For what it's worth, here's another indication that John probably had grown his beard out at the time:Chris,
The second video of John and the family at Cold Spring Harbor shows him sporting that beard. The video was taken in 1980, the same year the video that started this thread was made and the same year he was shot by Mark David Chapman (December 8, 1980)
Bill
In early June 1980, Lennon joined a crew of 5 strangers for a 5-day (600 mile) sailing voyage from Rhode Island to Bermuda on a 43-foot schooner named "Megan Jaye".
John often added scribbled caricatures of himself on postcards and such, as he did when wrote an entry into the log of the vessel.
Below is the log entry ("Hank" was the vessel's captain, "T.C" is Tyler Coneys, the owner of the sailboat).
The doodle shows John with a beard.
In late July, he returned to New York from Bermuda, to work on "Double Fantasy",
and he surely didn't want to look like a throwback hippie during the period of recording and promoting the album.
So, he got a shave and a haircut ("2 bits!"
).[Edit:] I should include the source of this image. It's on page 371 of the book "The John Lennon Letters".
Pierre
