0:00:05 > 0:00:10This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37He'd driven back to London.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42We don't know what happened after that. He stayed up all night.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46Then the next day, the house man called me
0:00:46 > 0:00:52and said that he was still in his room and there was no sign of life.
0:00:54 > 0:00:59NEW SPEAKER: It was Sunday, August 27th, 1967.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03I switched the TV on and it was announced that he was dead.
0:01:03 > 0:01:09And I cried, like other people I knew had cried.
0:01:17 > 0:01:23- NEW SPEAKER:- I think he woke up in the night and thought, "I haven't had my sleeping pill,"
0:01:23 > 0:01:26and took a couple more.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31Since then, there's been millions of rumours - Suicide? Murder?
0:01:32 > 0:01:38NEW SPEAKER: He was certainly in a very positive state of mind.
0:01:38 > 0:01:46He'd made a plans for the future, I'd spoken to him two days before. He was anything but suicidal.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52He was just a beautiful fella.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57- It's terrible.- What are your plans now?- We haven't made any.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00We've only just heard.
0:02:07 > 0:02:13The two strange expressions he used prior to his death were
0:02:13 > 0:02:19"Beware the ides of March," - this was three weeks to a month before he died.
0:02:19 > 0:02:25And also, "I feel as thought I am a Svengali who's created a monster."
0:02:25 > 0:02:29BELL TOLLS
0:02:50 > 0:02:56WOMAN: He had such immense charm. Immense.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00And his strongest card...
0:03:00 > 0:03:06Say you're measuring him up against someone like Robert Stigwood,
0:03:06 > 0:03:12his strongest card is that he cared for the community he served - us,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16this group of young artistic free spirits,
0:03:16 > 0:03:21ranging from Mick Jagger to John Lennon to Joe Orton
0:03:21 > 0:03:26to Edward Bond to Bill Gaskill to everywhere you could possibly go.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33Andy Warhol... Everybody, it was all connected.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38And somebody like Robert Fraser was doing artwork.
0:03:41 > 0:03:48Brian was going to be the synthesising force, with the help of The Beatles, of course.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02We totally believed in him, thought he was a great man.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07I don't think we ever questioned his judgment. It was very sound.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Brian was the fifth Beatle.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16I was pretty close to Brian
0:04:16 > 0:04:21because if somebody is going to manage me, I want to know them.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24He told me he was a fag and all that.
0:04:24 > 0:04:31I introduced him to pills - which gives me a guilt association for his death -
0:04:31 > 0:04:35to make him talk and find out what he was like.
0:04:40 > 0:04:47"Though I didn't seek it, the fame has overtaken me, and this is not always pleasant.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50"I believe in democracy,
0:04:50 > 0:04:55"but I like to see one man in charge, answerable for his mistakes.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58"There ARE penalties.
0:04:58 > 0:05:04"The chief of them is loneliness, for I must bear the strain alone.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08"Not only the office or theatre, but at home in the small hours.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12"I suffer the most because I hold myself responsible.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16"It isn't the money that worries me, it's the failure.
0:05:16 > 0:05:24"Partly because of my youth, partly because of my background and partly because of my provincial origins."
0:05:24 > 0:05:29ORGAN PLAYS: "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"
0:05:37 > 0:05:40This was to my parents.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44It was written on the 15th of August 1946.
0:05:44 > 0:05:49They were on holiday in Grange-over-Sands.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53It says, "Dear Gramma and Grampa..." With Ms!
0:05:53 > 0:05:58"..I hope you are well. I am having a most enjoyable holiday.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03"Yours, Brian." And underneath, "Love to Auntie Stella."
0:06:10 > 0:06:16"My father Harry was the eldest of six. There were 18 years between him and Stella.
0:06:16 > 0:06:22"He fulfilled his father Isaac's dream of settling in business in England."
0:06:26 > 0:06:31My father was born in Lithuania in a village called Hudan.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36He came over here when he was probably about 18 or 19.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39He had a furniture shop.
0:06:39 > 0:06:45He bought another shop which was next to the furniture shop and made a way through
0:06:45 > 0:06:50so that you could get from one to the other.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01It's a picture of Queenie and Harry on their wedding day.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05Two pages, two bridesmaids - I was one of those.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14Brian was born on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27We're now coming up to my old house.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29And, er...
0:07:34 > 0:07:39Here it is, with the conifers I planted 20 years ago
0:07:39 > 0:07:42which have never been pruned.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47Next door to the Epstein house with its overgrown front bushes
0:07:47 > 0:07:52which were, I think, holly trees that have never been pruned.
0:07:55 > 0:08:01They built their home themselves and it was a very nice house.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05It was a detached house with five bedrooms
0:08:05 > 0:08:10and plenty of living rooms. It was very nice indeed.
0:08:11 > 0:08:17"I am an elder son, a hallowed position in a Jewish family
0:08:17 > 0:08:19"and much was to be expected of me.
0:08:19 > 0:08:25"My mother was intensely proud that her first-born was a boy.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29"When, 21 months later, my brother Clive arrived,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33"the Epsteins looked like being a happy family unit."
0:08:39 > 0:08:44Queenie was very close to the boys. She really loved them.
0:08:46 > 0:08:52They were a very happy family. It looked like a golden family,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55quite like a fairy story.
0:08:55 > 0:09:00Unfortunately, later on, things would become very, very sad.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04MUSIC: "Tomorrow Never Knows" by The Beatles
0:09:28 > 0:09:34He had an immense affection for his parents and for his brother.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37He didn't want, consciously, to upset them.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48He was elegant, fastidiously so,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52and he had a very great...presence.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56He was good looking, well mannered.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59He was temperamental.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Volatile.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06He could be very effusive or he could be very taciturn.
0:10:08 > 0:10:14He felt himself a square peg in a round hole from a long, long time
0:10:14 > 0:10:19and wanted to escape the background which he'd been brought up in.
0:10:19 > 0:10:24CANTOR SINGS IN HEBREW, CONGREGATION RESPONDS
0:10:44 > 0:10:48HE SINGS IN HEBREW, CONGREGATION RESPONDS
0:10:52 > 0:10:57"My parents despaired many times over the years. I don't blame them.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01"Throughout my school days, I never quite fit.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05"I was nagged and bullied, beloved of neither boys nor masters.
0:11:05 > 0:11:12"At the aged of ten, I had already been to three schools and liked none of them.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24"My father had been a solid and successful grammar school boy
0:11:24 > 0:11:29"and he found it difficult to know why I was so wretched a pupil.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35"Recently, referring to a diary I kept then,
0:11:35 > 0:11:40"I found I had written in reference to the next term at my ninth school,
0:11:40 > 0:11:44"'I go only for my parents' pleasure.'
0:11:45 > 0:11:50"But I don't blame my parents for anything concerning my upbringing.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55"Their wrongdoings were committed with the best intentions,
0:11:55 > 0:11:58"with love and devotion."
0:11:58 > 0:12:03The family expected Brian to go into the business,
0:12:03 > 0:12:07follow in his father's footsteps,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10as Harry had done.
