Beatles Contract Nets $23K

Pollstar Staff
2:05 am, Sunday, 09/25/2011
Industry Hotwire

A 1965 Beatles’ contract specifying the Fab Four would not play to segregated audiences sold for $23,000 at auction in Santa Monica, Calif., Sept. 20.

The Nate D. Sanders auction house did not disclose the buyer.

Sanders had expected the contract to fetch $3,000 to $5,000.

The contract lays out terms for The Beatles’ appearance at San Francisco’s Cow Palace and, among other things, requires that 150 police officers be brought in to provide security at the height of Beatlemania.

The Beatles threatened to cancel a 1964 concert at the Gator Bowl in Florida when the band learned the audience was to be segregated.

John, Paul, George and Ringo agreed to take the stage only when officials assured them the audience would be integrated.