Fifty years ago today, on Feb. 9, 1964, via “The Ed Sullivan Show,” America met the Beatles.
Reminiscing about that day:
"Seventy-three million people were reported to have watched the first show. It is still supposed to be one of the largest viewing audiences ever in the States.
It was very important. We came out of nowhere with funny hair, looking like marionettes or something. That was very influential. I think that was really one of the big things that broke us - the hairdo more than the music, originally. A lot of people's fathers had wanted to turn us off. They told their kids, 'Don't be fooled, they're wearing wigs.'
A lot of fathers did turn it off, but a lot of mothers and children made them keep it on. All these kids are now grown-up, and telling us they remember it. It's like, 'Where were you when Kennedy was shot?' I get people like Dan Aykroyd saying, 'Oh man, I remember that Sunday night; we didn't know what had hit us - just sitting there watching Ed Sullivan's show.' Up until then there were jugglers and comedians like Jerry Lewis, and then, suddenly, The Beatles!"
Paul McCartney
Anthology
"The main thing I was aware of when we did the first Ed Sullivan Show was that we rehearsed all afternoon. TV had such bad sound equipment - it still has today, usually, but then it was really bad - that we would tape our rehearsals and then go up and mess with the dials in the control booth. We got it all set with the engineer there, and then we went off for a break.
The story has it that while we were out, the cleaner came in to clean the room and the console, thought, 'What are all these chalk marks?' and wiped them all off. So our plans just went out the window. We had a real hasty time trying to get the sound right."
Ringo Starr
The story has it that while we were out, the cleaner came in to clean the room and the console, thought, 'What are all these chalk marks?' and wiped them all off. So our plans just went out the window. We had a real hasty time trying to get the sound right."
Ringo Starr
Anthology
"We were aware that Ed Sullivan was the big one because we got a telegram from Elvis and the Colonel. And I've heard that while the show was on there were no reported crimes, or very few. When The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, even the criminals had a rest for ten minutes."
George Harrison
Anthology
The Beatles performed five songs on their Ed Sullivan Show live debut. They sang "All My Loving", "Till There Was You" and "She Loves You", in the first half of the program, followed by "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand", in the second half.
Anthology
The Beatles performed five songs on their Ed Sullivan Show live debut. They sang "All My Loving", "Till There Was You" and "She Loves You", in the first half of the program, followed by "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand", in the second half.
No comments:
Post a Comment