Vince Calandra - on the Beatles' first US TV appearance

Archive Interviewee Vince Calandra was the talent coordinator for The Ed Sullivan Show the day the Beatles made their historic appearance, 45 years ago on February 9, 1964!

Calandra was featured in emmy's article about the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, "You Say You Want a Revolution."

You can view Calandra's entire interview online, here.

Detailed Description:
Talent Executive Vince Calandra was interviewed for over four hours in Westwood, CA. He talks about working at CBS, where he was promoted to librarian at CBS Films, where he handled the network's syndication vaults. He talks about transferring to The Ed Sullivan Show, where he worked in production, and describes his promotion to talent coordinator for the series as well as some of the guests he booked including Jim Henson, Jackie Mason, Alan King, Irving Berlin and Bob Dylan. He also speaks in detail about the first American TV appearance appearance of The Beatles. He details his later work as the talent executive on the syndicated Mike Douglas Show and, later, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers. He speaks of his then-current projects including working as a talent executive for AFI specials and the American Teacher Awards. B-roll. Conducted December 4, 2003 by Jeff Abraham.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• the beatles
• the ed sullivan show
• music on tv
• vince calandra

[hayabusafmw]

elvis never wrote a song himself he is the KING OF KARAOKE....

he has a strong voice

but the beatles are the KINGS

even elvis knew it & said it lol

[Marcoj24]

I think the were much bigger than elvis

[slownoman]

Elvis was NOT a solo act. He fronted a band. Scotty Moore sound familiar. He was king of the fifties because of racist. Chuck Berry, who wrote great songs, kicked Elvis' ass. As far as the most influential act, the most popular, the most creative. No contest. The Beatles. Every time they reissue something, it goes to number one. Elvis was a white man covering black music, and his peak was from '55 to '59. He died a fat over the hill vegas lounge lizard.

[alltruenatural]

3:58 "Jesus Christ what is going on, this is frightening" LOL LMAO...classic.

[karlakor]

@ricorico33 Throughout music history there have been performers whose popularity and fame equaled that of the Beatles. Franz Liszt was the greatest pianist of his day, possibly the greatest in history, and women didn't throw roses, they threw their jewels onto the stage when he played. Mass hysteria followed him everywhere he went, and he drove his audiences to sheer madness. Every composer and performer acknowledged that Liszt was KING.

[geekman127]

george cloony?



[ricorico33]

Much bigger than elvis, michael jackson, queen, abba, led zeppelin, frank sinatra and any any any other artist ever walked t on the earth.

[psst67]

NOPE.... not even 4 to one, Elvis WIns!!! I sure wish that I would find SOMEONE to point out that the late Paul Catalana brought the Beatles to the west coast ,San Francisco, etc. 1965,1966! He followed with The Rolling Stones, Dave clark 5, Peter Noone "Herman's Herments", and many more! Does anyone Remember?!

[NonStopRocker]

That means there were 3 more Beatles than Elvis...

[dlc54]

How hurt would Brian Epstein have felt when Sullivan told him to, "Get Lost"

Sad...

[Mpen65]

I believe the Beatles tower over everyone combined; Stones, MJ, etc. But over the years you have to give Elvis the dignity that without him there probably wouldn't have been the Beatles, or they would have been radically different without him. But are they bigger than Elvis, hell yeah. Beatlemania started in 1964 and they broke up, essentially in 1969. In 5 years they built a body of music that can't be duplicated before or since. In 1964 they held the top 5 spots on billboards 100.

[ukfan15]

The beatles were 4, Elvis was 1. Explain that one!