The Beatles Come to America (50 Years Later)

Information for this piece was gathered from New York Times Feb 8, 1964 pg. 25, New York Times Dec 15, 1963 pg. 139, AP Images, the Library of Congress and the Ed Sullivan Show's official website.

The Beatles 50 years later

This year was the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' historic appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. The Beatles were four boys from Liverpool, consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. In 1963 they had made their television debut on the British show “Val Parnell’s Sunday Night at the London Palladium” and released their first album, “Please Please Me. They had achieved large success in the United Kingdom and in order to break through in America had scheduled an appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. This would become the highest rated show ever at the time with 73 million people tuning in to watch them perform five songs. They would appear three additional times on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Arrival at Airport

AP Images
The Beatles are greeted by thousands of fans at Kennedy International Airport.
This was their first time in the United States.

The Beatles were already wildly popular in the US before they’d ever performed here. They had a number one hit weeks before the show with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. They were met by 3,000 fans at the airport for their first steps in the United States as well as 200 reporters and photographers. 

 Success Before the Show

Library of Congress
The Beatles rehearse for their first Ed Sullivan performance. They would appear four times on the show.

The New York Times compare the Beatles to
 Elvis and make Beatlemania a proper noun.

Despite having sold nearly 3 million records the New York Times was unsure if they’d be a hit in America stating, “It remains to be seen whether Beatlemania becomes a fad here or millions of viewers turn in their sets”. Rock n’ Roll was still viewed as a bit of a novelty at this time. Note that Beatlemania is actually capitalized in the article and they’re also described by some “as Elvis multiplied by four” 

The Beatles’ first number one single in the United States was “I want to Hold Your Hand,” which hit the charts just a few weeks prior to their appearance on the Ed Sullivan show so the wheels of Beatlemania were already in motion by the time of the shows. Over the next six years the Beatles’ would have 45 more top 40 hits in the US charts.

The show was so successful that the Ed Sullivan Show added a third show to the two originally planned before the second show even aired.

During the week of April 4, 1964, just weeks after the Ed Sullivan appearance, the Beatles would occupy all top 5 spots in the Billboard’s Top 40, a record unlikely to be broken.

Zac Carlson is a senior Journalism student at Texas State University. He can be reached at zdc1@txstate.edu.