Brian Epstein's written matter of his management abbreviate with The Beatles, a pact that
proved to be charles Frederick Worth millions, is being offered for sale in London next month.
The four-page document, gestural on 1 October 1962 by John Lennon, George
Harrison, Paul McCartney and Richard Starkey � Ringo Starr's real name �
carries an estimated price of �250,000. The Fame Bureau auction house said
Tuesday it had scheduled the sale for 4 September at the Idea Generation
Gallery.
The contract, also signed by Harold Hargreaves Harrison and James McCartney on
behalf of their underage sons, gave Epstein a 25 per cent cut of the group's
earnings, provided that they made more than �200 each per week.
"The word is that he made more money than the Beatles did during his
menstruation of time," said Ted Owen, managing director of The Fame Bureau.
He said the contract was offered for sale by a northerly England businessman
and Beatles collector wHO has asked to stay anonymous.
The contract marked the moment when all the pieces were in place for a worldwide
outbreak of Beatlemania.
Epstein first heard of The Beatles when a client went to his record store in
Liverpool asking for "My Bonnie," in which the group backed singer
Tony Sheridan.
After arranging to hear the group perform at the Cavern Club in Liverpool,
Epstein was impressed.
"They were fresh, honest and had, what I mentation, a sort of front and
star quality, whatever that is," Epstein later recalled.
Epstein had been guiding the group since December 1961, and had secured a
recording press with EMI. With a nudge from producer George Martin,
Epstein fired drummer Pete Best in August 1962 and brought Starr into the
group, and their first big pip, "Love Me Do," was ready for
release.
"Brian put us in suits and all that and we made it very, very magnanimous,"
Lennon once said. "But we sold out, you know.
"We were in a moon till he came along. We had no idea what we were
doing."
Epstein died from a drug overdose in 1967, aged 32.
According to the Brian Epstein Web site, brianepstein.com,
a first, five-year contract was signed by the group on 24 January 1962, but
Epstein didn't signboard it.
Epstein managed several other successful acts from Liverpool, including Gerry &
The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, and Cilla Black.
Also up for auction is a Bechstein grand piano which can be heard on The
Beatles' "White Album" and "Hey Jude," and too on David
Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust," "Space Oddity" and "Hunky
Dory," and Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road."
Owen estimated that the piano testament sell for �300,000 or more.
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