The Beatles Boxed Set (32 page)

            They
continued performing at shows while touring. In some of these shows, they were
not even the tour leaders but they overshadowed American acts Tommy Roe and
Chris Montez and assumed top billing by audience demand. It was something that
no British act had previously accomplished while touring alongside artists from
the US.

            In
late-October, the Beatles toured Sweden for five days, their first time abroad
since their Hamburg days. When they returned in the UK by the end of the month,
seven hundred screaming fans were waiting in heavy rain at Heathrow Airport,
plus fifty to a hundred journalists, photographers and representatives from BBC.

            The
Beatles wasted no time and began another tour of Britain which would last for
six weeks. By then Beatlemania was intensifying in each location where the
Beatles were, and so police had to use high-pressure water hoses to control the
crowd, as what happened in Plymouth in November.

When the Beatles’ sophomore album,
With the Beatles
,
was released in November, it climbed straight to the top, knocking off
Please
Please Me
and holding the spot for another 21 weeks.

           
With
the Beatles
was recorded four months after
Please Please Me
and
contained eight original compositions, including seven by Lennon-McCartney, one
by George, his first recorded solo composition and his first released on a
Beatles album, and six covers. It was released to record advance orders of
270,000 copies and sold another half million by September 1965.

The
Beatles were very popular in the UK following the successes of their albums and
singles. It was time to bring Beatlemania to America.

            In
the first weeks of 1964, anxiety surrounded the band’s scheduled trip to the
United States. Their singles, which enjoyed success in Britain, were flops in
the world’s biggest pop marketplace. One of the main reasons was Capitol
Record’s refusal to release the Beatles’ music. Only a few small, independent
labels agreed to release
Please Please Me
and
She Loves You
.

            Despite
the band’s limited success in the US, they were happy about being voted Top
Vocal Group of the Year; seven of their records were in the top twenty.

            By
the end of 1963, the situation was beginning to change. EMI’s British chairman,
Sir Joseph Lockwood, urged his American label to give the Beatles a chance. And
when Ed Sullivan, host of one of the most popular shows in the US,
The Ed
Sullivan Show
, chanced upon a riotous welcome for the Beatles in London, he
decided to book them on his show. This prompted Capitol Records to release
I
Want to Hold Your Hand
along with a promotional campaign.

            Seeing
that this was the group’s chance to make themselves known in the US, Epstein
negotiated with Sullivan for a three-show package deal and set up three
concerts in the Northeast, plus a few days in Florida for relaxation. Although
the band was looking forward to their American debut, they couldn’t help
worrying. Cliff Richard, a successful artist in England, didn’t achieve the
same success in the US, a fact that John noted a few weeks before their trip.

            The
Beatles had always said that they would not tour in America until they had a
chart-topping hit. Coincidentally, their single
I Want to Hold Your Hand
hit the American charts and made a beeline for the top spot just weeks before
the group arrived. But this success didn’t soothe the group’s frayed nerves.
They didn’t know what to expect of  their performances in America in the
following days. More than anything, they were afraid to fail in the US like
Cliff Richard did.

            Their
fears for the unknown were finally soothed the moment their plane touched down
on the tarmac at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. From the windows of
the plane, they could see that an enormous crowd had gathered to await their
arrival. It was estimated that three thousand fans turned up and greet them with
screams at the airport, along with 200 journalists. Some people in the crowd
got injured. The airport had not previously seen such a large crowd before.

The Beatles were greeted by three
thousand fans at the John F. Kennedy Airport

            When
they stepped out of the plane and waved, the crowds roared with cheers. The
mass hysteria that moment was only the beginning of the public events that
would overshadow the adulation that people previously directed to at pop stars.
In the 1950s, young women had thrown themselves at Elvis Presley and Johnny
Ray. Frank Sinatra was idolized during his heyday in the 1940s. They even
danced in the aisle to the music of Benny Goodman in the 1930s.

