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Watch The Beatles Arrive In America For The First Time
By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 7, 2014
Modified Feb 7, 2014
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 7, 2014
Modified Feb 7, 2014
Share
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As you may have heard, on this day in 1964, The Beatles first came to America (be sure to check out the NYPL's exhibit). Below, relive their invasion all over again—or for the first time—beginning with the press conference at JFK Airport. According to Time, reporters "were crammed into Pan Am’s smoke-filled lounge, grumbling about the lousy assignment, when the Beatles finally paraded into the room."
They were met by 3,000 screaming fans at the airport, and Paul McCartney would later recall that the "pilot had rung ahead and said, ‘Tell the boys there’s a big crowd waiting for them.'" George Harrison added, “We heard that our records were selling well in America, but it wasn’t until we stepped off the plane that we understood what was going on. Seeing thousands of kids there to meet us made us realize just how popular we were there.” Here's a brief newsreel from that day, bringing them from JFK to Central Park:
And here they are on the Ed Sullivan Show, where they broke television viewing records (73 million watched!):
While it was reported that during this hour there was no crime in America... that is not true. According to Snopes, this myth started with Washington Post news editor B.F. Henry, who "quipped that one good thing about the Beatles was that 'during the hour they were on Ed Sullivan's show, there wasn't a hubcap stolen in America.' That statement was not intended as praise; it was a put-down reflecting the common adult perception of the Beatles as just another silly fad that appealed to the worst elements of American youth. If no hubcaps were stolen for an hour, it was because the Beatles' primary audience included all the juvenile delinquents and other incorrigible young hoodlums who would normally be out committing that sort of petty crime." The story was picked up by Newsweek, who interpreted it as factual, and the Washington Post's Bill Gold penned a follow-up:
"This week's issue of Newsweek quotes my report from B.F. Henry. It is with heavy heart that I must inform Newsweek that this report was not true. Lawrence R. Fellenz of 307 E. Groveton St., Alexandria, had his car parked on church property during that hour—and all four of his hubcaps were stolen. The Washington Post regrets the error, and District Liner Fellenz regrets that somewhere in Alexandria there lives a hipster who is too poor to own a TV set."
For more on their first visit here, there's also a five part video, which begins here, documenting their entire trip:
Tagged
1964
anniversary
british invasion
flashback
the beatles
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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