As CBS 2's Scott Rapoport reported, the images are iconic around the world - John Lennon, Paul McCar

You are using Internet Explorer 6. Internet Explorer 6 is unsupported by this site and you may experience layout and functionality issues. It is recommended that you upgrade los angeles museum of science to a newer version of Internet Explorer or switch to another los angeles museum of science browser.
The Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon attend a press conference at Kennedy International Airport having arrived from London for a 10 day US tour, 7th February los angeles museum of science 1964. (Photo by Central los angeles museum of science Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP)   It was 50 years ago Friday that the Beatles began their first American tour , arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where they cracked wise during a chaotic press conference while thousands of their fans were jammed inside the terminal.
As CBS 2’s Scott Rapoport reported, the images are iconic around los angeles museum of science the world – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr descending down the airstairs of the Pan Am flight from London that landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport – an airfield renamed only about six weeks earlier for the assassinated president.
Two days after the Beatles touched down at JFK, they went on to perform at the Ed Sullivan Theater los angeles museum of science in a performance seen by tens of millions of people and officially kicked off Beatlemania on this side of the pond.
It was like one of those magic moments, Ringo Starr told CBS News’ Anthony Mason in Los Angeles this week . We landed and it was all perfect, we were number 1 and the kids loved us and we loved the idea of being in America.
Lennon and McCartney had been playing together since 1957, and all four Beatles had been performing los angeles museum of science and recording together since June 1962. They had become wildly popular in the U.K. and across los angeles museum of science Europe.
The group’s first U.S. single, “Please Please Me,” had been released on Vee-Jay Records in February 1963 and received some radio airplay – most notably by disc jockey Dick Biondi in Chicago, where the record label was based. But the record sold poorly and the Beatles remained largely unknown in the U.S.
We felt very insecure because in the summer George came to America, George Harrison. And he was going into record shops and going, Have you got the Beatles’ records? And they were saying, No, ” Starr said. “And when he came back he said, ‘It s going to be tough, you know. They don t know us over there.
But that all changed when Beatlemania came to America. Capitol Records released “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in late December 1963 and saw it become a massive hit, followed by a hit re-release of “Please Please Me” on Vee-Jay.
It was perhaps one of the last times an audience would be able to actually hear the rock group that was changing the world. Being drowned out by screaming fans was among the factors that led the group to stop touring in 1966.
I see them so clearly, I see that stage so clearly, los angeles museum of science she said. I hear the Beatles and there s this rush of waves of all of us and through the screaming it s almost like tunnel vision so clearly, and I don t really remember being so totally out of control.