0:12:10 > 0:12:16But that wasn't to be because Brian was not interested in that sort of thing.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20He would have liked to have been a dress designer.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25I didn't even know this at the time. I found this out later.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29I think Harry and Queenie must have gone up the pole!
0:12:42 > 0:12:46"This caused a great deal of distress.
0:12:46 > 0:12:54"For the masters at my last public school, nothing could be less manly than dress designing.
0:12:54 > 0:13:00"Although I knew good design from bad, though I could create dresses and draw them,
0:13:00 > 0:13:08"though to be a dress designer was all I wanted to be, I dutifully went to work in the family business.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16"I began to study all the various aspects of retail furnishing.
0:13:16 > 0:13:23"I was, and still am, very interested in the way things should be displayed,
0:13:23 > 0:13:28"how things should be designed and presented.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38"And I have a self-devouring passion for quality.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44"I placed chairs in the windows with their backs to the shoppers.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47"Backs on view?! Unheard of!
0:13:47 > 0:13:52"Yet in every home, you see the backs of chairs.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56"You cannot enter a room without seeing the back of a chair.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59"I was very keen on splayed legs.
0:13:59 > 0:14:05"Slowly the post-war austerity hangover was diminishing
0:14:05 > 0:14:12"and sellers and buyers were reluctant to return to the ugliness of '30s design."
0:14:18 > 0:14:20They were like nobility to me.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Brian's father was in the retail furniture business.
0:14:24 > 0:14:30My father made furniture for Brian's father's business.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34And of course that's how we knew each other.
0:14:34 > 0:14:40MUSIC: "The Street Where You Live"
0:14:42 > 0:14:45# I have often walked
0:14:45 > 0:14:48# Down this street before
0:14:48 > 0:14:52# But the pavement always stayed... #
0:14:52 > 0:14:56We liked stage shows, musicals. We liked musical films.
0:14:57 > 0:15:03Brian and I would discuss how, er, our feelings were different.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13First of all, you notice that you don't discuss girls so much.
0:15:13 > 0:15:20But you discuss, er... leading players
0:15:20 > 0:15:27and shows and cinema. Things like that.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29You're more attracted to a star.
0:15:29 > 0:15:36And then you gradually realise that you've got to be as honest as possible.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41But at the same time, the people that you don't want to hurt
0:15:41 > 0:15:44are your parents.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47And in those days, you were a queer.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51And it wasn't a very nice thing to hear about yourself
0:15:51 > 0:15:55because you know that you're NOT queer in your head.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58So you do resent that.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02So you try and fight what you're being called.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Brian and I realised
0:16:04 > 0:16:09that we were breaking the law to be gay.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14We knew of people who were taken away to a place called Rainhill
0:16:14 > 0:16:17which is ten miles outside Liverpool.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Well, it was a loony bin, a lunatic asylum.
0:16:21 > 0:16:27And there was no way I was going to there.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31There was no way I wanted Brian to go there.
0:16:33 > 0:16:39"The design of the store was becoming my responsibility.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43"My mother and father were quite pleased with their Brian.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47"The future seemed firm and bright and assured.
0:16:48 > 0:16:55"But on December the ninth, 1952, a letter came to tell the young son and heir
0:16:55 > 0:17:00"that he was to present himself for a medical exam for the army.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18"Several of the public schoolboys who shared my moans at first
0:17:18 > 0:17:25"were snatched away to become officer cadets, but I was not included.
0:17:27 > 0:17:35"I cannot imagine anything worse for morale, than Lieutenant Epstein in charge under heavy fire!
0:17:41 > 0:17:44"I reported to the barracks doctor
0:17:44 > 0:17:52"who, after a long, fruitless talk about my problems and the need to pull myself together,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54"referred me to a psychiatrist.
0:17:54 > 0:18:00"They decided I was a compulsive civilian and unfit for military service.
0:18:00 > 0:18:07"I was no use to the army or it to me, with which view I agreed."
0:18:09 > 0:18:15I don't think he had a clue who he was or liked being who he was.
0:18:15 > 0:18:22Like he created The Beatles, he also had plans for himself.
0:18:22 > 0:18:29The sort of people he wanted to mix with, the people at the Playhouse Theatre.
0:18:29 > 0:18:35Alas, she hath from France too long been chaste,
0:18:35 > 0:18:40and all her husbandry doth lie on heaps,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43corrupting in its own fertility.
0:18:43 > 0:18:49Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart, unpruned, dies...
0:18:49 > 0:18:55"Even so, our houses and ourselves and children
0:18:55 > 0:19:00"have lost the sciences that should become our country.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03"But grow like savages,
0:19:03 > 0:19:09"as soldiers will that nothing do but meditate on blood.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12"To all that seems unnatural."
0:19:12 > 0:19:17This is the speech that I chose for Brian for his audition for RADA
0:19:17 > 0:19:24because it embodies his maturity which went beyond his years,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27his soulful quality
0:19:27 > 0:19:33and his air of dignified quiet authority.
0:19:34 > 0:19:42"By night I was seeking escape in the cool and cultivated dusk of the front stalls of the Playhouse.
0:19:44 > 0:19:51"The Playhouse was a brilliant group of young actors, designers and writers,
0:19:51 > 0:19:56"plus a settled, soon to be stolid, furniture salesman from Walton."
0:19:56 > 0:20:00There was a sort of wistfulness about him.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03He wanted to belong
0:20:03 > 0:20:09to what he perceived was a charmed circle.
0:20:09 > 0:20:16He thought we inhabited a magic world and he wanted to become a part of it.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22He asked me quite out of the blue,
0:20:22 > 0:20:27when we first started to work on choosing the audition piece...
0:20:27 > 0:20:31It was obviously uppermost in his mind.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35He said, "When you first met me, or when I come into a room,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39"are you aware that I'm Jewish?"
0:20:39 > 0:20:42And I said, er, "No.
0:20:42 > 0:20:49"Is it important? Are you worried about the fact that people might think you are Jewish?"
0:20:49 > 0:20:51And he said,
0:20:51 > 0:20:57"Well, you see, I think I'd like to do possibly Henry V.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03"Will they think I should never choose Henry V because I'm Jewish?"
0:21:08 > 0:21:14I said, "There are very cogent reasons why you shouldn't choose Henry V.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19"I simply don't see you as a man of action, as a soldier."
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Once more...unto the breach, dear friends!
0:21:23 > 0:21:28Once more, or close them all up with our English dead!
0:21:33 > 0:21:39In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44But when the blast of war blows in our ears...
0:21:51 > 0:21:54"I saw a play at the Arts Theatre Club
0:21:54 > 0:22:00"and after a quiet coffee, I took a tube home to Swiss Cottage.
0:22:00 > 0:22:07"When leaving the tube, I saw a young man staring hard at me who I will refer to as X.
0:22:07 > 0:22:13"Then I saw X go into the lavatory. I followed him.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17"After a minute, I know he turned his face to glance at me
0:22:17 > 0:22:21"and then walked out and waited outside. I followed.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24"He loitered, I loitered.
0:22:24 > 0:22:30"After several minutes passed, I decided it was dangerous and stupid.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32"I walked away towards home.
0:22:32 > 0:22:39"I turned to look back and see that he was not following me. He nodded.
