I have heard it suggested that the song "Maxwell Silver's Hammer" was inspired by the death of London playwright Joe Orton. Orton's relationship to the Beatles and the manner of his death certainly give the idea some credence.
Orton, whose life and death is chronicled in the book (and film by the same name) "Prick Up Your Ears," was a popular playwright in the 1960's, and the Beatles worked with him to develop a script for one of their films. Orton's screenplay was, like many of his stage plays, quite racy and the Beatles decided not to produce it.
Orton was the very definition of a modern swinging homosexual. While he was living with another man, he nonetheless frequently had sexual encounters with other men, and he kept a rather vivid diary. One night his lover read the diary, and subsequently murdered Orton with a hammer before committing suicide.
John Lahr, who contributes theatre reviews for The New Yorker magazine, edited Orton's diaries (mysteriously titled "The Orton Diaries"), and wrote the book "Prick Up Your Ears." (Which, when spoken aloud in a Cockney accent, is a naughty play on words that suggests the proclivities of the book's subject.) The film based on the book features actor Wallce Shawn as John Lahr, who is nearly a dead-ringer for Lahr. You might have seen Wallce Shawn (who is a playwright himself) in the very funny movie "The Princess Bride." He's the character who is always exclaiming "Inconceivable!" The part of Joe Orton is played by Gary Oldman, who also has a great resemblance to his real-life counterpart.
WARNING: shameless name dropping ahead
I got to meet John Lahr when I was a student in London. He came to speak to our class on modern British theatre. As I was writing a long paper on Orton I was excited to meet him. I had the honor of meeting Mr. Lahr at the university gate and I got to eat breakfast with him. Despite his similarity to the very-funny Wallace Shawn, Lahr is quite a serious man, and I had to stifle giggles as I recalled funny scenes from "Princess Bride."
Orton's plays are really funny. He loved to parody the "well-made play" such as Oscar Wilde wrote. his plays often combined the traditional comedy of manners with total anarchy, if you can imagine. A memorable line from one play ("Entertaining Mr Sloan" I think): "I had a normal childhood; I hated my father." I don't know of any films made of his plays.
