60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
1/3/64 – Jack Paar shows a short clip of the Beatles singing "From Me To You" along with a performance of "She Loves You," He talks briefly about the commotion the band is causing in Europe and says he understands that science was working on a cure for the phenomenon.
They're presented as more of a novelty ... but Paar DOES refer to them as "nice kids" causing quite a stir in England ... the biggest act there in ages.
What's interesting about this is that Paar's clip predates The Beatles' appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" by five and a half weeks and no pandemonium ensues. (In all fairness, Paar's late night "Tonight Show" typically plays to an older, more reserved audience.) Their record "I Want To Hold Your Hand," just out the week before, hasn't even made the charts yet here in America.
Incredibly, at the end of the clip, Paar even mentions that Ed Sullivan ... whose show runs on a competing network ... will be having The Beatles on his show in February.
This has to rank as quite an historical piece for its time ...
Within six weeks the entire country will succumb to rampant Beatlemania!!!
For the record, even though it is often touted as such, this early clip shown on Jack Paar's program was STILL not the first time The Beatles appeared on American television.
That happened back on November 18th, 1963 (a few days before our 60 YEARS AGO TODAY Calendar began) when a brief clip of The Fab Four in concert was aired on the NBC News Program "The Huntley-Brinkley Report."
(Unfortunately, we could only find the audio from this historic event.)
Also on 1/3, US Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona announces that he will seek the Presidential nomination from The Republican Party
