Pete Best, John Lennon and George Harrison arrived and Brian was sitting up at the top end of the room with me next to him. They all sat in a line on one side.
Paul was late. We waited for about ten minutes as Brian grew very impatient and he sent George off to phone and find out where Paul had got to. George returned and said, ‘He’ll be here in a few minutes, Mr Epstein.’
Brian’s eyebrows raised.
‘Sorry, Mr Epstein,’ added George helpfully. ‘He’s just been having a bath.’
Brian was clearly irritated by this and snorted, ‘This is disgraceful. He is going to be very late.’
‘Late,’ said George with that guileless expression of his, ‘… but very clean.’
Brian didn’t really get the joke. This was too important to him for jokes. He insisted that he didn’t want to discuss anything to do with management unless all four of them were there.
Paul eventually arrived. The four of them were very nervous and quiet and they waited patiently for Brian to speak. He paused for a moment and I saw a couple of beads of sweat appear on his normally cool brow. I realised Brian was just as nervous as they were. This was very important to him. Slowly, he spoke. He had prepared quite a long speech which he occasionally consulted.
He believed in them and he wanted to manage them. He thought they had the ability to go right to the very top if they were prepared to put themselves in his hands. But he had never managed a group before and he knew he had a great deal to learn. He believed they had to make a great number of changes in their appearance and in their behaviour on stage if they were to realise their potential. But if they put themselves in his hands, then he believed there was no limit to what they could achieve.
They looked totally mesmerised by the experience. There was no clowning and no disrespect. I think they knew this was a very important decision they were making. They had already had their disappointments and they knew how many younger groups were coming up all the time. They had confidence in their ability certainly, but they knew that lots of people never got to fulfil their potential.
They had listened to a lot of bullshitters even then. But Brian was old enough and rich enough to be taken seriously. And he was young enough and cool enough to relate to them. John told me later that they trusted Brian from that first proper meeting.
Certainly, when Brian finished his speech and then asked them if they wanted to put their future in his hands, there was a pause. The four of them looked as if they had been brought into the headmaster’s study having been caught shop-lifting. They exchanged glances and then John said emphatically, ‘Yes.’ He breathed out with a sort of sigh of relief, ‘We would like you to manage us, Mr Epstein.’
And then the others started chiming in, ‘Yes, please manage us, Mr Epstein,’ ‘Yes, manage us, please.’
There were several more meetings in quick succession over that hectic period. Brian also went in search of anyone who might give him advice about the task he was taking on. He learned that while no one questioned the Beatles’ ability to entertain, they did not exactly have a reputation for reliability.
Another Beatles myth is that the first contract was signed at the Beatles’ unofficial headquarters, the Casbah Club, run by Pete Best’s mum. Again, that is untrue. Brian first produced a contract in the Whitechapel office and the four Beatles quickly signed. And I signed it as well, as a witness at Brian’s request.
Then there was a strange sort of pause. I said, ‘Are you going to sign, Brian?’
‘Oh, witness mine as well, Alistair,’ he replied. ‘I’ll do it later.’
But he never did. He gave the explanation later that he had not signed that original contract because he didn’t want the Beatles to feel tied to him in any way. If they ever wanted to sack him, they could do so easily, without any legal difficulties. On the other hand, he said that his word was his bond and that he did not need to sign a piece of paper to prove it. This way, they could have all the benefits of being professionally managed without any of the legal obligations. I’m still not quite sure I understand his reasoning even after all these years, but I guess he more than proved his commitment to the boys. But the only five signatures on the original contract between Brian Epstein and the Beatles were those of JW Lennon, James Paul McCartney, George Harrison, RP Best and Alistair Taylor. Very strange.
There was great uproar in the office. Everyone was hugging each other and being very tactile for those days. There was lots of cheering and back-slapping. And when it all died down a bit, there was a voice from the back of the line, right at the end of the narrow little office, from the guy at the end of the row who said, ‘Well, I think we’re going to make it as a group. I certainly hope we make it as a group, but I’ll tell you what – if we don’t, I’m gonna be a star.’ That was from Mr McCartney.
That first contract was effective from 1 February 1962 for a five-year period, but the Beatles and Brian were each able to give the other three months’ notice if things went wrong. Brian was on 10 per cent of the Beatles’ income up to £1,500 a year each. Once their individual earnings went over £1,500, Brian’s percentage increased to 15 per cent. I don’t think there has ever been anyone in the history of pop music who’s had a fairer contract than the Beatles. Brian’s percentage went up to 25 per cent in later contracts.
But even then they were so unbelievably lucky that Brian found them when he did. Brian set up a totally new form of management. In those days, if you were a young group then your manager or agent just said, ‘Right, you’re playing at Swindon tonight, Edinburgh tomorrow …’ and so on. If the members of the group had no money for petrol or hotel rooms, then that was tough and very much their problem. ‘Just be there’ was the instruction.
Brian set up a system which every bill they incurred came back to the office and we paid it. They always had money in their pockets, and a wage to live on. This was always deducted. We controlled all the money and managed it for them.
Brian also had a vision of how the Beatles were going to take over the world. From day one, he knew what he wanted to achieve and it was so much that at first he dared not even tell them.
Not that Brian was shy of being a hard task-master. He had a very clear idea of how he wanted the Beatles to look and behave and it was not at all like the way we had first watched them perform in The Cavern just a few weeks earlier. He pledged his determination to deliver them the recording contract which they all knew was vital to turning their regional success into national and international stardom.
And he didn’t pull any punches when he told the Beatles how things were going to be in the future. Like a teacher laying down the law to his most unruly pupils, Brian said they had to stop behaving like a bunch of amateurs and transform themselves into professional musicians and entertainers.
He said, ‘I want you all to make yourselves a lot smarter in appearance. On stage, there must be no drinking, no smoking, no chewing gum, and especially no swearing. The audience is not there to talk to you so don’t chat to the pretty girls while you’re on stage. Be punctual. If you’re scheduled to arrive at a certain time, make sure you arrive when you are meant to. Remember that you are professionals now, with a reputation to keep up.’
I would hand Brian’s directives to the boys and they were always neatly typed on top-quality paper with Brian’s initials printed elegantly on the top. John was particularly impressed. He said, ‘Brian put all our instructions down on paper and it made it all seem real. We were in a daydream ’til he came along.’
Brian was very businesslike. He knew the Beatles were in financial trouble even though they were then earning the princely sum of £3 15s each