In 1963, Ed Sullivan, of the Ed Sullivan Show fame got a taste of Beatlemania while passing through Heathrow airport in London. A crowd of highly enthusiastic fans were gathered outside the terminals, in the rain. Sullivan asked who they were waiting for and was told about the Fab Four, who were returning at the time from Stockholm. Returning to his hotel convinced that the Beatles were inspiring the kind of mania previously achieved only by Elvis, Sullivan contacted the group’s manager Brian Epstein, saying he will pay any price to bring them on his show. Epstein, shrewdly realizing he had a chance to invade a whole other continent, asked for only $10,000, provided they would make three appearances and get top billing. He should have taken the first offer.

On this day, February 9, in 1964, the Beatles appeared live on the Ed Sullivan Show, their music at times barely audible over the high-pitched squeals of fans.

The Beatles did not need Ed Sullivan for publicity. Around the same time the agreement was formed, “I Want to Hold You Hand” was leaked to U.S. radio stations, who began to play it in heavy rotation. When Capital Records found they could not stop the airplay, they pushed up the album release to the day after Christmas. It sold more than a quarter million copies before New Year’s Eve.