The Beatles: The First US Visit

Movie
German title	The Beatles: The First US Visit
Original title	The Beatles: The First US Visit
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1991
length	83 minutes
Age rating	FSK 0
Rod
Director	Albert Maysles , David Maysles , Kathy Dougherty , Susan Froemke
script	Albert Maysles, David Maysles
production	Susan Froemke, Jonathan Clyde, Neil Aspinall
music	The Beatles
camera	Albert Maysles, David Maysles
cut	Kathy Dougherty
occupation
The Beatles Ed Sullivan Murray the K Brian Epstein
chronology
←  Predecessor Let It Be (1970) Successor  → Anthology (1995)

The Beatles: The First US Visit is an American documentary about the Beatles based on the US documentary What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA by directors Albert and David Maysles from 1964 is based. On November 13, 1991, the film The Beatles: The First US Visit was released by Apple on VHS video cassette .

prehistory

USA tour route in February 1964

On December 26, 1963, I Want to Hold Your Hand / I Saw Her Standing There was the Beatles' first single on Capitol Records . The single rose to number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 18, 1964 . Two weeks later, I Want to Hold Your Hand topped the charts. It was the commercial breakthrough for the Beatles in the United States. The album Meet the Beatles! reached number one position on February 15, 1964 on the US Billboard 200 , where it remained for eleven weeks. By the end of 1966, more than five million copies had been sold in the United States.

USA tour, George Harrison, 1964

From February 7 to February 22, 1964, the Beatles went on a promotional tour of the United States. On February 7, 1964, the Beatles landed in a PanAm plane at New York Airport , where 5,000 fans and 200 journalists met them on the tarmac. A big press conference took place in the airport building, which the group mastered in a humorous way:

Question: "Will you sing something?" ("Are you singing something for us?")
Lennon: "No, we need money first." ("No, not without prior payment.")
Question: "What is the secret of your success?" ("What is the secret of your success?")
Starr: "We have a press agent." ("We have a press officer.")
Question: "What do you think of the campaign in Detroit to stamp out the Beatles?" ("What do you think about the campaign in Detroit to wipe out the Beatles?")
McCartney: "We have a campaign to stamp out Detroit." ("We have a campaign to wipe out Detroit.")
Question: "What do you believe is the reason you are the most popular singing group today?" (“What do you think is the reason that you are the most popular music group right now?”)
Lennon: “We've no idea. If we did we'd get four long-haired boys, put them together, and become their managers. " ("We have no idea. If we knew, we would find four long-haired boys and manage them.")
Question: "What do you do when you're cooped up in a hotel room between shows?" ("What are you doing while you wait in the hotel room for their performances?")
Harrison: "We ice-skate." ("We're skating.")
Question: "How did you find America?" ("How did you find America?" [This formulation is just as ambiguous in English as in German])
Lennon: "We went to Greenland and made a left turn." ("We turned left near Greenland.")

On February 9, 1964, the Beatles appeared on the popular Ed Sullivan Show with five songs ( All My Loving , Till There Was You , She Loves You , I Saw Her Standing There, and I Want to Hold Your Hand ) . 73.7 million viewers on the television set followed the live broadcast. On February 10, 1964, the Beatles give a press conference in the Plaza Hotel in New York. On February 11, 1964, the Beatles took the train from New York to Washington, where the Beatles' first concert in the USA took place at the Washington Coliseum ( Washington, DC ) in front of 8,092 fans. The opening act came Tommy Roe , The Caravelles and The Chiffons on. The second concert followed on February 12, 1964 at New York's Carnegie Hall , followed by another appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 16, which took place at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach . The Beatles returned to London on February 22nd, 1964.

action

On February 7, 1964, two hours before the Beatles 'arrival, the British television company Granada commissioned the well-known documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles to shoot the Beatles' first visit to America for a 30-minute TV special that was to be broadcast in Great Britain . A small portion of the footage they shot was released that same month, February 12, under the title Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The Beatles was shown on British television (Granada Television) in New York , but the Maysles brothers turned the massive footage they had shot with the Beatles into an 81-minute feature-length documentary called What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA The Maysles brothers' film was postponed due to the imminent release of the feature film A Hard Day's Night and did not make it to theaters, it was only shown at a few film festivals over the following years .

