In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story (Paperback)

~ (Author), Anthony Wall (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With hundreds of Beatles books already available, there is inevitably a sinking feeling when yet another comes along to chronicle the rise of the world's most extraordinary entertainment phenomenon.

So, it's all the more to Debbie Geller's credit that she brings fresh perspective to a familiar tale with this collection of transcripts, culled from 1998's two-part BBC documentary. As well as obtaining access to Epstein's unpublished correspondence, Geller has rounded-up an impressive array of former chauffeurs, attorneys, employees, and ex-Beatles to tell their tales of the shy salesman who chanced upon a scruffy quartet in a Liverpool cellar, and went on to help them conquer the world. Particularly illuminating are the details of Epstein's business deals: "I think ... Brian did good deals," Paul McCartney says. "He looked to his dad for business advice, and his dad really knew how to run a furniture store in Liverpool. This was a little bigger than that!"

Back then, the full impact of the Beatles was impossible to foresee--but, when it finally did come, it was immense and immediate. A month before he died, at only 34, Epstein wrote of his beloved charges: "The boys have gone to Greece to buy an island. I think it's a dotty idea, but they're no longer children and must have their own sweet way." Had Epstein lived, one can only speculate how different things might have been for the Beatles, and the world. --Patrick Humphries, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Brian Epstein's death by drug overdose in 1967 cut short a career marked by scandalous secrets and phenomenal success. As manager, Epstein cleaned up the Beatles, gave them cute haircuts and promoted them tirelessly, telling anyone who would listen that they would be "bigger than Elvis" until, surprisingly, they were. Born to an upper-middle-class Jewish household and pushed into joining the family business, Epstein transformed his father's furniture store first into the best music store in Liverpool, then into a music empire. All the while, he struggled with loneliness and unhealthy relationships, forced to hide his homosexuality from the public and always insecure about the motivations of others. This new look at his life (the first since Ray Coleman's 1989 bio, The Man Who Made the Beatles) was culled largely from interviews presented in the award-winning BBC documentary The Brian Epstein Story, directed by Anthony Wall and produced by Geller. The interviewees include people who worked with Epstein, family members and musicians, including Gerry Marsden (of Gerry and the Pacemakers) and Paul McCartney, as well as Beatles producer George Martin and '60s Britpop scenester Marianne Faithfull. Also excerpted here is Epstein's 1964 autobiography, Cellarful of Noise, along with extracts from his unpublished diaries and writings. The anecdotes, presented without commentary in documentary-style quotations, present a complicated, intimate view of his life and the lives he affected. Persistent rumors, such as those suggesting a sexual relationship with John Lennon, are alternately denied and confirmed, leaving some mysteries while shedding light on Epstein's life as a whole. B&w photos. (Dec.) Forecast: This title should get a small boost from the current wave of interest in all things Beatles, particularly from the bestselling Beatles Anthology. The BBC documentary on which this book is based has been featured at several gay and lesbian film festivals this year, which could also increase interest in the book.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (February 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031228862X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312288624
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #627,855 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An untapped vein in Beatles literature, January 15, 2001

By	Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story (Hardcover)

I agree with the earlier reviewer's incredulous comments about the cover of this book. If the publisher wanted to make browsers think twice about a purchase, they've done it.

But despite the cheesy cover, I went ahead with my purchase & was not disappointed. One would think that just about every aspect of the Beatles has been absolutely covered and trampled to death. Then along comes Debbie Geller with this gem - the Brian Epstein angle has been an untapped vein up until this point. It's not so much a traditional book about her subject as it is an oral history. Geller's coup is to get Paul McCartney - among many other voices - to comment at length on Epstein's role with the group.

The book's main themes and premises, of which a strong case is made by all the book's participants:

1. There would be no Beatles without Epstein. During the very early sixties when they were no more than a crude band distinguished only by their Hamburg experience, Epstein's belief in 'his boys' was indefatigable. He created a new image for them, and sold that image - after much rejection - to London.

2. Epstein created rock and roll management and promotion as we know it today; it simply did not exist before he came along, & it is around today mainly in the guise that he created.

3. Epstein was a terribly complex and conflicted man. No one participating in this project makes the case that he was 'nice' or easy to get along with. In fact, he comes across as a holy terror at times. Jewish in a non-Jewish world, openly gay prior to any societal openness on that front, a manic-depressive (some posit) before a clinical diagnosis for such an afflication existed, addicted to various uppers and downers.

This was a terribly complex, troubled - but enormously gifted - man. To think that he fit all he did into 32 short years. Amazing.

Thank you Debbie Geller for honoring this blazing comet named Brian Espstein, who willed the Beatles into this world.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't judge this book by its cover!, December 31, 2000

By	"johai" (Bedford, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story (Hardcover)

Ok - so the cover is so heinous that one wonders whether anyone is actually breathing at St Martin's Press. Despite that, this is a subtle and nuanced celebration of the life of a truly unsung hero - and a celebration it is, despite the temptation to characterize Epstein's life as a sordid tragedy, victim of the era etcetera etcetera. A truly original man, with his own share of demons, but also with the incredible vision to recognise in the Beatles that which the rest of us now take for granted - and this when they were nobodies, and he was the only one to recognise the genius.

What Debbie Geller conveys so beautifully is that transition from a normal life to a life lived in the strange swirl of celebrity. And by "curating" the book, rather than writing it (ie, leaving it in the words of the people she and Wall interviewed for the documentary), Geller allows the protagists to remember Epstein - it makes for an impressionistic protrait of him: complex, contradictory, filled with incredible life.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brian Epstein-the best way to honour his memory, December 4, 2000

By	Georgios K. Baritakis "bari" (athens, Greece) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story (Hardcover)

this is a book about the life of the man who is known as the manager of the Beatles and suffered a sudden death back in 1967. when someone reads this book understands how much more was Brian Epstein than that. a man whos mind and ideas were revolutionary and changed the way millions of young people used to think and dream. its a story of a man who was more near than anybody to the world fenomenon The Beatles but never succeded to be one of them, driven himself to drugs and solitaty death. many personal moments of Epstein are there by the people who were THERE in his life. moments full of joy and sorrow both. when i read the book sometimes i felt i was around and that is a plus of the very live written book. if someone buys that book for another Beatle tribute will fail to the target. this is an Epstein tribute and was missing 30 years now. i wish i could buy the film also!