Jimmy Fallon and Fred Armisen celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historical Beatles performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, with some never-before-seen footage! In this clip from February 9, 1964, Jimmy Fallon as John Lennon has a word – well, several words – with fans after their performance.
‘John’ proves to be quite technologically savvy for someone who lived in an era where a transistor radio with an earpiece was highly exciting technology. It’s been argued that The Beatles were ahead of their time musically. I don’t know about that, but from Jimmy’s clip it’s apparent that they were far ahead of everyone else technologically!
In truth, only hearts were a’ twitter, and fans could only get ‘face’ time via fan mags and album covers (alternately, fans could purchase Beatle socks, Beatle boots, Beatle wigs and go to see the movie HELP! The movie, truly was futuristic, as it preceded music videos by 20+ years and approximately 2 hours.
For more on the phenomena that was the Beatles and their musical influences and contributions, see this article by David Hinckley.