Distribution and Rights:

Rights Reserved by Apple Corps, Ltd.

Key Credits:

• A film by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Susan Fromke,
Kathy Dougherty
• Filming team Albert Maysles and David Maysles
• Producer Susan Fromke
• Producer Neil Aspinall
• Editor Kathy Dougherty

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©1964, directed by Albert and David Maysles, 16mm, b/w, 81 mins.


Film Synopsis:

A humorous, freewheeling and candid account of The Beatles
arrival in America in February 1964. The Maysles follow the
Fab Four for five days, from the crazed JFK airport reception
to unguarded moments inside the Plaza Hotel in preparation for
their landmark Ed Sullivan Show appearance to their equally frenzied homecoming. Inspiring Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night (1964),
What’s Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A. was subsequently
rereleased by Apple Corps. in an edited version as The Beatles:
The First US Visit (1999).