At JFK The Beatles gave their first press conference on American soil.
Q: Are you a little embarrassed by the lunacy you cause?John Lennon: No, it’s great.
Paul McCartney: No.
Ringo Starr: Marvelous.
George Harrison: We love it.
John: We like lunatics.
Q: You’re in favor of lunacy?
The Beatles: Yeah.
John: It’s healthy.
Q: Are those English accents?
George: It’s not English. It’s Liverpudlian, you see.
Paul: The Liverpool accent – so, the way you say some of the words. You know, you say GRASS instead of GRAHHSS, and that sounds a bit American. So there ya go.
Q: Liverpool is the…
Ringo: It’s the capital of Ireland.
Paul: Anyway, we wrote half of your folk songs in Liverpool.
Ringo: Yeah, don’t forget!
Q: In Detroit Michigan, there handing out car stickers saying, ‘Stamp Out The Beatles.’
Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
Q: What about the Stamp Out The Beatles campaign?
John: What about it?
Ringo: How big are they?
Q: Would you tell Murray the K to cut that crap out?
The Beatles: Cut that crap out!
Paul: Hey, Murray!
Q: A psychiatrist recently said you’re nothing but a bunch of British Elvis Presleys.
John: He must be blind.
Ringo (shaking like Elvis): It’s not true! It’s not true!
Q: Would you please sing something?
The Beatles: No!
Ringo: Sorry.
Q: There’s some doubt that you can sing.
John: No, we need money first.
Q: What do you expect to take out of this country?
John: About half a crown.
Ringo: Ten dollars.
Q: Does all that hair help you sing?
Paul: What?
Q: Does all that hair help you sing?
John: Definitely. Yeah.
Q: You feel like Sampson? If you lost your hair, you’d lose what you have? ‘It’?
John: Don’t know. I don’t know.
Paul: Don’t know.
Q: How many of you are bald, that you have to wear those wigs?
Ringo: All of us.
Paul: I’m bald.
Q: You’re bald?
John: Oh, we’re all bald, yeah.
Paul: Don’t tell anyone, please.
John: I’m deaf and dumb, too.
Also on this day...
- 2013: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: CBS Canterbury Arena, Christchurch
- 2012: Paul McCartney to headline Queen’s diamond jubilee concert
- 2012: US album release: Kisses On The Bottom by Paul McCartney
- 1970: John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear on The Simon Dee Show
- 1970: George Harrison produces Govinda by Radha Krshna Temple
- 1967: Filming: Penny Lane
- 1965: John and Cynthia Lennon return to England from Switzerland
- 1964: UK EP release: All My Loving
- 1963: The Beatles live: ABC Cinema, Wakefield
- 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (evening)
- 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
- 1961: The Beatles live: Merseyside Civil Service Club, Liverpool
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
was there a stopover in boston before the beatles landed in N.Y. on feb 7 1964? i had heard of this happening several times but nobody seems to be sure if this happenned or not. Or should i ask did the fly from england to n.y. or was there a stopover first in boston?
I’ve never heard or seen anything to provide evidence of a Beatles stopover in Beantown on their first trip to America unless you want to count these words – “When I was a robber in Boston place, you gathered round me with your fine embrace” sung by Paul and heard on Anthology 3.
Boston Place is a street in London where Apple Electronics (headed by Alexis ‘Magic Alex’ Mardas) was based in the late 60s.
You may have never seen or heard of any, but i assure you the thousands of us screaming in Harvard Square can certainly remembet they were. I was one of the lucky ones… my Dad put me up on his shoulders so i could see. So,YES THEY WERE IN BOSTON!
You are remembering a different occasion. This flight was direct to JFK.
No, you are incorrect! The Beatles first flight to New York stopped in Gander, Newfoundland, first.
Boston Place is also the side road where the opening scene of A Hard Day’s Night was filmed as they ran toward the camera and where George fell while the balance of opening song was filmed in and in front of adjacent Marylebone Train Station which was off camera left in those first exciting moments.
