**1964**

January 1-15
Introducing the Beatles (lp) (version #1 - Vee-Jay) is released

According to Bruce Spizer, author of Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles on Vee-Jay, that Vee-Jay's "invoice summary sheets indicate that 79,169 mono and 2,202 stereo copies of Introducing the Beatles were shipped to distributors during the first fifteen days of the year before sales were halted by the temporary injunction prohibiting Vee-Jay from issuing Beatles product."

On this album, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" are listed in this track listing. However, due to a copyright disagreement with the music publisher Beechwood, these two songs were later removed and substituted with "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why" in version #2 album of Introducing the Beatles.

Track Listing, Side One: 1) I Saw Her Standing There 2) Misery 3) Anna 4) Chains 5) Boys 6) Love Me Do
Side Two:  1) P.S. I Love You 2) Baby It's You 3) Do You Want To Know A Secret 4) A Taste of Honey
5) There's A Place 6) Twist and Shout

Also released on Vee-Jay to distributors during first fifteen days of the new year was the single: "Please Please Me / From Me To You".

January 3
In the USA, the "Jack Paar Show" airs the Beatles' Bournemouth
performance of "She Loves You" which was originally filmed on November 16, 1963.
"I Want To Hold Your Hand" makes #1 spot on the Australian music charts.

January 15
Beatles perform for three weeks in France at the Paris Olympia

January 18
"I Want To Hold Your Hand" enters at No. 45 on the American Billboard music charts.

January 20
MEET THE BEATLES (lp) is released (Capitol Records)

January 27
MY BONNIE / THE SAINTS (single) is released (MGM Records)

February 1
"I Want To Hold Your Hand" reaches No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard music charts, selling 2,000,000 units ("She Loves You" sells 1,000,000 units in the U.S. )

February 3
THE BEATLES WITH TONY SHERIDAN (lp) is released (MGM Records)

February 5
Beatles return from Paris , France

February 7
Pan Am Yankee Clipper flight 101: Beatles land at Kennedy Airport in the USA . The lads are greeted by 3,000 screaming fans. New York DJ Murray the "K" heavily promotes the Beatles records over the radio and provides "live" interviews with John, Paul, George and Ringo. Murray the "K" would dub himself as "the 5th Beatle." A reporter for the Saturday Evening Post noted: "Anyone listening to a pop radio station in New York would hear a Beatle record every four minutes and anyone listening to a juke box might hear one right after the other." Beatlemania had arrived!!

February 9
Beatles debut on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York ; 50,000 apply for 728 available seats. An estimated 73 million viewers watch that night (or 23,240,000 households, based on a Nielsen rating)

The Beatles captured in photograph during the last segment of the Ed Sullivan Show

Paul McCartney: "Specific memory of Ed Sullivan: FEAR, FEAR, FEAR! 'Cause you know, if somebody made the mistake of saying, 'Oh, you know how many people are watching this?' If someone had mentioned 73 million - Ohhhhhhh! So it was very very nerve racking. But you know, by then we had so much practice, that the nerves didn't show. I can see them when I watch it. I can remember it."

Ringo Starr: "We had no idea what the 'Ed Sullivan Show' meant, we didn't know how huge it was. I don't think we were nervous because we were doing songs that we knew how to play, we'd done them before and we'd done plenty of TV. But the idea of just coming to America was the mind-blower -- no one can imagine these days what an incredible feat it was to conquer America . No British act had done it before. We were just coming over to do our stuff, hopefully get recognized and to sell some records. But it turned into something huge."

Opening spot: 1) ALL MY LOVING; 2) TILL THERE WAS YOU; 3) SHE LOVES YOU
Closing spot: 1) I SAW HER STANDING THERE; 2) I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND

February 10
"Introducing the Beatles" (lp) (version #2 - Vee-Jay) is released

Version #2 of this album is released on this date but this time with "Ask Me Why" and "Please Please Me" replacing "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You". Later, on February 29, Vee-Jay's Introducing the Beatles ran nine consecutive weeks at the #2 spot only to be shut out by Capitol's release of Meet the Beatles.

Track Listing, Side One: 1) I Saw Her Standing There 2) Misery 3) Anna 4) Chains 5) Boys 6) Ask Me Why
Side Two:  1) Please Please Me 2) Baby It's You 3) Do You Want To Know A Secret 4) A Taste of Honey
5) There's A Place 6) Twist and Shout

February 11
Beatles first concert appearance in the USA : the Coliseum in Washington , 20,000 fans attend performance.

February 12
Two concert performances at Carnegie Hall

February 16
Beatles make their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in Deauville Hotel, Miami Beach , Florida . An estimated 70 million viewers watch that night (or 22,445,000 households based on a Nielsen rating). Songs performed: SHE LOVES YOU; ALL MY LOVING; THIS BOY; I SAW HER STANDING THERE; FROM ME TO YOU; I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND

February 22
Beatles return to England .

