SI41. A Signed Production Cue Sheet Sheet For The Beatles’ Final Ed Sullivan Show Appearance, One Day Before Their Historic Shea Stadium Concert In 1965

Description

Kicking off their 1965 North American Tour, The Beatles flew to New York from London on Friday August 13th, and shortly after landing they held a press conference at the Warwick Hotel in Manhattan. The next day, on August 14, 1965 – a year and a half after their historic debut on the show – The Beatles made their fourth and final in studio Ed Sullivan Show appearance in New York City (and their only one in 1965). They arrived at CBS-TV’s Studio 50 on 53rd Street and Broadway on Saturday morning and rehearsals for the show took place between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM, with a dress rehearsal at 2:30. At 8:30, The Beatles taped a show before a live studio audience, and the band performed 5 new songs. They started it off with a song that was #1 hit on the charts in late 1964 / early 1965. In order, the songs The Beatles played were:

“I Feel Fine”
“I’m Down”
“Act Naturally”
“Ticket To Ride”
“Yesterday”
“Help!”

This was quite some set list. “I Feel Fine” was the late 1964 chart topper that opened up the set. Four of the last five songs were all featured on the U.K. Parlophone Records “Help!” LP release, which hit the stores in England just eight days earlier, on August 8th. The other song, Paul’s Little Richard inspired “I’m Down” appeared on the ‘B’ side of the “Help!” single. “Act Naturally” was a country song that was recorded by Buck Owens and reached #1 on the Billboard Country charts in 1963. Ringo recorded it with The Beatles and not only was it featured on the “Help!” album, but it was also the “B side” of the “Yesterday” single. This was Ringo’s only singing performance on any of the Ed Sullivan Shows. “Ticket To Ride” was of course a monster hit for The Beatles, becoming their eighth #1 single in the U.S. Paul’s beautiful ballad “Yesterday” was not released in America until a month after this Ed Sullivan appearance, as a single, and of course it went on to being #1 on the charts. For this show he performed it solo, with no other Beatles onstage, accompanied by a string trio backing of studio musicians. John’s powerhouse, title track cry for help “Help!” was the final performance by The Beatles on the show that evening. John forgot some of the lyrics to the song, while Paul and George did their best to keep it steady with their backing vocals.

Here is a mimeographed Ed Sullivan Show production cue sheet for this performance by The Beatles, given to members of the CBS crew, which is pink in color and measures 8 1/2″ x 11″. All four have autographed the back of this cue sheet beautifully, with Ringo inscribing “To Debbs and Carl Love and Best Wishes” before signing. Ringo, Paul and John have signed in blue ballpoint pen, while George has used a black felt tip marker to sign. This call sheet was autographed for a Television Lighting Director who worked on The Ed Sullivan Show. The sheet is in very good condition overall with folds made at the time, shortly after the signing.

To outline details of the production of the show, at the top of the front of the cue sheet under the heading ‘Set Props’ is written “Drums, Amps, Photo Blowups Of The Beatles”, indicating that these were used for the first 3 songs performed. After “Act Naturally” there was a short break and a set change and for the final 3 songs, “Turntable Ceiling Piece, Hardwall, 2 Violins, Cello, Viola” were called for. The violins, cello and viola were played by musicians to accompany Paul when he did his rendition of “Yesterday”. Under the heading ‘Costume’, simply written is ‘Suits’. Other artists on the bill with the headlining Beatles were Cilla Black, (Marty) Allen & (Steve) Rossi, and Soupy Sales, all noted under The Beatles on this cue sheet. The show aired on television four weeks later, on September 12th. This was the very last Ed Sullivan Show episode to be shown in black and white, as the very next one was filmed and aired in color. This Beatles performance was intended to be the first Ed Sullivan Show to have been aired in color, but some technical difficulties prevented the changeover from black and white to color from happening in time.

The very next day after this Ed Sullivan Show taping was a big one for The Beatles, as they performed live in concert at Shea Stadium – and in fact it was Ed Sullivan who introduced the band to the then record breaking crowd of over 55,000 fans. All of the songs performed on this Ed Sullivan show, with the exception of “Yesterday”, were also played live by The Beatles at Shea Stadium the next day. Beatles autographs from the year 1965 are extremely scarce and desirable – especially those that were obtained in the U.S. during this tour. As The Ed Sullivan Show was responsible for introducing The Beatles to America in spectacular fashion, anything signed by the Beatles related to the iconic Ed Sullivan Show is truly a special and important piece of Beatles history….SOLD

Here is a link to the entire Ed Sullivan Show taped on August 14, 1965 and aired on September 12, 1965, with commercials. Scroll down to “10. Show 4”. The two Beatles segments start at 15:18 and 44:50:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SEPTEMBER 12, 1965 VIDEO WITH COMMERICIALS

Here is a link to several great Getty Images shots of The Beatles taken at CBS-TV Studio 50 on August 14, 1965:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE GETTY IMAGES OF THE BEATLES