The Beatles Conquered New York 60 Years Ago Today
Good morning. It’s Wednesday. Today we’ll look back at a week in New York that clinched the Beatles’ place in American popular culture. We’ll also find out why Mayor Eric Adams says the city needs $4.6 billion to pay for half of the yearly costs related to the influx of migrants.
Credit…Harry Benson
The fifth person off the plane was worried that the four in front of him had forgotten what he wanted them to do.
He wanted them to turn around.
He wanted to snap their photograph with the giddy, screaming crowd in the background. But the four — the Beatles, arriving in the United States for the first time — were as caught up in the excitement as the fans on the other side of the barricades at Kennedy International Airport on Feb. 7, 1964, 60 years ago today.
Harry Benson, on assignment for The Daily Express of London, was the only newspaper photographer on the Beatles’ plane, and he was determined to get one more exclusive as they went down the stairs onto the tarmac.
“He grabbed Ringo’s coat and said, ‘Turn them around,’” Benson’s wife, Gigi, said, jumping into the conversation as he told me the story. Ringo Starr complied with the order, and the others followed. Benson shot three frames.
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