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QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, February 13, 2014 Page 14
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Fifty years later, they’re still Fab Celebrating a half century since The Beatles invaded America via Queens by Domenick Rafter
ing the event at the TWA Flight Center, the only major terminal left that existed on that he United States was a very different day. The Beatles actually arrived at the Pan place 50 years ago. Phones had cords, Am terminal, which is in the process of televisions had just a handful of chan- being demolished. Among the guests present were the Lord nels, a computer was the size of a room and the Winter Olympics, which had just Mayor of Liverpool, Gary Millar, and a numwrapped up in Austria, had 34 events, a frac- ber of Pan Am flight attendants who worked for the airline in 1964, including Jill Kellogg, tion of the number underway in Russia. But if there is one thing that hasn’t who was on Pan Am Flight 101 with The changed in 50 years, it’s the popularity of Beatles that day. Kellogg, who now lives in Montauk, LI, four boys from Liverpool, England — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison said she didn’t know who The Beatles were at the time and only realand Ringo Starr — who ized they were a big deal first exploded on the world when she saw the crowd scene back then singing waiting for them at JFK. nicely about their desire to “I never did see a crowd hold hands with a girl and of people that large in my the Fab Four first stepped life,” she told reporters last foot on A mer ican soil Friday. right here in Queens. Throngs of fans, some as It was five decades ago young as 8 years old, were — Feb. 7, 1964 — that also present last Friday, The Beatles landed at the singing along to Beatles recently rena med J FK cover band Liverpool, as A i r por t on a Pa n A m were some who were there f light f rom London to in 1964 when John, Paul, appear on “The Ed SulliGeorge and Ringo landed. van Show,” and play conA mong t hem were cer ts in New York and Washington D.C. Their A fan poses for a picture with a Howard Beach resident a r r ival at t he ai r por t sign making no secret of his Community Board 6 Dist r ict Ma nager Fr a n k brought out thousands of favorite Beatle. Gulluscio, whose mother die-hard fans and is one of the most iconic images of the Rock And worked for Pan Am at the time. “I was here when they ca me i n,” Roll Era and of the 1960s. Their arrival was celebrated last Friday, Gulluscio said after posing for pictures with 50 years to the day, with a special tribute Pan Am stewardesses who were working and an unveiling of a plaque commemorat- for the airline in the early 1960s. “It was a Editor
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Beatles impersonators arrive in the old TWA Flight Center, with Pan Am bags similar to those the Fab Four carried on Feb. 7. 1964, while a fan holds up a sign to greet them as so many did 50 years ago.
The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Gary Millar, unveils a plaque which will be placed at JFK Airport to commemorate the arrival there of The Beatles for their appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” PHOTO BY DOMENICK RAFTER and a brief concert tour of the states 50 years ago. pretty incredible thing to experience it.” Lennon’s half-sister, Julia Baird, was on hand for the event. “We are absolutely overwhelmed and thrilled to be in New York,” Baird said, noting Lennon loved the city where he lived for much of his professional life and where he lost his life. Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, noted that when The Beatles arrived in America, they were coming to a country that had been through, and was still experiencing, traumatic events. It had only been 10 weeks earlier that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The battle for civil rights was raging in the South, hor rifying Americans who watched blacks get hosed down with firehoses or chased down by dogs on the nightly news. The war in Vietnam was heating up and there was the ever-present risk of Russian nuclear annihilation. For a jittery nation, The Beatles offered a much-needed escape. When they landed at
JFK Airport, they held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” That song was knocked off by their second chart topper, “She Loves You,” followed by “Can’t Buy Me Love.” By the end of the year, three more songs by the band had topped the American charts. That year they won the Best New Artist Grammy Award. The Fab Four would go on to have 20 No. 1 hits in the United States in six years, more than any other artists and more than they had in their native Britain. Each would later have successful solo careers. Only two Beatles are still surviving. Lennon was shot dead outside his Manhattan apartment in 1980 and Harrison passed away from cancer in November, 2001. Neither McCartney nor Starr were at Friday’s event, but organizers said both were aware of it and were excited about the plaque. McCartney had flown out of JFK on Thursday back to London, landing in the British capital on a flight from JFK almost 50 years to the minute he left for New York Q the first time.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Executive Director Patrick Foye stands with Pan Am stewardesses who were working for the airline in 1964, including Jill Kellogg, far right, who flew with The Beatles on their flight from London to New York 50 years ago.