Ringo and the other 3 guys conquer America, 56 years ago

Seventy-three million viewers tuned in to “The Ed Sullivan Show” on February 9th of 1964, to see a new British band.  The Beatles made their American television debut.  Other performers on the Sullivan show that night were impressionist Frank Gorshin, who later played the Riddler on the “Batman” TV series, and stars of the Broadway musical “Oliver!,” including Davy Jones, who would later become famous as one of the Monkees.   On the other networks, opposite Ed Sullivan, you could see “The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters,” starring 12-year-old Kurt Russell, Walt Disney’s “Wonderful World of Color,” and the comedy “Grindl,” starring Imogene Coca as a maid.  Lots of young people wanted to be like the Beatles.  La Crosse had local bands like Dave Kennedy and the Ambassadors, and Tommy and the Twilites.   On the La Crosse State campus, the Beta Variety Show that winter was won by the Delta Zeta sorority.  The girls of Delta Zeta put on suits and picked up guitars to imitate the Beatles and Elvis.  The Beatles occupied the #1 spot in the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks in a row with three different songs, until being replaced in May by Louis Armstrong singing “Hello, Dolly!” In 1964, yesterday in La Crosse.