1964
Jan. 3: The Beatles’ American variety show debut takes place not on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” but on “The Jack Paar Show.”
Jan. 20: The group’s first Capitol album, “Meet the Beatles,” is released in the U.S.
Feb. 9: The Beatles perform live in the first of three appearances over successive weeks on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” a performance seen by an estimated 73 million people. Also on the show was the cast of the Broadway musical “Oliver,” which included a young British actor named Davy Jones, later of the Monkees. Sullivan first encountered the Beatles on a trip to London where he witnessed a hysterical airport welcome by screaming fans.
Feb. 11: The Beatles first American concert is held at the Washington (D.C.) Coliseum. The Beatles perform in the round on a stage that must be turned after every few songs so everyone can see them. The concert is filmed and shown in U.S. theaters.
March 2-April 24: The group films their first full-length feature, “A Hard Day’s Night,” a fictional day in the life of the Fab Four. The title comes from an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo. After an urgent evening request from producer Walter Shenson to provide a title song, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the title song overnight and play it for Shenson the next morning.The black-and-white film, directed by Richard Lester, premieres July 6 in London. The film garners a surprising number of rave reviews from movie critics, including Bosley Crowther of the New York Times, who wrote, “This is going to surprise you. It may knock you out of your chair, but the new film with those incredible chaps, the Beatles, is a whale of a comedy.”
June 3: Ringo collapses during a photo session, suffering from tonsillitis and pharyngitis, and is hospitalized. The remaining Beatles use a stand-in, Jimmy Nicol, in concerts in Denmark, the Netherlands and Hong Kong. Ringo rejoins them on June 15 in Melbourne, Australia.
Aug. 19: The group begins their first North American concert tour at the Cow Palace in Daly City, just outside of San Francisco. The tour features 22 stops in the U.S. and three in Canada. The concert at the Hollywood Bowl Aug. 23, along with Bowl concerts the following year, are recorded by Capitol Records and later released as part of “The Beatles Live at the Hollywood Bowl” in 1977 and "The Beatles Anthology" in 1996.