the_gneech | Feb. 9th, 2007

For your present, here's today's Forgotten English!

ecstasize
To fill with ecstasy, or excessive joy.
--William Whitney's Century Dictionary, 1889

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Beatles
On this date in 1964, the Beatles sang "All My Loving," "She Loves You," and three other songs on The Ed Sullivan Show as the small studio audience screaming wildly, 73 million people watched, and most crime in America came to a standstill. For their watershed performance, in which "Sorry Girls, He's Married" was superimposed over footage of John Lennon, the Fab Four earned $10,000 plus expenses, putting Beatlemania in full swing. In retrospect, part of the evening's charm came from the six also-ran acts. Without watching a rerun, who would remember Tessie O'Shea's medley of show tunes, Fred Kapps' magic tricks, the comedy of McCall and Brill, or the acrobatic comedy of Wells and the Four Fays? Another segment featured Monkee-to-be Davy Jones as the Artful Dodger from Oliver singing "I'll Do Anything" and squeezing the bum of cast star Georgia Brown. Frank Gorshin also impersonated Marlon Brando as a politician, aptly foreshadowing Ronald Reagan's California gubernatorial victory two years later.

Riddle me this, Beatleman! What does Davy Jones keep in his locker, anyway?

Monkees memorabilia autographed by Ed Sullivan, of course!

-The Gneech