CRACKING AMERICA
Always America seemed too big, too vast, too remote and too American.
– Brian Epstein
As 1964 began, the UK press had decided The Beatles were over. ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ had been ousted from the top of the charts by The Dave Clark Five’s ‘Glad All Over’. They were from Tottenham, Liverpool was yesterday’s news, and normal entertainment service would resume, thank you very much.
The Beatles travelled to Paris on 15 January for a three-week residency at the Olympia. The first few shows were lukewarm, attended by French dignitaries rather than screaming fans, and plagued by technical difficulties. Then, one evening, while the band were winding down in their hotel room after a show, Epstein came through to tell them that ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ was number one in America. The band were ecstatic and partied into the night.
Epstein had been working hard to crack the US market, visiting New York in late 1963 on a charm offensive. While there, he met Ed Sullivan, who had seen the airport reception that greeted The Beatles when they returned from their Swedish tour, and Sullivan agreed that the band could appear on the show on 9 and 16 February. Epstein insisted that The Beatles top the bill, and although Sullivan wasn’t completely convinced, he agreed.
At the same time, a young agent, Sid Bernstein, who, as a political science student had got into the habit of reading British newspapers, got in touch with Epstein. He wanted to book The Beatles to play New York’s Carnegie Hall on 12 February. He was chancing his arm – he had no agreement with the concert hall in place – but when Epstein agreed, he got to work.
‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ entered the US charts at number eighty-three, moving up to forty-two the following week, then number three, and then the coveted top spot. By the time it got to number one, the single was selling 10,000 copies a day in New York alone. With The Beatles due to touch down on 7 February, Epstein insisted that Capitol spend big on promoting the trip. They obliged by plastering five million The Beatles Are Coming posters across the country, giving every single US radio DJ free copies of every single The Beatles had recorded to date, and sending out a million four-page newspapers on the band to as many media outlets as they could. Life magazine and Newsweek journalists were sent over to Paris to interview the band for advance features, and even Janet Leigh (of Psycho fame) was persuaded into wearing a Beatles wig.
Despite the massive publicity campaign, on the flight over to the US, The Beatles were anxious. Too many UK acts had gone over there and sunk without trace. They needn’t have worried. On landing at JFK airport, they were greeted by 10,000 adoring fans singing ‘We love you, Beatles, oh yes, we do’ and a rabid, noisy press contingent itching to be unimpressed. Ushered into the airport for their introductory press conference, The Beatles could have been overawed. Instead, they bossed the room.
‘There’s some doubt that you can sing.’
‘No, we need money first.’
‘How do you account for your success?’
‘A good press agent.’
‘Why does your music excite them so much?’
‘If we did we’d form another group and be managers.’
‘How many of you are bald that you have to wear those wigs?’
‘Oh, we’re all bald. Don’t tell anyone, please.’
‘And deaf and dumb too.’
‘Are you for real?’
‘Come and have a feel.’
‘Are you part of a social rebellion against the older generation?’
‘It’s a dirty lie.’
‘What about the movement in Detroit to stamp out The Beatles?’
An excited crowd gathers in New York as Beatlemania strikes in the US. Alamy
‘We have a campaign to stamp out Detroit.’
‘What do you think of Beethoven?’
‘Great. Especially his poems.’
The chaos followed them to the Plaza Hotel. As well as the Maysles brothers, who were documenting the trip for UK television, and more members of the media, they were welcomed by representatives of Pepsi, who presented them with branded radios so they could listen to the city’s stations, all charting the band’s every move. Such was the bedlam, the Plaza issued notices saying that Beatles wigs were banned from the public areas of the hotel, and they even advertised for other hotels to take The Beatles and their entourage off their hands.
The Beatles’ appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show in New York and Miami were record-breaking, and the Carnegie Hall shows sold out in hours with Bernstein boasting he had to turn down ticket requests from David Niven and Shirley MacLaine. With screaming fans and the media in their wake, the band also travelled to Washington to play the sold-out Coliseum. British Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home decided to postpone his visit to President Lyndon Johnson; when he did eventually arrive at the White House, he was greeted with the comment, ‘I liked your advance party, but don’t you think they need haircuts?’
When The Beatles returned to the UK, they left behind a totally smitten America. Fans bought up as many releases as they could, with even ‘My Bonnie’ finding itself in the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and reaching number twenty-six. By mid-April The Beatles had fifteen songs in the Hot 100 and occupied the top five chart positions with ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Twist And Shout’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ and ‘Please Please Me’.