Something special was happening when the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, a remarkable occasion that happened 60 years ago this February: the start of Beatlemania.
the Beatles officially gave their very first live American television performance on none other than The Ed Sullivan Show. 73 million viewers across 23 million households tuned in for the occasion, accounting for an estimated 34% of the country’s entire population. For some fun additional context, 24 million viewers tuned in for the very first Super Bowl three years later; there was no keeping up with the Fab Four. Crowds they were relatively used to – but the setting on The Ed Sullivan Show was totally new to the Beatles.
“When we first came here, we’d never seen this kind of thing,” recalled McCartney in a 2009 interview with David Letterman. “TV studios in England were kind of all on one floor… But here is’ like an apartment block!” He added, “The memory of being here is great. It was kind of scary the first time.”
The Beatles were the exciting new foreign musical sensation performing on one of the most-watched programs on TV. “Just received a wire, they did, from Elvis Presley and Col. Tom Parker wishing them a tremendous success in our country,” Sullivan said to his eager audience. “Now tonight the whole country is waiting to hear England’s Beatles.”
Sullivan had started scoping the Beatles out as a talent for his show in ’63, around when they reached the height of their fame in the U.K. They might not have known at the time, but Sullivan was watching the start of Beatlemania unfold in Britain and his show would help cement its place in the U.S.
But first, he had to secure the quartet. An episode of Everything Fab Four details how this feat was accomplished, with testimony from Margo Precht Speciale, granddaughter of Sullivan and daughter of producer Bob Precht. “There are two stories – the PR story and the real story,” she explained.
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