            But
none came close to the intensity of the public outpourings of affection for the
Beatles in the 1964 and 1965. Not even the rock ‘n’ roll bands today could
match their success, or elicit hysteria the way the Beatles did or repeat the
mania in its economic and cultural significance.

            The
hysteria that followed the Beatles as they stayed briefly in the US for their
shows took them and their management team by surprise. They knew that the
Beatles were a national obsession in the UK, but they also knew that the US was
a difficult marketplace to conquer with music.

            The
Beatles arrived in the midst of crazy adulation. It was a magical time and a
historic moment for the young generation. Those who were there to experience
Beatlemania testified that it marked a turning point in their lives. One fan
summed it up by saying, “There is no question in my mind that The Beatles had
the MOST profound impact on history.”

Fans going mad for the Beatles

            Beatlemania
became bigger than the Beatles. The screams and shouts drowned out their music
and overshadowed them. Entertainment industries found a gem in Beatlemania and
capitalized on it to promote concerts, films, magazines, books and clothes and
other paraphernalia. It inspired copy cat bands, some which became successful
and others were quickly forgotten. Many historians would agree that Beatlemania
was one of the largest and successful merchandising campaigns in the American
history.

            It
was all madness. The Beatlemania was. Larry Kane, a deejay based in Miami who
was lucky enough to join the press corps accompanying the Beatles during their
first two historic tours, described the crowd behavior that followed the band
whenever they played in his book titled
Ticket to Ride.
There was
screaming everywhere. Thousands of fans screaming as one produced sound levels
that drowned out other sounds. Girls screamed at the top of their lungs from
the time Ringo’s drums were brought onto the stage until it was announced that the
band had already left the auditorium. Those who had been there compared the
noise levels to thunder or an earthquake. Everybody left the concert with a
ringing in their ears that lasted a day or two.

            Upon
their arrival, the boys were escorted to a conference room for a brief press
conference. Then they were shepherded into limousines for their ride to
Manhattan.

            More
girls were waiting for the band at the Plaza Hotel where the Beatles would be staying.
They spent a better part of the day peering down at the crowds through the
curtains of the living room windows. Geoffrey Ellis, Brian Epstein’s friend who
was working in New York, recalled, “They didn’t care much about what was going
on with people there, or what was said, because they were all so fascinated
with the teenagers outside.”

            If
they were not checking out their screaming fans, they would listen to their
songs on the radio or watch news reports of their arrival on the TV news
program.

            On
February 9, 1964, the Beatles arrived on the set of
The Ed Sullivan Show
for
their performance there. The host, Ed Sullivan, introduced the band to riotous
screams from the fans inside the theater. And when the foursome stepped onto
the stage, the screaming became even more intense, with girls grabbing their
hair and looking as if short of breath.

            Ringo
played his drums enthusiastically as Paul opened the set with
All My Loving
,
then segued into Paul’s cover of
Til There Was You
and John’s
She
Loves You
before ending with
I Want to Hold Your Hand
. Even though
Ringo was the only Beatle who didn’t sing throughout their performance, his
role as the drummer was a significant one. He would smile when the camera
focused on him and played to the screams of his own fans. He surveyed the
audience and was having a terrific time.

The Beatles performed for 73 million
viewers on The Ed Sullivan Show, February 9, 1964

            The
Beatles’ performance that night was watched by 73 million viewers - about
two-fifths of the American population. The Nielsen ratings audience measurement
system showed that the show had the largest number of viewers that had ever
been recorded for a US television program to that point. It was clear that
Americans had found new happiness in the group to replace their great sadness
following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

            Their
first American concert took place on February 11 at Washington Coliseum, a
sports arena in Washington, DC. They were being introduced but the screams were
already filling the arena, each attendee giddy to finally set her eyes on each
of the Beatles. And when the boys filed toward the stage, the screams went loud
enough to rattle the walls. The Beatles performed on a central stage with the
audience all around. The boys had to pause so that they could turn their
equipment around and perform facing another direction.