The Beatles flood continues. In a perfect world, when the Beatles arrived in the United States for the first time they would have been followed by a film crew. What’s that? They were?? Incredible!
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There’s a lot more footage available on YouTube, but here are ten interesting minutes I’ve edited, starting with their arrival on Friday, and ending when they left the Plaza Hotel suite on Sunday for CBS studios, and their famous appearance on Ed Sullivan’s variety show.
- At the airport press conference John says “we need money first” before they can sing. Later, Paul and Ringo seem to have no recollection of John’s quip.
- The reporters took the Beatles as a joke. It seems silly now that their hair was such a big deal.
- The boys appeared excited seeing themselves on TV.
- Walter Cronkite can be heard closing his CBS broadcast with news of the Beatles’ visit. Cronkite was one of the first American newscasters to feature the Beatles in 1963.
- The boys seemed genuinely tired from jet lag, discussing the time difference and the prospect of going out later. A hard day’s night.
- John really was very cutting when he felt he was suffering fools. Murray “the K” Kaufman, with his toupee, had no idea that “wacker” meant “a stupid person.”
- “Cyn” is, of course, John’s wife Cynthia. She’s told to watch Channel 2 at 8.
- John plays around with a mouth organ. Three years later, the tune would become the opening to “Strawberry Fields Forever.”
- Love the Pepsi transistor radios.
Nice catch on the John and ‘Strawberry Fields …’. I’m here, alone, watching this and thought ‘Wow, I’ll be – if he didn’t just play the opening of …’ yadda yadda . Had no one to confirm it with (until vid ended and I looked for ‘Comments’), relief that others immediately picked up on it too !
Speaking of soda, thanks to Denro I recently enjoyed a can of Pepsi made with cane sugar, rather than corn syrup. MUCH better. It actually was light, crisp and refreshing.
Love the Pepsi radios too! Only thing that would have made them better is if they were Coke radios.
Holy moley! “Wacker” is a very common term used around here, and it also means “a stupid person.”
Watching George listening to the Castro pitch is similar to watching Tom “suffering the fools” we know as telemarketers. He leads them on, then sweetly asks for their names and addresses, before screaming at them that they’ve just broken the law, because we’re signed onto the “No-Call List.” They hang up fast! 😉
God, “Navy Blue” was still charting when they came over! and who was that slick singer on the radio toward the end? Remember that WABC CD you made me, with all that light froth, and then “I Want to Hold Your Hand” comes on at the end? It was like a lightning bolt!
Also of note: Guantanemo Bay was still in the news after the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it’s still in the news today.