Ed Sullivan


The Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on Feb 10, 1964 is a sensation. It introduces America to the group they have been hearing about for a year.

Breaking all television viewing records, begins the The Beatles domination of the American charts. Soon they will hold the top five positions - something never equalled.



New York writer Mark Goldblatt describes the impact on two very young children in Louisiana watching the show that night.


My mom said you could sense it from the start of the show. There was a buzz in the studio audience that came through the speakers and seemed to take hold of me and my sister. ... {when} Sullivan introduced the Beatles, and the crowd broke into a torrent of screams . . . my sister and I rushed the TV.

The two of us sat mesmerized, perhaps a foot from the screen, as Paul McCartney began to sing “All My Loving.” We did not move the entire hour, not even during the commercials. Afterwards, when my mother tried to tuck us into our beds, we kept kicking the covers loose.

She got us settled down after half an hour, but around midnight, she was awakened by several loud thuds. She ran into our room and found us jumping up and down on our beds, literally bouncing off the walls, making nonsensical noises that sounded vaguely like Beatles songs.

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