Only People Over the Age of 50 Will Recognize These Historic Photos

Newspaper photos of the Beatles landing in America captured a kind of organized chaos: waving fans, press microphones, matching suits, and four young men trying to look amused by the storm around them. Readers saw a cultural invasion happening in real time. Today, these images still feel like the opening scene of modern pop mania.

The Beatles arrived at New York’s newly renamed John F. Kennedy Airport on February 7, 1964. They were already famous in Britain, but their American breakthrough was just beginning. Photographers met them at the airport, then followed them through press events and performances as Beatlemania became a transatlantic phenomenon.