Would the Beatles have succeeded without Brian Epstein? Yes, I think so, because talent will out, but without Epstein their story would not have turned out the way it did. I really don’t think Brian exploited the Beatles financially, but it does seem that he could have been tougher in some of his business negotiations with others.
Last year, Epstein’s copy of his contract with the Beatles was put up for auction, and it sold for $211,000. It’s dated October 1, 1962, a few days before the release of “Love Me Do.” It’s been said that the contract was actually drawn up on January 23, but as far as I can determine, that was a different document, in whole or at least in part. Ringo’s name can be seen, and he didn’t join the band until August. Either way, Epstein didn’t actually sign a contract with the Beatles until October 1.
I would be interested in seeing the entire text of the document. It reportedly gives Brian’s percentage as 25% of the gross, and Paul McCartney confirms that amount in “Anthology.” Yet because of the fantastic success of the Beatles, there were some in the business who assumed Brian was taking advantage of them above and beyond what was agreed upon. Brian denied that, as seen in this brief video clip.
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In 1964, Brian made an appearance on the American TV game show, “What’s My Line.” The host, John Daly, refers to Epstein as “Barry,” and Brian makes a rather quiet correction.
“A Cellarful of Boys”? Uh, I mean NOISE! “A Cellarful of Noise”. No, I’ve never read it.
I was shying away from the obvious. Of course I knew he was GAY, and that he had a thing for John. Did you ever read Epstein’s book?
Brian Epstein was, of course, quite gay. Philip Norman’s book “Shout!” from 1981 was the first place I can recall this being revealed.
Daly comes off as a cad, not letting Brian tell his own story. Anka is a hep cat, and immediately recognizes him, since Anka himself is a successful singer/songwriter, and knows just about everybody in the business. In this day and age, you would have had to blindfold even the older folks. Extra points to Bennett Cerf, who always struck me as someone who kept up on current trends.
You know, Brian Epstein was not an unattractive man, really. It’s terribly sad that he killed himself. Of course, John made the statement at one point that the Beatles went downhill once Brian died, but John was always making outlandish statements.