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General Statements: •Courtesy of Julie at Millennium Sale's: The Museum Collection. Original Beatles Memorabilia. Flight booklets with several pages of printed and hand – written information (15 pieces).These include booklets for John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans, Alf Bicknell, and Brian Epstein. They contain names, dates, official stamp marks, flight class, flight numbers, and baggage allowances. They also show the order of the flight itinerary for the tour and details of the times of departure/arrival at the various airports. Cost of flights for complete tour ( 7 pieces ) These show the breakdown of each flight cost and destination, including for example, London, Paris, Lyon, Rome, and Madrid. •Complete set of airport luggage stubs and excess baggage
charges (19 pieces ). •At one point, probably 63-64, the stage of the Cavern was sawn up and the pieces sold for five shillings each. •Rory Storm performed at the Cavern in '66 hours before bailiffs came to close it down. •Cynthia on the trip to India: Strangely enough we did have quite a set back on our journey to Dehli...it was our luck to break down somewhere in the Indian countryside. "John, what on earth are we going to do? Where are we? We're absolutely stranded without a penny or a friend in a foreign land, and I'm sure we've seen the last of our driver. John's only solution to the problem was to stand at the edge of the road with his thumb up in the air frantically waiving it backwards and forwards at the sound of any car approaching. We were about to give up all hope when a saloon car drew up beside us and two very well educated men inquired after our health. We were relieved (Lennon, Cynthia. Twist p. 162). •Cynthia referring to the accommodations for her and John during the filming of 'How I Won the War': The villa was owned by a baron somebody or other who charged exorbitant rent. The property was damp, tatty, and very depressing. It was only when Maureen and Ringo decided to come out and join us that we decided to find ourselves somewhere more comfortable, large enough to house us all for the remainder of the filming. After scouring Almaria for days we settled on an enormous villa. It had everything. (Lennon, Cynthia. Twist p. 137). •A situation was discovered midway through the tour in which a mother had instructed her underage daughter to sneak into the hotel room of one of the Beatles, get in bed with them and then claim rape so the band would be forced to pay a huge amount of money to keep this fabricated incident out of the press and courts (Shapiro, p. 69). •A reporter said that some of the wires were reporting that Pan American Airlines had provided each of the Beatles with free Bibles. John said that they never saw them (Conference over John's religious remarks '66). •In India: The Beatles would hang a "Do Not Disturb: Meditating" sign on their door in India on occasion in order to drink wine and play poker. •Food concession operators did not have sales that were to be expected at such an event asa large concert. The fans would not go to get something to eat for fear of missing their favorite song, being abandoned, left behind, or getting lost in the crush (Kane, L. Ticket to Ride, p. 48.) •As fans waited for the Beatles at the airport in Miami to wait for the group on their February '64 flight from New York to Miami, a plate-glass door was broken, windows shattered,large sand-filled ashtrays were tipped over, and chairs were torn up. It is estimated that over two-thousand dollars in damage was done to the airport (Goldsmith, M. The Beatles Come to America, p. 158). •Alan Livingston, chief of Capitol Records, who signed the Beatles before they were hot, had a garden party fundraiser for the Hemophilia Foundation. The theme of the party was "Buy a ticket and meet the Beatles" (Kane, L. Ticket to Ride, p. 57-58). •Alistair Taylor: There's only one snag: if any one of the greedy owners were to such so much as a hair of a Beatle's haircut, the price [of a house] would double. So Mr. Fixit usually goes down in his role as successful London 'entrepreneur' or 'import-export businessman', chats to the residents and brings back a report, which is usually filed in the wastepaper basket (Taylor, A. p. 117). •After Alistair looked at a house posing as a businessman, while George posed as the chauffeur, the woman selling the house said, "Are you sure Mr. Harrison would not like to see the house as well?" (Taylor, A. p.118). •While visiting Elvis the Colonel reportedly revealed a table with green felt, gambling chips, and several decks of wrapped playing cards. "Brian perked up and quickly straightened his bow tie. Having a particular penchant for gaming of all sorts, especially of the high-stakes variety... (Lipack, p. 57). •The Beatles' motorcade stopped for 19-cent hamburgers and chicken wings on their way to their show at Empire Stadium. •Print runs of the monthly Beatles Book reach 350,000 in August 64. •When leading figures from the British arts and entertainment world placed a full-page advertisement in the Times of London on July 24, 1967, calling the laws against marijuana "immoral in principal and unworkable in practice," the Beatles both signed the petition and guaranteed its costs (Hertsgaard, M. A Day in the Life. The Music and Artistry of the Beatles. p. 197). •Christmas time was always a happy and very exciting time. Imagine being able to buy whatever took your fancy. Two of the most notable London stores stayed open especially for the boys and their families to do their Christmas shopping in peace. It was just like being let loose in Aladdin's cave. It was always difficult purchasing gifts for our crowd, delighted responses such as: "Oh fantastic, Cyn, it's just what I've always wanted" were hard to believe especially when one knew that they all had more than enough of this world's goods already (Lennon, Cynthia. Twist p. 127). •Norman Smith, their recording balance engineer, gets a pair of gold cuff-links inscribed Two D-Bs Smith, which is Paul McCartney's nickname for Mr. Smith. The present is from the Beatles. •The Beatles Fan Club membership in Britain was over 65,000
as of September 64.•On November 25 '65 the Beatles shopped
at Harrod's department store for two hours after the store closed •Before the August 66 Shea Stadium Concert the Beatles are presented with a cake by the management. When John learns that there is going to be no woman popping out of the cake he reportedly said: "We don't want any of your f***ing cake" (Schultheiss 167). •While in the U.S. the Beatles requested Lark cigarettes from England. The office boy from NEMS went out to buy a couple of thousand Larks. Alistair Taylor arranged for them to be shipped by TWA to the Beatles. The delivery was completed. As a side note: Lark cigarettes from England are blended and packed in Switzerland while the American version is not (Taylor, A. p. 58). •Alistair Taylor: At once I got on to Pan-Am. It costs an unbelievable amount to hold an airliner on the tarmac at the Heathrow, but they agreed to a few minutes wait and Air Traffic Control reluctantly consented. But there could be no long delay. Brian must arrive at Hawarden soon. {Brian eventually did arrive for the plane to the U.S.} (Taylor, A. p. 73). •Letter to ‘Brian Epstein, Nems Enterprises Ltd., Sutherland House, 5/6 Argyle St., London W1 England’, dated July 20th 1964. Hand-stamped showing when it was received at ‘NEMS’ (28th July 1964). Interesting letter referring to a two day chartered yacht cruise in Florida. The letter was sent and signed by Norman Weiss, an executive of the prestigious American agency General Artists Corporation.
