It’s a popular legend that Ed Sullivan introduced the Beatles on American TV — I was backstage for reasons I’ve explained in several dozen Talks of the Month. The Sullivan story is simply not true; Jack Paar beat him to it by months, but Sullivan’s publicity people beat the hell out of Jack Paar’s publicity people. It is true that the Jack Paar appearance was on film, taken in the UK, and the Sullivan appearance was live, but at the time, there was little technical difference between the two — the real difference was an adult audience that watched the film siliently, and a bunch of wild hysterical screaming girls (and a few guys) having public orgasms to the point that you couldn’t hear the music. Even the Beatles couldn’t hear themselves, which they mentioned several times afterward. Actually, the Very First Appearances of the Beatles on American TV predated BOTH  variety & talk show dates. Here’s the video to prove my thesis: