Beatlemania Hits America

It was 50 years ago, February 7, 1964, when the Beatles first arrived in America. Two days later they turned the country upside down with their first U.S. television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Revisit the excitement they caused with library resources:

• The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit (DVD 1649)
• The Ed Sullivan Show Featuring the Beatles and Various Other Artists (DVD 1856-1857)
• The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show. Vol. 1. Unforgettable Performances (DVD 1195)
• "'Ladies and Gentlemen ...': The Beatles: The Ed Sullivan Show, CBS TV, February 9, 1964" an article by Laurel Sercombe in Performance and Popular Music: History, Place and Time (ML3470 .P45 2005)
• We have more than a shelf full of books on Beatles history at ML421.B42. Larry Kane's Ticket to Ride: Inside the Beatles' 1964 & 1965 Tours that Changed the World (ML421.B42 K36 2004) focuses on those specific events.
• "Hiram's Report," p. 21-23 in the "Talk of the Town" column  in The New Yorker, February 22, 1964 discusses the events. It is available for in-library use only on the computer by the reference desk in the reading room. Get the DVD-ROM with that issue, AP2 .N676 2005 DVD-ROM 5, at the desk in the main library.
• For more primary source material written at the time, use the publication year of 1964 when searching our article databases. You'll get not only the cover story from the Saturday Evening Post, "Building the Beatles Image" by Vance Packard (p. 36), you'll also get the variety or responses in the follow-up "Letters to the Editor" on April 11, 1964 (p. 5-6), both available via Academic Search Premier. Said one writer, "The space wasted in printing a Beatle article plus the unsightly picture of this shaggy foursome on the March 21 cover make me wonder if the editors have taken leave of their senses."