3 weeks ago
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More than 300 pages of legal documents revealing unpublished information about The Beatles' 1974 split are to be auctioned in London on December 12, with an estimated price that could reach up to 8,000 GBP (10,100 USD).
The documents were discovered inside a cabinet, where they had been stored since the 1970s and "reveal a behind-the-scenes insight into the events and discussions that led to the breakup of The Beatles and their court cases," explains auction house Dawsons - which is responsible for the auction - in a statement.
Among the documents auctioned are copies of the minutes of meetings of the Liverpool quartet's advisers, a copy of the 1967 Beatles partnership deed and packages relating to Paul McCartney's Supreme Court case to end the band's 1970 performance restrictions, among others.
When Brian Epstein, who was the Beatles' manager for five years, died suddenly, his mismanagement came to light, and court documents also revealed that money was unaccounted for and that the band's taxes had not been paid for years, while HMRC was tracking them without the group knowing.
The search for a new manager
The band decided to create their own company, Apple Corps, and looked for a new manager to replace Epstein. While John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison opted for Allen Klein, Paul McCartney wanted to hire his father-in-law, Lee Eastman, an entertainment lawyer.
In the end, Klein arrived by majority, but McCartney felt that the manager's aim was to make money and threatened the artistic integrity and freedom of the band, so he hired his own accountant, who pointed out the anomalies and he was forced to sue the band to get out of the management agreement referred to in the documents now up for auction.
The copies of the court documents of the bid also detail many legal issues that the band's lawyers had to face, as Dawsons points out, such as why when Ringo Starr joined the group to replace Pete Best it was not recorded in writing or the internal tensions between the Liverpool band over the film and musical rights to their songs.
"Even if the four Beatles did not perform again as a group, it is not accurate to say that all the purpose of the association has disappeared (...) The question is... where is the money?", is one of the comments that were recorded in the minutes of the meetings shown in the papers.
Dawsons' director of entertainment and popular culture, Denise Kelly, called these documents "fascinating" and said that if she were a screenwriter, "they would be all I would need to tell the true story of what led one of the most successful bands in history to break up", with the characters, dialogue and real events.
English (US) ·