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Beatles site contains Beatles news, biographies, a discography, pictures,
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"The Beatles, wildly popular quartet
of English recording stars, will make their first trip to the
United States Feb. 7 for their American television debut on `The
Ed Sullivan Show,' Sundays, Feb. 9 and 16 (8:00-9:00 PM, PST)
on the CBS Television Network. Their first appearance will be
done at Studio 50 in New York, and their second at the Hotel Deauville
in Miami, Fla. The fantastic popularity of the Beatles in England
has received considerable attention not only in British newspapers
but also in the American press. Their first record release is
scheduled for January." This was the press release issued
on December 13, 1963 by the CBS Ttelevision Network
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The Ed Sullivan Show appearances
were lined up by Beatles manager Brian Epstein during his November,
1963, visit to New York. Having previously reached an agreement
with Sid Bernstein for the Beatles to play two shows at New York's
prestigious Carnegie Hall, Epstein was looking for other American
bookings. During his stay, he met with Sullivan, who by mere chance
had witnessed the crowd of screaming fans at London's Heathrow
Airport greeting the Beatles upon their return from a Scandinavian
tour. Although Sullivan wanted the group on his show, he was reluctant
to give in to Epstein's demand that the Beatles receive top billing.
After all, in November, 1963, the group was still unknown in the
U.S. After four days of discussions, Sullivan agreed to three
appearances by the Beatles, with top billing at a reduced rate.
Epstein also lined up a concert at the Washington Coliseum in
the nation's capitol. |
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The significance of the Ed Sullivan appearances
is that they presented the Beatles with an opportunity to exploit
their visual appeal. In a world without MTV, DVD, laser discs,
satellite dishes, cable TV or video tape machines for the home,
Americans in 1963 and early 1964 had little opportunity to see
the Beatles. Other than a short feature that aired on The CBS
Evening News with Walter Chronkite and similar broadcasts on NBC
TV's evening news show The Huntley-Brinkley Report and on the
ABC evening news, the Beatles had not appeared on American television
in 1963. And since American teenagers were neither devout readers
of Time and Newsweek nor evening news television junkies, it's
safe to say that most of America's youth had not seen and knew
very little about the group in December, 1963 when Capitol told
America that "The Beatles are Coming!" But that would
soon change as the group would appear three times on Sullivan's
highly rated variety show. |
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