Beatles- Ed Sullivan Show- Where Were YOU?

[DustyRhodesJr]

I am curious to hear the forums experiences with the Beatles coming to
the US and appearing on Ed Sullivan.

How many of you saw it and what was it like? Was everyone at school
talking about it? Was it that big a deal?

I was a little too young, but would love to have been able to time travel back
and get a feel for what it felt like.

 

[lhallam]

In the living room with my family in NJ watching on TV.

Yes all the kids talked about it. On one appearance I recall my pal saying he was going to watch "The Scarecrow" on Disney instead.

 

[Blue Light]

I was sprawled on the living room floor watching the show. Ed Sullivan was THE show to watch on a Sunday evening. If I recall, it came on right after the Disney hour, although I might be wrong.

My older brother's opinion was that George looked like he was the better guitarist. He wasn't sure about the others.

Jeez, it was exciting. In school the next day it was all anyone talked about. One guy was brave enough to comb is hair forward in a mock Beatles haircut. Everybody was looking at him like he was freakish.

 

[BluesForDan]

in my living room. it was a leap year so it was 3 week and a day before my 6th birthday. Sunday night. I got to stay up late, woot. They came on, my world exploded. I turned to my parents and said

"this is what I want to do."

I was baffled by the horrified looks on their faces.

 

[RGB]

On the living room floor at my grandparents house in the U.P., waiting in breathless anticipation due to the infectious excitement of my then 14 year old Aunt Sandi!

It was also the moment I decided to become a "rock star"...any day now!

 

[Kenny Blue]

Me too.... On the living room floor watching in the NW suburban Chicago area.

I had already been listening to my 45 of "I wanna hold your Hand / I saw her standing there" for several months. I was already very excited to see them on TV .

And I think I already had a copy of "Meet The Beatles" LP. My dad was a record distributor so I was able to get new LPs and 45s as they were released.

 

[stevieboy]

Paris, France.

 

[CharlieS]

I was in our living room with my parents in Bridgeport, CT. I really didn't pay much attention to it...just a bit too young at the time.

 

[russ]

I watched it . I was blown away!
Between their accents, the music, the girls screaming, and their hair, I thought they were from another planet!
Still love all their music.

 

[badhorsie551]

Nowhere close to being born.

 

[VaughnC]

Was 17 at the time, in front of the TV, and was amazed by what I saw and heard. I never realized until that moment that a guitar could sound like that and look so cool. This Beatlemania thing took me down a very slippery slope...and I'm still sliding .

 

[telemike]

In Cincinnati, Ohio, I was 8 years old. We had TV dinners on those folding trays that night so we wouldn't miss it. I asked Mom and Dad for a guitar that night. I joked with them later that it was the biggest mistake they ever made. We went out the next day and bought the singles to play on my parents new fangled record player. Good times.

 

[geek-mo]

I was most likely drooling and soiling a diaper or two.

 

[Kenny Blue]

Here is a clip of that first Ed Sullivan appearance, as well as the next 2 appearances on that show. Notice the mistake in the title of this video 1965 ( it of course was 1964 ).



Here is another clip of a TV appearance in Britain that was broadcast two months before the first Ed Sullivan show appearance. Nice that this clip is in HD .



You know, it occurred to me that way too many times the dates in history that in some way bind us together in a common experience and become one that everyone remembers where they were on that day are days when tragedy has struck. Days when a war began or someone important died, or some other sad thing has happened that touches many people.

What a wonderful thing that this date, 50 years ago, is something that so many of us remember so well, that in some way binds us together and for many of us changed our lives, and was the catalyst for so much music and magic to follow. It really was something historic and something very special.

 

[greggorypeccary]

Four years from being born.

I guess this is the thread where we find out who the real oldsters are!

 

[Crag Dweller]

Still five months from being born, but my mom said she remembered watching it, so I guess I was there in a way.

 

[Flyin' Brian]

I was in high school and in a band.

I watched it at home with family. It was earthshaking.

 

[greyhound]

I was in 5th grade in Virginia Beach, Virginia and as the family custom all of us were in the living room watching Ed Sullivan. I thought they were cool but perplexed at all the screaming girls. Back then most guys had one of three hairstyles, a flat top, a close buzz cut, or slicked back greasy hair, but nobody had bangs. It was surprising to see The Beatles hair which was considered very long at the time but in just a few short years that was considered short. A friend of mines father was a barber and when he came to elementary school the next morning he was sporting "a Beatle haircut" and the principal promptly sent him home with orders not to come back with bangs.

 

[Jp2558]

Four days after my sixth birthday, on the living room floor. I was hooked after they opened with All My Loving and and am still hooked to this day. I am so glad I was there, albeit a little young to understand all the parental angst, but the music itself was just that good. Monday morning and in second grade, it was all the talk on the playground. By the time they broke up I was a twelve year old smart ass adolescent, my father had died, and my brother didn't want to go to 'Nam, my mom was, as I say it now, understandably stressed. She always asked me about the lyrics to Happiness is a Warm Gun.

 

[dank]

In the Philly suburbs, watching with my older sister. I was 4. 19" B/W television in the kitchen. Turned me on to guitar. I've been a Beatles freak to this day.