Beatles First ‘Ed Sullivan Show’

For many boomers, Feb. 9, 1964, endures as a seminal Beatles moment: the night of the band's first appearance on American television. A clearly impressed Ed Sullivan introduced the hitmakers, and before they could get more than a few beats into All My Loving, screams that could drown out a jet engine filled CBS-TV Studio 50 in New York. A staggering 73 million Americans tuned in--about 45% of viewing households. Beatlemania had taken hold in America.