Beatles Prelude: A Few SURPRISES!

In 1964, today February 8th, would have been Saturday. The first Beatles rehearsal for Ed Sullivan began at 1:30 PM Saturday afternoon at Studio 50. Here is a rundown of the day and a few BIG SURPRISES!

Surprise 1…The Beatles ‘THIRD’ appearance was actually their FIRST appearance! The Sunday afternoon dress rehearsal (2/8/64) was taped with a different audience than the ‘debut’s show, and was played back as the third consecutive week of the Beatles live on Sullivan. The play back date was February 23rd.

Surprise 2…George Harrison almost didn’t make it! He had strep throat and a fever of 104. He was not at the Saturday rehearsals. That’s why you only see John, Paul and Ringo in the shot with Ed examining Paul’s Hofner bass guitar.

Here’s what happened at Studio 50, 49 years ago today…

In the morning a press conference was held in the Baroque Room at New York’s Plaza Hotel, where The Beatles were staying. Following this John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr went for a walk and photo opportunity in Central Park, where their every move was followed by around 400 female fans.

George Harrison was suffering from a streptococcal sore throat, and so remained in the Plaza. He was joined there by his sister Louise Caldwell, who lived in Illinois.

The doctor said he couldn’t do The Ed Sullivan Show because he had a temperature of 104! But they pumped him with everything. He was thinking about getting a nurse to administer the medicine, every hour on the hour. Then the doctor suddenly realized that George’s sister was there and he said to her, ‘Would you see to it? It’s probably just as well that you’re here because I don’t think there’s a single female in the city that isn’t crazy about The Beatles! You’re probably the only one who could function around him normally’.

At 1.30 PM, The Beatles – minus George – traveled by limousine to the CBS studios on Broadway for the first of several rehearsals for their debut appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. During the journey their cars were charged by fans, and mounted police were forced to intervene to keep order. Ten mounted police guarded the studio along with 52 officers while The Beatles were inside. Their first duty was to join AFTRA and the musicians’ union.

For the rehearsals, road manager Neil Aspinall stood in for George, as did production assistant Vince Calandra, while the director rehearsed the camera positions for the following day’s show. It’s a good thing there were several camera rehearsals…during the show, none of the cameramen could hear the director in their headphones! The screaming fans were just too loud.

Afterwards The Beatles asked to see a playback of their rehearsal, which no other musical act had previously asked for. In the evening Lennon, McCartney and Starr went to the famous ’21’ restaurant with George Martin and executives from Capitol Records. The Beatles ate chops while their music industry companions had pheasant.

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