Sixty years ago today — on February 9, 1964 — the Beatles made their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
The rest is history.
Two Westport teenagers were there, that history-making night in New York.
In 2014 — on the 50th anniversary — “06880” reported their stories.
Ten years later we reprint those pieces, and revisit that day in their lives.
Tim Jackson has done many things: assistant professor at the New England Institute of Art’s digital film and video department. Musician. Actor. Film director.
But on Sunday, February 9, 1964 he was a 14-year-old taking the train from Westport to New York, to watch a new, wildly popular British band perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Tim got his tickets from the father of his best friend’s girlfriend, who was in advertising. “While hysteria was in the air, and lots of jealousy among our classmates, it didn’t actually dawn on us until decades later that we had witnessed a pivotal moment in American culture,” he wrote 10 years ago in The ArtsFuse, a Boston online magazine.
When Ed Sullivan introduced the Beatles to America, it was a really big show. (Photo/The ArtsFuse)
It’s a remarkable story. Tim roams from duck-and-cover drills at Burr Farms Elementary School and an 8mm film he made called ‘The End of the World,” to being kicked out of the Long Lots orchestra for not being serious enough (he was a drummer).
He “barely” remembers the other acts on the Beatles’ “Ed Sullivan Show” — which included the Broadway cast of “Oliver!” with future Monkee Davy Jones (who knew?), singer Tessie O’Shea, the usual Ed Sullivan acrobats, and actor Frank Gorshin (who later moved to Westport).
But he does remember the stage as “vivid shades of blue and black and gray” (and “smaller than our school auditorium”). Ringo “looked precarious on that tiny riser.”
And there, sitting right in front of Tim, were 2 teenage girls, screaming just like all the others. Their names: Julie and Tricia Nixon.
Tim Jackson playing drums with Abraxis, in Ithaca, NY.
Tim went on to have more memorable experiences. In 1965 he was at the Newport Folk Festival when Bob Dylan plugged in his electric guitar.
At Staples, his band opened for the Rascals. When the Yardbirds (with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page) played Staples, they and the Chain Reaction (with Steve Talerico, who later changed his name to Steve Tyler) used Tim’s band’s sound system.
Over the next 10 years Tim played in bands that opened for BB King, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Iggy and the Stooges, the Chambers Brothers, Aerosmith, J. Geils, Manfred Mann, Bruce Springsteen, Little Feat and Grand Funk Railroad.
Tim still plays drums at occasional gigs. Music has influenced his life in countless ways, he says.
And it all started when he bought that ticket to ride a train from Westport to New York, 50 years ago today.
(To read Tim Jackson’s entire story in The ArtsFuse, click here.)
Tim Jackson, in 2014.
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Sixty years ago, thanks to Andrea Tebbetts’ grandfather’s connections, she scored a ticket to the Beatles’ live TV appearance. There were 50,000 requests, for only 700 seats.
In 2014, CBS News took Andrea back to that studio. David Letterman used it then (it’s now named for Ed Sullivan).
Andrea Tebbetts in 2014, in the Ed Sullivan Theater. She later became a Justice Department tax attorney in Washington.
On the “CBS Evening News” she described how the camera zoomed in on Ringo. Then — suddenly — it cut to her. She was screaming, like every other girl in the theater (and in America).
73 million viewers — at that time, a US record — watched her yell.
Andrea Tebbetts, mid-scream.
It was Andrea’s 15 minutes of fame. Up to then, she told CBS, she was known in school only for being “clumsy, a Girl Scout, president of the Science Club.”
And what school was that?
Long Lots Junior High in Westport — just a train ride away from 4 mop-tops from Liverpool, about to conquer the world.
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I remember that night like it was yesterday! Great story. Great memories.
We were thrilled to watch it on our black & white television set, but my father thought their hair was too long – imagine that! Later on, my neighbor and I went to see A Hard Day’s Night at the movie theater. The girls were screaming as well- we giggled happily. Different times, for sure.
Thanks, Dan, What a great piece about such a memorable night in an amazing time! I’ll always remember watching that show with my parents. A few year later, my boyfriend ( and now husband ) and I were driving on the West Side Highway when I saw their limo driving next to us. We followed them to the Warwick Hotel, where we watched them get out and wave! What a thrilling night for two teens, and a wonderful memory to this day!
what a great story, thanks Dan!
Ed Sullivan had one quality no other variety show emcee had–his complete lack of personality meant he didn’t compete with his guests. Its a lot harder on comedians to perform when the host is also a comedian snd interracts with the guests afterwards.
the world changed that nite.This was the start of the 60’s
That night changed everything.
We had heard the Beatles on WMCA and on WABC in NYC all December and January.
Beatle Mania took the world by storm.
Within a year I was playing bass guitar in bands all through high school and most of college.
I even promised myself never to touch that radio dial if a Beatles’ song was playing.
Still haven’t .
Our wedding song was In My Life.
Thanks to the Fab Four for the most wonderful “Soundtrack to My Life “
Remember WABC used to say- WABeatleC
WINS was the first station to play the Beatles. They played “She Loves You” for a week in the summer of 1963 and then removed it from their playlist. After Time magazine reported on their popularity, Ed Sullivan booked them on his show two months away. It was probably the pent-up energy that took place after the assasination of JFK and a month of listening to “The Singing Nun that caused the explosion of “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” WMCA made it their “Good Guy Sure Shot” and WABC countered making them #!, though I wonder if the survey really showed that.
Actually the Beatles were first played on American radio by DJ Dick Biondi at WLS radio in Chicago, February 1963. Documents from WLS also show Please, Please Me at chart position #40 on March 8, 1963. Further WLS records confirm the song had been played on WLS for several weeks before 3/8/63. And now, here is the rest of the story:
https://www.forgottenhits.com/who_played_the_very_first_beatles_record_in_america
I should have clarified I was writing only about New York, and culled from my memory.
I was only 3 that day in 1964! My sister was the president of her Beatles club and she would let me sit in on their meetings. I begged my mommy to stay up that night and watch the fab 4 on the big show. Years later, when the news broke that John Lennon had been killed, I called my beautiful Mom and thanked her for letting me stay up that night. They have been the soundtrack of my life. I love and adore them. Thank you.