On this day in New York · February 9, 1964
The Beatles Take Studio 50
Four guys from Liverpool played a CBS soundstage on Broadway and pretty much rewired what America wanted out of a Sunday night.
The facts
- Date
- February 9, 1964, 8 to 9 p.m. Eastern, live on CBS
- Where
- CBS Studio 50, 1697 Broadway, Manhattan (today the Ed Sullivan Theater)
- Ticket demand
- 50,000 requests for 728 seats
- TV audience
- More than 73 million viewers; a 45.3 rating and 60 share
On February 9, 1964, the Beatles made their first live American television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, broadcast from CBS Studio 50 at 1697 Broadway in Manhattan. They opened with "All My Loving," "Till There Was You," and "She Loves You," then came back later in the hour for "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand." CBS had fielded 50,000 ticket requests for the 728-seat studio, more than seven times what Elvis Presley drew for his own Sullivan debut back in 1956. An estimated 73 million people watched from home, a record for American television at the time.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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50,000 ticket requests for the 728-seat Studio 50
Wikipedia, describing CBS's ticket demand for the appearance
Source: Wikipedia
Why it still matters
That Broadway soundstage became the launchpad for the British Invasion, and the building still carries Sullivan's name today, home now to another late-night New York institution.
Sources
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