EDITOR'S NOTE: In February 1964, the Beatles took America by storm, and rock `n' roll was never the same.
AP
reporters covering the band's Feb. 7 arrival at New York's Kennedy
Airport and their appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" two days later
never failed to mention John, Paul, George and Ringo's long hair, or the
screaming teenage girls who followed them wherever they went.
In
covering the airport arrival, AP reporter Arthur Everett goes to great
lengths to use contemporary slang like "way out" and "fab." And he
quotes female fans as shouting "We want beatniks!" Might it have been
"We want Beatles!"? The story on the Sullivan show appearance focuses on
the scene, making scant mention of the band's music. In a separate
review, AP television-radio writer Cynthia Lowry allows that the boys
"sing close harmony." But she is put off by their hairdos, and declares
that the appeal of the Liverpudlians remains a mystery to an "elderly
viewer." (Lowry was in her early 50s at the time.)
Fifty years after their original publication, the AP is making these reports available to subscribers:
---
BEATLES LAND IN NEW YORK
NEW
YORK, Feb. 7 (AP) - Britain's way out Beatles, equipped with rag mop
hairdos and guitars, invaded the colonies today. Thousands of delirious
teen-aged native girls paid them wild tribal homage when they landed at
Kennedy airport.
"I love them, I love them,"
shrieked one junior miss, teetering on the verge of emotional collapse. A
singing quartet of British youth, the Beatles are all the rage - or
rather "fab" for fabulous - on the tight little isle, and their fame has
spread to America via best-selling recordings. Now they are here in
person for a series of sold-out public appearances.
The
Beatles collectively are sort of a sheep dog version of Elvis Presley -
the adulation they arouse in reminiscent of the grip the American star
once held on the juvenile population.
However,
when a newsman described them to their faces - or the visible portions
thereof - as "four Elvis Presleys," they replied in unison: "Not True."
As
the Beatles left their transatlantic airliner shortly after noon, 5,000
school-skipping American fans stormed police barricades, pelted the
quartet with jelly beans and candy kisses, and screamed: "We want
beatniks! We want beatniks!"
Behind them, with
their departure from London, the Beatles left a pack of British
teen-age girls, awash in tears, keening forlornly and twisting sodden
hankies in anguished farewell.
But accustomed
as they are to the weird worship rites attending their every appearance,
the Beatles were shocked into momentary immobility as they left their
plane to face the American horde. They recovered enough to wave, mug and
dance a small jig for their panting audience.
"It's
marvelous," Beatle Paul McCartney, 21, later told a news conference.
"It's fantastic! We've never seen or had anything like this before. It's
the best ever."
There was some small measure
of mild dissent amid the joyous welcoming uproar that kept 100 policemen
on edge at the airport. One sign on display read: "Beatles go home!"
and another proclaimed: "We love Beethoven."
At the news conference the Beatles were informed that a "stamp out the Beatles" movement is under way in Detroit.
"We're going to start a campaign to stamp out Detroit," was their rejoinder.
As for Beethoven, Beatle Ringo Starr, 23, conceded that "he's beat - especially his poems."
---
ED SULLIVAN APPEARNCE
NEW
YORK, Feb. 9 (AP) - The Beatles - four British Lads who sing when they
are not busy running away from barbers - made their American Television
debut tonight - and some things may never be the same.
The
seats in the Columbia Broadcasting System studio where they appeared
live on the Ed Sullivan variety show were given more of a workout by
jumping and squirming teenaged girls than were the singers in their
fast-moving routine.
The four mop-topped
entertainers, who came here Friday from London, provided their own
musical background with string and percussion instruments.
Throughout
their two appearances during the show, the 721 members of the audience -
mostly young girls - kept up a steady stream of squeals, sighs and
yells.
The four British imports, appearing for
a total of about 20 minutes on the hour-long show, may well have ended
up with second billing.
Camera crews were
lavish in their shots of the audience, showing young girls leaping from
their seats, throwing their arms into the air and staring bug-eyed. Some
appeared as if on the verge of coma, staring open-mouthed.
At
one point before the program, there was some doubt that the four
singers would be able to make their way into the studio through the
masses of teenage fans trying for a glimpse of their idols.
But
hundreds of Manhattan Police, including mounted officers, shoved back
the eager fans and cleared a path for the four entertainers.
Fans
also gathered outside the Plaza Hotel in sunny, freezing weather as the
performers went back and forth
earlier in the day to rehearse at the
studio.
Following the afternoon rehearsal, the
Beatles recorded three numbers for an Ed Sullivan show to be aired Feb.
23. They will be on the show next Sunday, live from Miami Beach, Fla.
The Beatles will also give concerts in Washington, D.C., and in New
York.
On Saturday, George Harrison, lead
guitarist of the Beatles, was confined to the hotel with a sore throat
while drummer Ringo Starr and guitarists John Lennon and Paul McCartney
rehearsed and toured New York by car.
The
Beatles wear mushroomed shape hairdos down to their eyebrows and tight
black suits. In America they currently have the top selling album and
the number one and three top selling single records, "I Want to Hold
Your Hand" and "She Loves You."
---
REVIEW: FOR TEENAGE GIRLS ONLY
NEW
YORK, Feb. 10 (AP) - Anyone who is not a teen-age girl obviously is
unqualified to comment on the sight of the Beatles in action.
Heaven
knows we've heard them enough. It has been impossible to get a radio
weather bulletin or time signal without running into "I Want to Hold
Your Hand."
And now, having seen the four
performers on Ed Sullivan's CBS show last night, Beatlemania is even
more of a mystery to an elderly viewer.
They
sing close harmony, stomp their feet and play electric guitars, but so
do a lot of crew-cut American boys in slacks and sweaters, and they
cause no riots.
Beatle clothes look about two sizes too small, and I've seen Hungarian sheep dogs with more attractive hairdos.
But
thousands of squealing young girls get their message. Camera shots of
panting youngsters in Sullivan's audience were disquieting, in fact.
Maybe
after two more exposures to the Beatles on television, all of us
elderly people will become Beatlenuts, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I doubt it.
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