When Pan Am Flight 101 landed at New York City’s JFK Airport on Feb. 7, 1964, carrying four young men from Liverpool, England, who would go on to become inarguably the most iconic rock ‘n’ roll act of all time, a long wait ended for 3,000 screaming fans of The Beatles.
For a slew of factory workers in Scranton, though, John, Paul, George and Ringo got to the United States just in time.
That same morning, leadership at the Capitol Records plant in South Scranton furloughed 75 production workers permanently, evidently not aware of the frenzy about to come. When the wild scene at JFK finally wound down, the furloughs were rescinded — for a week. On Feb. 9, the four mop-topped lads performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in an event still considered monumental in American popular culture.
Beatlemania was here.
That weeklong furlough respite went on for years. For the better part of the next decade, those men and women at the Capitol Records factory kept The Beatles in the ears of America’s youth, helping to change popular music forever.
The national ripple
Scranton’s plant served as the engine that met the unprecedented production demands of the British Invasion. Records were pressed there, sleeved and shipped directly from the warehouse to retailers across the Eastern seaboard.
Buoyed by their “Ed Sullivan” appearance, The Beatles’ first U.S. album release on the Capitol label — “Meet The Beatles!,” which includes Fab Four staples “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “I Saw Her Standing There” and “All My Loving” — became a phenomenon. Within a week, Capitol reported 400,000 copies of the album were sent from Scranton around the nation.
At the height of the Beatlemania craze in 1964, more than 1,100 people were employed at the Scranton plant to keep up with demand. Estimates indicate up to three-quarters of all Beatles records sold in the U.S. during the mid-1960s were pressed there.
The living legacy
More than six decades after their U.S. arrival, The Beatles remain one of the strongest commercial musical groups of all time, even landing a tune in the top 10 of the Official Vinyl Singles Chart in the U.K. in March. They average between 35 and 36 million listeners per month on Spotify, despite not having released an album in more than 50 years.
Scranton’s Capitol Records plant closed shortly after The Beatles broke up. But vinyl collectors still pine for early pressings of Beatles albums produced there.
Sidelight
The dedication and perseverance of the Capitol Records staff still stands as an example of the tireless nature of the Northeast Pennsylvania workforce when it came time to meet national demand of any kind.
New York City police put their full weight into the task of restraining young Beatles fans intent on mobbing their heroes outside the Plaza Hotel, Feb. 7, 1964. The British singing foursome arrived in New York today for several appearances in the United States. (AP Photo)
FILE – In this Feb. 7, 1964 file photo, screaming teenagers, mostly girls, wave a banner “Beatles forever” welcoming the British band The Beatles from Liverpool, outside the Plaza Hotel in New York. The Beatles just happened to land on a trigger point when they hit America and appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Feb. 9, 1964. It was a pop culture sonic boom spurred by talent, timing and luck that’s still rattling the windows. (AP Photo, File)
FILE – In this Feb. 9, 1964, file photo, The Beatles, from left, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr on drums, and John Lennon perform on the CBS “Ed Sullivan Show” in New York. The Beatles made their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” America’s must-see weekly variety show, on Sunday, Feb. 9, 1964, and officially kicked off Beatlemania. (AP Photo/File)
A former button factory/Capitol Records factory in South Scranton at Cedar Avenue and Cherry Street is under renovation into a new home for the Scranton Counseling Center, a project by Jefferson-Werner LLC, a firm of Charles Jefferson. Photo taken March 13, 2020 shows facade along Cedar Avenue. JIM LOCKWOOD/STAFF PHOTO
A Beatles fan, backed by several hundred compatriots, reaches for her heroes as they arrive for appearance at the Paramount Theater in the Times Square section of New York, Sept. 20, 1964 (AP Photo)
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New York City police put their full weight into the task of restraining young Beatles fans intent on mobbing their heroes outside the Plaza Hotel, Feb. 7, 1964. The British singing foursome arrived in New York today for several appearances in the United States. (AP Photo)
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About the series
No. 23: As the nation approaches America250, we are counting down ways NEPA has powered American history.