THE HUNTLEY BRINKLEY REPORT * NBC Television Network * NOVEMBER 18, 1963
THIS DAY in POP MUSIC HISTORY
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In the United States, November 18, 1963, on a Monday evening, the Beatles were given their first American television exposure, coast-to-coast. It was seen on NBC-TV during a broadcast segment of the Huntley Brinkley Report.
“Dispatches from Britain have been talking about a ‘new sound,’ for awhile we thought the new sound was Prime Minister Douglas Hume . . .” Chet Huntley lamented as he opened this special report. Narrating the NBC visual with his reporting, NBC correspondant David Newman referred to the Liverpool Beatles fans as “children,” detailing one account also when fans were screaming, watching (“not heard”) the Beatles perform while “under police protection,” having almost created, as he described to NBC television viewers that evening, “. . . a near riot.”
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— NOVEMBER 18, 1963 —
54 YEARS AGO. TODAY
BEATLEMANIA! TWO ‘BEATLES’ gets a British fan’s attention while on stage. October 28, 1963
LONDON — The fifth Beatle is gone. Brian Epstein was found dead in bed Aug. 27, and was buried at Long Lane, Liverpool, Aug. 30. An inquest opened on that date was adjourned. Epstein, 32, was at the center of the Liverpool /Mersey sound that swept pop music here, then spread around the world at the beginning of this decade. He took the Beatles to fame, and founded his NEMS Enterprises pop music empire that gave the industry stars like Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cilla Black and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas.
Epstein, the son of a successful furniture retailer in Liverpool, left school at 16 and became a salesman in the family business. That was in 1950. Six years later, Epstein enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art here in pursuit of his acting ambitions, but left after a year, disillusioned by the thespian atmosphere and characters.
Back With Firm
He returned to the family company in Liverpool, called North End Music Stores, and took charge of the disk department in a newly opened branch in Great Charlotte Street, aided by one assistant. His motto was to locate and provide any record anybody wanted, and his methods prospered to the extent of expanding the department to three stories and 30 staff members in two years.
Epstein’s motto also led him to the Beatles. A customer query about a record, “My Bonnie,” by a group of that name resulted in tracing the foursome to the dank dungeon known as the Cavern, and a friendship that made him their manager. Epstein reckoned the Beatles had more potential than Elvis Presley, and tried to instill his enthusiasm beyond the Liverpool city limits. He got rejections in most record company quarters except one – George Martin, Parlophone disk producer at EMI. Martin liked what he heard, and “Love Me Do” was released in October, 1962, followed by the Beatles’ first No. I success, “Please Please Me.”
The Beginning
That was the beginning of an unprecedented era which introduced new interest in pop music in the western world and even infiltrated the East. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, svengalied by George Martin, developed into major song – writing talents, contributing a whole new pop balladry. Epstein was dedicated to their interests and to those of his other artists. He worked long hours, and spared no effort in their behalf. For a naturally quiet, retiring personality, he could be surprisingly ruthless and uncompromising if he deemed circumstance warranted it.
His continuing theatrical interest and inclination manifested itself again when he took over London’s Saville Theater for a mixture of dance troupe shows and pop presentations. He was on the verge of other moves to broaden the base of NEMS when he died.
Unhappily, the tremendous success of his artists and himself brought less than a fair share of personal happiness. Epstein was prone to extreme depression, and a pervading restlessness and discontent. No matter what the triumph of the moment, he forever sought something else without clearly knowing what it was.
Took LSD
He freely admitted taking marijuana and LSD, and was a signatory to the Times advertisement seeking a relaxation of the British drug laws. At the time of his death he was due to join the Beatles in Wales to participate in their latest interest, transcendental meditation, with an Indian exponent.
Clive Epstein, 30, was unanimously elected NEMS chairman, succeeding his brother at a board meeting Aug. 30. Robert Stigwood will continue as managing director, and Vic Lewis will remain a director.
