The Man Who Made the Beatles

Mr. Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles by Philip Norman

Mr. Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles is the brainchild of columnist Philip Norman, former rock music critic for The Times and noted biographer of numerous acclaimed musicians and other public figures. Lauded for his first book, Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation, published in 1981, his current book is a comprehensive biography of the man often referred to as “the fifth Beatle” for discovering the rock band then known as The Quarrymen.

Playing a lunchtime gig on November 9, 1961, at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, a small subterranean venue, the band had returned to Liverpool from working club gigs in Hamburg. Spruced up and renamed The Beatles, they signed a five-year management contract with Brian Epstein in October 1962. His determination, discipline and positive influence transmuted the regional favorite — four lads still living at home, playing covers and barely making beer and gas money — into the world’s most popular band whose renown has not diminished in more than 60 years.

From Shopkeeping to Superstars

Norman details Brian Epstein’s five year managerial style of devoted, obsessive care of “his boys,” which would be enough to satisfy the most die-hard Beatles fan, but dives well below the superficial in examining the challenges and difficulties that haunted this wildly successful yet ultimately tragic figure. Throughout his short life, even at the height of his success, Epstein faced anti-Semitism, prejudice, bigotry and homophobia.

Brian Samuel Epstein was born in Liverpool, England, on September 19, 1934, the elder son of Harry and Malka “Queenie” Hyman Epstein, wealthy Jewish retailers who owned a furniture company and later the NEMS (North End Music Stores), which sold musical instruments and records and was managed by Brian. After graduating from various private boarding and day schools, the 18-year-old was drafted into the Royal Army Service Corps, where he acquired useful accounting skills as a clerk. After a psychiatric evaluation led to an early discharge from service, he pursued his childhood interest in theatre and, in 1956, was accepted into London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). He attended three terms with classmates including Peter O’Toole and Albert Finney, but quit before graduating and returned to the family business in Liverpool.

Largely based on Brian’s managerial efforts, the NEMS music store his father bestowed on him became one of the biggest music retail outlets in Liverpool while his younger brother Clive worked in the family furniture business. Opening a second music store helped Brian expand his marketing skills and musical knowledge to include the emerging pop and rock scene. He gradually divested himself of store management after securing The Beatles a record contract with Parlophone, a subsidiary of EMI, under the guidance of George Martin.

A Major Force Behind the Beatles’ Success

After negotiating the early 1964 ground-breaking headliner appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show seen by over 73 million television viewers, Beatlemania was fully launched, and a grueling world tour quickly ensued. Concert sets were brief, generally 30 to 35 minutes, with screaming fans and inferior equipment rendering the music indecipherable. The 1965 tours included Europe, the UK and the USA, with a sold-out performance at Shea Stadium, while the 1966 tour in Germany, Japan and the Philippines was less successful.

Brian had unwisely declined a command performance “meet and greet” invitation, which infuriated First Lady Imelda Marcos. Only later did he realize this unintentional slight had not only put “his boys” in actual danger but also proved quite financially detrimental. However, it was John Lennon’s off-the-cuff remark in a British interview that The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus” that was seized upon in some media outlets and created a tremendous American backlash that caused over 7,000 seats to remain unsold for their final concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California, in August 1966.

Brian Epstein also signed several other acts, including Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, and Cilla Black, among some others who were non-starters. In hindsight, declining to represent The Rolling Stones and The Bee Gees constituted two significant miscalculations on his part.

The initial contract he brokered, which awarded The Beatles a mere 10 percent of merchandise sales, represented a huge loss of potential income and was another bungled opportunity. However, Epstein’s devotion to his primary clients is illustrated by his insistence on paying for promotional costs and his own travel and tour expenses. His impeccable manners, posh accent and increasingly savvy negotiating skills served to earn them millions during his five years as their manager.

The Tragic Figure Beneath the Fame

Brian spent lavishly on bespoke clothing, luxury automobiles, a grand home, fine dining, heavy drinking and high-stakes gambling as well as recreational drugs. Brian ignored or quietly endured a lifetime of anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs. When, in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in June 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed the four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), Brian’s considerable contributions to their success were completely disregarded, leaving him heartbroken.

Prior to 1967, homosexuality in the UK was harshly punished, carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, and although Brian struggled to avoid bringing disgrace on his family, he was humiliated, robbed and beaten several times during casual sexual encounters and never enjoyed a fulfilling relationship.

Brian Epstein, age 32, was found dead in his home on August 27, 1967, a mere six weeks after his 63-year-old father Harry passed away. His will, written in 1956 when he was 21, left his estate to his family. His younger brother, Clive, became Chairman of NEMS Enterprises and remained active in the music industry until his death in 1988 at age 51, leaving behind his beloved wife and their three children. Their mother, Queenie Epstein, survived until 1996, passing away at age 82. Although Brian’s management contract with The Beatles ended with his death, the family benefited from the 1967 EMI recording contract, which stipulated that NEMS Enterprises would receive 25 percent of the band’s royalties until 1976.

Who Killed Mr. Moonlight?

Based on conversations with Liverpool Echo’s crime reporter Peter Trollope, the author posits that the coroner’s determination of the 32-year-old Epstein’s death as an incautious self-overdose of barbiturates was, in fact, more likely murder. In 1985, Trollope interviewed the infamous gangster and club owner Reggie Kray, twin of manically violent Ronnie Kray, in the Parkhurst maximum-security prison on the Isle of Wight. Their “Firm” controlled London’s East End’s criminal underworld from the 1950s until their arrest in 1968 for the murder of a rival gangster.

During the “Swinging Sixties,, the “gangster chic” notoriety of the twins, interviews on talk shows and tabloid articles attracted celebrities, models, politicians and the fashionable set to their lavish club parties. Guests included Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Diana Dors, Peter Sellers, Brian Epstein and many others. Reggie liked Brian and later observed, “It’s easy to kill someone and make it look like an overdose” before denying any complicity after suggesting it was related to merchandising losses and/or an attempt to usurp management of The Beatles. Although he intimated further knowledge, his cancer death in 2000 ended any prospect of further information.

The world was immeasurably enriched by the musical talents and discoveries promoted by the enterprising young Brian Epstein from Liverpool, who helped ignite the London Sound and 1960s Cultural Revolution. Sadly, he did not live to see the seismic changes in mores that would have given him greater personal freedom. 

Phillip Norman captures the zeitgeist and provides a compelling portrait in Mr. Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles. This illuminating work of non-fiction brings to life the turbulent and exciting times of the 1960s, when uncommonly inspired innovation seemed commonplace, and nothing felt totally outside the realm of possibility.