Mr. Moonlight threatens a good story but ends up being a hasty potboiler. The elusive subject is of course fascinating and the opening, where Norman hints at a gangworld hit, teases the possibility of a deeper discussion about Brian Epstein's links or otherwise to organised crime. However, as Norman admits, the evidence (from Ronnie Kray) is "elliptical", and he misses a trick in not investigating further the strange tale of Beatle lawyer and Epstein friend, David Jacobs, who died in mysterious circumstances in 1968. Still, any book that gives credit to Epstein is worthwhile. Norman teases out aspects of Epstein's homosexuality and tortured emotional life but fails to go much beyond what is already known. The brutal fact is that many of the witnesses are now dead and those that are alive, particularly Paul and Ringo, who do not feature, have little more to say. Indeed, Epstein himself compartmentalised his life so thoroughly that it is doubtful whether we will ever know the full story.
Philip Norman's biography of Brian Epstein is expected to be published in June 2026
From the publisher:
The definitive, comprehensive biography of Brian Epstein - the man who built the Beatles.
There will never be another pop manager like Brian Epstein, the young record-retailer from Liverpool behind the 20th century's greatest romance. Having achieved his much-derided aim of making the Beatles "bigger than Elvis," Brian went on to make them bigger than any earthly instrument could measure. Only a handful of years older, he nonetheless referred them as "the Boys," protecting and pampering them like the children he could never hope to have.
Due to his homosexuality - and possibly his Jewishness - Brian received no public honor (or even thanks) for this incalculable contribution to Britain's exports, let alone the national morale. He may not have been the best dealmaker for the Beatles, but in his hands, their guiding principles were always good taste, niceness to their fans, and value for money. Yet his only tangible memorials are a blue plaque marking his former office in London's theatreland and a modest bronze statue near the site of his family's electrical goods store in Liverpool.
Mr. Moonlight draws on a cache of never-before-heard audio interviews to tell the story of this hugely complex, self-contradictory, and ultimately tragic character. From his Pre-Beatles years - the eight different expensive private schools at which he failed to shine, his problematic career as an army National Serviceman, his vague ambitions to be a couturier - through his management of the Beatles, where he turned a quartet of unruly young musicians in cracked black leather into a worldwide religion, up to his supposedly "incautious" overdoses in 1967 at aged 32, and the calamity that followed. As John Lennon said upon hearing the news, "Then we're fucked!" - and they were.
in that mintz book does it mention the lost weekend story about off-his-head john yelling "this is all Roman Polanski's fault!!" while stabbing a mattress? Possibly from the same night as the chair tying. Ever since I read about that in May's book it's been my personal what happened in India - what do you MEAN, John????? Did he even know Polanski?
SCREAM no it does not but that beyond tracks 😭 it does however mention that he used to go to casinos and place chips on like almost every single number of the roulette wheel and he'd lose money bc it took more chips to do this than he'd make back when he inevitably won. and when mintz tried to explain this he just got confused bc "but I win every time". also they went to mcdonalds together once. and john thought he solved jfk's assassination (the driver turned around and did it, which. literal video of this not being true)
Hope it's ok to add this but answering to anon's question, yes, John did know the very well connected Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate.
Odds are John had been in the same parties as the couple before but it was likely when he wrote a story for Kenneth Tynan's play Oh! Calcutta! that he got deeply in their social orbit. This is from one of Polanski's biographies:
POLANSKI by John Parker.
There's a photo of John and Yoko talking to Roman at what I believe to be the premiere of The Magic Christian in 1969. Roman and Sharon were friends with Ringo and Maureen so that would explain their presence.
There's also an image of Roman, John, Lou Adler and David Geffen at a Rocky Horror Picture Show performance in 1974. The show was produced by Adler, who owned the house John and May Pang were living in. The one that was destroyed.
Adler was good friends with Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston, which is probably the reason Roman was there. In turn, John and May had been hanging out with the Jaggers, David Geffen and his then girlfriend Cher, who all attended the event. Clearly, at some point John did interact with Roman but there is not enough detail on whether they were just social acquaintances or something closer to friends at the time. Authors and fans never showed much interest in John's relationships outside the Beatles and his marriages, so we'll never know how close he actually was to some people.
John and Roman actually had something of a weird connection. Not entirely surprising considering how incestuous the celebrity scene was but the *specifics* are pretty wild.
When Mia Farrow joined The Beatles and The Maharishi in India, she had just filmed Rosemary's Baby with Roman. That was actually the reason her marriage to Frank Sinatra went south.
Rosemary's Baby was filmed at the Dakota Building, where John famously went on to live – and die. The film came out May '68, The White Album November '68 and Sharon Tate, Roman's wife, was murdered by Manson Family member Sadie Atkins in August '69. As in Sexy Sadie, the song John wrote in Rishikesh.
The last bizarre but less talked about fact is that "Dear" Prudence Farrow was allegedly having a full blown affair with Bobby Durst when his wife Kathie disappeared. Which, huh. Let's say getting involved with this particular guy is an interesting turn of events for someone who was seeking spiritual enlightenment so hard.
So basically, on top of everything that happened in his unique life, John was a couple of degrees of separation with two of the biggest true crime cases of all time and became one himself.
Imo it's no wonder he and Yoko became so obsessed with the occult and mysticism, especially as rich eccentric types in the 1970s. At some point one does wonder if it's not an energy problem, you know.
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