“Like a good little news organization, we sent three camera crews to stand among the shrieking youngsters and record the sights and sounds for posterity. Our film crews acquitted themselves with customary skill and ingenuity–the pictures are very good, but someone asked what the fuss was about, and we found we had no answer.”
A cultural phenomenon as it happened, called by NBC’s Chet Huntley in 1964–50 years ago, those mop-topped musicians made their British invasion complete, and that brings us to Five Things: Beatlemania…
1. Our excuse to talk about the Beatles today: 49 years ago, the album Help! was released, giving us hits like “Ticket to Ride” and “Yesterday,” which has been dubbed as the most-covered song of the 20th century by the Guinness World Records.
2. Did you know Ringo Starr’s real name is Richard Starkey?
3. Who was the “fifth Beatle”? Was there one? George Harrison said it was both Derek Taylor and Neil Aspinall. Paul McCartney has said it was Brian Epstein. The debate continues…
4. Talk about crossover appeal! In 2010 under Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican named the Beatles’ Revolver album the all-time favorite of the church.
5. It all comes back to Miami: this photo could not have been taken on their first stop in New York, after all! The Beatles took Miami Beach by storm in 1964 for their second U.S. stop.
the Jose Diaz-Balart staff