I was five years old when The Beatles called it a day. Far
too young to appreciate anything other than the sing-a-long melodies. However,
for a post Beatles era kid, my encounters with their world have been numerous. I
have sat and jammed with George Harrison; me knocking out a blues chord
back beat and he noodling away on a 1960’s Gibson J-45. Don’t ask me how it came
about, it just did. Time and place.
When
the Beatles signed to Parlaphone they went to Hesseys Music Store in Liverpool
and asked old Mr Hessey to get them some Rickenbacker guitars. Rikenbaker didn’t
have a distribution deal for UK back then, so the old man ordered then directly
from the factory in California. The Beatles took four of them and left two. Many years later, I
owned one of those that they didn’t take. It still had all the original
shipping paperwork to Hesseys Music
Store, Liverpool UK. Noel Gallagher now owns it.
However, the most astonishing Beatles encounter I ever had does not involve them at all. It involved Brain Epstein and is the greatest
example of losing a fortune, and making one, that I have ever come across. I
must change some names here but you will get the gist.
Back in the late 90’s I read Philip Norman’s epic Beatles
biography, Shout. In the book it recounts a story of when The Beatles were
first due to go to the U.S. Everyone was confident it would go very well but
they obviously had no idea just how well. The book tells how Brian Epstein had
been advised to set up a merchandising company in America to look after issuing
licenses to companies wanting to market anything from Beatles wigs to lawn
mowers. However, for tax reasons he was advised to appoint several
non-executive directors of this company in order to lessen the tax burden on
his own company NEMS music.
Enter Perry Caplan (not his real name) Perry was the
archetype 60’s aristocrat with no money. His family had sailed to England in
1066 and been awarded lands in the west country for their service to William
the Conqueror. However, come 1963 they owned a lot of land and had a huge
stately home that was pissing rain water through every nook and cranny. Perry
had recently become the new Earl after the death of his father, and his main
financial problem was raising 20 grand to make the house habitable again and
maybe then be able to charge the summer visitors for a look around.
As Earl Perry Caplan told me, many years later,
‘Just because you inherit a title and a big country house, does not mean you
have any money.’
Perry was enjoying his post boarding school youth, living in
The Kings Road, Chelsea, zipping around in his Austin Healy, and doing what you
do at that age. One day a friend of his called Nicky, made him a proposition.
Nicky was friends with Brian Epstein and Brian was looking for 6 people to sign
a document that would make them a non executive directors of a company called
SELTAEB Ltd. (Beatles spelled backwards) It was £2000 up front and then £4000 a
year for two years, just for signing a document. Of course Perry saw this as a
big chance to get his ancestral home free from rot and leaking ceilings and
immediately signed on.
Scroll on a couple of months and The Beatles have wowed
America on The Ed Sullivan Show. Brian Epstein decided that SELTAEB Ltd should
open an office in New York so as to be able to administer the likely rush to
make Beatles related imagery. He approached two of his non executive directors,
Nicky and Perry, and asked if they fancied a year living in NYC, working for
The Beatles, and with a percentage of the merchandise royalties?
The next bit comes from The Earl and is how he told this to
me. He and Nicky had attended a meeting at Epstein's office to hammer out the
finer points of what they might get for their work. Brian was late so they
huddled up and decided to ask for 8% of all Beatles related merch licenses, but
would be happy to settle for 4%.
Brian bowled in, absolutely off his tits on qualudes or
bombers, or some such. He declared that he only had a few minutes to spare and
that he couldn't accept less than 4% of Beatles Merch royalties. In those days,
your secretary ran up the contract in reception and Perry and Nicky walked out
owning 96% of all The Beatles merchandise revenue for America.
Of course, history has cataloged the event but no one
really fore saw how massive this would be. After 18 months of living the dream
in NYC, Perry Caplan took a jaunt back to the UK and went to see Brian Epstein.
He presented Brian with a Bank of America cheque for 7 million dollars. Brian
was elated and told Perry to hang around for half an hour whilst his secretary
worked out his and Nicky’s percentage and raised a bank draft... Then came
the immortal words.... ‘Brian, that IS your percentage.’
It was the second that Brian Epstein realized what he had
done. 7 million dollars was 4% of what The Beatles had made on merch in 18
months. You can only guess at what this did to Brian. John and Ringo
were happy spenders but Paul and George were much more scrutinizing on where
their income was generated and spent.
Brian Epstein was always a troubled and complex man. It is
well known he was gay and a fan of the rough end of that life style. However,
his circle pit of pure disintegration began on that day. Although he was a
great people person and connector of souls, he was a shocking business man,
impeded by his own self doubt and loathing. Way out of his depth when it came
to running anything bigger than his family owned record shop.
At the time of reading Philip Norman’s book, I had a friend
called Caplan. He was a rock star back then and I knew he hailed from the same
part of the world as Perry.
‘What does your dad do?’ I asked...’He’s a high
court judge.’ Came the reply. I re-read the chapter and asked him again. ‘So
your dad was nothing to do with The Beatles, and I can’t help but notice that
your credit card has the words ‘The Honourable Mr ***** ****** before your
name.?’
In 1968, the Beatles appointed The Rolling Stones manager,
Alan Klein, to do a serious audit. Klein was an accountant before he was a
manager and it all came out.
The honorable Earl had patched up his house many years ago.
He had seen a quick opportunity to make a bit of money to plug a hole, but
ended up being worth as much as any member of The Beatles. In 1972, The Beatles
took Perry to court but it was resolved before judgement. The Beatles paid
Perry Caplan 50 million to return their merchandise rights.
I have always liked Perry. I like when he gets angry and
storms out the house and says, ‘Fuck you, I am off to India.’ And then actually
does that. I suppose you can just do that when you are a rich aristo with a
vintage motorcycle collection, but he has also taught me so many things about
myself. ‘Ian, just because my ancestors chopped up a few farmers does not give
me a mandate to be rude or arrogant to people. It means I have to help farmers.'
I have always considered that Brian Epstein’s decent into
rough trade and barbiturates was triggered by his monumental fuck up with
SELTAEB Ltd. We will never know, but his flawed genius brought me into contact
with many who shared his charisma and whom I immediately liked.
The truly brilliant are not always the truly blessed.
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