0:22:39 > 0:22:44"He stood, looking pathetic. I crossed to him. 'Hi,' I said.
0:22:44 > 0:22:50"'Hello,' he said. 'What are you doing out so late?' I said. 'Nothing.'
0:22:50 > 0:22:56"Long silence. 'Know anywhere to go?' I asked. 'No, do you?'
0:22:56 > 0:23:00"'There's an open field along the way.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05"'I have to be home early,'" I said. 'All right,' he said.
0:23:05 > 0:23:13"I left him and walked hurriedly away. My mind was in great fear and turmoil.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17"I looked back and saw X with another man, following me.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21"I walked on quickly, forgetting where I was going.
0:23:21 > 0:23:26"After a few minutes, they arrested me for 'persistently importuning'.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29"When he gave evidence, he included,
0:23:29 > 0:23:33"'persistently importuning seven men.'
0:23:33 > 0:23:36"I believed that my own willpower
0:23:36 > 0:23:41"was the best thing with which to overcome my homosexuality.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44"The criminal methods of the police
0:23:44 > 0:23:48"and the subsequent capture leaves me finished.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53"If I am remanded or given a prison sentence,
0:23:53 > 0:23:58"please telephone my father, Harry Epstein, at Liverpool North 3221.
0:23:58 > 0:24:04"I apologise for my writing which I realise is difficult to read.
0:24:04 > 0:24:09"I was unable to procure a typewriter and my hand is nervous."
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Originally, when he lived at home,
0:24:12 > 0:24:17he had wanted to present the image of a normal person.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20It didn't really work because he always knew
0:24:20 > 0:24:23and I believe that his family knew
0:24:23 > 0:24:29that he was homosexual. When he lived in London
0:24:29 > 0:24:37and when he visited America - he was fascinated with the American homosexual scene -
0:24:37 > 0:24:41he behaved sometimes in a way which was very dangerous.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44And he was conscious of this.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47In some ways, he sought out danger.
0:24:47 > 0:24:54It gave him a thrill but, of course, led him into many very awkward situations.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59I think, deep down, he didn't want to be homosexual,
0:24:59 > 0:25:04but paradoxically, he enjoyed his homosexual experiences.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16"So, after the end of my third term at RADA,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20"I returned home, nursing a decision never to leave home again
0:25:20 > 0:25:26"and hiding a sense of inadequacy which was almost complete."
0:25:34 > 0:25:37I'm afraid that his time at RADA
0:25:37 > 0:25:42was quite short and he didn't really enjoy it in the end.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47So he decided to come back and go into the business.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53"The family business went from strength to strength.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57"In 1959, we opened another store.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02"It had a small record department and I was put in charge of that."
0:26:02 > 0:26:05# If I say I love you, do you mind?
0:26:08 > 0:26:13# Make an idol of you, do you mind...? #
0:26:13 > 0:26:21My offices in the centre of the city occupy the space that used to be used by Brian Epstein for his office.
0:26:21 > 0:26:27# Honey, this is how I think of heaven, do you mind? #
0:26:27 > 0:26:33This was the beginning of Brian's entrepreneurial skill.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37"It was opened by Anthony Newley
0:26:37 > 0:26:42"and I persuaded a Decca representative to introduce us.
0:26:42 > 0:26:50"Newley was an exceedingly friendly, diffident young man, very modest, and we got on well."
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Lights? Give me some light.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56"He spent a day with me and my family
0:26:56 > 0:27:01"and I recall thinking this was how a real star should behave.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05"That is how MY artists behave when they're permitted."
0:27:05 > 0:27:12Right, two up, two down and a Wyatt Earp. Hit it!
0:27:15 > 0:27:18- # Johnnie is a joker - He's a bird!
0:27:18 > 0:27:22- # A very funny joker - He's a bird... #
0:27:22 > 0:27:28"I wanted to be known as the record dealer who had everything -
0:27:28 > 0:27:32"hit songs, small sellers, specialist records, the lot!
0:27:32 > 0:27:39"I established a system for showing when a record pile needed renewing so we never ran out out anything.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43"I turned no-one away with a 'Sorry, we don't have it.'"
0:27:54 > 0:27:58# When the mists are rising and the rain is falling
0:27:58 > 0:28:02# And the wind is blowing cold across the moor
0:28:05 > 0:28:09# I hear the voice of my darling
0:28:09 > 0:28:11# The girl I love and lost... #
0:28:11 > 0:28:16Brian said, "Do you ever watch a programme called Compact?
0:28:16 > 0:28:24"I've got this press blurb. There's a guy called John Leighton who's going to be singing this song."
0:28:24 > 0:28:31So, I heard it and I thought it was diabolical. I said, "One copy in each shop."
0:28:31 > 0:28:35He said, "Put it on." He just stood there.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38# Johnny
0:28:38 > 0:28:41# Remember me... #
0:28:41 > 0:28:44And he said, "Right, we'll have 250, 300."
0:28:44 > 0:28:49And I just looked at him and said, "Brian, you're joking!"
0:28:49 > 0:28:52And, of course, it roared away,
0:28:52 > 0:28:57and we were the only shop in the North-West to have copies.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01# Remember me... #
0:29:01 > 0:29:06My initial impression was that it was just a shop we went into
0:29:06 > 0:29:11to admire all the beautiful record covers
0:29:11 > 0:29:14and, occasionally, to buy a record.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18NEMS stood for North End Music Stores.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23Brian's dad, Harry, had once sold a piano to my dad.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27So there was a family connection before I even knew him.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31So for people who like to think things are fated,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34it was even before I knew him.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37# Johnny
0:29:37 > 0:29:39# Remember me
0:29:39 > 0:29:46# Yes, I'll always remember... #
0:29:46 > 0:29:49The ceiling was lined with LP covers.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53And it was like, "Wow, how did you think that one up?"
0:29:53 > 0:29:55No other shop had it.
0:29:55 > 0:30:00# Johnny, remember me... #
0:30:00 > 0:30:05Saturday, it'd be packed and we had turntables behind the counter.
0:30:05 > 0:30:10We would play records and there was a row of booths.
0:30:10 > 0:30:15All the kids came in and a lot of them never bought anything.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20WOMAN: We just wanted to listen to music.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23You'd ask for a certain record to come on.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27There'd always be a couple of friends there.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31# Walking, talking, living doll... #
0:30:31 > 0:30:34We didn't have any money.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37If one person bought a record,
0:30:37 > 0:30:40out of about 10 of us,
0:30:40 > 0:30:42they were lucky.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46Other people bought records, but people I was with didn't.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55This is where all the classical stock was kept.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00And downstairs? >
0:31:00 > 0:31:05Downstairs here, which we can't go down to,
0:31:05 > 0:31:11but it's down there, in Brian's old office -
0:31:11 > 0:31:15he had his own office for running the shop -
0:31:15 > 0:31:22that we actually signed the first contract with The Beatles.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26And we had two windows of course.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31Brian's great secret was that he didn't just put new records in,
0:31:31 > 0:31:36he made displays - there'd be cocktail glasses and a chair...
0:31:36 > 0:31:43He created a picture. He'd make it like a theatrical set.
