One week after their record-breaking debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles made their second live appearance.
A rehearsal took place at 2pm, which was filmed but not broadcast.
The performance took place at The Beatles' Miami hotel, the Deauville, from 8pm-9pm, in front of an audience of 2,600. CBS had given out 3,500, and police had to calm angry ticket holders who were denied entry.
Remarkably, given the ratings success of their appearance on 9 February, The Beatles did not top the bill this time; Mitzi Gaynor was the headliner. Also on the bill was Myron Cohen, and boxers Joe Louis and Sonny Listen were both in the audience at the Deauville.
The Beatles performed six songs: She Loves You, This Boy, All My Loving, I Saw Her Standing There, From Me To You and I Want To Hold Your Hand.
The show was watched by an estimated 70 million people in 22,445,000 homes, and was repeated on 20 September 1964 at 8pm. After filming the hotel's owner, Maurice Lansberg, gave a party for the performers and crew who worked on the show; the food included lobster, beef, chicken and fish.
As a veteran of the B'way production of Beatlemania I feel obliged to contribute..though my opinion carries no more merit than any other Betales fan. It's Myron Cohen the comedian, not Myra Cohen for God's sake, who appeared on the Sullivan show with the group. I try not to have tunnel vision and have an appreciation for things other than Beatles, as great as they were.
Richi - hi, thanks for joining us. Of course it was Myron, not Myra - my mistake. Sticky fingers and all that...
ive seen 2 distinct versions of the 16 broadcast. One was on a compilation of the complete sullivan performances, the other was on the First US Visit DVD. Each starts with a different Sullivan introduction, and the former even has Paul's microphone crap out during "I saw her Standing There". Could one of these be the rehearsal footage?
I have also 2 different versions of the 16 broadcast. The debate is on as to which was the actual broadcast & which one is the rehearsal. According to Ringo Starr in an interview in Beatles Anthology , a cleaning person came into the control room between rehearsal & the broadcast & wiped off the chalk marks on the sound board faders. It is likely that the unbalanced mic levels on the show where Paul is barely audible during "I Saw Her Standing There" & likewise John is barely audible for "She Loves You" , also the drum volume rises suddenly a few measures into the song was the ACTUAL broadcast, As the rehearsal was videotaped (kinescoped) , subsequent releases have the rehearsal represented as the broadcast. But it makes sense, based on RIngo's story, that there was panic in the control room as sound engineers scrambled to adjust the audio. I have a friend who has a MASSIVE Beatles video collection who SWEARS , that was the rehearsal & the audio was corrected prebroadcast & the perfectly balanced mix was the actual broadcast. To get the truth , one would have to talk to actual participants who worked in the control booth to know which set of performances was the one actually broadcast on Feb.16 ,1964. It is highly likely that those people would have been middleaged THEN & most likely have passed on by now. Of course, I knew people who sat with reel to reel tape recorders & taped the performances that very evening. If I had any idea of anyone who actually did that , possibly they still have the tapes & could settle this debate. There are a few other differences I've noticed between the 2 performances. One of them (Beatles) is singing the guitar line at the end of "This Boy " . Also the lighting of the backdrops is different from 1 performance to the other. A few camera angles are different as well.
I am an actor. I was shooting a scene at the Deauville last December. We were in the ballroom where the stage is. I had to get on stage and feel the vibes from the Beatles. WOW what a joy!!! Too cool. Many of the younger folks didn't get it but lots did.
I was 15 and in the audience at the Deauville Hotel. Yes! Yes! Unbelievable experience. I was younger but believe me I GOT IT!!!!