Beatles in Key West, Florida, 1964

The original film What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA and the Beatles' first film, A Hard Day's Night, were each designed to document the lives of the Beatles. What's happening! The Beatles in the USA was shot in a documentary style with handheld cameras, with no script or commentary.

Both films start with similar scenes of young girls chasing the Beatles, seen from the Beatles' perspective in their car. There are scenes in What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA , in which the Beatles take a train to Washington, similar to scenes from the train ride on A Hard Day's Night . Much of the Maysles film was shot with the Beatles in their room at the Plaza Hotel . The scenes later filmed by the Beatles in their hotel room on A Hard Day's Night are similar in their portrayal of the Beatles being prisoners of their fame. On A Hard Day's Night , the Beatles leave their hotel room and go dancing in a club. The Maysles film shows the Beatles going to New York's Peppermint Lounge . In both films, three Beatles are seated in the audience while Ringo Starr is on the dance floor dancing.

More scenes from What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA show Murray the K as disc jockey , Brian Epstein as manager and Mal Evans as road manager of the Beatles.

On November 13, 1991, the Beatles company Apple released the newly compiled 83-minute documentary entitled The Beatles: The First US Visit on VHS video cassette . The film was based on the original Maysles film, this was combined with other Beatles recordings from February 1964, including TV clips and newsreel recordings, as well as appearances by the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. The film was reissued on February 9, 2004 on DVD. The audio remastering was done by Paul Hicks and Allan Rouse.

Chapter of the film The Beatles: The First US Visit

• "Here what`s happening Baby-The Beatles"

Here Murray the K is shown announcing the Beatles on the radio and putting on Beatles records.

• The Beatles arrive at JFK-February 7, 1964

Arrival of the Beatles at John F. Kennedy International Airport , drive to the hotel and hotel stay.

• Meeting the press in Central Park

John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are photographed and interviewed in Central Park.

• The Ed Sullivan Show (New York City, February 9, 1964)

1. All my loving
2. Till There Was You
3. She loves you
4. I want to hold your hand

• The Beatles at the Peppermint Lounge

The Beatles celebrate in the Club Peppermint Lounge.

• The Beatles arrive in Washington

The Beatles take a train to Washington.

• The Washington Coliseum Concert (February 11, 1964)

1. I saw her standing there
2. I want to be your man
3. She loves you

• Miami

Stay in a hotel in Miami.

• The Ed Sullivan Show (Miami, February 16, 1964)

1. From me to you
2. This boy
3. All my loving

• Preparing to leave

The Beatles pack their bags and prepare to leave.

• The Ed Sullivan Show (New York City February 9, 1964 - broadcasted February 23, 1964)

1. Twist and Shout
2. Please Please Me
3. I want to hold your hand

• The Beatles arrive back in the UK

publication

title	format	language	date	Label	Remarks
The Beatles - The First US Visit	VHS	English	Nov 13, 1991	MPI Home Video / Apple	A documentary based essentially on the documentary film What's Happening! Made in February 1964 . The Beatles In The USA based by Albert and David Maysles . In addition, scenes from the Ed Sullivan shows have been added.
	DVD	English	0Feb 3, 2004	Apple	Additionally with a 51-minute special under the title The Making of the First Visit US Visit Chapters. The audio remastering was done by Paul Hicks and Allan Rouse.

Chart placements and sales

Chart placements

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Austria (Ö3)	3 (1 week)	1
United States (Billboard)	1 (43 weeks)	43

Awards for music sales

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Argentina (CAPIF)	platinum	8,000
Australia (ARIA)	gold	7,500
Mexico (AMPROFON)	gold	10,000
United States (RIAA)	2 × platinum	200,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold	25,000
All in all	3 × gold 3 × platinum	250,500

Main article: The Beatles / Music Sales Awards

Web links

• The Beatles: The First US Visit in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• official page
• History of the film What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA

literature

• Mark Lewisohn: The Complete Beatles Chronicle . ISBN 0-600-61001-2 .
• DVD companion book from 2004

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bruce Spizer: The Beatles Are Coming! 498 Productions, New Orleans 2003, ISBN 0-9662649-8-3 , pp. 82 f.
2. ↑ Multi-platinum award
3. ↑ Austria Top 40 - Music DVD: February 22, 2004. austriancharts.at, accessed on March 7, 2020 . 
4. ^ The Beatles. billboard.com, accessed March 7, 2020 .