With this Wednesday, February 7th, marking the 60th anniversary of The Beatles coming to America in 1964, Mattel has unveiled a new collectors set as part of its line of Mega Showcase immersive construction sets.
Ladies & Gentlemen, The Beatles! is a model of their debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9th, 1964.
It features the Arrows stage with added signatures of the four band members behind each pillar to a printed replica of the set list from the performance.
In other Beatles-anniversary news, ANALOGr has launched an auction of Fab Four memorabilia that spans their career.
This includes: official Pan Am photo of the band during their JFK press conference signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and an official invitation to their first American press conference for their first film, A Hard Day’s Night.
There are also shirts worn by the band during their 1964 tour; McCartney’s handwritten draft lyrics for “Goodbye”; Lennon’s 1965 tweed suit; a limited-edition McCartney 1965 Epiphone acoustic guitar; and Ringo’s signed bongo drums from the mid-'90s.
You can preview the items now and the auction goes live on February 29th at 10 a.m. PT.
Further details on the auction are here courtesy of Analogr.com.
The musical landscape was changed forever 60 years ago today -- February 7th, 1964 (a Friday) -- when The Beatles arrived in America for the first time.
With "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, and a deal forged two months earlier for them to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show (on Sunday, February 9th), they landed at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport aboard Pan Am flight 101 shortly after 1 p.m. ET.
On hand to welcome them was an estimated crowd of more than 3000 Beatlemaniacs atop the terminal's balcony, where access to areas close to planes was still permitted.
Once inside the terminal, they held their first U.S. press conference for 200 reporters and photographers while 100 policemen kept order. They were then driven by limousine to the Plaza Hotel at the southern end of New York's Central Park.
However, The Plaza was not thrilled with the mayhem they caused, after later asked them not to return. On future New York visits, they stayed at the Warwick Hotel.
The Beatles were also trailed virtually everywhere by filmmakers David and Albert Maysles, who teamed with Brian Epstein's NEMS productions and Britain's Granada TV for the documentary The Beatles, The First U.S. Visit.
In other Beatles-related news, Wings guitarist Laurence Juber will release this Friday A Day in My Life, his fifth collection in a series of solo acoustic arrangements of Beatles songs. This Friday marks the 60th anniversary of The Beatles’ debut on The Ed Sullivan Show.