The 1962 contract between the Beatles and Brian Epstein (screen capture: Sotheby’s) It was Epstein, too, who, as the band conquered Britain, secured The Beatles a slot on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964, the gateway to their American breakthrough.ĭavis, who as the Daily Express’ West Coast correspondent, accompanied the Beatles on their first tour of the US in the summer of 1964, later provided a fly-on-the-wall account of the band and their manager as they hit the big time. ‘Epstein changed the boys into clean-cut lads whom he could take home and introduce to his Yiddishe mamma’Īs Ivor Davis, a journalist who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in London’s East End, suggested, “Epstein changed the boys into clean-cut lads whom he could take home and introduce to his Yiddishe mamma.”Įpstein’s determination - he encountered repeated rejections - finally landed the Beatles a recording contract several months after they signed him as their manager. In came a more wholesome look: suits, shirts and ties, and the later widely imitated mop top haircut.
Out went the scruffy jeans, black leather jackets and swearing and smoking on stage. Put in charge of the record department of a new branch of the family’s North End Music Stores, Epstein grew it, and a further store, into one of the largest music stores in the north of England.Įpstein immediately went to work on the Beatles’ image. His teenage desire to be a dress designer was dismissed by his father, who wanted Epstein to work in the family’s furniture business and musical instrument shop. But, as he wrote in his autobiography, “I am an elder son - a hallowed position in a Jewish family - and a lot was expected of me.” “Without his contribution and sacrifice, the Beatles would not exist as we know them and a lot that we take for granted in our culture would not exist either,” Deller said.Īlthough his grandparents were Eastern European immigrants to Britain at the turn of the 20th century, Epstein’s upbringing was solidly middle class. ‘Without his contribution and sacrifice, the Beatles would not exist as we know them’ I don’t think they’d have got anywhere without Brian.”ĭeller agrees, recently telling The Guardian newspaper of his determination that Epstein be properly recognized in this month’s Liverpool festival. It’s almost as if he’s been written out of the story. (photo credit: Harry Benson/JTA)Īs Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia, suggested a decade ago, “I think Brian’s one of the forgotten people. The Beatles - from left, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison - letting off steam with a pillow fight. While on assignment in London, she met McCartney at the Bag O’Nails club and snagged an invite to the launch party for the “Sgt. Her pictures of Eric Clapton were the first by a woman photographer to feature on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Her father, born Leonard Vail Epstein, changed his name to Lee Eastman his wife, Louise Sara Lindner, hailed from a German Jewish family.īefore her marriage to McCartney, Linda had established herself as an accomplished celebrity photographer. Born in Scarsdale, New York, Eastman was the granddaughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants to the United States. The affair with Schwartz was not long-lasting, unlike McCartney’s marriage to Linda Eastman.
Asher is alleged to have returned from a filming trip to find McCartney and Schwartz in bed together. Although McCartney was engaged to actress Jane Asher, the pair began a relationship. On spec, she turned up at the Beatles’ offices on London’s Wigmore Street. Paul and Linda McCartney (photo credit: Henry Diltz)
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