The Beatles will conduct their own affairs in conjunction with NEMS. Brian Epstein’s mother, Queenie, inherits as his next of kin. Epstein’s estate is believed to be worth on paper approximately $21 million, and death duties on this amount will be huge. What arrangements will be made in this direction have not yet been disclosed. Some quarters believe that NEMS will be vulnerable to a takeover bid here or from the States, and that it might involve Northern Songs passing to different co-publishing Beatle copyrights, but Dick James has strenuously denied any possibility of Northern Songs passing to different controls. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 9, 1967)
BRIAN EPSTEIN with the Beatles 1966 (click on image for largest view)
NEW YORK — Britian’s hottest record act in history, the Beatles, only a source of speculation a week ago (in the U.S.), has kicked off the industry’s new year with a classic shot in the arm–with not one, but two labels jarring their way into Billboard’s Hot 100.
The Capitol Records’ single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” has bolted into the No. 3 slot in just two weeks. Shipments on the single are reportedly past the million mark, and an album “Meet The Beatles,” has already been released.
Swan Records single by the group, “She Loves You” (which sold over a million copies on EMI’s Parlophone label) is No. 69 on this week’s Hot 100, in it’s first week on the chart.
Advanced reports have it that the Beatles are carriers of a harmless, but contagious “bug“–Beatlemania–and it, too, has arrived in epidemic proportions.
Beatle Fever
BEATLEMANIA!Nation Record News for February 25, 1964.
For the past year, the quartet, which hails from the Mersey River district of Liverpool, has captured the imagination of the British, and has spread Beatlemania like a fever through the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, and now Norway. Their first single effort on Parlophone, “Love Me Do,” sold a “modest” 100,000 copies. No subsequent single released have sold more that half a million.
When “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was released in England on November 29, 1963, advance orders had already exceeded the million mark. Their two LP’s have already sold more than 300,000 copies.
One of the most efficient and effective promotional campaigns in recent memory presaged the arrival of the Beatles. Newsweek, Time, Life, UPI and AP have avidly chronicled Beatlemania from the boys’ mushroom-shaped mops to their classic exchanges with the Royal family. Jack Parr offered a taped preview of the boys in early January, and their official debut is set for the Ed Sullivan show on February 9, with two more Sullivan spots in short order.
Radio Fans Like
As expected, Beatlemania has hit the radio scene with a tremendous impact. WEEL, Fairfax, Va., inaugurated what is perhaps the first series in the country revolving around the Beatles. Throughout the cooperation of Giant Music and Capitol Records, a weekly one-hour program entitled “Beatles Bonanza” is offered on Saturday night. The Beatles past hits, interviews with visiting Britons, and future merchandising of Beatle jewelry, wigs and other promotional items fill out the hour.
The BEATLES on stage in the U. K., October 28, 1963.
WABC, New York, initiated a Scott Muni Beatles Fan Club on Friday which has resulted in a tide of mail averaging 2,000 to 3,000 pieces daily. All Munci asks is a self-addressed envelope in which their membership card is returned to them. WABC reported that requests have been for “anything” by the Beatles.
WMCA, New York, is running a Beatles wig contest. The “Good Guys” are seeking listeners to take photos of their friends or from newspaper and paint on Beatle wigs. The station is awarding $57 to the first two most original entries with another 998 winners receiving a 45 r.p.m. disk, featuring photos of the group and the “Good Guys” on specially made record jackets.
English-Style Promo
The station is also airing Beatles promos cut by such legit theater artists as Margaret Leighton, a star in Broadway’s “Chinese Prime Minister,” and cast members from “Chips With Everything.” The artists all stated, “I would like to thank WMCA for bringing the Beatles to America.”
… WMCA reports that the most popular subjects painted with Beatle wigs thus far are: Khruschev, Mayor Wagner, Alfred E. Neuman (of MAD Magazine), Brigitte Bardot, and the Jolly Green Giant.