0:31:52 > 0:31:57"To write at all, I found it necessary to consume five whiskies
0:31:57 > 0:32:00"before putting pen to paper.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03"Of course, I'd planned writing for a long time.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07"This was the only way to rid myself
0:32:07 > 0:32:11"of humdrum, dreary, god-forsaken suburbia.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15"The thing is to get away from it all. I fancy Rome.
0:32:15 > 0:32:21"That's why I'm writing. If I plant Rome in a text, you'll know why.
0:32:21 > 0:32:27"I should add that I want to live there in great luxury for a long time.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29"To live Italian,
0:32:29 > 0:32:34to add myself to that attractive, ridiculous little group
0:32:34 > 0:32:39"that newspaper hickeys call 'the international set'."
0:32:45 > 0:32:50I thought I should get to know him as he was rich, attractive.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53He intended going places.
0:32:53 > 0:32:59He wore monogrammed shirts and went to La Plage for his holidays, mixing with "the better people".
0:33:11 > 0:33:13He was not a happy person.
0:33:13 > 0:33:18But it would take an unhappy person who was sure of themselves,
0:33:18 > 0:33:22with all those illusions of grandeur - maybe they weren't illusions -
0:33:22 > 0:33:31it would take someone as mad as that to have the dreams that he had, and accomplish what he did.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35It did have to be someone as strange as him.
0:33:55 > 0:34:00This is my club - at least all that's left of it.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03Behind that door there's a dark passage.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07We kept it dark so no-one knew it was here.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09Brian came once a week.
0:34:09 > 0:34:15I had some attractive young men coming in - waiters from the Adelphi.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19I bought most of the music from Brian.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21The music was good,
0:34:21 > 0:34:28so, naturally, he would come, and he was presentable and he mixed in very well.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37Wherever homosexuals were, they had to be secretive.
0:34:38 > 0:34:43There's lots of, um, beliefs, sort of amongst tough men
0:34:43 > 0:34:49that so called "poofs and pansies" have a harder time, but it isn't so.
0:34:49 > 0:34:55Lots of poofs and pansies are as tough as...uh
0:34:55 > 0:35:00people can be in a tough city like Liverpool.
0:35:04 > 0:35:13He'd left my house about 10.00pm and by quarter to midnight he was back on my doorstep.
0:35:13 > 0:35:18And he left my house in a beautiful white shirt,
0:35:18 > 0:35:23but when he came back on my doorstep, it was a brilliant red.
0:35:23 > 0:35:29He'd been knocked about so much, and he didn't even come back in his car that night.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32I bathed him, I got him right.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35He did stay the night.
0:35:35 > 0:35:43He went back home, or wherever he went the next morning, looking reasonably, reasonably good.
0:35:49 > 0:35:57NEW SPEAKER: The whole blackmail situation happened before I knew him and I didn't know about it
0:35:57 > 0:36:02until he felt comfortable enough to let me into this embarrassing secret,
0:36:02 > 0:36:10which, actually, was pretty well contained within Liverpool, though obviously some people knew about it.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14He explained it to me - it had been a devastating experience,
0:36:14 > 0:36:21not only the being beaten up and the blackmail, but the embarrassment to the family,
0:36:21 > 0:36:26to himself with the family and the family's embarrassment.
0:36:27 > 0:36:32RABBI CHANTS IN HEBREW
0:36:51 > 0:36:56He had everything going for him, he was successful at what he was doing.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00The record shops would have got bigger,
0:37:00 > 0:37:06it would have become a small chain. It would have been an achievement but it had already lost its interest.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09There was an element of danger seeker.
0:37:09 > 0:37:15There was an element of the gambling instinct - he had a gambling trait.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17# Mashed potato, yeah
0:37:17 > 0:37:19# Oh, yeah
0:37:19 > 0:37:21# Oh, yeah
0:37:21 > 0:37:22# Oh, shake it
0:37:22 > 0:37:24# Hey, baby
0:37:24 > 0:37:26# Yeah, oh, yeah
0:37:26 > 0:37:28# Yeah
0:37:28 > 0:37:30# Hey, baby
0:37:30 > 0:37:31# Come on, baby
0:37:34 > 0:37:35# Mashed potato, yeah
0:37:36 > 0:37:38# Woh, right
0:37:38 > 0:37:41# Whaah right... #
0:37:42 > 0:37:48NEW SPEAKER: In Liverpool, there would have been 40 skiffle bands, skiffle groups...
0:37:48 > 0:37:53Rock 'n' roll blossomed in Liverpool - we had a million groups.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57The nice thing was there were also a lot of venues to play.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02We could play every night for six months at a different venue.
0:38:02 > 0:38:07All I wanted to do was to continue playing.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12I worked on the railways, and finished there to go to Hamburg.
0:38:12 > 0:38:19If I could make a living as a musician, that's what I want. That's all I wanted to do.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24MUSIC: "Violin Concerto No. 1" by Max Bruch
0:38:30 > 0:38:37"Although I now ran the biggest record store in the North-West with many teenage clients,
0:38:37 > 0:38:41"and although I had an ear for a Top Twenty hit
0:38:41 > 0:38:47"I wasn't interested in pop music and had little idea of the burgeoning Liverpool pop scene.
0:38:47 > 0:38:56"I'd come back from a holiday in Spain during which I'd wondered how I could expand my interests."
0:38:59 > 0:39:04MUSIC: "Violin Concerto No. 1" by Max Bruch
0:39:30 > 0:39:35"By autumn 1961, the store was running like an 18-jewelled watch.
0:39:35 > 0:39:42"It was showing good returns and the systems were so automatic that I was again becoming bored.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44"Life was getting too easy.
0:39:44 > 0:39:52"Then, suddenly, an 18-year-old boy in jeans and black leather jacket came into the store and said,
0:39:52 > 0:39:58"'Have you got a disc by The Beatles?' His name was Raymond Jones."
0:40:00 > 0:40:04This is one of those myths.
0:40:04 > 0:40:10What happened was I got fed up with youngsters coming and asking for The Beatles' record.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15It was called "My Bonnie" by Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers.
0:40:15 > 0:40:20So I put the name Raymond Jones in the order book.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24We had to order a minimum of 25, on import from Germany.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30I bought one, to cover Raymond Jones.
0:40:30 > 0:40:36Brian did a hand-written notice in the window, "Beatles record available here."
0:40:36 > 0:40:41In an hour or so, it was sold out. The other 24 had gone.
0:40:41 > 0:40:47Brian said, "Let's have lunch and we'll drop in the Cavern and see this band."
0:40:47 > 0:40:54We've been accused that we must have known they were from Liverpool, but we weren't interested in pop music.
0:40:54 > 0:41:00It was only later we thought, "We know them. We've seen them in the shop!"
0:41:04 > 0:41:07# I'm gonna Kansas City
0:41:07 > 0:41:11# Gonna get my baby one time, Yeah, yeah
0:41:11 > 0:41:14# It's just a one, two, three, four
0:41:14 > 0:41:16# Five, six, seven, eight, nine
0:41:16 > 0:41:20# Ahhhh, Woooh...#
0:41:22 > 0:41:25This is Matthew Street.
