The period when Beatlemania reached America for the first time is captured in a new Disney+ documentary produced by Martin Scorsese.
Beatles ’64, arriving on the streaming service on Nov. 29, features never-before-seen footage of the Beatles as they arrived in America to unprecedented fanfare in February 1964, as well as new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
“It was like being in the eye of a hurricane,” John Lennon says of Beatlemania in an archival interview featured in the trailer. “It was happening to us, but it was hard to see.”
George Harrison adds, “We were kinda normal, and the rest of the world was crazy. Everybody got into the mania when the Beatles came to town.”
“From the instant they landed at Kennedy Airport, met by thousands of fans, Beatlemania swept New York and the entire country,” Disney+ said of the documentary. “Their thrilling debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show captivated more than 73 million viewers, the most watched television event of its time. Beatles ’64 presents the spectacle but also tells a more intimate behind-the-scenes story, capturing the camaraderie of John, Paul, George, and Ringo as they experienced unimaginable fame.”
Beatles ’64 includes newly discovered footage of the Fab Four as filmed by the legendary documentarian duo Albert and David Maysles, as well as concert footage from their first U.S. gig in Washington, D.C. Peter Jackson’s WingNut Studios, which also remastered the footage seen in the Beatles doc Get Back.
The documentary was directed by David Tedeschi and produced by Martin Scorsese, Margaret Bodde, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison, Sean Ono Lennon, Jonathan Clyde, and Mikaela Beardsley, with Jeff Jones and Rick Yorn serving as executive producers.
