The Beatles in New York: Police logs detail band's first US visit

A police guard escorts the Beatles from New York’s Carnegie Hall. 12 February 1964






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Police log books from The Beatles’ first visit to the US have gone on display
Damian Jones
Apr 15, 2019


The Beatles - Credit: John Pratt / Stringer / Getty

Rare documents were almost destroyed

Police log books for officers who protected The Beatles from screaming fans on their first trip to America have been unveiled.

The records, which have been donated to Liverpool’s Magical Beatles Museum, list the names of the officers who guarded the band in New York as they prepared to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 and their show at Carnegie Hall.

At the latter, the logs state that there was an incident where an officer was “knocked off balance” and injured outside the Plaza Hotel while “attempting to restrain the surging crowd”.

NYPD officer Patrick Cassidy, who discovered the logs while searching in police records, told BBC: “The Ed Sullivan Theatre is in the confines of my precinct, so one day in 2013, I went into the storage area that holds these books.

“After 50 years, they clean out and destroy them, so I looked up February ’64 and found the book, which would have been destroyed the following year.”

The Fab Four’s appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which marked their US TV debut, was watched by a then record 73 million people at the time.

Meanwhile, a clip of The Beatles performing on Top Of The Pops that was once thought lost was recently unearthed in Mexico.

The Beatles on 'Top Of The Pops' in 1966 Credit: Mark and Colleen Hayward/Redferns

The silent 11 second clip is the only surviving footage of the band miming to ‘Paperback Writer’ on the iconic show back in 1966, as the BBC did not keep the tapes.









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The Beatles in New York: Police logs detail band's first US visit
BBC News
15 April 2019


The log books show which officers were deployed to deal with the impact of The Beatles
PA/GETTY IMAGES

Police log books for the officers who protected The Beatles from hordes of screaming fans on their first visit to the US have gone on display.

The records list the names of the officers who guarded the band in New York as they prepared to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964.

The visit saw the Fab Four followed by huge crowds wherever they went.

NYPD officer Patrick Cassidy, who found the logs, has donated them to Liverpool's Magical Beatles Museum.

The band were met by screaming fans wherever they appeared in New York
GETTY IMAGES

Detailed as the "visit of Beatles singing group", the handwritten police blotter lists Sergeants O'Shea, Jones and McAuliffe, with officers Delgado, De Angelo, Lucarelli and Madden among the NYPD detachment looking after the band.

The records also mention The Beatles' show at Carnegie Hall on 12 February 1964 and an incident where an officer was "knocked off balance" and injured outside the Plaza Hotel while "attempting to restrain the surging crowd".

The records refer to the arrival of the "Beatles singing group"
PA

Mr Cassidy, whose father Edward also served with the NYPD, said he found the logs while searching in police records.

"The Ed Sullivan Theatre is in the confines of my precinct, so one day in 2013, I went into the storage area that holds these books.

"After 50 years, they clean out and destroy them, so I looked up February '64 and found the book, which would have been destroyed the following year."


The US visit saw the band play their first gig at New York's Carnegie Hall
GETTY IMAGES

Mr Cassidy said his father had told him he found The Beatles to be "well dressed and well behaved", adding that the band had modestly assumed "the crowds outside the hotel were for someone else".

The Beatles had already hit number one in the US charts when they arrived on 7 February 1964 and the levels of anticipation surrounding their arrival had not been seen since the days of Elvis Presley in the 1950s.

The Beatles' debut TV appearance was seen by an estimated 73 million people in the US
GETTY IMAGES

Throngs of screaming fans and reporters shadowed the band's every move, with police on alert for anyone posing as hotel guests or other disguises trying to get close to them.

Their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which marked their US TV debut, was watched by a then record 73 million people, with 60% of televisions in the country tuned in to the show.

Police restrained eager Beatles fans at Penn Station on Feb. 12, 1964.
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