"The Greatest Beatles Story NEVER Told!” Friday August 23, 2024 Philosophical Research Society

Join us for the World Premiere of "The Greatest Beatles Story NEVER Told!” - a new Beatles gospel according to Martin Lewis More info & tix: www.prs.org/Beatles
Philosophical Research Society
Friday August 23, 2024 7:30pm
3910 Los Feliz Boulevard Los Angeles
CA 90027

As of Christmas Day 1963 - the vast majority of the US population had never heard the Beatles. Yet 16 days later they had sold one million copies in the USA of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” Just 46 days after that - a record 73 million Americans tuned-in to watch their live US TV debut on the “Ed Sullivan Show”. (The usual audience size was 14 million) And only 6 months afterwards they gave their first L.A. concert at a sold-out Hollywood Bowl But HOW did this immaculate conception, gestation and birth happen so fast? And so vast? And why are the Beatles as popular today - with both old and young - as they ever were?

Despite millions of words written and spoken about the Fab Four - the astonishing true story of the HOW and the WHY of their meteoric breakthrough into the cultural stratosphere is virtually unknown.
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ first visit to L.A. in 1964 and their sold-out concert at the Hollywood Bowl – on Friday August 23rd (the exact 60th Anniversary) – the Philosophical Research Society is very proudly presenting the World Premiere of "The Greatest Beatles Story NEVER Told!” - a new Beatles gospel - relating the arrival of four stars from the East… (Well… East of America - namely Liverpool)

The tale starts with the under-sung hero of the Beatles’ extraordinary breakthrough and global success - their then 29-year-old manager Brian Epstein - who despite having zero entertainment industry experience – used his natural instincts, his intelligence and his passion for the Beatles - to play and win high-stakes games of bluff with two of the biggest leaders of the US entertainment industry.

The story of the Beatles’ US invasion has fascinating tangential details involving iconic American figures such as President John F. Kennedy, TV news anchors Walter Cronkite & Mike Wallace, TV hosts Ed Sullivan & Jack Paar, Oscar-nominated movie star Nancy Olson (“Sunset Boulevard”), the cartoon characters Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird, a 14-year-old schoolgirl from Silver Spring, Maryland and even Bozo The Clown!

The creator and narrator of this new gospel is Martin Lewis. Dubbed “the world’s foremost Beatles scholar” by Encyclopedia Britannica... ..." Praised as “a magnificent griot!” [an oral historian] by Monty Python’s Michael Palin. According to Variety: "The Denis Diderot of Beatle encyclopedists..." Described as "a very captivating raconteur” by Los Angeles Magazine... Noted by L.A. Weekly as having "ultra-high-energy... a machine-gun style delivery of sardonic observations sweetened by an irrepressible exuberance".

He describes himself simply as The World’s Least Reserved Englishman...

His expertise about the Fab Four includes very extensive credits across the Beatles universe - as a producer (the two-disc Deluxe DVD edition of “A Hard Day’s Night”, the documentaries “Things They Said Today” and “Re-Meet The Beatles” etc. etc.), marketing strategist (“Beatles Anthology”, “Beatles Live At The BBC” “The Beatles on Ed Sullivan” and projects for Sir Paul McCartney & Sir George Martin) and Beatles writer (Encyclopedia Britannica, Time, Variety, Salon, Huffington Post). He was a protégé of Beatles publicist Derek Taylor. His first Beatles-related work occurred when he was engaged at the age of 14 to contribute to their authorized biography by Hunter Davies. Click for full details of his Beatles-related work.

The grand finale of his new TED Talk-style presentation will feature a notable first - likely to intrigue and excite Beatles fans: The World Premiere of a never-before-heard curio from their 1967 “Sgt. Pepper” sessions!
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Lewis will also give the World Premiere of a short film clip he has titled “A Lean Slice of Pepper” - a song from the “Sgt. Pepper” album paired with a sequence from an acclaimed David Lean film that presents what Carl Jung (the distinguished founder of analytical psychology) called a "meaningful coincidence - a convergence that occurs with no causal relationship yet seems to be meaningfully related”.  

This echoes the phenomenon that emerged in the 1990s known "The Dark Side of the Rainbow” - also known as "Dark Side of Oz" or "The Wizard of Floyd” - the pairing of the 1973 Pink Floyd album "The Dark Side of the Moon” with the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz” - which produces numerous moments of apparent synchronicity where the film and the album appear to correspond.

Though Lewis has a stellar reputation as a Beatles scholar – that role is actually just an enjoyable sidebar to the many other strands in his polymathic career.

He has been acclaimed for his work as a producer - including with Monty Python, Pete Townshend, Sting, Bob Geldof, George Michael et al (the “Secret Policeman’s Ball” series of shows, albums & movies, “Wham! In China” etc.), publicist, marketing strategist (“The King’s Speech,” “Across The Universe,” “Nowhere Boy” etc.), humorist (“Real Time,” “Politically Incorrect”), writer, journalist (Time Variety, Salon, Huffington Post) political commentator (MSNBC & CNN), radio & TV host/contributor, comedic actor (HBO’s “Night Rap,” Showtime’s “Rude Awakening”) creator/curator of film festivals, talent manager & pop-culture historian. He has also been a longtime respected activist for human rights, the First Amendment and other causes. Click for his general biography.

The creator/narrator of "The Greatest Beatles Story NEVER Told!” is a noted longtime champion of Brian Epstein. Lewis organized the first-ever reissue of Epstein’s 1964 autobiography, wrote the 25,000-word companion narrative and led the 16-year campaign that is widely credited with leading to Epstein’s belated induction as a non-performer into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. He instigated and runs the official Brian Epstein website.

Martin Lewis about Brian Epstein
It was Brian Epstein who discovered, guided and propelled the Beatles to global stardom. In early 1962 he predicted that the Beatles – at that time completely unknown – would become a worldwide, long-lasting phenomenon who would be “bigger than Elvis”. At the time he was universally ridiculed… But he made it all happen.

Of course they had the musical talent in the first place. But the nucleus of John, Paul & George had already been struggling for success for four long years when Brian arrived in their lives. As George reflected in 1995 about that fateful turning point in 1961: “He wanted to manage us and we weren’t going anywhere anyway…” It was Brian who made all the difference…

Sadly – for all the success and joy he brought the Beatles – he was a tortured soul.

He was gay at a time when less kind words were routinely used to label LGBTQ people… living in England at a time when homosexuality was completely illegal. He lived in constant fear that tabloid exposure of his personal life might harm the group who he adored. He was also Jewish at a time that subtle institutional antisemitism was commonplace in Britain.

He died of an accidental overdose of sleeping tablets in August 1967 - age just 32.

I believe that Epstein was to music and popular culture what the heroic World War II code-breaker Alan Turing - portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in the film “The Imitation Game” - was to computer science. A pioneer who had a huge, positive impact on the planet - yet was anguished in his personal life because of the intolerance of the era he lived in.

Beatles fans - and indeed the whole world - owe an enormous debt to the astute, prescient, passionate, caring, gay, Jewish visionary whose endeavors brightened the universe - yet who died tragically young and troubled - Brian Epstein…

His importance is best summed up by my pal - Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham – who was a contemporary and friend of Epstein:
“The Beatles changed OUR lives… But only after Brian Epstein changed THEIR lives…”
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Click here for rare related video clips!

Ticket Price: $10 (in-person event only)
Please email events@prs.org or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.