Beatles Wallpaper Arrives in America (February 21, 1964)

Today in Odd History, Britain shipped 24,000 rolls of Beatles wallpaper to the US, just 2 days before the Fab Four's third appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The Beatles started their first American tour on February 7, 1964. On February 9 they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing All My Loving, Till There Was You, She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There, and I Want To Hold Your Hand, which had hit the top of the US Billboard Chart on February 1. An estimated 73 million people watched the show. Popular legend has it that crime levels dropped dramatically during the broadcast, although these reports have never been verified. A whirlwind schedule of concerts and public appearances followed, including a press concert at the Plaza Hotel in New York on February 10, a concert in Washington DC on February 11, a concert at Carnegie Hall on the 12th, another appearance on Ed Sullivan on the 16th, this one broadcast from Miami Beach, and a final appearance on Ed Sullivan on February 23, which was broadcast from a previously taped performance.

Beatlemania had reached the United States. And the merchandisers weren't far behind. Beatles wallpaper, which had only become available in Britain in January, 1964, was only one item in an ever-growing catalog of Beatles merchandise. There were lunchboxes, rings, oil paintings, wigs, guitar-shaped cakes and Beatles boots. By 1966, Northern Music, in the UK, was exporting $1 million worth of "Beatleware" to the US annually.

Almost 40 years later, the magic has barely faded. Despite the deaths of John Lennon, in 1980, and George Harrison, in 2001, the music, and the merchandise, live on.

The Beatles - The First U.S. Visit, by Albert and David Maysles.
The Maysles brothers captured the youthful exuberance of the band, and the enthusiastic response of the crowds, during the Beatles' first American tour. Several scenes from this documentary, originally titled What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A., would later be used in Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night