pete wrote:
> On Jun 23, 6:46 pm, saki  wrote:
> 
>>Prescience indeed, but it certainly helped that Sullivan, just a week
>>before Brian Epstein's visit, was passing through the airport in London
>>at the same time the Beatles were making their triumphant return from Sweden,
>>greeted by happy hordes of fans.
> 
> 
> I don't think this story of Sullivan's has ever been
> corroborated by an independent source.

The most current independent (i.e. non-Sullivan) source is a 
London-based theatrical agent, Peter Prichard, who worked with Jack 
Babb, Sullivan's European-based talent coordinator. Prichard tried to 
interest Babb in the group during the summer of 1963 but the Beatles' 
fame was still slowly building. Babb wasn't interested at that time.

Prichard also knew Brian Epstein and contacted him in early November 
1963 to urge a meeting between Brian and Ed Sullivan, which Prichard 
helped set up. Sullivan mentioned to Prichard the airport reception he'd 
witnessed in London and this, according to Prichard, was one reason 
Sullivan was interested in booking the Beatles.

Bruce Spizer's "The Beatles Are Coming!" (2003), pp. 54-55, has some 
good details about the situation. Prichard was one of the sources 
consulted by Spizer.

----
saki{at}ucla.edu

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