Raymond Jones had also mentioned that the Beatles record came from Germany. So that was something to go on. He telephoned a few agents who imported foreign records. But not one of them had the record in stock, or had even imported it.
‘I might have stopped there, but for the rigid rule I’d laid down that no customer should ever be turned away.
‘I was also intrigued to find out why a completely unknown disc had been asked for three times in two days. Because on Monday morning, before I’d started making enquiries, two girls came in and asked for the same record.’
He talked to various contacts around Liverpool and found, to his amazement, that not only were the Beatles a British and not a German group, but that they also came from Liverpool.
He asked the girls in his store about the Beatles. They told him the Beatles were fabulous. Then he found to his surprise that they’d even been in his store. He must have seen them many an afternoon without knowing who they were.
‘One of the girls told me they were the boys I’d once been complaining about, hanging around the counters all day listening to records but not buying any. They were a scruffy crowd in leather. But they were supposed to be quite nice really, so all the girls told me, so I’d never actually asked them to leave. Anyway, they filled the shop up in the afternoon.’
Brian decided to go along to the Cavern himself and get some details about the Beatles and their record. If there was such interest in them, especially being a local group, it might be worth his while to import some of their records himself, being a good businessman.
‘I wasn’t a member of the Cavern and I was very shy about going along to a teenage club. I was frightened they might not let me in. So I asked Mersey Beat if they could help me. They rang up the Cavern and said who I was and could I come.’
His first visit was the lunchtime session of 9 November 1961. ‘It was dark, damp and smelly and I regretted my decision immediately. The noise was deafening, amplifiers sending out mainly American hits. I remember as I listened to the records they were playing thinking that there might be some tie-up possible between the Cavern and my top-twenty selection.
‘Then the Beatles came on and I saw them for the first time. They were not very tidy and not very clean. They smoked as they played and they ate and talked and pretended to hit each other. They turned their backs on the audience and shouted at people and laughed at their private jokes.
‘But there was quite clearly enormous excitement. They seemed to give off some sort of personal magnetism. I was fascinated by them.’
It was John, the main shouter and jumper-about, who particularly fascinated him. This wasn’t apparent at the time, as he didn’t know which was which, but he realized it later. He couldn’t keep his eyes off John.
But he hadn’t come to watch. He’d come simply to do a bit of business. The Cavern DJ, Bob Wooler, announced over the microphone that Mr Epstein of NEMS was in the audience and would everybody give him a big hand.
This helped when he at last managed to get within shouting distance of the Beatles themselves. ‘What brings Mr Epstein here?’ said George, slightly sarcastically. He explained that he’d had a request for their German disc but didn’t know which company produced it. Could they help? George told him the company was called Polydor. George only very vaguely remembers talking to Brian that lunchtime. The other Beatles — John, Paul and Pete Best — don’t remember him at all this first visit.
Just for company, to hide his shyness amongst all the kids, Brian began to take along one of his assistants from his store on his visits to the Cavern. This was Alistair Taylor who worked on the counter at NEMS but was also Brian’s personal assistant. Like sending memos to his staff, when he could have talked to them all in a telephone booth, Brian liked anything that added to the executive image.
It took Brian some time to get his thoughts clear. ‘All I was interested in was selling records. But in a few weeks I’d found myself coming to the Cavern more and more often, just to listen and watch. I also found myself asking my record contacts what managing a group meant. How did one do it? What sort of contract would one have with a group, supposing, just supposing, one wanted to become a manager?’
His contacts weren’t all that expert on management problems. They were, naturally, mainly on the retail side of records, not the production. But during a trip down to London, purely on retail business, he talked more than usual to people like the general manager of HMV in Oxford Street and the manager at Keith Prowse’s shop, picking up any tips he could.
He also contacted the German record company and ordered 200 copies of ‘My Bonnie’. ‘I was so fascinated by the Beatles that I thought it was worth taking a chance on selling them all.
‘I suppose it was all part of getting bored with simply selling records. I was looking for a new hobby. The Beatles at the same time, though I didn’t know it and perhaps they didn’t either, were also getting a bit bored with Liverpool. They were wanting to expand and get on to something new.
‘I began talking to them at lunchtime sessions. “You should have been here last night,” Paul said to me one day. “We were signing autographs. I signed one on a girl’s arm.” I always seemed to miss their greatest moments.’
He also found out what their present situation was about a manager. He found that Allan Williams had been associated with them at one time and had been the one who had organized their first Hamburg trip. ‘I went to see him and he said, “They’re nice boys, but they’ll let you down all the time.”’
On 3 December 1961, he invited them along for a chat at his office at the Whitechapel store. He told them it was just a chat, as he hadn’t worked out everything in his mind.
He’d seen a lot of them, prior to that first proper meeting at his office, but the Beatles themselves had still scarcely taken him in. He was just a fringe figure. They have few real memories of him before that meeting.
‘He’d looked efficient and rich, that’s all I remember,’ says John. George says he looked the executive type. Paul was impressed by his Zodiac car. They decided to give him a try.
For that first official meeting the Beatles decided to bring Bob Wooler along with them, just to show they weren’t completely alone in the world. John introduced Bob Wooler as his Dad. It was many months before Brian realized that Bob Wooler was not John’s dad. It was even longer before he realized John didn’t know who or where his dad was.
John, with Bob Wooler, arrived at the appointed time of 4.30. And so did George and Pete Best. But there was no sign of Paul. After half an hour, during which Brian was becoming very irritated, he asked George to ring Paul. George returned from the phone to say that Paul was in the bath. ‘This is disgraceful,’ said Brian. ‘He’s going to be very late.’ ‘Late,’ said George. ‘But very clean.’
Paul arrived at last and they discussed the future of the Beatles — what they all wanted to do, what sort of terms they would like. Nobody knew what contracts were arranged in such circumstances because no one had ever seen one.
They all arranged to meet again the following Wednesday. By that time Brian had been to see a lawyer friend, Rex Makin. Brian was looking for enthusiasm as well as advice. ‘Oh, yes,’ he was told, ‘another Epstein idea. How long before you lose interest in this one?’
They met again on the Wednesday and Brian this time said he definitely wanted to manage them. He said he’d want 25 per cent. They said why couldn’t he take 20? He said he needed that extra five per cent as it would entail many expenses in promoting and working for them. He expected to lose money for many months to come.