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1964 · performance

The Ed Sullivan Show debut

From a Manhattan hotel to CBS Studio 50: the places behind the Beatles’ first live Ed Sullivan appearance.

The Beatles’ 9 February 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show connects a television studio with the Manhattan hotel where they stayed before the broadcast. The two sites served different roles. The Plaza was a base amid the attention surrounding their arrival; CBS Studio 50 was where the live performance reached television viewers.

Explore the places

Markers identify buildings or documented location references. They do not mark an exact recording room, stage position or camera angle.

  1. The Plaza — Map source
  2. The Ed Sullivan Theater — Map source

Waiting at the Plaza

The programme’s own archive describes the band staying at the Plaza after arriving at JFK on 7 February. That hotel connection belongs to the preparation and public attention around the appearance, not to the broadcast itself. It helps explain the few days between arrival and performance without claiming that the songs were televised from a hotel room. The World retains the hotel as a separate Moment in the event’s geography. [1]

The theatre behind the television image

The programme archive records the live appearance on 9 February, opening with All My Loving and returning for a second group of songs later in the show. Its theatre history identifies Studio 50 as the building at 1697–1699 Broadway, later named the Ed Sullivan Theater. A television image can make its room feel placeless; the building history restores an actual Manhattan address. The studio’s later name is useful for orientation, but the 1964 broadcast took place before that renaming. [1] [2]

The story in real places

The Plaza

Fifth Avenue, New York

  1. Staying at the Plaza before the broadcast

    February 1964

    The Beatles stayed at the Plaza Hotel after their 7 February 1964 arrival in New York and before their Ed Sullivan appearance. [1]

The Ed Sullivan Theater

Broadway, New York

  1. The live Ed Sullivan debut

    9 February 1964

    The Beatles made their first live Ed Sullivan Show appearance on 9 February 1964 at CBS Studio 50, the Manhattan theatre later named the Ed Sullivan Theater at 1697–1699 Broadway. [1] [2]

Reading the place today

These are historical hotel and studio references. Check current operators’ arrangements for any interior visit. No access to the band’s hotel rooms, the 1964 set or backstage areas is implied.

Sources

  1. The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964 — Ed Sullivan Show archive. Checked 2026-10-16.
  2. Ed Sullivan Theater — Ed Sullivan Show archive. Checked 2026-10-17.

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