The British are Coming!

The British are Coming!

Members of Prep’s faculty & staff remember February 9, 1964

The British are Coming!

In February 2014, Ms. Mary Anne McElroy of Prep’s history department asked the adults of the Prep community to share their memories of the Beatles’ appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, on February 9, 1964. The goal was to collect a sampling of the personal stories that surround a cultural milestone, to be shared with Prep’s students and the broader community.

The accounts that follow were submitted in response to this request.

We have compiled them as an oral history of an evening that shapes our experience of popular culture to this day.

I was in the 6th grade. I had purchased two LPs, Introducing the Beatles and Meet the Beatles, both of which were released in January of 1964.

Just listening to the Beatles singles on WABC (Cousin Brucie and Scott Muni) and WMCA (The Good Guys) on my transistor radio in my bedroom, I knew there was something very special about the Fab Four. My bedroom wall was plastered with Beatles

posters and I spent 79 cents at the Five and Ten whenever a new single was released.

Today, George Harrison is my favorite Beatle, but back in 1964 I was smitten by Paul McCartney, shameless flirt that he was and still is. When they first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in February, my family was gathered around the black and white TV in our family room. My father and two younger brothers had to make asinine comments throughout the show; it was de riguer for the males in the family to take an anti-Beatle stance, but my friends and I did not care. We knew we were on

to something, and history has proven us right.

When the Beatles came on and started to sing, by heart skipped a beat - literally. You could say I had the vapors! After the show, right out of a scene from “Bye Bye, Birdie,” my friends and I got on our telephones (one wall phone per family, generally in the kitchen) and relived the moment over and over, arguing whether Ringo (Claudia), George (Leah), John (Cheryl) or Paul (Mary) was the cutest or the best musician or the funniest.

It was wonderful to grow up with the Beatles.

They grew up too, coming of age through at a time of major historical and cultural upheavals.

Today, no one would dare dismiss the Beatles as irrelevant.

– Ms. Mary Durante, Vice Principal for Academics

I was 21/2 and adorably cute. I had three older

brothers (ages 10, 11 and 12) who became huge Beatles fans and watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan with my folks (my Mom became a big Beatles fan).

My mother recalled going to A Hard Day’s Night in August ’64 and being annoyed she could barely hear the film due to all the girls screaming. I remember being taken to the theater to see Help! in August ’65 (I was nearly 4) and being a bit confused, but liking it a lot.

I used to watch the Beatles cartoons on Saturday mornings beginning in ’66, and strongly identified with the group. After all my brothers and I consisted of: John (the eldest cleverest most creative one); me, Paul (the polite, cute one); and two other guys.

I eventually became an insane Beatles maniac and am willing to go head to head with my knowledge of Beatlemania with anyone in the school!

– Mr. Paul Cunneen, History Department

I was in the womb. The TV was on and my parents were watching Ed Sullivan; my mother said she could feel me dancing to the beat of “Please Please Me.” No? How about I was watching the show, home from college so just a few miles from the Ed Sullivan theater, and, having been raised on the sounds of Dinah Shore, Perry Como, and Rosemary Clooney (great singers all, no doubt), I thought I was going to

have a heart attack when I heard that first Beatles chord. Even Elvis didn’t do that to me!

– Dr. Rich Kennedy, English Department

I was eight years old and firmly glued to the TV watching the Ed Sullivan show. I already had my patent

leather Beatles bag and other assorted keepsakes. I was truly in love with Paul! – Ms. Janice Martineau, College Counseling Office

At home watching on TV. Arguing

with my parents who did not understand the fascination and did not like rock and roll. – Ms. Ella Glazer, Computer Science Department

I lived in College Point, Queens, just two stops on the #7 away from Shea Stadium. My family was very interested in the Beatles and I remember vividly watching all three of their early Ed Sullivan appearances. On the night they played

Shea, we trekked through the marshy area at the end of College Point, nearing to Flushing, and we could actually hear the screams of the girls and a little bit of the music. The next day, I saw an older girl of high school age

who had actually gone to the concert. She had a section of grass upon which Paul McCartney had trod. She put it in her room and we all went in to see it. What had previously been in that spot in her room? A statue of the Virgin Mary.

That’s how big the Beatles were!

– Ms. Trish Fitzpatrick, P’07,’16 Director of Marketing & Public Relations

I was sitting on the floor of the living room, as close to the black and white televison as I could get. My sister and I had heated debates over which one was the cutest; I went with John, sister Judy claimed Paul. Then followed years and years of buying albums, taping posters on the bedroom wall and reading everything about them we could get our hands on. Our devotion lasted for years but the release of the Sgt. Pepper album ended the honeymoon period; we were not quite ready for this turn of events. Things became a little too weird, we agreed.

– Ms. Janet Angermeyer, English Department

I was very young, but I remember that my elderly aunt gave my Mom and Dad her large color TV because she was moving into an apartment. The Ed Sullivan Show was a Sunday night “special,” and my cousin, who was already a sophomore

in high school, asked if she could invite all of her friends over to see the Beatles. My parents said yes, and we had a house full of screaming teenage girls! Even our next door neighbor

came in to see why there was so much noise in our house!

I was a bit bewildered by all of this, but in the spring of 1964, I acquired the measles and had to stay at home for about a month.

My Mom brought the radio into my room, and what was on? All of those Beatles songs that my cousin and her friends were listening to on the Ed Sullivan Show!

– Ms. Boreta Singleton, Religion Department

I was studying theology at one of our seminaries and we were not allowed to watch television in the evening. But when a group of us (a

large group) heard the Beatles were going to be on Ed Sullivan that night and that the superior was going to be out, we decided to sneak into the TV room and watch the performance. Lo and behold, half way though the performance the superior showed up and we were told to leave and report to him in the morning. Most of us stayed, and then reported to him in the morning. All you

need is love.

– Fr. Enrico Raulli, S.J., English Department

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