The 50th anniversary of the first live performance of The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show takes place Sunday.
During the show The Beatles played All My Loving, Till There Was You, and She Loves You as their openers, then performed I Saw Her Standing There and I Want to Hold Your Hand later in the show.
Their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show was considered a milestone in American pop culture and was credited for launching the British Invasion of American pop music.
The Citizen invited residents to share their recollections of the show and wanted to hear if anyone was lucky enough to see them in concert.
Here is what Citizen readers had to say:
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I was seven years old when The Beatles came to Vancouver.
At that time, neither my five siblings, ages six to 14, nor I were allowed to walk down our street and around the corner to Earles Road in Vancouver by ourselves. We certainly were not allowed to lolligag around, standing beside Earles Road - it wouldn't be proper. So we had to content ourselves with standing in our dining room looking out the window. Behind our house at that time there were three vacant lots between two houses - imagine that in Vancouver! We had a glimpse from our vantage point of the traffic on Earles Road which leads to the PNE. We waited, somewhat patiently, from early morning until late afternoon, the six of us kids transfixed, staring out that window until it happened. The six of us squealed with delight when, in the short span of those three vacant lots, we first saw two uniformed motorcycle cops followed by a black limousine and two more motorcycle cops speeding up Earles Road. The Beatles were on their way to Empire Stadium. However fleeting a glimpse, we were euphoric. We had seen the Beatles.
Bill Thompson
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A fan of Elvis, I was not prepared for what I saw in Atikokan, Ontario on The Ed Sullivan Show when The Beatles appeared in 1964. One of my five shy sisters at the age of 14 started to scream, jump up and down on the couch, crying and hyperventilating, which prompted us all to dance around the room. This is one of my favourite memories of my sister Marina Cosco Burmaster as I lost her to cancer in 2010.
Eventually, our parents, sisters Barb, Marina, Marie, Anita and Natalie moved to Prince George raising children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They all followed me here.
Sharon Fraser
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I have never seen the Beatles in person, but my mother, Valerie McAvoy, who grew up in Manchester, England, saw them. She was in her teens in the late 1950s, early 1960s. She told me that she used to go to the Cavern Club in Liverpool to see The Beatles before they became famous. She had family in Liverpool at the time and also told me that she's related somehow (second or third cousin, I think) to Ringo Starr.
Gary Wilson
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In 1963-64 I attended St. Anne's Academy in New Westminster on Agnes Street as a Grade 9 boarder from Burns Lake. We were not allowed to watch The Beatles on TV on The Ed Sullivan show and were suppose to go down to the activity room to watch The Student Prince.
A group of us had already seen the show so we decided to sneak back upstairs to watch The Beatles. We did and were singing She Loves You and, of course, Mother Superior Xavier Marie caught us and our names were written down and we were punished.
We lost our weekend privileges, had to help out in the kitchen with food preparation and clean up and wash dishes after meals, attend Mass in early morning before school and kneel backwards to the TV at night. It was all worth it! A good memory.
Sharon Sandercott Armistead
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I saw The Beatles live in Cardiff, Wales, on Saturday, Nov. 7, 1964. There were two shows that night, we were at the 6.30 p.m. show.
When the concert was announced I went to the local post office to buy two postal orders for ten shillings and sixpence each - about 94 cents today - for my sister and I to see the show. There was no online ticket sales in those days. We went by train from Newport to Cardiff, 12 miles away. What I remember was Mary Wells opening with My Guy. The Beatles came on, starting with Twist and Shout. They were wearing grey Beatle jackets. John Lennon took his tie off and threw it to the front row. I spent most of their act holding my sister back from running up to the stage. It was bedlam.
Mike Kelly
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In the summer of '64, my sister and I were spending time with family in Vancouver. She was turning 16 and I was almost 13. My brother bought tickets for her birthday. It cost $5.25 four rows from the front of the stage in Empire Stadium. Well then I begged for a ticket as my birthday was only a couple weeks away, which my dear brother bought me. My ticket was in row 7 but when I saw no one sitting beside my sister and her best friend in the fourth row so I decided to move up. There were many four foot metal fences between the first row and the stage and a heightened police presence with tight security because you never knew what might happen.
No one was interested in the other bands that were opening for The Beatles, like Bill Black Combo, The Righteous Brothers, The Exciters, and Jackie DeShannon.
You could feel so much energy in the crowd, building and building as we got closer to their performance time. When they arrived on stage around 9:30 the screams started but once they hit that first note it went crazy. Twist and Shout, She Loves You, Roll Over Beethoven, Long Tall Sally, Hard Day's Night.
There was so much excitement that girls were screaming, crying, and fainting left and right. Police were carrying a fainted girl in each arm to the first aid stands. People from outside were climbing over the 20 foot gates and dropping in to see the show. An unknown girl beside me starting hugging, squeezing and kissing me.
I was 12 years old and felt like I had a revelation - I've been playing guitar ever since.
It was the most influential and energetic concert I've ever seen. Wow was the one word that summed it all up at the end. They didn't play for very long but that was probably a good thing as it was mass hysteria.
Don Ferrey
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In February 1964, I was a fifteen-year-old school girl living in Prince George. Sunday night was reserved to watch the Ed Sullivan Show and Bonanza. I can remember seeing The Beatles on that Feb. 9 show, viewing it on our little black and white television and being smitten by the British invasion of pop music at that time.
