How 'Beatlemania' gripped US after Fab Four doubted they would ever 'make it' in America
As 4,000 mostly hysterical school-skipping girls lined the Tarmac on their arrival, Paul McCartney, 21; George Harrison, 20; and Lennon and Starr, both 23, were given their first taste of what the US had in store for The Beatles
Moments before touching down at New York's windswept JFK airport, the captain of Pan Am flight 101 told a flight attendant: "You better tell the boys there's a big crowd waiting for them".
But stepping off that Boeing 707 on February 7, 1964, not even the Fab Four could have envisaged just how 'Beatlemania' would go on to grip America. Before taking off from London, John Lennon said to himself "Oh, we won't make it," while drummer Ringo Starr recalled feeling "a bit sick" with anticipation.
But as 4,000 mostly hysterical school-skipping girls lined the Tarmac on their arrival, Paul McCartney, 21; George Harrison, 20; and Lennon and Starr, both 23, were given their first taste of what the US had in store for them. "Pandemonium broke out among the stamping, banner-waving fans as The Beatles - John, Paul, George and Ringo - stepped from the plane," the Mirror wrote on its front page the following day.
Source: Christopher Bucktin/themirror.com
