The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show February 9, 1964

The Beatles performed for the first time in the United States on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Here's how it all went down: 73 million Americans tuned in to CBS and The Ed Sullivan Show at 8 o'clock on February 9th 1964 to see their first live performance on U.S. soil. That night was a record-setting TV event: a 45.3 rating, which meant 45.3% of households with televisions were watching – and that number reflected a total of 23,240,000 American homes!

Then there was the 60 share, which meant 60% of the television’s turned on were tuned in to Ed Sullivan and The Beatles—that’s a whopping 40% of every man, woman and child living in America at the time!

Host of the show, Ed Sullivan introduced the Beatles, “Now yesterday and today our theater’s been jammed with newspapermen and hundreds of photographers from all over the nation, and these veterans agreed with me that this city never has witnessed the excitement stirred by these youngsters from Liverpool who call themselves The Beatles. Now tonight, you’re gonna twice be entertained by them. Right now, and again in the second half of our show. Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles! Let’s bring them on.”

The Beatles performed "All My Loving”  “Till There Was You”  “She Loves You”

The show was such a TV success that it’s hard for us to imagine today, but over 40% of every man, woman and child living in America had watched The Beatles on Sullivan!

The February 24th issue of Newsweek magazine’s cover featured a picture of The Beatles with the title, “Bugs About Beatles.” The review of The Beatles debut on The Ed Sullivan Show began, “Visually, they are a nightmare: tight, dandified, Edwardian/Beatnik suits and great pudding bowls of hair. Musically, they are a near-disaster: guitars and drums slamming out a merciless beat that does away with secondary rhythms, harmony, and melody. Their lyrics (punctuated by nutty shouts of “yeah, yeah, yeah!”) are a catastrophe, a preposterous farrago of Valentine-card romantic sentiments.” The article ended, “…the odds are they will fade away, as most adults confidently predict.”

**Side Note: I was 6 years old and I remember watching that show! My older brother was already a Beatles fan, I can remember the excitement that night. We always watched The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday night. The Ed Sullivan is where many acts and performers made their debuts.

Wnctimes by Marjorie Farrington