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Interspersed with important dates and other information,
here are pictures takend during the Beatles' first U.S. visit in February 1964. They will be added to every few days.
Enjoy. :)
January 17, 1964
On the evening
of this day, the Beatles receive the news that "I Want To Hold Your Hand" has reached #1 in the U.S. charts.
"Beatles, pillow fight", photographed by Harry
Benson. Copyright its respective owner.
The single.
Pre-American "invasion" photo session...
February 7, 1964
While in New York City, radio stations are reporting the temperature in "Beatle degrees",
Pan Am flight 101's famous passengers have no idea what to expect of the U.S. They know that "I Want To Hold Your Hand" is
at number one, but not much else.
According to the Miles book 'The Beatles A Diary', Ed Sullivan had received 50,000 requests
for tickets to his show on February 9... while the theater only seated 728. There were also about 5,000 fans awaiting the
arrival of the Beatles at the newly renamed John F. Kennedy airport.
The Beatles' flight arrived at 1:20 pm and was greeted
by crowds of fans mostly girls skipping school reporters, photographers and astounded airport officials. (One was quoted as
saying, "We've never seen anything like this before, ever. Never. Not even for kings and queens.")
They held that famous
press conference and then went on to the Plaza Hotel, where they would be staying. (In fact, it's a famous stay... I saw a
documentary on the Plaza Hotel last year and one of the things it mentioned was the chaos and hysteria that surrounded some
of the hotel's famous guests back in 1964.)
Outside the Plaza Hotel, yet more fans were gathered, being held back by police
barricades and 20 mounted police officers.
Landing in America.
Waving at the fans gathered to greet them.
Some idea of what it looked like outside of the Plaza
Hotel when the Beatles were staying there.
February 8, 1964
While George was ill and stayed in the hotel room, Paul, John and Ringo attended a photo session in Central Park,
which produced some quite famous photos.
Later that day, minus George still, they went to do a sound check for their upcoming Ed Sullivan
Show appearance.
Also, according to MOJO's Beatlemania Special, Brian Epstein asked NY lawyer Walter Hofer to
take care of The Beatles' fan mail in the U.S. - his "first batch consists of 37 sacks."
February 9, 1964
The 8:00 pm live show was seen by 73,700,000 viewers, which was the largest viewing audience
in the history of television.
Waving to the crowd at the end of the first set, with
Ed Sullivan.
February 10, 1964
Interviews with
the press and presentations (of gold records for "I Want To Hold Your Hand").
February 11, 1964
Due to
a snow storm, all flights were cancelled and the Beatles made their way to Washington DC via train for their show at the Washington
Coliseum.
There, 8,092 fans saw them live; protection was given by 362 police officers.
The set was as follows:
Roll Over Beethoven
From Me To You
I Saw Her Standing There
This Boy
All
My Loving
I Wanna Be Your Man
Please, Please Me
Till There Was You
She Loves You
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Twist
and Shout
Long Tall Sally
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