Video: 'The Beatles - The Ed Sullivan Show (Feb. 9, 1964)'

(Sunday, February 9, 1964, 8:03/8:46 p.m. EST) — The Beatles, a rock music quartet from Liverpool, England, made their first live American television appearance tonight, performing five songs in two segments on the CBS weekly variety show The Ed Sullivan Show from Studio 50 in New York City.

CBS saw huge anticipation for the Beatles’ first appearance, with 50,000 ticket requests for the 728-seat Studio 50 (now known as the Ed Sullivan Theater) where the band was to perform, far surpassing the 7,000 requested for Elvis Presley’s 1957 debut.

Among those in attendance were Richard Nixon’s daughters, Julie and Tricia, who had been invited by NBC host Jack Paar’s daughter, Randy.

Sullivan began the show by telling the audience that Elvis Presley and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, had sent The Beatles a telegram wishing them success in America (though it was reported later that Parker sent the telegram without Presley’s knowledge).

Sullivan then introduced The Beatles, who opened by performing “All My Loving”; “Till There Was You”, which featured the names of the group members superimposed on closeup shots, including the famous “SORRY GIRLS, HE’S MARRIED” caption on John Lennon; and “She Loves You”.

The act that followed the Beatles in the broadcast, magician Fred Kaps, was pre-recorded in order to allow time for an elaborate set change.

Sullivan’s other guests were the New York cast of Lionel Bart’s London musical Oliver,
starring Georgia Brown and, as the Artful Dodger, Davy Jones, future member of The Monkees, Frank Gorshin & Tessie O’Shea.

The group returned later in the program to perform “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

The appearance on February 9 is considered a milestone in American pop culture, and furthermore the beginning of the British Invasion in music.

The broadcast drew more than 73,700,000 television viewers in 23,240,000 homes, a record for U.S. television at the time (broken three years later by the series finale of The Fugitive) (a typical Sullivan broadcast at the time drew about 21 million viewers.)

The Beatles had mixed reactions to the production value of their performance, with Paul McCartney later remarking that Lennon’s microphone volume was too low.

Video: 'WWDC AM's Carroll James interviews the Beatles 02111964' (Feb. 9, 1964, at 0:15-1:08)

As the Beatles changed in their dressing rooms (52 and 53) following the show, legendary jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie was backstage trying to gain entrance.

Washington, D.C., disc jockey Carroll James, who had been one of the first to play “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in the United States, had watched the show with George’s sister, Louise, and was also backstage.

When he saw Dizzy arrive, Carroll quickly switched on his tape recorder to capture the meeting. Dizzy tries on Carroll’s Beatle wig and Paul cries, “Good ol’ Dizzy!” For his part, Dizzy says he hasn’t heard their music, but “just came by to look at them. To see what this was all about.”

George starts to chat about how he seems to be recovered from his flu, but a CBS security guard comes over and makes Carroll shut off his recorder.