I remember leading up to the Sullivan performance, local radio everywhere was playing Beatle songs. There was an ad campaign that repeated, “The Beatles Are Coming, The Beatles Are Coming.”. Everyone wanted to see them on the show. The show was broadcast in B&W. With the massive audience Sullivan soon went with colour. Nobody that I knew had colour TV sets at the time. The power of The Beatles.
Actually, color broadcasts (or colour, depending on which side of the pond you are on) would not come to the Ed Sullivan Show for another year and a half after the Beatles' debut in Feb. '64. In fact the final Beatles live-performance for Ed's show was taped in B&W on August 14, 1965 (the day before their 1st Shea Stadium concert) but held for broadcast a month later on September 12, 1965. At the end of that show, Sullivan announced that, beginning the following week, on Sunday, 19 September, his show would begin broadcasting in colo(u)r. Headlining that show, which would emanate from CBS Studios in Hollywood, CA, would be Milton Berle, Eddie Fisher and Polly Bergen ... and the first pop musical act that would benefit from this new and exciting "Oz-like" video technology was none other than ... wait, for it ... Dino, Desi & Billy. PS: Great work, as usual, from two of the best out there, David and Bruce.
Bruce Spizer hit "all the posts." It was like pieces of a puzzle coming together. Nobody knew or cared about the Beatles in America until suddenly there was this huge buzz about them. Hearing Beatles music on radio and seeing them on Sullivan was the icing on the cake! We couldn't get enough of them after that.
Great video, loved Bruce's breakdown. I was just 4 years old when the group hit America, so don't remember it first hand, it had to of been a great time. The Beatles, IMO, are one the greatest stories ever told. It's, as Philip Norman said in his book Shout, a scarcely believable true story.
Awesome. I thought I knew a lot about the Beatles but there’s just so much to uncover and discover. I have to get back to Liverpool soon. Give my regards to Colin Hanton
4th grade is that age when you, perhaps, fancy a girl or two in class. For me, with the backdrop of; She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand, PS I Love You, etc. And then through to my 12th grade graduation, The Beatles continued to be the backdrop as I grew up. My AM transistor radio served me well indeed (and The Beatles still sounded good on tinny little speakers). Incredible experience, and likely never to happen again. God bless Paul and Ringo. @@BrightmoonLiverpool
The microphone being off deserves a whole video. Did England see them THAT night or years later? 8:48 Dave Dexter WAS out or touch, sure BUT drenching their music in echo and reverb....was the correct decision. And our Rubber Soul is SO much better than the Beatles original tracklisting. (not that Dexter was involved with that LP.)
England has never seen that show in England, per Mark Lewishon. One would think someone would have gotten that show over to the UK. Maybe some union blockage caused it. Not sure how much US TV got to the UK back then either.
Interesting about VeeJay. I have the original album, the second version that was put out after Capitol's injunction. My dad bought it for me in 1964 because it was cheaper than "Meet the Beatles" (aka 'With the Beatles'). Yes, Beatlemania had been building well before the Sullivan show. Everybody knew to watch it--even a little kid like me in a small town.
Thank you. The interview should never be about the interviewer, and when the guest is this good, I know to sit back and listen. That is enjoyable for me too.
No way the president of Capitol just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Okay, Brian, we'll spend $40,000 (=$400,000+ today) promoting your group's new record, if you insist."
Worcester Mass. is NOT a Suburb of Boston. It is It's Own city in the Middle of the State.There are three cities in Massachusetts. Boston on the East coast, Worcester in the Middle of the State and Springfield in the West of the State where Basketball was invented and where Dr. Seuss came from.
In Bob Spitz 1990s Beatles biography he claims that the head of EMI flew to LA for a super-secret meeting in which he ordered Capital (which EMI owned) to release I Want to Hold Your Hand and give it a big push. This sounds a lot more believable to me than that the head of Capital would take a phone call from an unknown manger of an unknown group and be convinced to overide his underlying Dave Dexters decisions to to not release The Beatles. I think the Epstein - Livingston phone call was a fiction made up to make Capital look good and cover up the truth. It will be interesting to see which version Mark Lewisohn gives in his next Betales book -whenever it comes out!
I doubt Lewisohns version would be any more accurate, Not to get tinfoilhatted about it but something way bigger was going on (as you say "super-secret meetings in LA" et al.) but that's a potato so hot I doubt any of these historians would even dare touch upon, I hope one day we'll get past all the gatekeepy authors and hear the Beatles REAL story
It is known that Len Wood (EMI) had been trying to convince Capitol to release the records. George Martin had been pestering them too, so Livingstone was aware of what the Beatles were doing in the UK. Remember that the EMI/ Capitol deal meant that Capitol had first refusal, but EMI London could not impose their will. So the group and Epstein were known to Livingstone and pressure had been applied. What Brian was able to do was add to that and help convince Livingstone to back the Beatles. It was a cumulative effect, just as Beatlemania in America was, taking several months to come to fruition.
@@BrightmoonLiverpool Appreciate the feedback David, I just feel like there's so many anomalies regarding their rise, something very orchestrated about it, even from the time 'Eppy' just strolls out the store with a whole bunch of free instruments on a wishful 'these boys will be big' promise (how many times they must've heard that chestnut?), it's like every stage of events seems to have a shady voice on a telephone telling someone "just do it", I mean I've read/heard at least 3 different stories of how George Martin came to sign them, George couldn't even explain the discrepencies when Lewisohn put the paperwork in front of him, I think George(H) and Johns vocal unease with 'the myth' maybe alluded to something far more deep than mere modesty
This totally destroys the old Beatles lore that the band had told Brian they wouldn't go to the States before they had a #1 there. As it turns out they did have a #1 before they went, but the Ed Sullivan booking had been made before "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was even released by Capitol.
@@BrightmoonLiverpool yes but the problem is it’s McCartney telling that fable over and over which lends a certain measure of credence for anyone who hasn’t seen that clip of Derek talking about how McCartney just constantly makes stuff up. Most times the lore is WAY more interesting than the facts.
@stevestroh2267 I think Paul has lost the ability to know which is fact and which is fab four fiction, because if you tell a story often enough it becomes your truth. Most of it isn't deliberate but the mists of time when life was a blur!