•Pillow cases from the Beatles' hotel room in Kansas City
were sold to a company for $1,000 each. The •In New York City an entrepreneur marketed empty cans of "Beatle Breath". •Seltaeb, the official merchandising company, sold over 150 different items. NEMS received 10% until August of '64 when it was raised to 46% (Mackenzie). •A Liverpool bakery made Ringo dolls. The Beatles received 1p for each doll sold. 100,000 sold in two days. •A Blackpool company received orders for 10 million sticks of licorice rock with the Beatles' name on it. •A U.S. company wrote asking if they could sell their bath water at $1.00 bottle (Taylor). •'I Love Ringo' lapel buttons outsold all associated merchandise at the time (Clayson, p. 85). •Beatles' Chewing gum made millions of dollars within a few months. •REMCO, a large American toy manufacturer, had initially produced 100,000 Beatle dolls and had orders for 500,000 more. •A Denver hotel sold the Beatles' bed linen to a business consortium who in-turn sold the linen for $10.00 for a 3-inch square. •Reliant Shirt Corporation paid $25,000 for the exclusive
rights to make and produce Beatle T-shirts in 3 •Beatles Bubble Gum originally sold for 5¢ per pack. •Lord Peregrine Eliot (one of Seltaeb's partners) remembers going to Seltaeb office one or two times a week to draw $1,000 from petty cash. •A Toronto wig-maker sold eighty Beatle wigs in a month in '64. A far cheaper version endorsed by the band and guaranteed to fit all head sizes sold by the thousands (Kendall, p. 5). •A bakery in Hamilton, Ontario could barely meet the demand for it's special ninety-eight-cent Beatle cakes, scrumptious cupcake like creations adorned with vague likenesses of the band (Kendall, p. 16). •The Observer reports that a factory in the U.S. is manufacturing over 35,000 Beatle wigs per day. •Peter Brown stated that Brian did not want any of the Beatles
to do personal endorsements for anything,
David Jacobs/Nicky Byrne: •Brian reportedly wanted Beatle merchandise to be high quality.
He did want the product to break or •Brian hired David Jacobs as of his Solicitor in ’63. “From then on all legal decisions and contracts would be made with David Jacobs advice, and it was Jacobs’ law office that took over the task of sorting out the merchandising offers” (Brown, 127). •David Jacobs, Brian’s Solicitor, had many celebrity clients. He was especially well-known for winning a large settlement for pianist Liberace from The Daily Mirror. •Jacobs advised Brian to set up a separate company for licensed products. •Once Brian realised the bad deal that had been made with Nicky Byrne he tried to rectify it. But, as Alistair Taylor says, it was new territory (Gunby, G. Hello Goodbye, p. 80). •The merchandising deal with Nicky Byrne gave the Beatles
10% of revenue from licensed products. Byrne and his partners set
up offices in New York and began making millions of dollars (Gunby,
G. Hello Goodbye, •In early '64 Stramsact, who had the power to grant merchandising licenses, granted a license to six young Englishmen who incorporate a U.S. company, Seltaeb, to act as their agent in America (Schultheiss 76). •Jacobs suggested that the merchandising be handled by Nicky
Byrne. Byrne had been involved in several •In late '63 merchandising rights were a tangled mess. Brian
handed it over to his solicitor, David Jacobs. •Nicky Byrne: Brian Epstein had a very bad name in the business world at the time. Nobody knew who was licensed to make Beatle goods and who wasn't. Byrne also stated that he would pay Brian his ten percent within seven days of receipts and that Brian asked him to work for him for £1,000 per year. •The Beatles’ merchandising, operated by Nicky Byrne
and partners, was incorporated as Stramsact in •David Jacobs, with power of attorney for Brian, accepted 10% as the percentage of profits that would go to NEMS (Brown, p. 128). •Nicky Byrne claimed that he was offered half a million
pounds for his share of Sealtab by the Columbia •Byrnes also stated that he and his partners were living at the Drake Hotel and had offices on Fifth Avenue. •Byrnes hired two limousines on twenty-four call and hired
a helicopter to shuttle businessmen to and from •In '63 Seltaeb was in chaos. NEMS was blamed for granting
some licenses to others inappropriately. Some
Merchandise Offers: •A Texas tycoon, on an airplane, offered John $3 million
for the rights to open "Beatleburger Palaces". •A U.S. company wrote asking if they could sell their bath water at $1.00 bottle (Taylor). •One radio station in Vancouver offered to buy the Beatles' beds that they used at the Hotel Georgia. •Interview:
Information provided by: Beatle Cartoons Website •PLEASE MR. POSTMAN:
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