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"Here they are---the Beatles!"

T

Thomps2525

Guest
For a whole generation of teenagers growing up in the 1950s-60s, their mostest bestest example of "classic television" is probably the Beatles' first appearance on CBS-TV's The Ed Sullivan Show February 9, 1964. I'm surprised poor ol' Ed didn't go deaf from all the screaming girls in the studio audience! At 8 pm February 9, 2014, CBS will celebrate the 50th anniversary of that broadcast with a two-hour special, Grammy Salutes The Beatles. Mark your calendar and be sure to watch!

Here is a clip from the 1964 telecast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMNPPwq8I2Y
 
I'll be watching!

BTW, a very good Beatles documentary has quite a bit on the Sullivan appearances. It is called "The Beatles/The First U.S. visit". Excellent behind the scene hotel clips, the four being driven through NYC, and of course most of the Sullivan performances...I believe there were three Sullivan shows they did in '64.
 
I find it ironic that The Grammy folks want to cash in on The Beatles, when the quartet only won a pair of awards. It's one thing for them to salute Michael Jackson, Bonnie Rait, Quincy Jones, Vince Gill, or even Santana. But it's opportunistic for them to pick The Beatles. The Grammy Awards show is normally broadcast during that week of February, but they've moved it earlier due to the Winter Olympics. A way of having your cake and eating it too? At least the tribute airs on CBS, home of Ed Sullivan.
 
As a bonus, CBS should air the February 9, 1964 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show with The Beatles to celebrate 50 years of The Beatles and then the special as it would make sense in them doing that. It's not like that CBS hasn't done anything like that before (I Love Lucy Christmas Show, All In The Family reruns in 1991)
 
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Braves2005 said:
As a bonus, CBS should air the February 9, 1964 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show with The Beatles to celebrate 50 years of The Beatles and then the special as it would make sense in them doing that. It's not like that CBS hasn't done anything like that before (I Love Lucy Christmas Show, All In The Family reruns in 1991)
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I bet CBS doesn't actually own the master of that show. The Sullivan Estate has been selling DVDs of the old shows for years.
 
Fakeem said:
WAIT!!!! The Beatles only won 2 Grammys? When and in what catagories?
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Forgive me: They won FOUR

Two in 1964: Best New Artist and Best Performance by a Vocal Group

Two in 1967: Best Contemporary album and Album of the Year for Sgt. Pepper.
 
The Grammy Awards for 1964 were presented in 1965 and, yes, the Beatles won "Best New Artist," even though they had been recording since 1960. One of the other nominees was Petula Clark, who had been recording since 1956! The others were Astrud Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Morgana King. Huh? Would you like to know who won Best New Artist for 1963? The Swingle Singers. Huh???
 
LARadioRewind said:
One of the other nominees was Petula Clark, who had been recording since 1956!
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Pet Clark won a Grammy that year--for best rock n' roll recording with "Downtown". Now before you laugh, one history of Adult Contemporary radio notes most MOR stations in those days wouldn't play "Downtown" because it was too rock and roll(!).
 
installLSC said:
Pet Clark won a Grammy that year--for best rock n' roll recording with "Downtown". Now before you laugh, one history of Adult Contemporary radio notes most MOR stations in those days wouldn't play "Downtown" because it was too rock and roll(!).
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Thank you, yes! To a person growing up in the 60s, "Downtown" was rock 'n' roll! The genre' was later described historically as "pop" but in the 60s, "pop" was Frank Sinatra!
 
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The Beatles did indeed make three appearances with Sullivan in '64. In addition to the live one on February 9, they had taped their February 23 appearance earlier that day. On February 16 Sullivan originated his show in Miami Beach and the Beatles were on live from the Deauville Hotel. (Wonder if they passed the Dave Clark Five somewhere over the Atlantic as they headed back to England, since, IIRC, the DC5 were the next English band to appear on Sullivan.)
 
MCarney said:
And once in '65 to promote "Help". They ended the show with "Ticket to Ride". The four Sullivan episodes are available in a two-disc collection, complete with commercials. Look for a young Davy Jones in the Broadway cast of "Oliver" during the 1st episode.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Hist...384644639&sr=1-2&keywords=Ed+Sullivan+Beatles
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There's another two-DVD set out there (red/white/blue package) of the Sullivan eps with The Beatles, and they too have the original commercials intact -- that is, MOSTLY intact. I bought it, and watched as I noticed the curious omission of one sponsor: Kent Cigarettes.

I'm as viciously anti-smoking as it gets, but you cannot pretend they didn't exist in 1964-65! Trying to "sanitize" television history really grinds my gears. I'll stick to my multigenerational VHS copies, thank you.
 
semoochie said:
Thank you, yes! To a person growing up in the 60s, "Downtown" was rock 'n' roll! The genre' was later described historically as "pop" but in the 60s, "pop" was Frank Sinatra!
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From a member of the 60's generation - "Downtown" was not RnR and Sinatra was our parents music (call it whatever you want, pop, swing, dance or whatever). I do not remember one single person of my age who liked Sinatra.
 
semoochie said:
I agree. I'm just saying that anything left of Sinatra was considered rock n roll including Downtown.
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Growing up with the music I've always thought of RnR to be on the aggressive side and popular music to be softer and without the heavy guitar licks or thumping beat. RnR was defined early by what then was called rockabilly and although the RnR era continued for a few decades there was a lot of music that didn't fit that general description. A lot of artists crossed back and forth between RnR and pop including the Beatles. I would classify most of their music as pop even though they are considered a RnR band. One of the problems classifying this type of music is that you have the soft side, say Rick Nelson, and the hard or traditional side, say the Stones, all rolled up in one definition. It is hazy, for sure.
 
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