You really had to
be there to really "get" Beatlemania.... Here's my personal recollection of those years which I wouldnt trade for
ANYTHING : Even if you were only a child when JPGR stepped onto American soil for the first time (or should I say, airport tarmac), then you're someone I can relate to...you're a "Beatle person." Only 77 days prior to their much-heralded arrival in the States, the terrible events in Dealey Plaza the previous November had blown a hole deep into the American psyche just as sure as it did into JFK himself. As you both described very well, we watched the horrified reaction of our elders who vainly tried to shield the children of the early sixties from the aweful truth of what happened that day in Texas. But there was no hiding from it. The all-pervasive gloom had taken hold that entire weekend. The indelible images were forever to be a part of those who lived through it...regardless of age. I was just a grade school kid from Jersey-home that particular Friday with asthma, watching a Slinky toy making it's way down a steep flight of stairs in the dim hallway of our apartment building. Inside the apartment my mother was ironing while watching The Edge of Night on our black and white Motorola. Suddenly I heard her call out from inside "Oh my God !", which startled me enough to lose all interest in the Slinky and came running in to ask her what was wrong. She said nothing. She had pulled the plug on the iron and was seated in the den's brown-upholstered lounge chair with a look of horror on her face that I'd never seen before or since. She stared intently at the tv set, and there was Cronkite himself, I recall seeing how ashen-faced and shaken he was as he broke the news to a nation taken totally unaware. Kennedy was shot. We did not hear "dead" yet just "shot in a motorcade". The rest of that weekend was kind of a blur for me. As a child of 10, the full impact of this event was lost on me, but the pall of the people around me was remembered...even now, 44 years later I can see in my mind's eye Ruby shooting Oswald, the solemn funeral procession through Washington DC, Jackie Kennedy's dark veil (and her numb, stunned yet stoic face behind it)...and I remember John John saluting....everyone alive at that time remembers that. It was....all too much.
Then came 1964. The early weeks of this new year brought no relief from the national trauma and no one ever suspected the amazing uplift that was just around the corner. In the grief-stricken winter months of 1963 there were curious murmors coming from across the Atlantic of this "new" music which was stirring up the UK. Of course, American AM radio was still heavily-laden with teen idol fluff from Bobby Vee to Shelley Faberes with seemingly no end in sight....but these "artists" had no idea that their days were surely numbered. That winter, I remember some blonde-haired girl in a seat two rows away from me in school excitingly saying something about "the beetles are coming" (b-e-e-t-l-e-s We thought at first she meant she was bringing insects in for Show-and-Tell, but we soon got wise. When I look back I think that kid must've been in the "in" crowd or something..apparently the little miscreant had caught the "bug" before the rest of us and I remain eternally jealous of her for that (anyway, by January of the new year the "buzz" was everywhere. The anticipation of almost every kid and teen in the tri-state area was palpable. The late-great "Murray-The-K" of WNEW radio in NYC was really stoking the flames (and Bruce Morrow "Cousin Brucie"-another very famous NY DJ I grew up with at the time had also joined the formidable hype-bandwagon)--this is why when The Fab finally got here (to NY first, I'm proud to say), American kids were READY--there in frenzied, fainting force. As for me, I wasn't lucky enough to be at JFK International that cold February day in '64 --but I made up for that a year later when the guys invaded Shea Stadium--mind you, I was miles away from the stage and they were tiny little figures that I couldnt hear either, but I knew I could still claim bragging rights in my old age by being one of the lucky few to say they actually saw THE BEATLES IN CONCERT !...a memory I'll cherish till I die. The kids at the airport no longer had anything on me.
Then came Sullivan.. MY GOD WHAT AN EVENT! I think everyone in the U.S. was watching CBS that night. It's been said that there was hardly any crime on the streets that evening..I remember the anticipation of sitting in front of the bigger tv in the family room impatiently sitting through intermidable "pop-pop, fizz fizz" Alka-Seltzer and Chevy commercials waiting for Sullivan to come back on..
The vivid memories I have of that night remain staggering. Before Ed could even finish introducing them, the incessant screaming began and never let up for the entire show! (That noise of course is now considered a hallmark of Beatlemania, but it took a little getting used to in the early days--eventually it drove the boys themselves nuts) Luckily, the sound reproduction that fabled Sunday evening was good (at least for that time) and we could actually hear JPGR. (nevertheless, I can't help remembering my mother's famous comment--"it's all too loud!" with loving affection)(and yes, my father complained about their hair --as did every self-respecting patriarch of that era. Thankfully all these criticisms ultimately fell on dead ears..shut up, Dad!!..The Beatles are on !!))Looking back, the whole thing was new, exciting AND revolutionary. I hate having to repeat this tired old phrase..but...you really had to be there to appreciate the mood of the country then.
From national tragedy to the all-encompassing novelty of Beatlemania all occurring in such a short time span was stunning. After Kennedy, we really thought we'd never recover. Children watching their parents crying at the breakfast table, flags continually hung at half mast, nothing seemed secure. But from darkness came light....and it was a light that emanated from a truly unlikely source...it came in the form of four English boys from Merseyside. From Sullivan onwards I've remained a dedicated (even fanatical) Beatle fan. It's means just about everything to me (note to self: dude, you gotta get out more ) Seriously, I believe wholeheartedly that God planned the timing of their historic arrival to these then heartbroken shores. Nothing is ever by accident. JPGR saved this country from unraveling at a crucial, harrowing juncture in our history. I believe this. At least no one can deny they saved America's kids. Where would we have gone in those gloomy, frenetic days?? The Beatles are the rightful owners of my childhood...not the Yankees, not Batman...the Beatles LONG LIVE THE FAB