0:41:25 > 0:41:32It's amazing. It's full of Beatles - a John Lennon bar, a Beatles shop, Cavern pub...
0:41:32 > 0:41:37The one thing that isn't here, ironically, is the original Cavern.
0:41:37 > 0:41:42It's gone. This is where it was,
0:41:42 > 0:41:49where Brian and I walked down the steps on that fateful day, November 9th, 1961.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04"Never had I thought of managing an artist or representing one.
0:42:04 > 0:42:10"I'll never know what made me say to them that I thought a further meeting might be helpful.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14"But something must have sparked between us,
0:42:14 > 0:42:20"because I arranged a meeting at the Whitechapel store at 4.30pm on December 3rd, 1961,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22"just for a chat."
0:42:22 > 0:42:26"On that cold, grey afternoon in December in my office,
0:42:26 > 0:42:30"I entered a whole new world."
0:42:38 > 0:42:42NEW SPEAKER: Now they're The Beatles and all very rich,
0:42:42 > 0:42:47but if you saw them at my mother's they were just scruffy boys.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49Who'd look at them?
0:42:49 > 0:42:54George sulking cos he fancied our Joan and she was marrying Sam.
0:42:54 > 0:42:59You know, you've got John breaking eggs on beehives.
0:42:59 > 0:43:05But they were a scruffy bunch of boys - I wouldn't bother with them.
0:43:05 > 0:43:11But then, Brian stood out, he looked like the real thing.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14He was handsome, tall, immaculate.
0:43:14 > 0:43:19Then my mum in the background was saying, "He's different".
0:43:21 > 0:43:26I hadn't had anything to do with pop management
0:43:26 > 0:43:33or management of pop artists before that day I went to the Cavern and heard The Beatles play.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36This was quite a new world for me.
0:43:36 > 0:43:45I was amazed by this sort of dark, smoky, dank atmosphere with this beat music playing away.
0:43:45 > 0:43:47And, um...
0:43:47 > 0:43:54The Beatles were then just four lads on that rather dimly lit stage,
0:43:54 > 0:44:02somewhat ill-clad and the presentation left a little to be desired as far as I was concerned,
0:44:02 > 0:44:06cos I've been interested in the theatre for a long time.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11But amongst all that, something tremendous came over.
0:44:11 > 0:44:16I was immediately struck by their music, their beat,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19and their sense of humour on stage.
0:44:19 > 0:44:24When I met them after, I was struck by their personal charm.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29My Dad said, "This could be a really good thing".
0:44:29 > 0:44:35He thought Jewish people were good with money. This was the common wisdom.
0:44:35 > 0:44:41So he thought Brian would be very good for us - very sensible, very charming
0:44:41 > 0:44:43and he was right.
0:44:43 > 0:44:49Having gone to RADA, he was different from everyone else.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52He was quite different from anybody else.
0:44:53 > 0:44:58"I went to see a lawyer friend, Rex Makin, to discuss management
0:44:58 > 0:45:03"and to try and share some of my excitement about The Beatles.
0:45:03 > 0:45:08"Makin, who'd known me for years, said, 'Oh, another Epstein idea.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11"'How long before you lose interest?'
0:45:11 > 0:45:18"It was justifiable but offended me because I felt I would permanently be involved with The Beatles.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24REX MAKIN: He had enthusiasms.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27And he had sudden bursts of flights of fancy,
0:45:27 > 0:45:29but he wasn't really very stable.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35So he was rather like a butterfly.
0:45:35 > 0:45:43And, of course, butterflies are very colourful and don't settle for very long with any one object.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50# How do you do what you do to me
0:45:50 > 0:45:53# I wish I knew
0:45:53 > 0:45:57# If I knew how you do it to me I'd do it to you... #
0:45:59 > 0:46:05Brian was the last person I would have said would make a good manager.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09He was just selling records in his Dad's shop - nice guy,
0:46:09 > 0:46:14well brought up, great family, his mum and dad and his brother.
0:46:14 > 0:46:21I never thought he would have the strength. Although he wasn't strong, he had the strength to manage.
0:46:21 > 0:46:26It took a lot to manage The Beatles - Lennon was no push-over, nor was Paul.
0:46:26 > 0:46:32We were no push-over either, so, yes, it did surprise me.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36# ..You do what you do to me, if I only knew
0:46:36 > 0:46:40# Then perhaps you'd fall for me like I fell for you... #
0:46:49 > 0:46:53NEW SPEAKER: We'd been to the Knotty Ash club,
0:46:53 > 0:46:59for my sister's engagement, and The Beatles played there,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02and Rory and a few other groups.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06Afterwards, as usual, we all went back to the house.
0:47:06 > 0:47:13Brian came along - quite a lot of people, you know, from the night.
0:47:13 > 0:47:19And Brian came over for the drinks - you know, Brian liked to drink.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24He stuck by the bar talking to me most of the night.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29He asked me to dance and I said, "I can't leave the bar."
0:47:29 > 0:47:32So I didn't want to dance.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34Then, he said,
0:47:34 > 0:47:42"OK, if you won't come over this side, I'll come over there." And he ducked into the cloakroom with me.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45And he stayed there all night.
0:47:45 > 0:47:54To me, Brian was just an ordinary... Not just ordinary, he was one of the sexiest fellas I'd ever met.
0:47:54 > 0:48:00But then, people say, "Oh, well, Brian was gay," but he wasn't very gay with me.
0:48:01 > 0:48:06He was just like any other man, and more.
0:48:06 > 0:48:11When I first saw him, I thought he was very stiff, standoffish, superior.
0:48:11 > 0:48:20You see, in the shop, Brian seemed like a man, like your Dad, shouting at you and superior,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23an attitude of superiority.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26And then, in the house...
0:48:26 > 0:48:32I thought he was a very passionate, loving person, but he was like two different people.
0:48:32 > 0:48:39If there's a third person involved - this gay person - I just say he's a helluva man,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42to be able to please everybody.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52MUSIC: "Some Other Guy" by The Beatles
0:49:06 > 0:49:10We went back to Germany and we bought leather pants
0:49:10 > 0:49:15and looked like four Gene Vincents, only a bit younger.
0:49:15 > 0:49:20That was it, we kept the leather gear until Brian came along.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24It was a bit old hat - all wearing leather gear.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28And we decided we didn't want to look ridiculous going on,
0:49:28 > 0:49:33because, more often than not, most people would laugh.
0:49:33 > 0:49:40We didn't want to appear as a gang of idiots and Brian suggested we wore ordinary suits.
0:49:40 > 0:49:45So we got what we thought were good suits and got rid of the leathers.
0:49:45 > 0:49:47# Some other guy, now
0:49:47 > 0:49:50# Has taken my love away from me, oh now
0:49:50 > 0:49:52# Some other guy, now
0:49:52 > 0:49:55# Has taken away my sweet desire, oh now
0:49:55 > 0:49:57# Some other guy, now
0:49:57 > 0:50:00# I just don't wanna hold my hand, oh now
0:50:00 > 0:50:03# I'm the lonely one, as lonely as I can feel
0:50:03 > 0:50:06# All right, some other guy
0:50:06 > 0:50:09# Is sippin' up the honey like a yellow dog, oh no
0:50:09 > 0:50:11# Some other guy, now... #
0:50:13 > 0:50:22Brian's father, Harry, would come in to the shop and I daren't tell him cos sometimes Brian would say,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25"Don't tell Daddy.
