Promotion:

•A 24 year old promoter borrowed $5,000 from his father to book the Beatles for the Philadelphia Civic Center. His father mortgaged his house for the loan. The investment paid off. The promoter never saw the show as he was drafted into military service (Harry).

•Sid Bernstein earned $6,500 promoting the Beatle's second Shea Stadium concert.

•Candlestick Park: The promoter told the San Francisco Chronicle that he could make $16,000 if the concert is sold out. The gross would be $180,000 but he said $130,000 would be realistic. The Beatles would take $84,000, the city 19,500, and $20,000 in expenses. The city demanded and got 50 free tickets (Lipack).

NEMS Staff:

•In 1964 NEMS had a staff of 15 people. In 1966 there were 80 staff members.

•Alistair Taylor: "When Brian died Clive asked me to stay on as General Manager. Clive was a director of NEMS but he didn't bother with the day-to-day running of it...I was very unhappy [at NEMS] and the boys spotted this. John said, 'Okay come on over to Apple and be our General Manager'. I'd helped to set up Apple in the first place... (Pritchard, p. 254).

•Robert Stigwood leaves after Brian's death with £500,000 and half of NEMS' artists (Norman, p. 310).

•Alistair Taylor was in Greece with Magic Alex to look for an island for the Beatles to buy.. A friend of Magic Alex and his family took them to a cafe for food and drinks. The friend of Magic Alex said to Alistair, "My family and friends will be very insulted if you offer to pay for your food. It is our custom here in Crete to look after any bona fide traveler. It has been so since Minos ruled the island three thousand years ago. Whatever you do, don't offer to pay!" (Taylor, A. p. 86).

•Alistair Taylor was in the US promoting The Silkie and had secured them with a number of television appearances. He was having difficulty in securing work permits and approached Brian for $1000 to "oil the wheels". Brian flatly refused (Gunby, G. Hello Goodbye, p. 42).

Patti Boyd:

•Patricia Anne Boyd was born March 17, 1945 in Somerset, England. She was the first child of the Boyd family. The family moved to Kenya for some time during the 1950's for their father's job, they returned when Boyd was in her late teens. Boyd and her sister Jenny went out to London in 1962, where they began successful modeling careers. Pattie and Jenny were used to traveling for the jobs, usually to New York City. Pattie also modeled in Paris for mod designer Mary Quant. Pattie's exposure in the press led to her getting a commercial contract from American director Richard Lester (Compiled by Elle: good2bfree@hotmail.com).

Other Performers:

•Jackie DeShannon earned $1,250 per week on the bill of the Beatles' 1964 fall tour.

•Alan Civil (horn player on Revolver sessions) answering Paul after Paul asked him how high he could play:
"Well, you know, it gets more expensive as you get higher. It gets physically impossible unless you've got a
lot of money".

•Dave Mason (member of the New Philharmonia) received £27 10s (£27.50) for his work on Penny Lane (Lewisohn. Chronicle p. 241).

•For the overdub horns on Magical Mystery Tour three players were paid £15 for the session and £15
overtime (Lewisohn. Chronicle p. 254).


Others Acquaintances:

•Magic Alex lived in a £20,000 house John bought.

•Bob Bonis on the first U.S. tour: "They had about 65 people, including 10 press that Brian Epstein charged
$1,000 a week just to be on the tour".

•Mick Jagger stated that he and Paul had talked about opening a joint studio, but they didn't proceed with the
idea.

•The Cavern Club closed in '66 with 10,000 ponds in debt because of alterations and equipment purchases.

•In April of '66 the Cavern Club was sold for £5,500.

•Cynthia on John and their chauffeur: [John] gave Jock full charge of the car and let him have full use of it
when off duty. It was only by chance that we discovered why he was such a mess and why the car stank
of stale ciggies and booze when he rolled up at the house. Apparently a local inhabitant had passed the car
night after night parked along one of the estate roads, lights out and Jock curled up in the back seat fast
asleep. Our car was his home and transport for boozy nights out with his mates!
(Lennon, Cynthia. Twist p. 119).

