Beatles arrive in U.S.- United Press International not copyrighted
“We needed a fling after that wake.”
Lester Bangs, noted rock critic and editor of Detroit’s Creem Magazine, writing about the Beatles impact on America after the assassination of President Kennedy
John, Paul, George and Ringo handsomely dressed in cute suits, skinny ties, pegged pants and pointed boots, and gripping their blue Pan Am bags like someone was going to ask for them back, arrived at the newly renamed Kennedy airport about 1:20 p.m. EST, Friday, February 7, 1964. Beatlemania was in full swing and adoring fans swarmed, screamed and fawned over them at every stop.
Although their arrival was a sleight of hand, with details choreographed down to paying and providing t-shirts to adoring fans it hadn’t always been a sure thing. As summer turned into fall in 1963, it was beginning to look like the Beatles’ dream of coming to America might not happen.
First U.S. Number 1 Hit
First, Capitol Records, their American label, wouldn’t release their songs despite selling millions in the U.K, but their manager, strong-willed, never-take-no- for-an answer Brian Epstein, went to work, and combined with a serendipitous vacation to Britain by Ed Sullivan where he encountered Beatlemania, discussions began about the Beatles appearing on his show. Even coupled with some extensive media coverage, not always complimentary, by Life, Time, Newsweek, Huntley-Brinkley, and Jack Parr, their visit was still shaky at best.
But on December 10 CBS News ran a four-minute feature on the Beatles with some footage of them singing “She Loves You”. The segment had been scheduled to run the evening of November 22, 1963 (a shorter segment had run that morning), but the longer segment showing them singing had been pulled for wall-to-wall coverage of Kennedy’s assassination. Watch the video from CBS Evening News which aired December 10, 1963.
Three days after Walter Cronkite aired the segment, on December 13, in one of the most understated press releases ever, it was announced that the Beatles would appear live on the Ed Sullivan Show. The release referred to them as a quartet, likely the last time that phrase was used to describe them.
Even then, the superhuman efforts of Epstein might not have been able to make the visit a success, but then a 15 year old girl wrote a Washington D.C. DJ asking why his station wasn’t playing the Beatles. The DJ, Carroll James at WWDC, arranged for “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to be flown in from Britain and on December 17 the song was first heard on American radio.
Capitol at first was incensed and asked for the song to be pulled, but by now stations across the U.S, began playing the song and the Beatles were out of the bag. Finally Capitol made the decision to move the record’s American release up to December 26. In short order, Capitol went from fighting the release of the record to asking their sales staff to wear Beatle wigs. On February 1, the Beatles got their wish. They had always said they would not go to America until they had a number one hit. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was number 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and teenagers everywhere were squirming and shouting the words to the song while they held little transistor radios to their ears.
On this coming Sunday, February 9, 2014 that magic continues when the two hour TV special “The Night That Changed America airs on CBS from 8-10 p.m. recreating the time when millions of Americans at 8:10 p.m., exactly 50 years ago to the actual day, tuned their black and white televisions to watch a rock band perform. Sandwiched between Disney and Bonanza, Ed Sullivan on his weekly variety “shew” introduced the Beatles to 73 million viewers, the largest television audience to date. The group sang five songs and America was about to go on a “magical mystery tour.”
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” stayed at number one for seven weeks, to be replaced by ”She Loves You”. Everyone from corporate America to screaming 11 year-old girls wanted a piece of the Beatles. Young girls bought squares of cloth purported to be their undershorts and Clairol hired cabaret singer dancer Neine Adams (Steve McQueen’s spouse) to sport a “Beatle cut.”
Beatle appearances became mob scenes reminiscent of Allan Freed’s “Moondog Balls” and young women would go to untoward means to meet the Beatles. Tomorrow read how three current Michiganians were able to share this historic moment up front and personal.
