NEW YORK - February 10, 1964
I’m back here in 1964 where the Winter Olympics have just wrapped up in Austria.
But I’m not covering the Olympics because I’m focused on an even bigger event happening in New York City.
The Beatles made their American debut on the Ed Sullivan show last night inside the CBS studio at 53rd and Broadway.
The show was on national TV at 8pm ET.
73 million people watched it.
It was the largest US TV audience ever.
This is a bit of a different event for The Sports Time Traveler™. But its similar to most of the sports I’ve covered in several key ways:
It took place in front of a live audience
It involved a group that is #1 in the rankings (just like UCLA in college hoops this week)
It had fans that are absolutely stir crazy for their group (just like Chicago Black Hawks fans)
The Beatles touched down at the newly named JFK airport on Friday, February 7th. And since that time its been pandemonium in the Big Apple.
Newsday writer, Pat Patterson, called it “B Day”, signifying the British invasion had begun.
50 extra policemen had to be assigned to JFK airport where 3,000 teenagers, and 200 reporters and photographers, mobbed the upper arcade of the international arrivals terminal.
The New York Times quoted an airport official saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this here before. Never. Not even for kings and queens.”
The Beatles were whisked to the Plaza Hotel in 4 Cadillac limousines - one for each Beatle.
At the plush hotel near the southeast corner of Central Park, they’re staying in a 10 room suite. And CBS has hired 40 private duty officers to keep them safe from the crowds.
On Saturday, The New York Times reported that, “City police and private guards patrolled the Plaza lobby and were posted outside The Beatles rooms on the 12th floor… The Plaza’s management had no comment on a report that it would not have accepted the reservations of the Beatles - Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon - if it had known who they were.”
In Newsday it was noted, “The doughty old Plaza was reported to be in a tizzy - worried lest its reputation be sullied by teenage riots, pranks or other untoward incidents during the Beatles’ stay.”
The Beatles rehearsed in the CBS studio on Saturday. Ray Block, the musical director for the Ed Sullivan show was interviewed by The New York Times after the rehearsal. He said, “The only thing that’s different is the hair as far as I can see. I give them a year.”
Billboard’s rankings of top singles also came out on Saturday and The Beatles retained the #1 spot. They’re also the only group with 2 songs in the top 10.
Here’s the top 10 on the Billboard chart as of February 8, 1964:
1 - I Want To Hold Your Hand, The Beatles
2 - You Don't Own Me, Lesley Gore
3 - Out Of Limits, The Marketts
4 - Hey Little Cobra, The Rip Chords
5 - Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Major Lance
6 - Surfin' Bird, The Trashmen
7 - She Loves You, The Beatles
8 - For You, Rick Nelson
9 - Anyone Who Had A Heart, Dionne Warwick
10 - There! I've Said It Again, Bobby Vinton
Yesterday was the big day - The Ed Sullivan Show.
The Grimsby Evening Telegraph, a British newspaper, reported that, “Minutes before they appeared on stage, The Beatles received a telegram from California from Elvis Presley who cabled: ‘Congratulations on your appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show and your visit to America. We hope your engagement will be a successful one, and your visit pleasant.’”
Would the Beatles be able to live up to the hype? Would they be able to perform at a peak level for the largest TV audience in American history?
The Sports Time Traveler™ had to go back to see this. 50,000 requests for tickets had come in to CBS for the 721 seats inside the theater, but I was able to watch this spectacle virtually.
The first song The Beatles played on the show was “All My Loving.”
Anthony Burton of the New York Daily News wrote in today’s paper, “From the moment The Beatles began by blasting out “All My Loving” the kids bounced like dervishes in their seats to the driving beat.” He went on to write that there was, “a wild screaming as if Dracula had suddenly appeared on stage. The screams reached a pitch dangerous to the ear drums.”
You can watch a clip of it here:
Throughout the song you can hear the screams of the teenage girls that dominated the audience.
Alan Patureau, writing in NewsDay, noted, “The four British rock ‘n rollers weren’t about to discourage the wild screeching yesterday as they sang in person to America for the first time… they and their phalanx of 21 press agents know that for every holler there’s a dollar.”
They played 2 more songs in their first set on the show - “Till There Was You,” and “She Loves You.”
Then they played 2 additional songs in a 2nd set - “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
You can watch the full video of their performance of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” here:
Many entertainment reporters, who hailed from another generation than the teenage fans who are crazy for The Beatles, had less than flattering reviews.
One Hollywood columnist wrote this in today’s Progress Bulletin, a Pomona California newspaper, “The truth is that they are really pretty boring to listen to. Their act is absolutely nothing. Their greatest asset is that they look like rather likeable, almost innocent young fellows who have merely hit a lucky thing. In fact, one gets the impression that they are having a private lark over the silly screaming girls in the audiences.”
The Beatles will be playing in Washington on Tuesday. President Johnson will not attend. Then they come back to New York to play Carnegie Hall on Wednesday for 2 performances at 7pm and 10pm. Finally, they fly to Miami Beach where they will appear for a second time on the Ed Sullivan show live from the Deauville Hotel next Sunday.
The Sports Time Traveler™ is definitely heading to Miami Beach next week. And I will be staying on an extended virtual trip in South Beach until February 25th when Cassius Clay will challenge Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship of the world in boxing.
I can’t wait!
Thanks for reading.
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