1964: exploring the first summer of Beatlemania

Growing up in Philadelphia, during the tidal wave of what was termed as ‘Beatlemania,’ I was a young lad of seven. After seeing THE BEATLES on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964, I was caught up in all the frenzy to come. My trips home from school involved daily stops to the candy store, trying to acquire a full set of Beatle bubble gum cards, and by summer the Fab 4 were on the movie screen in ‘A Hard Days Night.’ (with Capitol Records issuing the title track as a single, and later two more releases in quick succession, “And I Love Her,” and “I’ll Cry Instead.”)

During a promotion from Kodak film, to tie in with the movie, the E.J. Korvette Department store chain proclaimed, “… buy two rolls, get a free Beatle record!” Not passing that up, my Mom bought the film, and of course for me, it was a two sided smash “And I Love Her,” / “If I Fell,” with John, Paul, George & Ringo, soon blaring from my record player. Ah, memories so long ago in that glorious summer of 64.’