0:50:25 > 0:50:30"Don't tell him where I've gone." And he'd be down in London.
0:50:30 > 0:50:37I used to think of all sorts of excuses of where Brian was - he was late back from lunch,
0:50:37 > 0:50:44or at another meeting, and Harry wasn't silly, he began to cotton on that Brian was away too often.
0:50:46 > 0:50:51John and I used to wait at Lime Street Station,
0:50:51 > 0:50:54in a coffee bar called Punch And Judy.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59We'd wait for Brian coming back from London.
0:50:59 > 0:51:05We'd look at his face to see if it was good news or bad - it was always bad.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08We'd have a coffee and discuss what happened.
0:51:08 > 0:51:14He'd say, "People aren't interested. It's gonna be a hard sell."
0:51:14 > 0:51:22"Dear Mr White, as I haven't heard from you with regard to the matter we discussed last week,
0:51:22 > 0:51:30"I thought I'd try to impress you with my enthusiasm for the potential success of The Beatles.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34"If I didn't mention they are so much better in reality,
0:51:34 > 0:51:37"it was because I assumed you'd heard it all before.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41"Next week, they'll be heard by Decca's A&R men.
0:51:41 > 0:51:46"I mention this because, if we could choose, it would be EMI.
0:51:46 > 0:51:54"They play mostly their own songs. One of them is the hottest material since 'Living Doll'."
0:51:54 > 0:52:01GEORGE MARTIN: He'd been rejected by everybody. Absolutely everybody had turned it down.
0:52:01 > 0:52:07They did rock 'n' roll standards and some of their own stuff which wasn't very good.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11"Love Me Do" was the best and things like
0:52:11 > 0:52:15"Your Feet's Too Big" by Fats Waller. They had an enormous repertoire.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21I was quite impressed with his devotion and zeal,
0:52:21 > 0:52:24which made me want to see them.
0:52:24 > 0:52:31I hadn't got a great deal to lose, and when I met them and worked with them,
0:52:31 > 0:52:37I got the same feeling he'd got - it was a kind of falling in love.
0:52:37 > 0:52:42They had tremendous charisma which no-one else had recognised.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59# Love, love me do
0:52:59 > 0:53:02# You know I love you
0:53:02 > 0:53:06# I'll always be true
0:53:06 > 0:53:10# So ple-e-e-e-ase
0:53:10 > 0:53:13# Love me do
0:53:13 > 0:53:16# Woh-oh, love me do... #
0:53:16 > 0:53:18He was living at home.
0:53:18 > 0:53:26There was a point, I think just before the Beatle explosion, where he got himself
0:53:26 > 0:53:32a small apartment in the centre of Liverpool not far from me.
0:53:32 > 0:53:38I know it was never a place where he was thinking of living - it wasn't furnished -
0:53:38 > 0:53:45if Brian was gonna live there he'd have done a whole job on it, which he never did.
0:53:45 > 0:53:53Very soon, I think, after he got it, then, of course, John Lennon married Cynthia
0:53:53 > 0:53:58and she was pregnant and had Julian, and he gave it to them to live in.
0:53:58 > 0:54:04Cyn was having a baby and the holiday was planned.
0:54:04 > 0:54:10I wasn't gonna break the holiday for a baby - that's what a bastard I was.
0:54:10 > 0:54:16I just went on holiday and I watched Brian picking up the boys.
0:54:18 > 0:54:24We were just Liverpool guys, so the word was "queer" not "gay".
0:54:24 > 0:54:28We didn't have a problem, we just made fun of it.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33We didn't actually know any, well, we probably did,
0:54:33 > 0:54:38but you did talk about it. The word was out that Brian was gay.
0:54:38 > 0:54:45Um, the great thing for us was that it didn't really affect us in any way.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50I think we suspected he might hit on one of us,
0:54:50 > 0:54:54so in the early days,
0:54:54 > 0:54:59we were slightly wondering if that was his interest in us.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03But in my personal knowledge, he didn't.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07I don't know the truth of the John rumour.
0:55:07 > 0:55:15All I can say is I slept with John a lot, cos you had to sleep and there was no more than one bed,
0:55:15 > 0:55:19and to my knowledge, John was never gay.
0:55:19 > 0:55:26I suspected that the John thing and Brian was a power play - cos John was a political animal.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30I suspect John went away on that Spanish holiday
0:55:30 > 0:55:37one, cos no-one went on holiday, anyone would have gone - a free holiday, yes, I'm there!
0:55:37 > 0:55:45Two, I'm sure John took Brian aside, and said, "You wanna deal with this group, I'm the guy you deal with."
0:55:45 > 0:55:48John was like that - very sensible, very pragmatic.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52I'm sure that was the reason John went.
0:55:52 > 0:55:59As to whether there was any gay dalliance, I don't know, I can't tell you that.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03But Brian was very straightforward with me about it.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07We could talk very openly about it.
0:56:07 > 0:56:13Um, and I say, he never hit on me, there was never any question of it at all.
0:56:13 > 0:56:20We lived so intimately together that there would have been one day, if it was in his character to do it.
0:56:24 > 0:56:29JOHN LENNON: We didn't have an affair, not an affair.
0:56:32 > 0:56:38I liked playing a bit faggy, you know, it was enjoyable...
0:56:40 > 0:56:47But there were big rumours in Liverpool. It was terrible, very embarrassing.
0:56:52 > 0:56:57PETER BROWN: The amphetamines started around that time.
0:56:57 > 0:57:02He was introduced to these by The Beatles and other groups.
0:57:06 > 0:57:12I'm sure some of Brian's initial reasons for the amphetamines
0:57:12 > 0:57:16was to be part of the group, part of The Beatles -
0:57:16 > 0:57:21to be cool, to show that he was cool, and, you know, hip,
0:57:21 > 0:57:28and it did help - he was under pressure and these stimulants do work.
0:57:28 > 0:57:35The amphetamines would keep you up and then you'd take sleeping pills and then you wake up feeling rotten
0:57:35 > 0:57:42as a result of the sleeping pills and that would start the cycle off - it was a horrendous cycle.
0:57:45 > 0:57:50"Many other things happened in that first, extraordinary year.
0:57:50 > 0:57:55"I'd become the manager of several first-class artists.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58"After The Beatles, I signed Gerry And The Pacemakers,
0:57:58 > 0:58:05"Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas and a group called The Big Three.
0:58:05 > 0:58:12"I was interested in a slim thing called Priscilla White and a freckled lad called Quigley.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15"It was, in fact, all happening."
0:58:15 > 0:58:20Artists credit him with a unique judgment of what will be a hit.
0:58:20 > 0:58:25Nearly all of them earn more than the Prime Minister.
0:58:25 > 0:58:29- May we talk to you about Brian Epstein?- Certainly.
0:58:29 > 0:58:33- What does he mean to you? - Brian? Money!
0:58:33 > 0:58:37No, seriously, he's done a lot for us.
0:58:37 > 0:58:44He tells us what to do, made us wear suits and everything.
