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Today (February 7) is the 50th anniversary of the day that The Beatles first touched down on US soil, beginning a 15-day trip that would change the course of US popular culture.

The Beatles boarded their Boeing 707, Pan Am flight at London Airport early on the morning of February 7, 1964, and arrived at New York City’s JFK Airport at 1.20pm. The reception that The Beatles received was beyond their wildest dreams, with thousands of fans there to welcome the group and a large number of reporters and photographers vying for their attention.

The Beatles rise to stardom in the US happened with incredible swiftness. Just weeks before their arrival, they had been virtual unknowns, but by the time their plane touched down at JFK Airport they occupied the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and were being spoken of as the most exciting new pop act since Elvis hit the scene in the mid-1950s.

Capitol Records had previously shown little interest in releasing Beatles material in the US, but were swayed by the phenomenal nature of the band’s UK success, the positive response to a story about the band that aired on the CBS Evening News, and the fact that Ed Sullivan had signed them up for an appearance on his popular television show. Brian Epstein secured $40,000 from Capitol to promote “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” which was released on December 26, 1963 – two weeks ahead of schedule because there was such a big reaction to the song when an import copy was played by DJ Carroll James on WWDC. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” entered the US charts on January 18, 1964, selling one-and-a-half million copies in under three weeks. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 on February 1, and would remain on top for seven weeks until replaced by The Beatles’ “She Loves You”.

An historical marker will be unveiled today at JFK’s Central Terminal Area to mark the 50th anniversary. This was the spot where The Beatles gave their first press conference, shortly after arriving at the airport.

This full transcript of the press conference reveals that the Beatles were on good form, offering up plenty of light-hearted and sometimes slightly sarcastic responses to what were at times very inane questions:

Q: “Are you a little embarrassed by the lunacy you cause?”

John: “No, it’s great.”

Paul: “No.”

Ringo: “Marvellous.”

George: “We love it.”

John: “We like lunatics.”

Q: “You’re in favour of lunacy?”

The Beatles: “Yeah.”

John: “It’s healthy.”

Q: “Are those English accents?”

George: “It’s not English. It’s Liverpudlian, you see.”

Paul: “The Liverpool accent – so, the way you say some of the words. You know, you say grass instead of grahhss, and that sounds a bit American. So there you go.”

Q: “Liverpool is the…”

Ringo: “It’s the capital of Ireland.”

Paul: “Anyway, we wrote half of your folk songs in Liverpool.”

Ringo: “Yeah, don’t forget!”

Q: “In Detroit, Michigan, they’re handing out car stickers saying, ‘Stamp Out The Beatles.'”

Paul: “Yeah well, first of all we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.”

Q: “What about the Stamp Out The Beatles campaign?”

John: “What about it?”

Ringo: “How big are they?”

Q: “Would you tell Murray the K to cut that crap out?”

The Beatles: “(Joking) “CUT THAT CRAP OUT!”

Paul: “Hey, Murray!”

Q: “A psychiatrist recently said you’re nothing but a bunch of British Elvis Presleys.”

John: “He must be blind.”

Ringo: (Shaking like Elvis) “It’s not true! It’s not true!”

Q: “Would you please sing something?”

The Beatles: “NO!”

Ringo: “Sorry.”

Q: “There’s some doubt that you can sing.”

John: “No, we need money first.”

Q: “How much money do you expect to take out of this country?”

John: “About half a crown.”

Ringo: “Ten dollars.”

Q: “Does all that hair help you sing?”

Paul: “What?”

Q: “Does all that hair help you sing?”

John: “Definitely. Yeah.”

Q: “You feel like Samson? If you lost your hair, you’d lose what you have? ‘It’?”

John: “Don’t know. I don’t know.”

Paul: “Don’t know.”

Q: “How many of you are bald, that you have to wear those wigs?”

Ringo: “All of us.”

Paul: “I’m bald.”

Q: “You’re bald?”

John: “Oh, we’re all bald, yeah.”

Paul: “Don’t tell anyone, please.”

John: “I’m deaf and dumb too.”

Q: “Do you know American slang? Are you for real?”

Paul: “For real.”

John: “Come and have a feel.”

Q: “Aren’t you afraid of what the American Barbers’ Association is going to think of you?”

Ringo: “Well, we run quicker than the English ones. We’ll have a go here, you know.”

Q: “Listen, I got a question here. Are you going to get a haircut at all while you’re here?”

The Beatles: “NO!”

Ringo: “Nope.”

Paul: “No, thanks.”

George: “I had one yesterday.”

Ringo: “And that’s no lie, it’s the truth.”

Paul: “It’s the truth.”

Q: “You know, I think he missed.”

John: “Nope.”

George: “No, he didn’t. No.”

Ringo: “You should have seen him the day before.”

Q: “What do you think your music does for these people?”

Paul: “Err…”

John: “Hmmm, well…”

Ringo: “I don’t know. It pleases them, I think. Well, it must do, ’cause they’re buying it.”

Q: “Why does it excite them so much?”

Paul: “We don’t know, really.”

John: “If we knew, we’d form another group and be managers.”

Q: “What about all this talk that you represent some kind of social rebellion?”

John: “It’s a dirty lie. It’s a dirty lie.”

Q: “What do you think of Beethoven?”

Ringo: “Great, especially his poems.”

Q: “Have you decided when you’re going to retire?”

John: “Next week.”

Paul: “No.”

John: “No, we don’t know.”

Ringo: “We’re going to keep going as long as we can.”

George: “When we get fed up with it, you know. We’re still enjoying it.”

Ringo: “Any minute now.”

Q: “After you make so much money, and then…”

The Beatles: “No.”

George: “No, as long as we enjoy it, we’ll do it. ‘Cause we enjoyed it before we made any money.”

The Beatles then individually stated their names in the order they were standing at the microphones, as at this stage they were still not very well known to the US press.

Two days later, one of the most renowned events in the history of popular music occurred when The Beatles made their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. An estimated 73 million people tuned in to watch the group perform the songs “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You,” “She Loves You,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.

The 50th anniversary of the Ed Sullivan debut is celebrated this Sunday with a two-hour television special titled “The Night That Changed America – A GRAMMY® Salute To The Beatles”. Airing from 8-10pm on CBS, 50 years to the day, date and time of the original event, the special will feature a performance from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and tributes from Stevie Wonder, Katy Perry, Dave Grohl, Pharrell, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Gary Clark, Jr., Joe Walsh, and the Eurythmics.

The Beatles performed their first US concert at Washington Coliseum on February 11, which was filmed for closed circuit broadcast to US movie theaters a few months later.

“All My Loving” (Live, Feb 11, 1964) – The Beatles

The Beatles were back in New York on the 12th for two shows at Carnegie Hall, and then flew to Miami for their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show which was broadcast live on February 16 from the Napoleon Ballroom of the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach. Their third consecutive appearance on the show on February 23 had been taped two weeks before.

The Beatles returned to the UK on February 22, now more confident of their commercial power than ever before, but no one yet appreciated just how much of a turning point this was for popular culture in the US. The British Invasion was underway.

The three Ed Sullivan Shows from the February, 1964 trip and their 1965 appearance on the show are featured on “The 4 Complete Ed Sullivan Shows Starring The Beatles” 2-DVD set.

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