The Beatles‘ 1964 performance on The Ed Sullivan Show is still their most well-known television appearance, notwithstanding their 1962 appearance on British television when they sang “Love Me Do” on Granada Television’s People & Places. The momentous occasion signaled the start of the British Invasion of the American charts since it was the Fab Four’s first appearance on screens throughout the United States.
The Ed Sullivan Show wasn’t The Beatles’ first US broadcast performance, technically speaking. The Beatles had a brief hiatus in September 1963 when the initial wave of Beatlemania passed; John Lennon traveled to Paris with his first wife, Cynthia, while Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr made a quick excursion to Greece. In the meantime, George Harrison crossed the Atlantic to see their Illinoisan sister, Louise, becoming the first Beatle to set foot in the United States.
Louise accompanied Harrison to the West Frankfort radio station WFRX-AM during his visit, where she asked the DJ to play Harrison’s personal copy of the band’s most recent hit song, “She Loves You.” In a historically underappreciated moment, DJ Marcia Schafer, then 17 years old, consented to play the song. Louise kept coming back to the station over the next few weeks, pressuring Schafer to play The Beatles’ most recent hits.
The Beatles made their largely insignificant television début in the United States on November 16, 1963, a few times after Harrison’s arrival. Since the Fab Four made a brief appearance on The Huntley-Brinkley Report, an evening news magazine show, video of them would have certainly gone unnoticed by American fans, who were in their teens or early 20s at the time.
According to The Trivia Book of The Beatles, reporter Edwin Newman observed Beatlemania’s parallel, rabid expansion across Britain and continental Europe at the time. Newman observes the throngs of mostly female enthusiasts rushing to get tickets. He continues, describing an exuberant Beatles performance in Bournemouth. He said, “Those who study such things say that, at last, the British juvenile has someone immediate to identify with, not some distant American rock and roll hero.”
The Beatles had cemented their place as the greatest rock band of all time by the time of their dissolution in April 1970. Due to massive record sales that continue to grow even after 50 years, fans all around the world are familiar with the massive Lennon-McCartney repertoire.
That’s why it might surprise you to learn that, until 2012, no Beatles songs had been played during an episode of a TV series, except from the live TV appearances in the 1960s and a few theme tunes. Director Matthew Weiner claims that he was the first to include a Beatles song in an episode of his popular AMC drama series Mad Men.
The character Don Draper plays the experimental final track “Tomorrow Never Knows” from 1966’s Revolver on the turntable, as shown in the video below. The New York Times reported that the Mad Men makers had to pay $250,000 for the right to use the show’s IP.
Weiner told The New York Times in 2012, “It was always my feeling that the show lacked a certain authenticity because we never could have an actual master recording of The Beatles performing. Not just someone singing their song or a version of their song, but them doing a song in the show. It always felt to me like a flaw. Because they are the band, probably, of the 20th century.”
He added, “It was hard because I had to, writing-wise, commit to the story that I thought was worthy of this incredible opportunity, The thing about that song in particular was The Beatles are, throughout their intense existence, constantly pushing the envelope, and I really wanted to show how far ahead of the culture they were. That song to me is revolutionary, as is that album.”
In the end, he concluded, “Even people who are not in the clearances and rights business were struck by the fact that that was actually The Beatles. You just get the satisfaction of knowing that was not an imitation, and it’s that recording.”
Watch the scene from Mad Men below.