Beatlemania was more than a quippy way to describe the Beatles’ meteoric rise to fame. As footage of the Beatles’ 1964 press conference at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City reveals, it was an incredibly real, incredibly chaotic phenomenon that would have been enough to overwhelm any group of musicians, let alone ones that were just barely into their 20s.
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On the afternoon of February 7, 1964, the Fab Four landed at JFK to a screaming throng of 5,000 fans and an equally raucous press pool. The glimpse into the Beatles’ earliest days in the States is not only a testament to how powerful Beatlemania’s effects were on this country. It also demonstrates how wittily the young Liverpudlians navigated what must have been a truly strange, exhilarating experience.
The Beatles’ 1964 Press Conference Was Revealing And Rowdy
When the Beatles landed at the John F. Kennedy Airport in 1964, a 100-man police cordon was holding back the thousands of enamored fans screaming their praises for the British rock band. By the time the quartet finally got in front of the microphones set up before the press pool, the interviewers were so boisterous that both their press manager, Brian Sommerville and John Lennon shouted at the crowd to “shut up.” In the rare moments that the chatter died down enough to catch a question, the band talked a little bit more about themselves in sincerity (with plenty of sarcastic jest sprinkled in).
Although much of the footage from their 1964 arrival is shaky, grainy, and largely inaudible, Bill Harry’s The British Invasion: How the Beatles and Other U.K. Bands Conquered America helped immortalize the specifics of the band’s conversations with the press. At one point, an interviewer asked the band, “What do you miss most now that your fame prohibits your freedom?” Each Beatle had a different answer. For Ringo Starr, it was “going to the movies.” George Harrison replied, “Having nothing to do.” “School, because you don’t have much to do there,” John Lennon, arguably the “bad boy” of the bunch, quipped. Paul McCartney was the last to offer his reply: “Going on buses.”
Another journalist asked the band if they missed walking down the street, unrecognizable. Lennon retorted, “We used to do that with no money in our pockets. There’s no point in it.” Later, when asked if the throngs of squealing fans inflated their egos, Lennon added, “When I feel my head start to swell, I look at Ringo and know perfectly well we’re not Superman.”
How The Fab Four Pushed Back At Questions That Discredited Them
Although it’s hard to imagine a reality in which most people didn’t have at least a modest amount of respect for the Beatles, such was the case in the conservative early 1960s. During this time, having shaggy hair was as much of a personal affront to the straight-and-narrow as the music they made. When the band received questions that served to belittle or discredit them, the Beatles replied with razor-sharp wit and impeccable comedic timing. Take, for example, when one interviewer at JFK airport asked the band to comment on the idea that they were just a bunch of British Elvis Presleys.
“No, nah, we’re not,” Ringo Starr quickly replied, mimicking Presley’s deep Southern drawl while he and the rest of the band gyrated their hips and waved their arms. “What do you think of the campaign in Detroit to ‘stamp out the Beatles?’” One reporter asked. “We have a campaign to stamp out Detroit,” Lennon smartly replied. Another journalist spoke up: “What do you think of the criticism that you’re not very good?” “We’re not,” George Harrison shot back. Lennon added to these humble comebacks by saying the main reason the band was successful was that “they hired a press agent.”
Indeed, for four musicians who were quickly establishing their statuses as the most famous rock stars of the decade, the Beatles were remarkably talented at not taking themselves—or any of the frenzy surrounding their presence—too seriously.
Photo by Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images
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