0:58:44 > 0:58:48- Even in our private lives, he does a lot.- What other things,
0:58:48 > 0:58:55- apart from telling you what suits to wear? - Well, sort of little things.
0:58:55 > 0:59:00If you have any money troubles, you can always go to Brian
0:59:00 > 0:59:04and ask him what to do. He'll always tell you as a pal.
0:59:04 > 0:59:12NEW SPEAKER: When Brian said, "Maybe I can get a record deal for you," we thought he was crazy.
0:59:12 > 0:59:19"OK, let's make a record. We can tell our kids about it and maybe get a few more quid."
0:59:19 > 0:59:25Never thinking for one second that we would become famous, if that's the word,
0:59:25 > 0:59:30or that The Beatles would become the biggest thing since sliced bread.
0:59:30 > 0:59:35It was just Brian's great foresight that saw what would happen.
0:59:35 > 0:59:40The Beatles didn't know. London didn't know about The Beatles.
0:59:40 > 0:59:43# Say the words I long to hear
0:59:43 > 0:59:48# I'm in love with you Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh!
0:59:48 > 0:59:51# Oh, I've known a secret for a week or two
0:59:51 > 0:59:56# Nobody knows, just we two... #
0:59:56 > 0:59:58They arranged all our travel for us.,
0:59:58 > 1:00:02They arranged our hotels.
1:00:02 > 1:00:05You know, just about everything.
1:00:05 > 1:00:08No matter where we were in the world,
1:00:08 > 1:00:13Brian always made sure that we were taken care of financially.
1:00:13 > 1:00:16This envelope arrived every Saturday
1:00:16 > 1:00:19with a cash float.
1:00:19 > 1:00:24And we would all each have a cheque...
1:00:24 > 1:00:29for the balance of what we'd earned to be sent to our accounts.
1:00:29 > 1:00:36Billy J Kramer is another from the stable who gets a frenzied welcome from his public.
1:00:36 > 1:00:41Epstein says Kramer's good looks will take him to the top.
1:00:41 > 1:00:45As no-one listened to the song, this is important.
1:00:45 > 1:00:51SCREAMS DROWN OUT SONG
1:00:56 > 1:00:59SCREAMS INCREASE
1:00:59 > 1:01:03He'd come and see a show and critique it.
1:01:03 > 1:01:06He'd really rip it apart.
1:01:06 > 1:01:08You know, I used to see
1:01:08 > 1:01:14different members of his stable on Jukebox Jury -
1:01:14 > 1:01:18The Beatles, Cilla Black, Gerry Marsden.
1:01:18 > 1:01:22And I'd ask Brian, "Why can't I do Jukebox Jury?"
1:01:22 > 1:01:27And he says, "Because you don't speak well enough."
1:01:27 > 1:01:32You know, he says, "Your diction and the way you speak is terrible.
1:01:32 > 1:01:34"You need elocution lessons."
1:01:34 > 1:01:40STRONG LIVERPUDLIAN ACCENT: He tried to stop us talking like that.
1:01:40 > 1:01:47SOFTER ACCENT: So we had to change and try to be a bit more metropolitan in our accent.
1:01:52 > 1:01:56# We've got a dance in Liverpool
1:01:57 > 1:02:02# The cats and chicks think it's cool
1:02:02 > 1:02:05# It started off with just a romp
1:02:06 > 1:02:09# Now they call it the Cavern Stomp
1:02:09 > 1:02:12# Let's stomp, let's stomp... #
1:02:12 > 1:02:17The Big Three was really a rhythm and blues band.
1:02:17 > 1:02:23We tried our best to be true to what we all liked.
1:02:23 > 1:02:29We just wanted to be rough and ready. You know, down-home rockers.
1:02:31 > 1:02:35But Brian tried to single me out, to be a front man
1:02:35 > 1:02:38with the tight trousers and you know.
1:02:38 > 1:02:44But I couldn't be a Jess Conrad type and sing Little Richard songs.
1:02:44 > 1:02:48# Do the Cavern Stomp... #
1:02:58 > 1:03:03"When I took on The Big Three, the group had a very good sound.
1:03:03 > 1:03:06"But there was a lack of discipline.
1:03:06 > 1:03:13"This cannot be tolerated because it's bad for business and extremely bad for morale.
1:03:13 > 1:03:20"I was sorry to lose them because Johnny Gustafson, now with the Merseybeats, is a fine property -
1:03:20 > 1:03:25"strong musically and physically and very good looking."
1:03:25 > 1:03:29We were different from The Beatles. We were more working class.
1:03:29 > 1:03:32They were more middle class, I think.
1:03:32 > 1:03:38They had a different train of thought. They thought further ahead than we did.
1:03:38 > 1:03:42We didn't wear the suits he provided.
1:03:42 > 1:03:47If we went away on tour, the suits stayed in the van. We wore jeans
1:03:47 > 1:03:49and scruffy shoes.
1:03:49 > 1:03:55We'd forget our gear, leave it on the pavement and borrow stuff when we got there.
1:03:55 > 1:04:03We'd never had a PA. He used to give us money for hotels. We'd sleep in the van and spend it in the pub.
1:04:03 > 1:04:08Just things like that he didn't take too kindly to!
1:04:08 > 1:04:10So he just fired us!
1:04:14 > 1:04:18AMERICAN ACCENT: I was sitting in my office one day
1:04:18 > 1:04:23and I got a call from a Brian Epstein. I didn't know who he was.
1:04:23 > 1:04:30I picked up the phone and he said, "Why won't you put out The Beatles?
1:04:30 > 1:04:36"Have you heard them?" I said no. "Please listen and call me back." So I said sure.
1:04:36 > 1:04:41Columbia Records, RCA - then RCA Victor records -
1:04:41 > 1:04:46Decca Records, a very big company, A&M Records.
1:04:46 > 1:04:53Everyone turned them down. They finally got Swan Records who put out two records.
1:04:53 > 1:04:59And nothing happened and Swan gave them up, didn't want them any more.
1:04:59 > 1:05:03And that could have been the end of The Beatles in America.
1:05:03 > 1:05:09"By early 1963, my acts were the most successful in the country.
1:05:09 > 1:05:13"But no-one had heard of us in America.
1:05:13 > 1:05:17"All of my boys idolised America's rock and roll stars.
1:05:17 > 1:05:22"But there seemed little chance of the compliment being returned.
1:05:22 > 1:05:25"Then one evening, the phone rang."
1:05:25 > 1:05:32MAN: Brian was still working out of his home, so I called him in Liverpool.
1:05:32 > 1:05:35His mother answered - Queenie.
1:05:35 > 1:05:40We talked about the book review of the New York Times.
1:05:40 > 1:05:45Finally she said, "Let me get my son, Mr Bernstein."
1:05:45 > 1:05:49I heard footsteps. He was coming down from his workshop.
1:05:49 > 1:05:54And he said, "Mr Bernstein, can I help you?"
1:05:54 > 1:05:58And I said, "I'm interested in your group."
1:05:58 > 1:06:05He said, "Why would you want to commit suicide? We can't get any airplay in New York."