February 23
Beatles 3rd Ed Sullivan Show, New York . The Beatles had taped previously their third show for Ed Sullivan. Songs performed for the show were: TWIST AND SHOUT; PLEASE PLEASE ME; I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND

February 26
JOLLY WHAT! BEATLES AND FRANK IFIELD (lp) is released (Vee-Jay Records)

March 2
Beatles begin work on their first movie, "A Hard Day's Night". According to Walter Shenson, producer of the film, the Beatles story line in the movie would portray them as "prisoners of their success. They go from the airport to the hotel to the theater or stadium or concert hall back to the hotel back to the airport. In any city it's always the same. They literally travel in a cocoon of Liverpool . There's the manager, the road manager, a publicity man, the car, the driver, the guy who carries the equipment. That's all they see..." Total cost for making the movie: $500,000.

TWIST AND SHOUT / THERE'S A PLACE (single) is released (Tollie Records)

March 13
CASHBOX CHARTS - Places Beatles songs in top four slots:

"MEET THE BEATLES" (lp) is reported by this date to have sold 3,600,000 copies

"CAN'T BUY ME LOVE" their next single, has advanced order sales of 1,700,000 copies in the USA ( Britain would have, by March 17th, advanced sales of 1,000,000 copies)

March 23
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET / THANK YOU GIRL (single) is released (Vee-Jay Records)

"In His Own Write" - Lennon's first humorous off-beat book is published by Jonathan Cape . The book would sell 100,000 copies during its first printing. The Times Literary Supplement declared his book being "Worth the attention of anyone who fears for the impoverishment of the English language and the British imagination." John's jabberwocky style of penmanship was largely influenced from the literary works of Lewis Carroll.

March 27
WHY / CRY FOR A SHADOW (single) is released (MGM Records)

March 30
CAN'T BUY ME LOVE / YOU CAN'T DO THAT (single) is released (Capitol Records)

APRIL 6
BILLBOARD CHARTS - Places Beatles songs in top five slots:

April 10
THE BEATLES SECOND ALBUM (lp) is released (Capitol Records)

April 27
LOVE ME DO / P.S. I LOVE YOU (single) is released (Tollie Records)
SIE LIEBT DICH / I'LL GET YOU (single) is released (Swan Records)

June 1
SWEET GEORGIA BROWN / TAKE SOME INSURANCE OUT ON ME BABY (single) is released (Atco records)

June 3
RINGO STARR COLLAPSES FROM TONSILLITIS AND PHARYNGITIS
Jimmy Nicol becomes substitute drummer when Ringo enters a London hospital for his throat problem. The band travels to Holland and three days later perform in Amsterdam 's "Blokker" auction hall. On June 8th, the band would fly to Hong Kong .

June 10
Beatles perform two concerts at Hong Kong Princes Theatre.

June 12
Beatles begin Australian tour at Adelaide . During this tour, an Adelaide crowd of 300,000 lines up along the motorcade route and watches the band drive by. On June 14, Ringo would reunite with the Beatles in Melbourne after recovering temporarily from tonsillitis.

June 26
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (lp) is released (United Artists Records)

AIN'T SHE SWEET / NOBODY'S CHILD (single) is released (Atco Records)

July
SONGS, PICTURES AND STORIES OF THE FABULOUS BEATLES (lp) is released (Vee-Jay Records)

According to Bruce Spizer, distribution of this album began in late July but "did not chart until the following October. Royalty statements indicate that 123,635 mono copies were sold prior to September 30, 1964. Aggressive marketing resulted in additional reported sales of 216,328 mono and 773 stereo copies during the last quarter of 1964."

July 10
In Liverpool , a civic reception held for the premiere of "A Hard Day's Night". About 100,000 Liverpudlians pack the streets to see John, Paul, George and Ringo.

July 13
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT / I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER (single) is released (Capitol Records)

Historical Footnote for Guitar Players: Ever wonder why you can't faithfully reproduce on your guitar the same sound the Beatles used for the opening chord on A Hard Day's Night? It is because three instruments are used together at the same time. In 2001, Walter Everett, professor of music for Michigan University , published on page 236 from his book - The Beatles As Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul - the following: "The striking ametrical opening chord, with Martin's piano doubling Harrison 's twelve-string above McCartney's bass, is given as example 3.10a." Professor Everett then notated the guitar, piano, and bass parts in Example 3.10a on the next page of his book.

