Vermilion Parish Residents Remember Watching The Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show" 50 Years Ago

It was 50 years ago today, to paraphrase one of their later songs, that those four lads from Liverpool known as the Beatles appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and signaled the beginning of the “British Invasion” that swept the country.
The performance had boosted their budding popularity dramatically, and it gave some in Vermilion Parish who tuned in at the time wonderful memories of watching John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr show the U.S. that the Beatles were not just a fad.
“I remember watching Ed Sullivan and the Beatles. My brother had every album and we listened to them over and over again,” said Abbeville High School principal Ivy Landry, who was six years old at the time. “I think the key to their success was that their songs lasted three minutes and they were good, but they were short and easy to learn.”
Prior to this historic event, the Beatles were huge in their native England and it was only a matter of time before their popularity would exceed outside of their homeland. However, in the U.S., the media were skeptical at first because they did not think the band would catch on. In fact, this happened around the time that the U.S. was still recovering from the assassination of John F. Kennedy, so the country needed something to lift its spirits.
As 1964 arrived, The Beatles started gaining some traction in the states. Their hit “I Want to Hold Your Hand” sold a million copies and hit number one on the Billboard charts and with that, everybody wanted to know more about them. Their songs started being played nonstop on the radio and others awaited their first apperance in the U.S.
Vermilion Parish Clerk of Court Diane Meaux Broussard recalls that she also did not know who the Beatles were at the time until she watched the performance.
“Soon the Beatles became a big part of my life,” said Broussard. “For my next birthday, I begged my mom for the Beatles dolls. As the ‘60s moved on, they became a big part of my life, saving my money to go to the Abbeville Record Shop to buy their new record.”
Once the band had touched down in New York City two days before the performance, they were greeted by swarms of squealing and cheering fans and roaming reporters crowding around them after they stepped out of Flight 101. At that point, any doubt about their stateside success quickly dissolved. Their records were still selling incredibly well and according to their label Capitol Records, their records were the fastest selling in the label’s history.
Two days later, it happened. On a Sunday night, more than 73 million eager people tuned in to CBS, which showed “The Ed Sullivan Show,” to finally see the four lads performing to an American audience, the first of three consecutive appearances. After the famous introduction from Sullivan, they took the stage, singing “All My Loving,” accompanied by the screaming of the bevy of teenage girls within the studio audience of around 700. Throughout the show, they performed four other songs: “‘Til There Was You,” “She Loves You,” “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” with the excited audience still shrieking in delight. As the show concluded, Beatlemania was in full swing. Girls fell in love with them while boys were inspired by them to become musicians themselves.
“I was so excited and I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing the Beatles,” recalled Maurice native Debra Meaux. “While they performed, nobody in the house was talking. Paul was the cutest one, and I still have my 45 collection of Beatles songs!”
“I was a junior or senior in high school at the time,” said Deputy Clerk Ann Clostio. “At the time, that was the kind of music we were into, and it was exciting to see a band from England performing in America.”
The Beatles may have long since broken up and Lennon and Harrison had sadly passed on, but their influence and popularity are still going strong, with younger generations being introduced to them and learning about how they have captivated American interest.
Recently, Starr and McCartney reunited on the 48th annual Grammy Awards and will do so again for the special “The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles” tonight on CBS, along with modern day acts such as John Mayer, Maroon 5 and Keith Urban putting their own spins on Beatles classics.
Even though this is a significant anniversary in the world on popular music, the memory and influence of the Beatles will have an everlasting impact.

This story was written by Laura Trahan.