•Cynthia on John's speech (or lack thereof) at the Foyle's Luncheon in John's honor: 'Ladies and gentlemen', he muttered, 'Thank you very much; it's been a pleasure'. And that folks was that! The looks of amazement on everyone's faces was comical. They were totally nonplussed. Slowly, following a smattering of puzzled applause, the silence was broken by the increasing volume of conversation. We were surprised by indignant people, realizing that that was all they were getting for their money and annoyed by the lack of expected entertainment. Nevertheless they had their pound of flesh when it came to autographs (Lennon, Cynthia. Twist p. 101).

•Bill Harry: When the Cavern went bankrupt Ray McFall sold shares he had in Mersey Beat to Brian Epstein (Bill Harry in an email to beatlemoney.com).

•Brian Epstein approached me and wanted me to cease Mersey Beat and launch a
national music paper. He asked me to think of a name and I coined the name Music
Echo, ceased producing Mersey Beat and launched a newspaper of that name
(Bill Harry in an email to the author of beatlemail.com).

•Tony Sheridan released a song he had recorded with the 1961 Beatles and the
record sold over a million copies.

•United Artists, keen to release a Beatles soundtrack album, were willing to offer
the Beatles 25 per cent. At the meeting to discuss the deal, Brian preempted their
offer by telling them: 'I wouldn't consider anything under seven and a half percent'. Fortunately, their lawyer David Jacobs was able to finalize a deal in which they eventually received 25 per cent-but he asked only for gross, not net. Also, producer Walter Shenson's lawyer negotiated a better deal for his client (Harry. Encyclopedia, p. 119).

•Ringo's mother joined other relatives from the Cavern in an expensive (£110) telephone link up with
Radio WROD in Florida for rebroadcast the next day.

•Rory Storm had some difficulties with the tax people after Ringo reported how much he had made
to the government while he was a member of the Hurricanes.

•Rory Storm performed at the Cavern in '66 hours before bailiffs came to close it down.

•The Maharishi wanted the Beatles to tithe a portion of their income to his Swiss bank account.

•Bob Dylan: The last time I went to London, I stayed at John Lennon's house. You should see all the stuff Lennon bought: big cars, a stuffed gorilla, and thousands of things in every room of the house, which obviously cost a fortune. When I got home I wondered what it would be like to have all those material things. I figured I had the money and I could do it, and I wondered if it would feel like anything real. So I bought all this stuff, filled my house with it and sat around in the middle of it all. I felt nothing.

•Vic Lewis asked Brian, during the take-off from Manila, if he had the money. It was customary that Brian would dole out his 'brown bag money', the money unofficially garnered at the end of the Beatles show date. Mr. Lewis was not aware that Brian had to turn over much of the money to the Philippine tax officials.

•Dick Lester: He entered college at 15, quit a good television job at 22 to bum around Europe, playing
guitar, before success could imprison him. He landed in England just as commercial television was getting
under way; this time, the climate seemed agreeable, and from that point on, he zoomed. (Look Magazine
12 - 13 - 1966. Leonard Gross).

•When Vic Lewis asked for a part of the 'brown bag' money, Brian reportedly shouted, "Don't you even
mention the word 'money'!". Lewis reportedly physically grabbed Brian and retorted, "I'll mention the word 'money'!" (Lipack, p. 30).

•Another actor referring to John on the set of How I Won the War. "You're not working with another
actor, you're working with an OBE (Order of the British Empire), a multimillionaire - in sterling, not
dollars - whose every word will be reported in the world press. The miracle is that he's so normal. I
could wrap him up dialectically in two minutes, intellectually, in three. But he's got a certain inborn,
prenatal talent. I have my talent, which I think is considerable, but it doesn't compare in his field."
(Look Magazine 12 - 13 - 1966. Leonard Gross).

