Beatlemania revisited, 60 years after the iconic band’s American debut

It is 60 years since The Beatles first landed on American soil and brought their revolutionary music across the Atlantic from their native England. The Fab Four – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison – were well on their way to becoming one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

“We want The Beatles, we want The Beatles,” fans chanted when the mop-top foursome arrived in New York in 1964.

The new documentary “Beatles ’64,” which hits Disney+ on Nov. 29, offers a behind-the-scenes look at the early days of the band’s stardom and their historic first visit to America.

McCartney attended the film’s premiere in New York on Sunday and was joined by musicians such as James Taylor, Elvis Costello, Steven Van Zandt, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

“They somehow pushed themselves and each other to levels that no one expected,” “Beatles ’64” producer Martin Scorsese said of the band’s meteoric rise.

He also recalled some of the snobbery prior to their visit.

“I’ll never forget it. There was a newspaper I remember seeing the weekend before they arrived where they made fun of their hair and basically said, ‘Oh yeah, let’s see what you get when you coming here,'” he told “Nightline. ” “You know, it was the attitude. And suddenly it was a revolution.”

The radical change seems inevitable in retrospect, but the trip to New York was a risk for the foursome.

“It’s 1964, Beatlemania has been going on for a few months. They didn’t know what to expect in New York and they thought maybe no one would meet them at the airport,” said “Beatles ’64 “-director David Tedeschi. “Nightline.” “So they’re so happy, satisfied, happy about what’s happening — it’s a dream come true for them.”

Despite the incredible reception at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on February 7, luxurious accommodations at the city’s Plaza Hotel and their legendary introduction to more than 73 million Americans during their February 9 appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” , the band did not receive a warm reception everywhere they went.

“There’s a scene in the film, it’s a party at the British Embassy in, in their honor, and they’re being mistreated by the staff because the embassy staff think they’re low class,” Tedeschi said. “I can’t quote the movie exactly because it’s not safe for TV, but Paul has a beautiful reaction saying that basically we knew we couldn’t care less.”

According to the director, the band’s drummer also had an unexpected encounter with a blade at the embassy.

“Someone walked up to Ringo and cut off some of his hair,” Tedeschi said.

The director recalled how they weren’t sure they could get surviving Beatles McCartney and Starr to do interviews for the documentary.

“We did everything we could to lure them in. And Paul had this wonderful photo exhibition in Brooklyn where he himself was at a reunion in 1964, all the photographs are from 1964, and I think he had something else to say. So we filmed him at the photo exhibit.”

In that interview, seen in the documentary, McCartney reflected on why he and his bandmates were such a hit with Americans.

“When we came, it was quite a while after Kennedy was assassinated,” said the 82-year-old, who sang and played bass in the band. “Maybe America needed something like the Beatles to lift it out of grief.”

Tedeschi hopes the documentary leaves people with a certain feeling.

“The experience of listening to music and how joyful it is and how it brings out our humanity,” he said. “That, I think, the Beatles, more than anyone else, achieved something.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.