50th Anniversary of the Beatles in America

Fifty years ago today, on Friday, February 7, 1964, four young men from Liverpool landed in New York's JFK Airport, greeted by thousands of screaming fans. Despite being unknown in the United States just a few months prior, they were booked to perform on one of the country's  most popular television programs. Two days later, my dad (then 10 years old) was eating dinner with his family at my great-grandparents' house. Although they stayed for supper there from time to time, that night was special. His older sister, my aunt Carol, had heard from excited girlfriends at school about a British band called "The Beatles" that was going to be on The Ed Sullivan Show live that night. Since my great-grandparents had a bigger television set (and, when broadcasts allowed it, was actually in color), they and my grandparents agreed to let the kids stay up late on a school night to watch these four moptops from England drive the teenage audience crazy. "They need a haircut!" complained my grandpa, who much preferred the likes of Johnny Cash and Mantovani. "And they're wearin' GIRLY BOOTS!" "Irv," my grandma scolded him. "Let Carol watch this." They were just a handful of the record-breaking 73 million Americans who watched John, Paul, George, and Ringo take the country by storm. I'm sure my grandpa hoped Newsweek's prediction following the broadcast would come true: "The odds are they will fade away, as most adults confidently predict." Fifty years later, nothing could be further from the truth. OverDrive has plenty of eBooks commemorating the Beatles' (and Ed Sullivan's) impact on history now available in Marketplace.   The Beatles in America: The 50th Anniversary by Chris Hutchins The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was only 77 days after President Kennedy was assassinated. The country was ready for something happier, and took to the Fab Four's music, humor, fashion sense, and charisma immediately (at least most Americans did). Instead of being just a flash-in-the-pan teenage fad, the Beatles continued to influence not only the arts, but also culture for more than half a century. This eBook, presented by the Smithsonian and the Grammy Museum, celebrates their legacy. The Beatles Are Here! 50 Years After the Band Arrived in America, Writers, Musicians, and Other Fans Remember by Penelope Rowlands My aunt's girlfriends were hardly the only screaming fans bitten by Beatlemania. In fact, the author of this eBook was captured on film doing just that. Rowlands collected memories from the likes of Lisa See, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, and many other devotees explaining how the Beatles changed their lives forever. The Beatles: The Authorised Biography by Hunter Davies "Jungle music," my grandpa grumbled, in both the 1960s and in the 1990s, when I came over to my grandparents' house to listen to my Beatles albums on their record player. (This was a little odd, since by then, CDs were well-entrenched). I carried with me a dog-eared library copy of this 1969 biography, the first of many Beatles books I would read in years to come. Hunter Davies spent over a year with the band while they were still together, and this 40th anniversary edition contains even more behind-the-scenes exclusives. Sundays with Sullivan: How the Ed Sullivan Show Brought Elvis, The Beatles, and Culture to America by Bernie Ilson Ed Sullivan was a shrewd and savvy businessman who knew he was on to something big when he saw British teenagers screaming for the Beatles. He strived to make his Sunday night variety show appeal to every member of the family, and judging by Sullivan's chart-topping ratings, he certainly did. However, the shrieks of his Beatlemania-infected teenage audience members threatened to drown out the more "cultural" acts that night. Sullivan playfully warned them, "If you don't keep quiet, I'm going to send for a barber!" For more on the man himself, check out Impresario: The Life and Times of Ed Sullivan by James Maguire. Sing Like The Beatles, ProSound Karaoke Band Did you know that OverDrive has karaoke tracks? Patrons may not be able to sing them at the library, but they certainly can let out their inner Beatle at home! "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah! She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!" my dad sang in the car ride home that Sunday night. I'm sure my grandpa just loved that.   These titles may have geographical or other restrictions, so if you're having a "Hard Day's Night," just say "Please Please Me" to your OverDrive Collection Development Specialist for "Help" getting these eBooks from OverDrive. Did you see the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show? Please leave a comment to tell us about your experience!   Jenny Norton is a Support Services Specialist at OverDrive.

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