1:06:05 > 1:06:13I had not at this time heard a note of their music, but I was obsessed with the idea of presenting them.
1:06:13 > 1:06:19He said, "Do you know how much money we get?" I said, "I've no idea."
1:06:19 > 1:06:23He said, "We get 2,000 a night for one show."
1:06:23 > 1:06:29I said, "I will give you 6,500 for one day for two shows."
1:06:29 > 1:06:34And he said, "Wait till I tell the boys that some crazy American
1:06:34 > 1:06:38"wants to give me 6,500 for two shows in one day."
1:06:38 > 1:06:42He says, "You've got a deal!"
1:06:42 > 1:06:45MUSIC: "Someone To Love"
1:06:45 > 1:06:48I'm so happy to be here tonight.
1:06:48 > 1:06:51So glad to be in your wonderful city.
1:06:51 > 1:06:54And I have a little message for you.
1:06:54 > 1:06:58And I want to tell every woman and every man tonight
1:06:58 > 1:07:01that's every needed someone to love,
1:07:01 > 1:07:05that's ever had somebody to love,
1:07:05 > 1:07:08that's ever had somebody to understand them,
1:07:08 > 1:07:12that's ever had someone that needs their love all the time,
1:07:12 > 1:07:17someone that's with them when they're up and they're down.
1:07:17 > 1:07:21If you ever had somebody like this, you better hold onto them.
1:07:21 > 1:07:26Let me tell you something, sometimes you get what you want
1:07:26 > 1:07:28and you lose what you had...
1:07:28 > 1:07:35"Operation USA started in November 1963. I went to New York and took Billy J Kramer with me.
1:07:35 > 1:07:40"The trip cost me £2,000 because we stayed in an extremely good hotel
1:07:40 > 1:07:46"and we lived demonstrably to impress the Americans that we were important.
1:07:46 > 1:07:51"Actually, we were of no great importance to the Americans.
1:07:51 > 1:07:58"We were two ordinary travellers. I only had the names of three contacts."
1:08:02 > 1:08:08I was walking with Brian and Billy J Kramer through Times Square
1:08:08 > 1:08:16and Billy caught sight in one of the shop windows of a Western style fringed shirt.
1:08:16 > 1:08:18"Oooh," he said, "I like that!"
1:08:18 > 1:08:25And Brian said, "No, Billy, not your style at all!" And Billy didn't buy it.
1:08:25 > 1:08:30Brian was always very conscious of how his artists ought to look
1:08:30 > 1:08:33and Billy's style was clean cut.
1:08:33 > 1:08:39That's the image Brian wanted him to retain. No country and western!
1:08:39 > 1:08:44KRAMER: Then he went on to give me a big lecture in a restaurant.
1:08:44 > 1:08:51"If you lost some weight, we could make some fantastic movies and you could have a different career."
1:08:51 > 1:08:57I said, "I have a hard time miming to records, never mind acting."
1:08:57 > 1:09:01I was smart and had the boy-next-door image
1:09:01 > 1:09:05and he thought maybe I was the one that was gonna do it.
1:09:05 > 1:09:10GERRY MARSDEN: Brian used to say, there's no bad publicity.
1:09:10 > 1:09:15Once we made the records, Brian realised we needed it worldwide.
1:09:15 > 1:09:17He was trying to get us abroad,
1:09:19 > 1:09:25to get on TV. Brian was the first to realise how important that was.
1:09:25 > 1:09:29"Ed Sullivan had the number-one show on American TV.
1:09:29 > 1:09:34"I heard that he'd witnessed Beatlemania at London Airport.
1:09:34 > 1:09:40"He agreed to see me and I found him a most genial fellow.
1:09:40 > 1:09:44"I demanded that The Beatles had top billing.
1:09:44 > 1:09:47"After a lot of resistance
1:09:47 > 1:09:51"Sullivan relented and we got our top billing.
1:09:51 > 1:09:57"The show attracted the highest audience in the history of US TV."
1:09:57 > 1:10:03GEORGE MARTIN: That year, 1963, I had 37 weeks in the number-one spot.
1:10:03 > 1:10:06All these acts were Epstein acts.
1:10:06 > 1:10:12And he then realised that he had the makings of a a latterday Diaghilev.
1:10:12 > 1:10:17He saw himself as an impresario with a stable of great stars.
1:10:17 > 1:10:22Brian wanted to be a star. That's the essential part of Brian.
1:10:22 > 1:10:24And he couldn't do it as an actor.
1:10:24 > 1:10:30And now he could do it as a man who was a manipulator, a puppeteer, if you like.
1:10:30 > 1:10:35It's a pretty heady wine when everything you do becomes successful.
1:10:35 > 1:10:43"For years, The Beatles had watched the American charts with remote envy.
1:10:43 > 1:10:45"The US charts were unattainable.
1:10:45 > 1:10:49"Only Stateside artists ever made any imprint.
1:10:49 > 1:10:55"Always America seemed too big, too vast, too remote and too American.
1:10:55 > 1:10:59"I remember the night we heard about the number one.
1:10:59 > 1:11:04"I said to John, 'There can be nothing more important.'
1:11:04 > 1:11:06"Adding a tentative, 'Can there?'"
1:11:15 > 1:11:19# Oh, yeah, I'll tell you something
1:11:19 > 1:11:22# I think you'll understand
1:11:22 > 1:11:26# When I say that something
1:11:26 > 1:11:30# I wanna hold your hand
1:11:30 > 1:11:34# I wanna hold your hand
1:11:34 > 1:11:37# I wanna hold your hand
1:11:37 > 1:11:40# And when I touch you... #
1:11:40 > 1:11:45"Whatever happens tomorrow, one thing is certain.
1:11:45 > 1:11:50"It must not be allowed to look after itself.
1:11:50 > 1:11:53"Tomorrow must be under my control.
1:11:53 > 1:11:56"Yesterday was a wonderful day.
1:11:56 > 1:12:03"It was warm and the sun shone and The Beatles were brilliant. Today is nice too.
1:12:03 > 1:12:09"There's still no change in the weather, but we must be on our guard.
1:12:09 > 1:12:13"It might be as well to carry our raincoats. Then it won't rain.
1:12:13 > 1:12:18"It's a great privilege being the weatherman, keeping The Beatles dry.
1:12:18 > 1:12:21"I enjoy it far too much to relax.
1:12:21 > 1:12:25"However much I socialise with the famous,
1:12:25 > 1:12:29"best of all and far beyond anything that money can buy,
1:12:29 > 1:12:34"I love to lean on my elbows and watch the curtain rise on
1:12:34 > 1:12:40"John, Paul, George, Ringo, Billy, Tommy, Cilla. They've stunned the world.
1:12:40 > 1:12:44"I think the sun WILL shine tomorrow."
1:12:44 > 1:12:47# ..I think you'll understand
1:12:47 > 1:12:51# When I feel that something
1:12:51 > 1:12:55# I wanna hold your hand
1:12:55 > 1:12:59# I wanna hold your hand
1:12:59 > 1:13:02# I wanna hold your hand
1:13:02 > 1:13:08# I wanna hold your ha-a-a-a-and! #
1:13:55 > 1:13:58Subtitles by BBC Subtitling, 1998