The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr), until a year ago were but one of more than 300 rock and roll groups that populated the Liverpool musical scene. Together since 1958, the boys have worked under a variety of names, such as the Quarrymen, Moon Dogs, Moonshiners, and the Silver Beatles. When they accepted an engagement in Hamburg the “Silver” was dropped as being too cumbersome and they have kept the Beatles tag ever since.
Brian Epstein, whom the boys affectionately refer to as the “fifth member” of the group, was responsible for mentoring the Beatles into distinction. He acts as their manager.
Another young group featuring the so-called “Liverpool Sound,” which has recently entered the race and could possibly emulate the success of their forerunner, goes by the name of the Dave Clark Five. They are currently battling the Beatles for first place in England, with their Columbia single “Glad All Over.” The single has been released in the U.S. on the Epic record label. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; January 25, 1964)
The BEATLES, 1963
A MCRFB Note
Here below a RARE 1963 CBS News clip believed to be the first major news report in the U.S. regarding the Beatles. According to the You Tube source, this CBS feature actually aired nationally here, on Thursday evening, November 21, 1963 and also the following morning, Friday November 22, 1963.
ELEVEN WEEKS on the singles chart, “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles peaked this week at No. 01 (1 week) on the Billboard Hot 100, week August 13 through August 19, 1967. (source: Billboard)
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MCRFB Link: For the previous No. 1 record in the U.S.A. 1967 GO HERE.
When Detroiters Read About the ‘Beatles’ the Very First Time
FROM THE BACK-PAGES OF THE DETROIT FREE PRESS
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1963
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LONDON — AP — Police admitted Monday that Beatlemania — one of the wildest teenage phenomena yet — just about has them beat. (CONTINUES — please read the complete article below) . . . .
— DETROIT FREE PRESS
DETROIT FREE PRESSTuesday, October 29, 1963
TWO ‘BEATLES’ GET A FAN’S ATTENTION(Associated Press; Monday, October 28, 1963)
A MCRFB VIEWING TIP
To read the entire Detroit Free Press featured article (October 29, 1963) click over each article page image above (2x) for largest PC view. Click images again to return to normal image size. Hit your server’s back-button to return to the Motor City Radio Flashbacks home page.
On your mobile device? Tap over each page image. Open to second window. “Stretch” across your device screen to magnify for larger print view.
Above Beatles related article is courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2017. Newspapers.com.
TEN WEEKS on the singles chart, “Penny Lane” by The Beatles peaked this week at No. 01 (1 week) on the Billboard Hot 100, week March 12 through March 18, 1967. (source: Billboard)
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MCRFB Link: For the previous No. 1 record in the U.S.A. 1967 GO HERE.
PENNY LANE * 101 STRINGS(ALBUM EXT. VERSION; 1968)
THE ‘101 STRINGS’ ORCHESTRA
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In the 1960s and the 1970s, the101 Strings Orchestrawas essentially ‘instrumental’ having introduced many, many of the mainstream popular hits they would come to record at the time, such as The Beatles’ hit, “Penny Lane,” so on and so forth, as just one example.
During those two decades the 101 Strings Orchestra albums, consequently, one could say, won over many our parents’ and our grand-parents’ hearts. They would come to accept, in part, the same ‘strings’ hit titles the older generations otherwise came to primary dislike coming from top 40 radio stations at the time.
Now ask yourself. How many of these 101 Strings LP’s you can recall having been played in your households during your younger years? I’m almost sure you probably seen a few of these ‘101 Strings’ album covers laying somewhere around the house. Their orchestra ‘sound’ was not just melodic, pleasant and smooth.
Let’s just say the younger set more than likely did not care much listening to 101 Strings albums in general. But in hindsight, as we listen today, some may agree these classic Beatles “strings” still actually sounds just as “cool” today as when we first heard them a long time ago. Agreed.
