MEET THE BEATLES,
60 YEARS ON

London-born Angeleno and prominent Beatles expert Martin Lewis will speak on his favorite subject on Friday, 8/23—60 years to the day after the Fabs’ landmark performance at the Hollywood Bowl.

He describes “The Greatest Beatles Story NEVER Told!”—which will take place at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz—as a TED Talk-style event that will recount The Beatles’ conquest of North America, including the band’s breakthrough hit, “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and their pivotal appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which drew a massive audience of 73 million.

Part of the discussion will focus on Brian Epstein, their late manager, “who was both Jewish and gay in England at a time when it was no picnic to be either,” Lewis noted in an email. “I was only one of those two minorities—and that was hard enough.”

“They went viral before there was viral,” Lewis said in an interview with the Jewish Journal. “And this was all thanks to Epstein. No Brian, no Beatles. They said so themselves in different ways while they were together. Without him, they wouldn’t have gotten out of Liverpool. Paul even referred to him as the fifth Beatle.”

As a bonus, Lewis promises to play “a never-before-heard recording from the 1967 Sgt. Pepper sessions.” He’ll pair it with a sequence from an unnamed David Lean film that presents what Carl Jung described as “a meaningful coincidence—a convergence that occurs with no causal relationship yet seems to be meaningfully related.”

Interested parties will find out what other revelations the self-described “gent provocateur” has up the sleeve of his impeccably tailored Edwardian suit next Friday.

Lewis, it should be noted, is a longtime champion of Epstein and a protégé of famed Beatles publicist Derek Taylor. He organized the first 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 & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Lewis instigated and runs the official Brian Epstein website.

For tix to “The Greatest Beatles Story NEVER Told!," click here.