The Beatles on the Box (Pt. 1)

The early Beatles were on television (called "the telly" or "the box" in Britain) quite a lot as a way of promoting the band. Here are some of their appearances from the days of black and white TV.

Below, the Fab Four sings "This Boy," in a clip which (I believe) aired on "Scene at 6:30" on Britain's Granada TV on December 20, 1963, though it was taped earlier, on November 25:



On November 25, 1963, slain president John F. Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington Cemetery, beneath an eternal flame.

One of the Beatles' standard numbers on the telly in those days was the Isley Brothers' "Twist and Shout." On October 30, 1963, the Beatles performed it in Stockholm on the Swedish TV show "Drop In":



On October 10, 1963, the U.S., U.K., and U.S.S.R. signed a treaty banning nuclear tests in the planet's atmosphere.

"I Feel Fine" was a hit for the Beatles in December 1964/January 1965. They began performing it on TV in November 1964, having recorded it at Abbey Road on October 18. Here they are doing the number on "Ready Steady Go!" on November 27, the date of the record's U.K. release. The record was released in the U.S. on November 23, the actual date when this "Ready Steady Go!" clip was taped. "I Feel Fine" was the first rock song to incorporate intentional audio feedback, audible following the first note Paul plucks ostentatiously on bass:



On November 27, 1965, France became the third nation to launch a space satellite, following the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.

"Ticket To Ride" reached number one on the British charts the week of May 22, 1965. By the end of 1965 the Beatles had performed it on British, French, and American TV at least seven times — not counting the rendition filmed as part of their August 15, 1965, concert at Shea Stadium and first broadcast by the BBC on March 1, 1966. This is a promo version the lads — perhaps tired of repeating themselves — made at Twickenham Film Studios on November 23, 1965:



On March 1, 1966, when the Shea Stadium concert was broadcast on the BBC, a newspaper headline read, "Venera 3 becomes 1st man-made object to impact on a planet (Venus)."

There are a lot more Beatles videos where those came from ... stay tuned.

(Much of the information about the Beatles' TV appearances in this post comes from the Fab4TV web site.)