Why did John's footage never come out? My theory is John disliked his long hair / ponytail in the Hit Factory video footage and therefore shelved it. After John's first video performance takes, he put on Yoko's white baseball cap to cover up his hair for the remainder of his takes. The day after the videotaping, Aug. 20, John is photographed with his hair freshly cut. The chronological photo sequence below from Aug. 18 - Aug. 20, 1980 illustrates this.
Dialogue about John putting on a cap during the videotaping (from the Jack Douglas "hidden mic" tapes):
John: "Is Fred back yet?" " I want to be putting a cap on, because by the time this goes out, I'll have different hair and we might want to fake it. So it's just a white baseball cap and if it gives you a problem, f*** it, we'll just leave the hair, but otherwise it would be nice if we can, 'cause then you can't really tell what it is."
[Later after initial takes without a cap]
Director Jay Dubin: "How about your hat? Do you want to do it with the hat?"
John: "Does it make any difference to you?"
Jay Dubin: "No, we can't use the first shot we took."
John: "Of course, we can. Oh, you can't use it anyway?"
Jay Dubin: "No, we'll lose continuity. If you put the hat on, we'll lose continuity."
John: "Don't worry about it. We'll cut between the hat and no hat. I don't believe in continuity."
John to Yoko: "Right, Mother? It doesn't matter if we cut from the hat to no hat?"
Below: Aug. 18, 1980 - John's long hair is pulled back in ponytail prior to the night videotaping of "I'm Losing You."
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Below: Circa 12 a.m. Aug. 19, 1980 - After initial takes, John has covered up his long hair with Yoko's white baseball cap as seen in footage that leaked in 2015.
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Below: Aug. 20, 1980 - On the day after videotaping, John is photographed with a fresh haircut.
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