#9feb1964

The Beatles backstage before appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9th February 1964. 

“We were aware that Ed Sullivan was the big one because we got a telegram from Elvis and the Colonel. And I’ve heard that while the show was on there were no reported crimes, or very few. When The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, even the criminals had a rest for ten minutes.”

[George, Anthology]

You’ve jumped the queue a little bit here, as coincidentally I was reading about this same thing earlier this week. 

There is a little bit of a myth/urban legend surrounding this, but I still think it’s rooted in truth. It appears to have stemmed from an article in the Washington Post newspaper by Bill Gold, who was writing about the effects of Beatlemania and said: 

“’Don’t knock the Beatles,’ counsels B.F. Henry. ‘During the hour they were on Ed Sullivan’s show, there wasn’t a hubcap stolen in America!’“

So I think the idea that there was no crime reports may have grown from that and I think it means that all the teenage delinquents who would steal things like hubcaps, were also Beatle fans (ha). 

However, before I’d read about that, I thought it might have meant, rather than no crimes happening, it was more that people weren’t reporting crimes because they were glued to their TV sets watching the Beatles.

I think, although there are probably no official statistics on crime reports during the time the Ed Sullivan Show was broadcast, it could be true that there was a dip in criminal activity. That show was was watched by 73 million people. The population of America in 1964 was 191.9 million (according to Google). That’s approximately 38% of all people in the US watching those four boys playing guitar (and drums, of course, Ringo!)