The Beatles' First Time On American TV

Before the 'Ed Sullivan Show,' the Beatles Were Featured on the 'CBS Evening News' with Walter Cronkite

(CBS)  Most people think the Beatles made their American television debut on the "Ed Sullivan Show," in 1964.

But Walter Cronkite, a stickler for accuracy, always wanted people to know it actually happened on the "CBS Evening News" in 1963, reports CBS News anchor Katie Couric.

Beatlemania was well underway in the United Kingdom.

"We were offered a piece from our London Bureau of this phenomenon," Cronkite said. "So we put it on the air one night."

That night was December 10, 1963. The Beatles had already sold 2.5 million records.

"What has occurred to you as why you've succeeded?" asked the reporter.

"I don't know, really, you know, as you say, the haircuts," Paul McCartney responded.

Despite the hysteria of their mostly female fans, it wasn't clear, then, just how long the Beatles' success would last.

"Do you have any fears your public will tire of you and move on?" the reporter asked.

"They probably will but it depends how long it takes one to get tired," John Lennon said.

Ed Sullivan was watching the story and right after the newscast, he called Walter Cronkite.

"We were good friends, and Ed said, 'Walter, Walter, tell me about those kids, tell me about those kids,'" Cronkite said. "'Those kids you just had on the air. What do you call them? The bugs or the beetles or something?'"

That famous performance on the "Ed Sullivan Show" came two months after their "debut" on the "CBS Evening News."

"We just hope we're going have quite a run," McCartney said during that interview.

And they did, with a little help from Walter Cronkite.

"If there's some credit in history for that, I want it," Cronkite said.

Special Section: Walter Cronkite: 1916-2009

[AlTex64]

Does CBS have tapes of the full original broadcasts by Mike Wallace on the Morning News program on the 22nd November 1963 and Walter Cronkite's Evening News program on the 10th December 1963? If so can they be posted online?

Indeed, NBC was the first to put The Beatles on American TV on November 18, 1963, beating CBS by 4 days. But bragger's rights to CBS' first-ever Beatles coverage do not go to Walter Cronkite - that claim goes to Mike Wallace's Morning News program which aired the London story first, on Nov. 22, 1963. The story was scheduled to repeat on Cronkite's Evening News program later that day but JFK's assassination cleared all the decks. A few weeks later, Cronkite remembered the story and, believing the country could use something lighthearted, resurrected it for air on his program December 10. When Sullivan called, Ed knew who "these bugs" were since he had already booked them - but he feared that putting these "unknowns" on three shows would flop. He hoped CBS News might reassure him. Cronkite's decision to re-air the story was a key factor in jumpstarting American Beatlemania, and this broadcast remains an important event in music history. But Katie Couric ought to correct the errors in the above story and, most important, give Mike Wallace his due. Walter Cronkite was well aware of these details (and more) when he wrote the foreword to "The Beatles Are Coming!" in 2003.

[jp214]

If I am not mistaken, the Beatles first appeared on U.S. television on Alan Funt's CANDID CAMERA television series in the early 60's. Alan had a guest on that showed a clip of an English rock band that had these strange haircuts and was rapidly gaining popularity with British teens. The clip was considered a laughable curiosity for the CANDID CAMERA audience. I was already in my teens and I had never heard of the band before; nor for that matter any British rock band. This was well before their so-called U.S. debut on the Ed Sullivan show.

There is no record of "Candid Camera" airing a segment about The Beatles prior to their Sullivan appearance. However, what you describe sounds very much like the segment that Jack Paar aired in January, 1964, which very nearly derailed The Beatles debut on The Ed Sullivan Show one month later.

[mjb784533]

In addition to being scooped by NBC on this story, the description of Ed Sullivan's phone call after the Dec 10 airing of the piece does not match the facts that have been reported elsewhere. Brian Epstein had already met with Sullivan on November 11 and 12 and Sullivan had already signed The Beatles. Yet Cronkite describes the phone call as if he had never heard of them. And don't forget that Jack Parr aired two complete songs on his January 3, 1964 prime time NBC show, a month before Sullivan.

[donmalone]

(the Beatles first U.S. television appearance was in a feature story on NBC's The Huntley-Brinkley Report on November 18, 1963).