Rating: - It is just like being there, exactly as those who were there
will tell you.

Immediately after watching the first of these, I cut my DA to Beatle. Didn't everybody?

Today some of it -- not The Beatles! -- embarrasses. Martin & Rossi and Soupy Sales were what passed as the highest of entertainment for many. Martin, as example, gives a stupidly juvenile taste of how Beatlemania infected absolutely everything: after that first show, one couldn't watch nearly any TV show without some mention of The Beatles (which no fan minded) -- and that began the next day, and continued to snowball during the week before The Beatles' second appearance!

The commercials are a hoot -- and the women's hairdos, all crisp and rigid with the glue labeled "hairspray".

And some is worthwhile: Frank Gorshin, who would later be "The Riddler" on "Batman". And the wonderful Cilla Black -- asked by Ed Sullivan where she's from, she's says, with that accent, "I'm frum LivERpool," and the is almost drowned out by audience screams at mention of the city.

Ed Sullivan had the most modern-appearing stage sets of any TV show of the day, and the best produced sound, and these really are history-making video recordings. Especially amazing is the transformation, in both length of hair and confidence, between their 1964 appearances, and the six-song pre-Shea Stadium appearance by which time they were absolutely on top. Paul on one side of the stage, Jon on the other, the beginning riffs of "Ticket to Ride" as he strolls across the stage to Paul's microphone. And Lennon playing the keyboards with his elbow . . .

It is just like being there, exactly as those who were there will tell you. And The Beatles looked just like themselves, which wasn't at all unexpected.

Must-have for Beatles fans, and for everyone else as well.

"Nothing is Beatle-proof!"

Television Show Collectibles

Movie Searches