Brian Epstein: the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

[Charlotteman]

Boomers probably already know this, but the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein happened to be a gay man.

And Epstein was more than a manager. He also remolded the four into "nice looking young guys" who would be acceptable to parents----parents that were threatened by the outlandish Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, and other rockers of the era.

Before meeting Brian, the Beatles toured Europe (mainly Germany) and performed with "greaser" haircuts, black leather jackets, and cigarettes hanging from their lips...a blend of James Dean and knife-culture England.

So when Brian became the boys' manager, he also performed a Queer Eye for the Straight Guy transformation on them. Epstein instituted the "cute" suits and shoes the Beatles wore on the Ed Sullivan Show. He also had them get fresher haircuts, sans the Brylcreme.

And when the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan Show, parents loved them, too.

Carson Kressley and Ted Allen did make-overs for hetero guys on TV, for the first time. But Brian Epstein did it on the biggest scale imaginable, way back in 1963.