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Beatles bumped: Fab four were supposed to be on CBS News the night of JFK assassination

(CBS News) Fifty years ago Friday, the Beatles made their first appearance on CBS. They were interviewed for a report on the "CBS Morning News" with Mike Wallace.

It was set to be shown again that night on the "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite," until word came of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas.

Special section: The JFK assassination

More than two weeks after the shooting, Cronkite aired the Beatles segment on December 10, 1963.

At the time, Paul McCartney told CBS News that the band may have been successful because of their look.

“You know, as you say, the haircuts,” he said. “We didn't think they were a gimmick but everyone else said, 'Oh, what a gimmick!'”

When asked, John Lennon said that the public will “probably” get tired of them eventually, but it “depends how long it takes” for their fans to get bored with the band for him to worry about it. McCartney said it was “stupid to worry about things like that” and George Harrison chimed in and said “it’s not worth losing your sleep” over the issue.

“It could--it could happen tomorrow and it could, you know, we could have quite a run,” said McCartney. “We just hope we're going to have quite a run.”




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