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The Beatles are Coming

It was beyond belief: my sister had gotten the tickets. We were going to The Ed Sullivan Show to see the Beatles! The year was 1964, I was sixteen years old, and the Beatles were a brand-new musical group.


The Beatles were all over the radio. Every few minutes some DJ in a deep voice would shout, “The Beatles are coming!” and then they’d play some Beatles record like “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”


When we first heard them, my sister told me they were from England, and they were coming to America soon. She thought they were cute. When I finally saw a picture of them, I couldn’t believe it! They had the longest hair I’d ever seen and they wore these strange gray matching suits with odd-looking boots. They looked so different from the boys in crew-cuts at school who wore khakis and penny loafers!


My favorite Beatle was Paul; he was the cute one, but my sister liked John because he was supposed to be witty. The drummer, Ringo, seemed cute, but like a puppy dog, and George looked like somebody’s brother. My friends and I would talk about each Beatle as if we knew them personally, and we’d imagine they were singing just to us.


When my sister got the tickets to the show, our dad just laughed. “You’re wasting your money,” he said. “No one is going to remember them in a month.”


On the day of the show, we arrived at the studio hours before showtime, but it was already mobbed with girls. When we were finally admitted into the auditorium, there was so much excitement in the air you could almost feel it vibrating throughout the hall. Most of the audience was made up of girls but there were a few boys who looked like they were growing out their crew cuts and were learning to hobble in their Beatle boots.


We sat in the center of the eighth row, with a perfect view of the stage. My heart beat fast as I waited for Paul (and the others, of course) to come out. The crowd was restless when the host, Ed Sullivan, appeared on the stage and good-naturedly shushed us. 8:00 was finally here.


When Ed Sullivan announced the Beatles, suddenly everyone in the audience got on their feet, some stood on their chairs, and everyone began to scream. My sister shrieked like I’ve never heard her before—even louder than the time she cut her finger with the paring knife and had to go to the emergency room. She called, “John! John!” I decided that looked like fun, so I screamed “Paul! Paul!” I couldn’t hear what song they were playing and it really didn’t matter; I was having too much fun to hear the music. Girls around me were fainting, getting up, screaming, and fainting again to streams of “George!” and “Ringo!”


On the monitors in the studio, they showed close-ups of the Beatles. When they cut to John, the text on the screen said, “Sorry, girls, he’s married.” My sister screamed louder. “John!” she shrieked. “Married?!” It seemed to make her scream even louder. When they showed Paul on the screen, there was no such text. I screamed louder anyway.


The Beatles played three songs in a row and then suddenly they were gone. Ed Sullivan promised they’d be back, but I wasn’t feeling very patient. We had to sit through some old people singing old songs and some comedy that wasn’t funny before the Beatles came back. They played “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and I was sure Paul was singing to me.


When the Beatles exited the stage, my sister and I slumped down in our seats for the first time in a while. Sweaty and out of breath, we looked at each other and laughed; we would remember this day forever.

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Questions
What is explicitly mentioned in the text? Select two.


It is 1964.


All the Beatles are good-looking.


Paul is married, while John is not romantically involved with anyone.


The Beatles had a different aesthetic than the teenagers at the narrator’s school.
Which detail shows why the Beatles look strange to the narrator?


The are unattractive.


They have very long hair.


They all look like dogs.


They resemble the narrator’s brother.
What event helps the narrator infer that Paul is single?


She reads it in a fan magazine.


Text says that John is married, but does not say anything about Paul.


She sees it written on the screen during the show.


Ed Sullivan announces it to the audience.
Which sentence best describes how the narrator’s attitude changes over the course of the story?


She goes from deep sadness to pure joy.


She goes from hysteria to deep sadness to total joy.


She goes from anger to sadness to acceptance.


She goes from hopeful excitement to hysteria.
Please answer all questions

Answer 1

1) It is 1964.
1) The Beatles had a different aesthetic than the teenagers at the narrator’s school.

2) They have very long hair.

3) Text says that John is married, but does not say anything about Paul.

4) She goes from hopeful excitement to hysteria.