Was brian epstein gay
Remembering Brian Epstein: The Beatles’ Manager Who Shaped Music
As Pride Month unfolds, it’s essential to reflect not only on the prominent figures in LGBTQ+ history but also on those whose impact extends into realms beyond sexuality. Brian Epstein, known predominantly as the manager of The Beatles, was one such individual whose influence resonates far beyond the harmony industry. His story is not only about managing the world’s most iconic band but also about navigating his identity in a time when Queer rights were far from accepted.
The Man Behind the Fab Four
Brian Epstein’s journey to becoming the manager of The Beatles was as unexpected as it was ground-breaking. Born in 1934 in Liverpool, Epstein showed an early interest in the arts and entertainment industry. Epstein pursued his passion in melody working in his family’s record store NEMS, where he was introduced to The Beatles.
Recognizing their unpolished talent and untapped potential, Epstein took on the role of their manager in 1961, at a time when they were struggling to secure gigs beyond Liverpool’s local scene. Under his guidance, The Beatles skyrocketed to global fame, becoming one
On Nov. 9, 1961, the Beatles were “discovered” by Brian Epstein, a homosexual man, in a Liverpool club called The Cavern. “The moment my experience changes forever,” Epstein (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) says at the opening of “Midas Man,” a new biopic about him, adding, “And everything suddenly becomes so clear.”
But this film, directed by Joe Stephenson, and available Jan. 22 via Olyn, is more vague than clear. “Inspired by real events,” it recounts Epstein’s professional and personal life during a time that was exciting for harmony and dangerous for gay men.
None of the Beatles’ melody is used in the “Midas Man,” (likely a rights issue) but this is not really a drawback because the film is a character investigation of Epstein, not the band. A workaholic who saw immense potential in the Beatles, Epstein devoted his being to making them “bigger than Elvis” — much to the headshaking of naysayers, and the handwringing of his father, Harry (Eddie Marsan). Even so, scenes of Epstein ironically striving to convince record labels to sign the Beatles feel trite, however accurate.
Although Epstein has never managed a band before, he gets Allan Williams (Eddie Izzard) to turn the brash musicians over to
Did Brian Epstein’s Gayness Shape His Vision of The Beatles’ Potential?
A furtive acknowledgement—a man’s nod, to be precise—ultimately landed Brian Samuel Epstein, the gay, eldest son of a prominent Jewish family in Liverpool, England, in jail. He was the victim of garden-variety police entrapment at a time and place when two men holding hands in public was enough for a cop to arrest them on suspicion and take them in for questioning. In his own written account of the incident, which occurred in 1957 and was included in Debbie Geller’s guide of oral history, In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story, Epstein, then 23, enumerated the charge: “For persistently importuning various men for immoral purposes.”
Epstein, who died at 32 of an accidental drug overdose, was a tortured gay man who was bowed by the weight and import of his wealthy Jewish family. Yet he was also a wildly creative and worldly individual who harnessed everything at his disposal to be successful.
Now famous for managing The Beatles, whom he met in 1961, Epstein set off a seismic transformation of music and tradition. In recent years, a series of books, plays, and as-yet-unrealized screenplays, has sought to unearth de
In August 1967, Beatles manager Brian Epstein passed away at the age of 32. He spent his entire adult life introducing The Beatles to a global audience and helping them spread their message of love around the world. Yet Brian himself died lonely, never having had a proper boyfriend, and with the colloquially known “Oscar Wilde laws” declaring homosexuality illegal still in force. The world would remember those days romantically as the “Summer of Love”, from London to San Francisco—and it was indeed a time of love, freedom, openness, and passion… as long as you weren’t gay, lesbian, bisexual, or gender diverse. If you were, you’d superior spend your summer indoors, in the closet.
Earlier in the decade, Brian made two bold and visionary statements about the future. He’s famous for the first one: “The Beatles are going to be bigger than Elvis!”. At the time, the Fab Four were a middle-of-the-road Liverpool band rejected by every log company in the business. Epstein’s second visionary statement has been largely overlooked—but it was in fact bolder, more inspiring, and not only dangerous but borderline seditious. During a 1960’s media appearance, after dashing lovestruck fans’ hopes b