New York, marriage and running the place: Sara Lownds’ life before Bob Dylan
It often tends to be the case that when people marry somebody famous, they become known for said marriage more than anything else. This is often unfair, as many people who do work that has propelled them to fame often meet somebody slightly more famous and, rather than being recognised for their individual talent, are instead just recognised for the marriage. Sara Lownds is a good example of this; before she married Bob Dylan, she had a very full and exciting career.
It ended in a screaming match and a damaged jaw. One morning, as Lownds headed downstairs to see her husband, Bob Dylan and their children eating breakfast with one of the many girlfriends Dylan had been seeing over the past year, Lownds snapped. She and her husband, whose marriage had been on the rocks for some time at this point, came to a conclusion that morning, as slanderous words were exchanged and Bob Dylan wound up punching his then-wife in the face. It started with Lownds moving to New York City.
She was born Shirley Marlin Noznisky in Wilmington, Delaware. Her father set up a scrap metal business in Wilmington and was shot dead by a drunken East European immigrant in 1956. Shirley moved to New York City three years later, where her life changed dramatically.
One of the first and most drastic things she did when she first moved to New York City in 1959 was marry the photographer Hans Lownds. She married him as Shirley, but he asked her to change her name, as one of his previous wives who had left him was also called Shirley. She changed her name to Sara so as not to remind her new husband of his ex, but she would inevitably follow in her footsteps as she later left Hans for Bob Dylan.
Before that, she did a lot of work as a model. She appeared in Playboy and some other publications. One of her most famous photoshoots was with Harper’s Bazaar, where she was billed as the “Lovely luscious Sara Lownds.” After a successful stint modelling, she became pregnant, and she and Hans had a daughter. Shortly afterwards, their relationship started to crumble.
When her marriage struggled, she found solace in Greenwich Village, where she fully immersed herself in the folk scene that had emerged in recent years. Naturally, one of the loudest voices in the folk scene at the time was Bob Dylan, who was seeing a great deal of success domestically and globally. They first met in early 1964, and feelings may have been there, but they didn’t become romantically involved until Sara separated with Hans later that year.
When her marriage fully broke down, she started working as a secretary for the film production division of the Time Life company. She was only supposed to have secretarial duties, but according to the filmmakers Richard Leacock and D A Pennebaker, “She ran the place.” The studio was involved with making the film Don’t Look Back, and when she was at the studio, Lownds spent more time with Dylan, which is when their relationship began to blossom.
They were happy for a time, but their marriage ended rough, prompting Dylan to write several songs about the collapse of their marriage. One of the most notable is the album Blood on the Tracks, which is supposedly Dylan’s narrative of the disintegration of their relationship.
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