The Beatles Boxed Set (20 page)

            The
boys had barely rested when they embarked on their fourth tour of Britain. From
location to location, the Beatles witnessed crazy adulation that more often
went out of control so that police would have to use high-pressure water hoses
to control the crowd, as what took place in Plymouth in November.

            By
the end of 1963, the press sniffed news about John’s wife and child. By then
Beatlemania had already swept the UK and Europe. The media camped out on
Cynthia’s mother’s house in Hoylake, in November and December. In November,
Julian was christened at the Hoylake parish church. Cynthia didn’t inform John
because she was afraid it might turn into a media circus. As it turned out,
John was furious because he didn’t want his son christened.

            After
the christening, every newspaper reported about John’s secret wife and baby.
Epstein had feared this day as it might affect their career, though he also
told the boys to make the best of the situation.

            The
Beatles’
Please Please Me
album remained at the top position until it
was knocked off its perch after thirty weeks by their follow-up,
With the
Beatles
. EMI had delayed the release of the album until sales of the debut
album had subsided.
With the Beatles
was released in November with
advance orders of 270,000 copies. In barely one week, it topped the
half-million mark.

The Beatles’ debut album propelled them
into superstardom

            Also,
the album snaked up the charts until it claimed the top position and remained
there for 21 weeks. It consisted of eight originals, including seven of
Lennon-McCartney and one,
Don’t Bother Me
, by George Harrison, and six
covers of Motown and R&B hits.

            It
was about the time of the release of
With the Beatles
that the
songwriting partnership between John and Paul received praises. In particular,
music critic William Mann claimed that John and Paul were “the outstanding
English composers of 1963.” In addition, Mann wrote a series of articles that
analyzed the band’s music, thus lending it respectability.

            Tony
Barrow, the Beatles’ press officer, used the superlative “the fabulous
foursome” for the sleeve notes of the album. The press then adopted it as “the
Fab Four.”

            In
a reversal of standard practice in those days,
With the Beatles
was
released ahead of the band’s impending single,
I Want to Hold Your Hand
to maximize the single’s sales. The single was released on November 29, 1963
and had an advance orders exceeding one million copies in the UK alone.

           
I
Want to Hold Your Hand
was also a phenomenal success. It would have easily
made its way up to the top of the British record charts if it hadn’t been
blocked by the Beatles’ first million seller,
She Loves You
, which was
dominating the top position after an intense media coverage of the band. After
two weeks,
I Want to Hold Your Hand
finally claimed the top spot and
remained there for five weeks and remained in the UK top fifty for a total of
21 weeks.

With
the success of the Beatles in Britain, along with their successful tours
nationwide and in other European countries, one country remained to be conquered
by their music. While the Beatles’ phenomenon was peaking at the start of 1963,
the US’ Capitol Records under the band’s record company EMI had declined to
issue any of the singles.

            All
that would change by fall 1963.

            Brian
Epstein was resolved to bring Beatlemania to America, though he and his young
charges had no idea how the Americans would receive their music. The Beatles
coming to America became a reality through Ed Sullivan of the
Ed Sullivan
Show
. He had seen Beatlemania for himself while he was at Heathrow Airport
the previous October. The Beatles had just returned from a week in Sweden, and
a large crowd of screaming fans gathered at the airport to greet the lads.
Sullivan decided to book the group in his show.

            Epstein
was able to book three appearances, two live and one taped, all top billing.
This was before Capitol had finally released
I Want to Hold Your Hand
in
the US. In those days, a booking on the Sullivan show garnered a $7,500 fee for
a single appearance. Epstein lowered the group’s overall fee to $10,000, but
Sullivan had to cover the round-trip airfare and hotel bills in Miami and New
York City.

            By
December,
I Want to Hold Your Hand
began playing in American radios, to
the point that deejays argued who “broke” the record. Already one-and-a-half
million copies were sold in mere five days! Capitol CEO Alan Livingston,
knowing about the Beatles’ bookings on Sullivan show, allotted $50,000 for a
major marketing campaign. There were posters, billboards, banners, and “The Beatles
Are Coming” bumper stickers. Capitol employees worked overtime during the
Christmas holidays.

