Fab Four hits the U.S.

By ARTHUR EVERETT
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Britain's way out Beatles, equipped with rag mop hairdos and guitars, invaded the colonies today. Thousands of delirious teen-aged native girls paid them wild tribal homage when they landed at Kennedy airport.

"I love them, I love them," shrieked one junior miss, teetering on the verge of emotional collapse. A singing quartet of British youth, the Beatles are all the rage - or rather "FAB" for fabulous - on the tight little isle, and their fame has spread to America via best-selling recordings. Now they are here in person for a series of sold-out public appearances.

The Beatles collectively are sort of a sheep dog version of Elvis Presley - the adulation they arouse in reminiscent of the grip the American star once held on the juvenile population.

However, when a newsman described them to their faces - or the visible portions thereof - as "four Elvis Presleys," they replied in unison: "Not True."

As the Beatles left their transatlantic airliner shortly after noon, 5,000 school-skipping American fans stormed police barricades, pelted the quartet with jelly beans and candy kisses, and screamed: "We want beatniks! We want beatniks!"

Behind them, with their departure from London, the Beatles left a pack of British teen-age girls, awash in tears, keening forlornly and twisting sodden hankies in anguished farewell.

But accustomed as they are to the weird worship rites attending their every appearance, the Beatles were shocked into momentary immobility as they left their plane to face the American horde. They recovered enough to wave, mug and dance a small jig for their panting audience.

"It's marvelous," Beatle Paul McCartney, 21, later told a news conference. "It's fantastic! We've never seen or had anything like this before. It's the best ever."

There was some small measure of mild disssent amid the joyous welcoming uproar that kept 100 policemen on edge at the airport. One sign on display read: "Beatles go home!" and another proclaimed: "We love Beethoven."

At the news conference the Beatles were informed that a "stamp out the Beatles" movement is under way in Detroit.

"We're going to start a campaign to stamp out Detroit," was their rejoinder.

As for Bethoven, Beatle Ringo Starr, 23, conceded that "he's beat - especially his poems."

Besdies McCartney and Starr, the Beatles consist of George Harrison, 20 and John Lennon, 23. Two of the quartet's recordings, "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You," are the two top best sellers in the United States.

Their first appearance in this country will be Sunday night on the Ed Sullivan Television show. CBS has been deluged with 50,000 requests for tickets to a studio that seats only 728 persons. All 2,800 seats at Carnegie Hall are sold out at a $5.50 top for two performances there next Wednesday night.

Feb. 8, 1964

Beatles Tour New York, Teen-Agers Follow

NEW YORK (AP) - Reports of Beatlitis infections spiraled to epidemic proportions among the city's teen-agers today as three of the four British carriers scurried about the town.

One member of the famed Beatles Quartet - a mop-topped singing import from London - was confined to his hotel quarters with a cold.

But that didn't keep the other three from delighting the present-day version of the bobbysoxers with a series of impromptu as well as scheduled appearances.

The quartet arrived here yesterday from London, and was greeted at Kennedy international airport by no less than 3,000 squealing youngsters who became familiar with them through their best-selling records.

George Harrison, 21, was forced to pass up most of the appearance today because of the cold, and contented himself by playing the several television sets and radios in the group's dozen-room suite at the fashionable Plaza Hotel.

Reports had it that Harrison - as he and his three companions did last night - kept all the television sets and radios going at the same time.

The other Beatles - Paul McCartney, 21, Ringo Starr, 23 and John Lennon, 23, were hustled from the hotel suite under heavy guard for a picture-taking session that two of the Beatles offered opposing assessments of the American teen-agers.

One said teen-agers here were "wilder than in England" while another allowed as how they were "exactly the same" in both countries.

Be that as it may, the young fans here were an enthusiastic lot and kept 30 policemen busy maintaining order outside the hotel and at other locations where the singers made brief stops.

Two young female fans spotted the Beatles in the boathouse and began to gush when policemen noticed their presence. They were quickly ejected, giving rise to still another Beatle pronouncement about the annoying tightness of security measures. But Ringo soon thought better of his security guard and remarked: "If you complain too much they leave you . . .and then you are finished."

The quartet will make several television and stage appearance while here, and plans a trip to Washington Tuesday for a concert.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, dozens of placard-carrying fans marched up and down the sidewalks in devotion to the unwell Beatle inside.

One sign read: "We Love You. Never leave us."