The Beatles are Back – In Photos!

In February of 1964, The Beatles came to America hot on the heels of their first two hit singles, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There". The term "Beatlemania" was used to describe the chaos and pandemonium that ensued due to their fan’s adoration and bouts of screaming celebrity hysteria.

Forty years after "Beatlemania" came across the pond, forever changing our cultural landscape, CBS Television and Hewlett-Packard have teamed up to bring many of the "lost" images of The Beatles first trip to America back to life. When John, Paul, George, and Ringo first arrived, CBS had a number of their publicity photographers following them around.

What they captured in those photos was the Fab Four at their seemingly timeless best! CBS and Hewlett Packard have joined forces to bring these images to the public, in the form a traveling exhibit called "The Beatles: Backstage and Behind the Scenes". Bill Eppridge, a photographer for both CBS and LIFE magazine, was instrumental in bringing this project to life.

Bill contributed upwards of 84 never published photos of the lads from Liverpool to the exhibition. Most of his photos were captured as he was on the road with The Beatles in 1964, whereas the other images in the collection (taken by the CBS photographers) are taken mainly from dress rehearsals and backstage. Linda McCartney also contributed a number of images to the original exhibition.

The images remained unpublished until 2001, when a representative from the CBS Photo Archive approached HP Labs about restoring and reproducing them for an exhibit in Alberta, Canada. The collection includes 64 framed black-and white images, as well as 20 mounted large format photographs with captions and timeline panels.

The collection has recently been reprinted in a commemorative exhibition catalogue which is available from ArtVision Exhibitions. This collection has been touring the world since late 2001, and is still capturing the hearts and minds of fans everywhere.

The exhibit is also available for private showings, and inquiries can be directed to Vickie Rehberg, Exhibition Marketing Manager (1-866-278-4685). These images represent the very best of photography and photojournalism in 1964. We love you……yeah, yeah, yeah!

Amanda White is an avid photography and art enthusiast. She works for a gallery part time, in addition to being a freelance writer for http://www.dpdigest.com – a site that offers information for camera lovers everywhere with information about digital cameras, digital camera reviews, digital photography and more.