What ever happened to that same plane they flew on (Pan Am Flight 101)? Anyone know where it’s located or if they scrapped it?
The Panam 707 aircraft in question has been scrapped.
My dad was a Pan American Pilot and he was the Pilot on the plane that flew the Beatles to America!!!!
Wish I had more information from him…… He was a grump I thought! I asked him if he got their autograph!!! He said “why?” Heck, I could be a millionaire now!!!! Damn!!!!
Suzanne Asher
Suzanne- that’s AWESOME that your dad was the pilot of the flight. i’m trying to research a rumor i was told that my grandfather was also on this flight sitting next to Brian Epstein or Neil Aspinall. He was a famous ice skating coach, full name Montgomery Wilson, but he went by Bud. i’m trying to find out if he was a passenger on the plane. Can you or anyone assist? i’d be forever grateful!! i’m at 4sandywhite@gmail.com. Julia Sidford
I think my uncle Glen Parks was also a pilot on that flight. Am I right?
Music is nourishment for the soul,Beatles music is a feast!PEACE!
Doubtful.
http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/02/greenfield_womans_father_pilot.html
The 707 was Clipper Defiance – scrapped in Long Beach in 1977. It was sold to Air Vietnam in 1973, incidentally, then repossessed by Pan Am.
50 years ago today they’re in London preparing to leave. 50 years ago tomorrow they’re off for the US. I wonder what was going through their minds the night prior to the departure. Very exciting.
Fifty years ago today a truly historic moment as the greatest of the british bands without question arrives in America for the first time. Four lads from Liverpool who have forever shook the world
I was a flight attendant for NWA & was at NY airport when Beatles landed
I know dozens of people who were there, even though they weren’t born yet.
And they are poutingly jealous of those who were on the plane with them, even though also not born yet.
I was born already at the time, but I wasn’t on the plane with them because I arrived late at the airport.
Saw Beatles in Dodger Stadium in ’66. What a show. Limo had to turn around in center field and head for the dugout cause fans jumped from center field bleachers. Beatles played on 2nd base for about 45 minutes. 45,000 crazy fans that night including me!
Does anyone know when the Beatles left America after the British Invasion? I am creating a time line for history fair.
If you mean the first visit, they got back to England on February 22nd, 1964.
My understanding is the Beatles stopped over in Boston – very briefly – when they were traveling from England to the States for their 1966 U.S. tour (they would return to Boston less than two weeks later to perform at Suffolk Downs Racetrack). I never heard of them landing in Boston in February 1964, but I suppose it’s a possibility (despite their apparently being no footage of such an event). They did, however, perform at the Boston Gardens in September 1964.
I grew up in NY. Back in the 50’s to 1984 before moving on. I lived with a friend three blocks down from where John Lennon lived. We had a small studio and played music an recorded stuff all the time. I worked as a roadie setting up stage equipment at clubs and played just for myself for fun. Also worked on guitars and made dulcimers. We would hang out side of our building on the side and play on our guitars with our giant stereo blasting along. I was really getting into playing my electric guitar and goofing around dancing when (John and Paul) came walking by and stoped to hang out and listen. At first I had no idea who they where. And they kind of made fun of the Beatles song playing on the radio as I played and song along. I told them how much they influenced me and we loved them no matter what. My friend started to laugh at me cause I was clueless at first. We all had a good laugh as we introduced each other. Very kool afternoon that was only lasted a hour or so but great none the less.
PHIL SPECTOR WAS ON THAT PLANE AS WELL
I feel rather embarrassed for the American “reporters” who asked those ridiculous questions of the Beatles in that presser. I guess they were caught up in the frenzy themselves and lost their professionalism there…sad.
I was only 11 years old when the Beatles arrived in America. That was the start of my love affair with them. I never got to see them in concert but knew all the places they were playing at each concert. Many years later I had the thrill of seeing Paul McCartney and Wings in Miami, Florida. Couldn’t see much of the stage as I was too far up in the arena, but huge screens of the band could be seen. And I was so thrilled anyway!!
There was no live filming of the Beatles rehearsals for the Sullivan show.