            By
January 1964,
I Want to Hold Your Hand
entered the
Billboard
Hot
100 chart at number 45. By February 1, it was at the top spot, remaining there
for seven weeks before it was replaced by the group’s
She Loves You
.
I
Want to Hold Your Hand
was the Beatles’ biggest-selling single worldwide.

            Four
thousand fans gathered at Heathrow Airport on February 7, 1964, to wave goodbye
to the Beatles, who was scheduled to take the flight to America that day. John
had insisted on bringing Cynthia with him though Epstein strongly disagreed
with it. When they arrived at New York’s newly-named John F. Kennedy Airport,
about three thousand uproarious fans were waiting for them. It was, to their
relief, a good omen.

The Beatles at JFK Airport on their first
American visit

            The
boys were whisked in front of the press after landing for a brief press
conference, but interviews continued, sometimes in the back of the limos, in
hotel rooms or over the phone throughout the Beatles’ visit.

            The
Beatles’ first appearance on the Sullivan show came on their first Sunday in
America in front of 73 million viewers. The boys began their set with their
original
All My Loving
, followed by Paul, on, bass, singing
Till
There Was You
. During the song, the camera focused on each of the member of
the band with his name on screen. When the camera cut to John, the caption
below his name read: “Sorry Girls, He’s Married.” Then they wrapped up the
first set with
She Loves You
before the show went to commercial.

            The
hour-long broadcast concluded with the Beatles performing
I Saw Her Standing
There
and
I Want to Hold Your Hand
to the delight of their fans in
the theater and those at home. All throughout their Sullivan performance, the
fans kept screaming and shrieking and grabbing their hair.

            Two
days later, the Beatles performed at their first US concert at Washington
Coliseum in Washington, DC. More than eight thousand ecstatic fans attended. The
Beatles performed on a central stage and they had to take pauses so that they
could turn their equipment around and perform facing another direction.

            Their
second concert took place at  Carnegie Hall, New York, where two thousand
screaming fans nearly drowned out the band’s performance. But it was not these
ordinary girls and boys who endeared themselves to the Beatles but political
functionaries as well. John didn’t like it, saying, “We were supposed to put up
with all sorts of shit from Lord Mayors and their wives, and be touched and
pawed like in
A Hard Day’s Night
, only a million times more. At the
American Embassy or the British Embassy in Washington, some bloody animal cut
Ringo’s hair. I walked out, swearing at all of them, I just left in the middle
of it.”

            The
group traveled to Miami for their second Sullivan show, which took place on
February 19, 1964. As was their first appearance on the Sullivan show, this one
attracted about 70 million viewers. They returned in London on February 22,
1964, where the welcoming crowd far outnumbered the three thousand fans who
greeted them in New York.

In
the entertainment business, singers crossing over to acting isn’t new. There
was no question that the Beatles would enter the world of filming.

            In
March, barely a month after they returned from their successful performances in
America, they began filming for what would become
A Hard Day’s Night
,
primarily to maximize the commercial potential of the soundtracks. The film was
directed by Richard Lester, and the Beatles spent six weeks playing as
themselves.

            While
filming, John came face to face with his father, Alf, whom he had last seen
when he was five. A newspaperman brought the elderly Lennon to the set of the
film. In his memoirs, Alf wrote that their reunion was a bit awkward but not
hostile. He added that John barely remembered being in Blackpool with his
father. Soon, Alf found himself short on cash, so he sold his story for £200 to
a publication called
Tit Bits
. On Epstein’s advice, John gave his father
£30, plus a weekly stipend of £12 to keep him quiet.

A scene in the Beatles’ film
A Hard Day’s
Night

And
while the Beatles were filming, the American charts were monopolized by the
Beatles’ singles. On April 4, 1964, five of the Beatles’ previous singles
occupied the top five of the
Billboard
charts:

1.
      
Can’t Buy Me
Love

2.
     
Twist and
Shout

3.
     
She Loves You

4.
     
I Want to
Hold Your Hand

5.
     
Please Please
Me

 In
addition, seven other Beatles singles were on the top hundred.

            Meanwhile,
the film became an international success, with some critics comparing it with
the Marx Brothers. The
Time
magazine rated the film as one of the
all-time great 100 films while British critic Leslie Halliwell described it as
a “comic fantasia with music; an enormous commercial success with the director
trying every cinematic gaga in the book.”