#9feb1964

[the-cosmic-empire]

George in the luggage rack on the train either to or from New York in February 1964. 

[the-cosmic-empire]

The Beatles backstage before appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9th February 1964. 

Pics: CBS Archive

[the-cosmic-empire]

The Beatles at the Peppermint Lounge, New York on 9th February 1964. With them are Cynthia (of course) and George’s sister, Louise (sitting next to George). Dancing with Ringo is Geri Miller, one of the Peppermint Lounge’s dancers. 

[the-cosmic-empire]

The Beatles and Cynthia at the Playboy Club, New York on 9th February 1964. Following the performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, they went for dinner here before going on to the Peppermint Lounge. 

[the-cosmic-empire]

Someone on Instragram has suggested that the thing about there being no reported crime during the first and Sullivan is a myth, born of a sarcastic comment in the Washington Post. This upset me! Can you get your researching genius on to it to find out?

“We were aware that Ed Sullivan was the big one because we got a telegram from Elvis and the Colonel. And I’ve heard that while the show was on there were no reported crimes, or very few. When The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, even the criminals had a rest for ten minutes.”

[George, Anthology]

You’ve jumped the queue a little bit here, as coincidentally I was reading about this same thing earlier this week. 

There is a little bit of a myth/urban legend surrounding this, but I still think it’s rooted in truth. It appears to have stemmed from an article in the Washington Post newspaper by Bill Gold, who was writing about the effects of Beatlemania and said: 

“’Don’t knock the Beatles,’ counsels B.F. Henry. ‘During the hour they were on Ed Sullivan’s show, there wasn’t a hubcap stolen in America!’“

So I think the idea that there was no crime reports may have grown from that and I think it means that all the teenage delinquents who would steal things like hubcaps, were also Beatle fans (ha). 

However, before I’d read about that, I thought it might have meant, rather than no crimes happening, it was more that people weren’t reporting crimes because they were glued to their TV sets watching the Beatles.

I think, although there are probably no official statistics on crime reports during the time the Ed Sullivan Show was broadcast, it could be true that there was a dip in criminal activity. That show was was watched by 73 million people. The population of America in 1964 was 191.9 million (according to Google). That’s approximately 38% of all people in the US watching those four boys playing guitar (and drums, of course, Ringo!)