Pete Best

[Moogmodule]

Back Beat! I was just thinking of that the other day; I was drawing a total blank on the title. I saw it ages ago. I'll have to look for that on the streaming services.

Backbeat was pretty good. Although they made the Hamburg Beatles sound like a 90s grunge band.

[Loco Mo]

Normandie:  I didn't care for Brian Epstein's autobio, "A Cellarful of Noise."  I don't remember why.  It was a short book.  I would have to re-read it in order to remember why I didn't like it.  I will rephrase this a little:  "I didn't enjoy it and it didn't engage me."

[Loco Mo]

Moogmodule.  I think you made a good point.  With the demand for streaming services, niche movies can be made.  Without them, they would need investors to bankroll their budgets.  Also, I don't think there's any star powered actor you could call upon to play Brian or George.  Also, the investors from the pre-streaming era would ask:  "How many people will pay to see this movie?"  Answer:  "Only diehard fans.  Oh, Okay, Forget it then.  Let's move on to something else, maybe something full of adventure, sex and violence.  Yep, that's the ticket!"

[Hello Goodbye]

Normandie:  I didn't care for Brian Epstein's autobio, "A Cellarful of Noise."  I don't remember why.  It was a short book.  I would have to re-read it in order to remember why I didn't like it.  I will rephrase this a little:  "I didn't enjoy it and it didn't engage me."

I read A Cellarful of Noise years years ago.  It wasn't a short book by any means but described Brian Epstein's relationship with The Beatles until 1964 when the book was published.  Derek Taylor was the ghostwriter.  I think events were covered very well from Brian Epstein's standpoint and there is certainly value in that.

Perhaps a better book to read would be In My Life: The Brian Epstein Story by Debbie Geller published in 2000.  This, from Publishers Weekly:


Brian Epstein's death by drug overdose in 1967 cut short a career marked by scandalous secrets and phenomenal success. As manager, Epstein cleaned up the Beatles, gave them cute haircuts and promoted them tirelessly, telling anyone who would listen that they would be "bigger than Elvis" until, surprisingly, they were. Born to an upper-middle-class Jewish household and pushed into joining the family business, Epstein transformed his father's furniture store first into the best music store in Liverpool, then into a music empire. All the while, he struggled with loneliness and unhealthy relationships, forced to hide his homosexuality from the public and always insecure about the motivations of others. This new look at his life (the first since Ray Coleman's 1989 bio, The Man Who Made the Beatles) was culled largely from interviews presented in the award-winning BBC documentary The Brian Epstein Story, directed by Anthony Wall and produced by Geller. The interviewees include people who worked with Epstein, family members and musicians, including Gerry Marsden (of Gerry and the Pacemakers) and Paul McCartney, as well as Beatles producer George Martin and '60s Britpop scenester Marianne Faithfull. Also excerpted here is Epstein's 1964 autobiography, Cellarful of Noise, along with extracts from his unpublished diaries and writings. The anecdotes, presented without commentary in documentary-style quotations, present a complicated, intimate view of his life and the lives he affected. Persistent rumors, such as those suggesting a sexual relationship with John Lennon, are alternately denied and confirmed, leaving some mysteries while shedding light on Epstein's life as a whole. B&w photos. (Dec.) Forecast: This title should get a small boost from the current wave of interest in all things Beatles, particularly from the bestselling Beatles Anthology. The BBC documentary on which this book is based has been featured at several gay and lesbian film festivals this year, which could also increase interest in the book.

Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Unlike A Cellarful of Noise, Debbie Geller's book is inexpensive in either hard or soft cover used editions.

[Moogmodule]

Moogmodule.  I think you made a good point.  With the demand for streaming services, niche movies can be made.  Without them, they would need investors to bankroll their budgets.  Also, I don't think there's any star powered actor you could call upon to play Brian or George.  Also, the investors from the pre-streaming era would ask:  "How many people will pay to see this movie?"  Answer:  "Only diehard fans.  Oh, Okay, Forget it then.  Let's move on to something else, maybe something full of adventure, sex and violence.  Yep, that's the ticket!"

To be fair Loco a bio of Brian could have its share of sex and violence...

[Loco Mo]

Hello Goodbye:  You said "it wasn't a short book by any means."  I wonder if we're talking about the same book.  My Kindle version is 148 pages long.  It seemed like a very short read to me.

I will definitely re-read it soon to see if my assessment of it changes in any way.

[Loco Mo]

Moogmodule.  Quite true - that.  But I wouldn't want to see the sordid parts of his life.  Also, people who were directly/intimately involved with him would be the ones qualified to write that type of biopic.  Would any of them really want to?  And how many of his contemporaries are still alive today?  He'd be 86 going on 87 in September.

[Normandie]

Loco Mo, Moodmodule, and Barry, thanks for your input on this. I was not aware of Debbie Gellar's book; that's yet another title to add to my Amazon list.

[Hello Goodbye]

Hello Goodbye:  You said "it wasn't a short book by any means."  I wonder if we're talking about the same book.  My Kindle version is 148 pages long.  It seemed like a very short read to me.

I will definitely re-read it soon to see if my assessment of it changes in any way.

I read it a long time ago, Loco.  It was ~250 pages in paperback.  I wish I still had my copy.  It's worth a fortune today.

[Hello Goodbye]

Loco Mo, Moodmodule, and Barry, thanks for your input on this. I was not aware of Debbie Gellar's book; that's yet another title to add to my Amazon list.

Kathy, here's The Brian Epstein Story (1998) directed by Anthony Wall and produced by Debbie Geller referred to in the Publishers Weekly excerpt I posted...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apKqMVej1cw#

[Normandie]

^^^

Thanks, Barry; when I get caught up I'll have to watch that, along with The Birth of the Beatles.

[Hello Goodbye]

Since we were discussing Brian Epstein's A Cellarful of Noise, this is a good time to watch Petula Clark perform I Know a Place...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE6eqgZKy10#

She was 33 years old at the time but it made no difference.  I had a big crush on her.  What a cutie-pie!

[Loco Mo]

Hello:  The "Place" sure sounds like the Casbah to me.

[Hello Goodbye]

Peut être, Loco...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjZmj2q2YOg#

[Hello Goodbye]

Hello:  The "Place" sure sounds like the Casbah to me.

Both were cellar clubs...









https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpT-QE6Sm-0#