July 20
SOMETHING NEW (lp) is released (Capitol Records)
I'LL CRY INSTEAD / I'M HAPPY JUST TO DANCE WITH YOU (single) is released (Capitol Records)
AND I LOVE HER / IF I FELL (single) is released (Capitol Records)

August 10
Capitol Records issues a series of 45s on their "Oldies" label: DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SECRET/THANK YOU GIRL; PLEASE PLEASE ME/FROM ME TO YOU; LOVE ME DO/P.S. I LOVE YOU; TWIST AND SHOUT/THERE'S A PLACE

August 11
MOTION PICTURE: "A Hard Day's Night" is released (running time: 85 minutes)
Released by United Artists
Screenplay by Alun Owen
Produced by Walter Shenson
Directed by Richard Lester
Musical director and album produced by George Martin

Played in 500 cinemas across the United States , the movie earns 1.3 million in the first week.
New York 's "Village Voice" proclaimed the movie as "the Citizen Kane of jukebox musicals."
Historical first in the cinema picture industry: 15,000 prints made for world-wide distribution.

A movie review appeared a month later in Canada 's national magazine, Maclean's, which was written by Wendy Michener.

August 24
MATCHBOX / SLOW DOWN (single) is released (Capitol Records)

September 20
"Ed Sullivan Show" - replay broadcast of Beatles February 16th Sullivan appearance

October 1
BEATLES V.S. THE FOUR SEASONS (lp) is released (Vee-Jay Records)
"A Cellar Full of Noise" by Brian Epstein, released on Souvenir Press

October 5
AIN'T SHE SWEET (lp) is released (Atco Records)

November 23
THE BEATLES STORY (double lp) is released (Capitol Records)
I FEEL FINE / SHE'S A WOMAN (single) is released (Capitol Records)

December 1
Ringo Starr has his tonsils removed at the University College Hospital in London

News Item #1:
THE BBC MISREADS RINGO'S TONSIL OPERATION
BBC announcer Roy Williams caused post-traumatic shock for Ringo's fans when he mistakenly announced: "Ringo Starr's TOENAILS were successfully removed this morning." The announcement caused the BBC switchboard to jam immediately with calls from fans. Roy Williams would apologized in a later broadcast and also explain: "I misread the item. It happens to all of us and I bet Ringo is glad I'm not his surgeon."

News Item #2
FANS DRIVE NEIGHBORS CRAZY! RINGO'S NEIGHBOURS FILE PETITION TO LANDLORD.
Lathom Gedge, neighbor to Ringo Starr, claimed that "Ringo's tonsil operation has given us our first peace for months. Teenage girls scream and shriek all day long. They get hysterical, fight and kick each other and chase every car that arrives in case Ringo is inside." Ringo's response: "I wish I could do something about it - but I can't control the fans."

December 15
BEATLES '65 (lp) is released (Capitol Records)

December 18
"ANOTHER BEATLES CHRISTMAS RECORD" is issued to fan club members

GRAMMY AWARDS (1964):
Best New Artist - "The Beatles"
Best Performance by a Vocal Group - The Beatles, "A Hard Day's Night", George Martin, producer

NORTH AMERICAN (AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1964) BEATLES TOUR:
San Francisco (August 19); Las Vegas (August 20); Seattle (August 21); Vancouver (August 22); Los Angeles (August 23); Denver (August 26); Cincinnati (August 27); New York (August 28); Atlantic City (August 30); Philadelphia (September 2); Indianapolis (September 3); Milwaukee (September 4); Chicago (September 5); Detroit (September 6); Toronto (September 7); Montreal (September 8); Jacksonville (September 11); Boston (September 12); Baltimore (September 13); Pittsburgh (September 14); Cleveland (September 15); New Orleans (September 16); Kansas City (September 17); Dallas (September 18); New York (September 20)

Tour Fact: Because of the "mania", the Beatles seldom ventured outside of their hotels. One of the band's favorite pastimes during this tour was playing the game of "Monopoly" in their hotel rooms. Art Schreiber, who was one of five reporters (two American, three British) designated to follow the Beatles on this North American tour, recalls how it unfolded: "When we'd arrive at a hotel, I'd no more sooner get in my room and the phone would ring and it would be John Lennon. He'd say, 'Art, where are you, we're waiting.' So I'd go to his room and he and George would be sitting there at the Monopoly board. John always stood up to shake the dice and roll. He wanted so badly to get Park Place and Boardwalk. He could stand to lose the game, as long as when he lost he had Park Place and Boardwalk."

During the game of "Monopoly", Schreiber recalls Harrison as being very aloof with a preoccupation to acquire the B&O Railroad deed. Said Schreiber: "I asked him why he wanted the B&O so badly and he never did tell me. He never did tell me much of anything. We'd play until sunrise, and I'd be falling asleep at the table and John would poke me and say 'one more game, Art.' During this whole time, George would say practically nothing."