Beatles Rock .Net

"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

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.

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.