I belonged to an all girls' teenage choir called the Rainbow Choir (the girls wore dresses of the different colours of the rainbow). I can remember one evening, after choir practice, several of us girls stood out on Ross Crescent belting out Beatles songs at the top of our trained voices and lungs.
Later in the summer, I had the opportunity to attend The Beatles concert in Vancouver. A school mate and I traveled to attend the August 22nd event at the old Empire Stadium. My father had two season tickets to the B.C. Lions games and the option to purchase tickets to other events held there. Yes, I was spoiled.
My dad drove us to the stadium and dropped us off to fend for ourselves to find our seats. It was a warm evening and the stadium was packed. We had seats on benches on the field about six rows back from the stage. The noise from the audience was so loud. The only other concert I had attended before this was the Brenda Lee concert at the old Civic Centre on Seventh Avenue. There were opening acts, but I only remember two. Those were Jackie DeShannon and The Righteous Brothers. Jackie DeShannon was very beautiful with long blonde hair. The Righteous Brothers sang You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', which I like to this day.
When The Beatles finally arrived on stage and were introduced by, I believe, Red Robinson, the place went wild. Fans were screaming. Some benches on the field tipped over behind us when people started to stand on them to get a better view. I can remember looking at two older women - at least twenty years old! - wearing nylon stockings with little Beatles all over them and thinking "Wow, my mom would never wear stockings like that." Girls in the North wore bobby socks.
The Beatles sang several songs and left the stage as quickly as they appeared. My girlfriend and I were able to make our way out of the stadium without getting crushed or lost to meet my dad at the previously designated gate. It was a night to remember! It was very overwhelming for us two from Prince George.
Chris Hale (nee Wood)
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I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.
It was the cause of a huge family squabble.
I was finally allowed to get a drive with friends to our Montreal home to be there by myself in time to watch the show. I was 17 at the time and still not allowed to be alone in the house as a rule.
I sat mesmerized and thrilled watching John, Paul, George and Ringo perform. I sang along, of course.
In my final year of high school The Beatles came to Montreal to perform at The Forum. Four of us threatened our parents that we would camp out on the street to get tickets to the show. We used to walk home together singing Beatles songs! It was our good fortune that a member of the Montreal Canadiens lived nearby and we were given four tickets. Front row and I still have my ticket stub along with a collection of clippings.
That was an experience of a lifetime. Girls were screaming and jumping up and down and even being carried off in stretchers when they fainted from excitement. That was my first concert and never to be forgotten. I could swear Paul looked right at me! Oh swoon!!!
I have a very grainy black and white photo taken with my Kodak Instamatic. The poor security guards were deafened by the music and the screaming fans. The man sitting behind me was taking it all very well for an adult in those days.
Kathy Baker
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I saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show with my mom, dad and brother that fateful Sunday night in my home in Calgary. While many comments were expressed, I think the most prophetic was from my dad who said "if those kids got a hair cut, they might amount to something."
Doug Strachan
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I saw The Beatles in Vancouver and I, being a very prim and proper girl, thought I was certainly not going to be screaming at the concert and guess who ended up screaming? It was so exciting. It was just packed. Girls were fainting. I remember Jackie DeShannon opened the concert. I struck up a friendship with a girl at the concert from Walla Walla, Washington, and we wrote back in forth for a while, but we lost touch. I had kept my ticket stub for years but it was damaged in a basement flood years later. I also remember seeing them on the Ed Sullivan show on our black and white television and I liked The Beatles so much I bought all their albums and when I grew up I thought I didn't need them anymore and I gave them to my brother in Prince Rupert. I wish I still had them.
Cheryll Hallam
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Life was quite different back then. When I first met my wife, I asked her on a date and went to her house to look at her record collection. When I saw Buddy Holly's Great Balls of Fire record was part of her collection, I thought she was cool and asked her to go steady. She told me sure but if Elvis ever came along that I'd be history!
I went out and bought The Beatles first album before they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. When I showed my friends the new album, they chastised me for forsaking Elvis for these funny looking English fellows.
We saw The Beatles in Vancouver and the first song was Twist and Shout with Paul McCartney singing the lead and it ended with Paul singing lead in Long Tall Sally. The crowd was really, really loud. When the crowd surged ahead after the second or third song, I pushed my wife up against a concrete pillar and as people surged around us we ended up with a completely unobstructed view of The Beatles.
I saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show at my wife's parents house and we loved it. It was the biggest event since Elvis had been on.
Peter Stinson
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I saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan and the long hair surprised everybody, I'm sure. It sure surprised me and everybody started growing their hair long after that. I didn't because I didn't really like long hair. I also went to see them in Vancouver. There's an article in the Citizen about it, and my picture is in the paper because I was heading down there. (Here's the link http://pgnewspapers.lib.pg.bc.ca/fedora/repository/pgc:1964-08-21-08). In the picture I've got my Beatles jacket on - it was collarless - and I wore my pointy Beatle boots that zippered up, too.
The Beatles have always been my favourite to this day. The show only lasted 21 minutes because the crowd broke through the barriers and The Beatles had to basically run for their lives, type of thing. It was the most exciting show I'd ever seen and I've seen a hell of a lot of shows.
During the show a girl behind me grabbed my binoculars right out of my hands but the strap was still around my throat and she was choking me and she was looking through the binoculars and I'm gasping for breath. It was really something. She didn't even realize she was doing it she was so excited.
Kim Choquette
