creme of global rock events. Star after star would climb onstage to perform songs associated with the slain former Beatle. Maybe, just maybe, the other three former Beatles would even reunite for the occasion.

It all seemed perfect. What rock star would not want to get involved?

TV viewers will have the chance to find that out tonight during the broadcast of the syndicated program “A Tribute to John Lennon” (8 p.m. on KTLA Channel 5).

A far cry from the original grandiose vision, the Lennon tribute show is a mish-mash of performance footage taken from the concert that ultimately took place last May in Beatle-birthplace Liverpool, and old videos donated by musical luminaries who either couldn’t or wouldn’t participate in that show. Needless to say, there was no Beatles reunion.

The host is Michael Douglas, who glues the package together with patter about Lennon’s life and work (“John began to write introspective songs, expanding his craft with lyrics that expressed his concerns as a man. . . .”). Christopher Reeve, who hosted the Liverpool concert with similar narration, has been totally extracted from the TV show.

Even the air date, the 10th anniversary of the night that Lennon was fatally shot in New York, marks a significant change of plan. The program was originally set for broadcast Oct. 9, to celebrate what would have been Lennon’s 50th birthday.

The television show is the culmination of nearly everything that can go wrong in trying to produce the sort of global event pioneered by the wildly successful 1985 Live Aid concert.

L.A. lawyers David Brody and John Espedal were the ones who first thought of staging a tribute to Lennon and got Yoko Ono involved. They also brought in executive producer Neville Bolt, who had produced the well-received “Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute” concert.

Factional infighting eventually ensued, however, poisoning the atmosphere to the point that, by the time of the concert, Brody and Espedal were not listed in the credits. Nor are they credited in the TV show.

“There’s some internal things going on that I’d rather not comment on,” says Brody. “Let’s just say I would have been pleased if it had been more of a group effort.”

Bolt decided to hold the concert in Liverpool rather than in London, New York or Los Angeles, as originally planned. It would appear live around the world as a pay-per-view event and then be sold to a TV network in the United States and in other countries for rebroadcast. Profits would be donated to charity through John and Yoko’s Spirit Foundation.

The city of Liverpool, recognizing the opportunity to put itself in the world spotlight, agreed to a joint venture and lent the producers more than $340,000 of seed money for the concert. The city also agreed to spend an additional $850,000 or so to improve the concert site and perform other work, with the understanding that they would be paid back half that amount.

“We wanted to be seen sharing the recognition of John’s genius,” says Steve McGriskin, the city official in charge of concert plans. “We’re also sensible people. We wanted the city to get publicity coast to coast in the States. The promotional aspects were very important.”

The show’s producers began contacting the talent. Everybody seemed interested. There seemed to be a good shot that Elvis Costello would be musical director. Paul McCartney indicated he would do it.

“Madonna and Michael Jackson were interested,” says Daniel Kaufman, who was a partner with Brody in one of the entertainment companies involved in the production. “George Michael had two Lennon songs picked out that he was going to perform.”

The biggest stars in the world all seemed to be interested. But none ever said yes. “We just needed to get that one superstar,” says Kaufman. “All you needed was that one sign that, yes, this was going to be a big event.”

But none ever did.

McCartney sent a video that was played at the concert, but was quoted as saying that he didn’t think the show was something Lennon would have liked.

Various reasons are cited for the lack of stars. Liverpool official McGriskin believes the concert came at a time when the top stars had already appeared in numerous charity mega-events. Among those who did show up were Cyndi Lauper, Hall & Oates and Dave Edmunds.

Tickets went on sale for 25 ($42.50 at that time), a steep price by any standard, let alone in economically depressed Liverpool for a show with no A-list performers.

David Ravden, the accountant for the production, declined to give any financial figures about the cost of putting on the show, the income generated or how much will ultimately go to charity. “Some people like to be muckrakers,” he says. “I don’t want to provide ammunition for them.” He said he will make the figures public eventually.

Kaufman is disappointed by what happened with the show and dismayed over the lack of cooperation among the planners.

“It’s so interesting how things end up,” he says. “John Lennon is a symbol for exactly what wasn’t done here.”