•Roger Ruskin Spear (former member of Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band): We were asked to play at the
wrap up party (for MMT) - John Lennon personally invited us. We were up north doing some wretched
gig when our management rang up and said we'd been invited to the Beatles' party and "by the way they
want you to perform. Unfortunately you can't go because you're due in Washington!" So complete
explosions went on and Brian Sommerville, our publicist said, "Oh you guys have got to do it. I could
never get together a publicity party like this." So we moved heaven and earth and it cost us a fortune.
We went down and did it, but in the end it really didn't do us any good at all. It was just a big booze up with John Lennon throwing up in the loo and all that sort of thing. But from then on, I suppose, we knew the Beatles (Giuliano, Glass Onion p. 283).

•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.

•Four female fans hired a helicopter to fly over the Beatles' rented house in Beverly Hills.

•In 1967 Mal Evans bought a home in Sunbury, a location near John, George, and Ringo.

•Robert Freeman supplied many of the photos to Beatles Monthly Fan Club Magazine and this was “a profitable position” (Brown, 112).

•The Lennon’s visited Robert Freeman, Beatle photographer, when looking for an apartment to move to London. Upon hearing that the apartment above the Freeman’s was vacant, John rented it sight unseen (Brown, p. 113).

•Pat Boone, 1964: The Beatles were selling all the records, so the rest of us in the music business were
twiddling our thumbs saying, "What's going on here?". It hardly made sense to go into the studio and record (Giuliano. Lost Int. p. 372).

•The Cavern closed on February 27, 1966 as the costs of renovations to update to the proper health
codes were too costly for the club (www.cavern-liverpool.co.uk).

•Donations were solicited for the Cavern to reopen and £5500 was contributed by two local Liverpool
businessmen (www.cavern-liverpool.co.uk).

•The Cavern started to sell alcohol on August 9 1967 (www.cavern-liverpool.co.uk).

 

Pete Best:

•Pete Best won a legal suit against Ringo for comments Ringo made about him during a Playboy interview.
The amount was not reported but after legal fees Pete was able to add on to his house in West Derby
(Clayson, p. 89).

•Reporter: I understand there's a suit pending against the Beatles by Peter Best, who claims to be a former
member of the group. Is that true?
John: I think he's had a few, but we don't bother with those.

•In January 31 Pete Best and the All Stars reportedly sign with Decca.

 

Jimmy Nicol:

•Jimmy Nicol received a check and an Eternamatic gold watch for filling in for Ringo in Australia. Brian objected
to Nicol's saying that he thought Ringo couldn't play in time, playing in a club with another singer, and extensive shopping sprees.

•When Brian talked of money in front of them, I got very, very nervous. They paid me £2,500 per gig and a
£2,500 signing bonus. Now, that floored me. When John spoke up in a protest by saying ``Good God, Brian,
you'll make the chap crazy!'', I thought it was over. But no sooner had he said that when he said, ``Give him 10,000!'' Everyone laughed and I felt a hell of a lot better. That night I couldn't sleep a wink. I was a f**king
Beatle!

•Mark Lewisohn reports in `The Beatles Live' that Nicol actually was paid £500 plus expenses for the tour
and got an engraved gold wristwatch. Glenn A. Baker's`The Beatles Down Under' also used the £500 figure,
and reported that on the Australian tour, Brian Epstein honoured an early commitment to the tour promoter at
a fee for below what the Beatles were receiving elsewhere that summer---only £1,500 a week for the whole
band.

•Reporter: How much money did they pay you for being a Beatle?
Nicol: I was paid unbelievable! So much that I practically lived off of it for a couple of years. I was paid in
the neighbourhood of £40,000 all told. At £2500 a show for 10 shows plus a £2,500 signing bonus, he would
have made £27,000. But again, Lewisohn reported he was paid £500 plus expenses.

 

©1998-2010 beatlemoney.com. All Rights Reserved.