One week after their record-breaking debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles made their second live appearance on the show.
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 passes, 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.
Also on this day...
- 2013: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Festival Hall, Melbourne
- 1999: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Beacon Theatre, New York City
- 1972: Wings live: Town Hall, Leeds
- 1968: John Lennon and George Harrison arrive in Rishikesh
- 1967: Recording, mixing: Good Morning Good Morning
- 1965: Recording: I Need You, Another Girl, Yes It Is
- 1963: The Beatles live: Carfax Assembly Rooms, Oxford
- 1963: Please Please Me cover photoshoot
- 1962: The Beatles live: Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey
- 1962: The Beatles live: Technical College Hall, Birkenhead
- 1961: The Beatles live: Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool
- 1961: The Beatles live: Cassanova Club, Liverpool
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
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 Beatles 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…
that hotel is now the ramada inn.The ballroom is still there,where they played.
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 concur with the opinion that the actual broadcast was the one with the audio balance out of wack. I have fellow Beatlemaniacs that insist it is the other way around. But based on Ringo’s Anthology interview & the audio tapes I acquired in the mid 80s that have the bad audio balance version included with the other Beatles Sullivan performances, I think the evidence points to that being the actual broadcast. Then when that show was shown in repeat later that summer in 1964, the dress rehearsal footage was edited into the show.
I saw the video a few years ago on You Tube. It sure looked like the real broadcast. Then some one took it down and I haven’t seen it again. I thought they performed much better on it than their first show. And, like always, John had microphone issues.
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!!!!
Ringo’s face in that broadcast has always haunted me, he looks puffy and his neck seems swollen. Must be something with the pancake make-up or lighting or something but, well, never took much liking in that broadcast.
In the anthology Ringo makes reference to food food food everywhere, that they gained so much weight here, then make a face with his cheeks ballooning out with lips pursed. I think he was just… full.
I agree, but I think the lighting was way out of whack. They all look a little different
I saw Paul perform in Miami last night and after checking out of the hotel this morning I decided to drive down Collins Blvd in Miami Beach and have a look at the Deauville Hotel. It’s still named that and is really a cool place. Even better was that all the doors to the Napolean Ballroom, where they performed, were locked…except a couple at the far end. It was dark when I entered but once my eyes adjusted a bit it was fantastic being all alone in that big ballroom and thinking what it must have been like way back in February of ’64. There was even a stage in place that I walked up on. I assume it was in the same place as where they performed. Very neat to be on there looking out to the audience area and thinking it was where the four of them stood. Anyway– after all that said, if you are ever in Miami stop by the Deauville. It was a cool experience!
I’ve a black & white photo of Ringo Starr (so it’s written on the back of the photo) dated Feb 64. Any information on where or how would the picture be determined to be legit or false?
Was the Deauville performance broadcast via satellite that night?
This performance predated satellite. The show was carried over dedicated “telco” lines to CBS affiliates across the USA. The videotape of the Miami show was recorded in New York, thus a noticeable degradation of audio quality traveling 1000 miles from the source. Today with satellite, network TV looks and sounds like it local.
I watched the February 16, 1964 show when it was broadcast. It was the live show when the sound was a disaster. There is video of their February 16, 1964 performance where Paul McCartney says “Good afternoon” to the audience, which I assume was from the dress rehearsal footage.
I noticed as I watched the live Feb 16th, 1964, performance of The Beatles at the Hotel Deauville, that both McCartney’s and Lennon’s mics kept drifting further away from their mouths. This was nothing having to do with audio mix, but some negligent stage crew personnel not tightening the mic stands. Crazy! The biggest act in the world couldn’t even get decent support from the professional TV show staff. Also, if you listen to Mitzi Gaynor’s comments during her set(s), she’s taking subtle swipes at the Beatles’ music. Well, at least the Fabs had the loyalty of their fans…and had fun appearing on US TV!
The Deauville Hotel was demolished this morning.
First onstage appearance of John’s new ‘63 Rickenbacker 325 guitar.
Question: When McCartney is mentioning Capitol Records Lennon makes a sound of shock, and something about “you can’t say that.”
Anyone know what was said, what the big deal was?
Thanks
They were told not to say the brand name “Capitol Records”! My dad worked at an advertising agency that had an ad running on the show that night. A few days later a 16mm kinescope arrived at the office from CBS. (This was so they could check to see if their live commercial went.) Before returning the film to CBS, my father snipped the Beatles first set out of the film and put it on a separate reel. It’s been one of my family’s treasures sine then. There’s a wonderful moment during “This Boy” where you can see the moment John decides he’s going to screw with Paul and try to make him laugh. After that there is some hilarious dialog while Paul is trying to introduce “All My Loving” and John is screwing around. Here are these young guys, performing on LIVE TV, messing around and having a blast, and at the same time throwing down a perfect performance.