Today in History: February 7, The Beatles arrive for first US tour

[underpants]

2. Remember this was a little less than 3 months after JFK was assassinated

As you probably know it is quite a story of how they got popular over here.

A Long Island teenager traveled with her father to Europe and she brought home records. She relentlessly called one of the big NYC DJ’s about them and sent (I think it was WABC) records to them which they started playing. 3:15 pop songs- boy meets girl, girl meets boy, holding hands, love me do, etc.

Ed Sullivan happened to be waking from a flight in Heathrow when he saw a group of screaming teenage girls. What’s this about? The entertainment industry is basically centered around teenage or young adult women. If they like it, the boys will do it.

Finally Sullivan wants to put them on his show. CBS executives aren’t sure. The country just went through a pretty rough holiday season. They go to Cronkite to see what he thinks. He says “It’s time for the country to have some fun again”

That’s the briefest summary I can do.