Fifty years ago this month, Chattanooga’s young music fans were twisting and shouting to the sounds of the Beatles. The British Invasion had begun, and life was never the same. Elvis was spending more time on movies than music, and the fading teen idols of the early 60s gave way to the Fab Four from Liverpool.
The Beatles land at Kennedy Airport in New York City, February 7, 1964
WFLI radio (AM 1070) had been on the air for about three years, playing lots of Elvis, along with soul, country, and artists like Bobby Vinton, Ricky Nelson and the Everly Brothers. What happened in February 1964 hit them hard and suddenly. Within weeks, the top five records in the country were all by John, Paul, George and Ringo. “What else could you do?” asked then-station manager Johnny Eagle. “We started playing their records as soon as they came in the mail. We did Beatles-themed contests and promotions around the clock. If that’s what the kids wanted, we gave it to them.” When the movie “A Hard Day’s Night” opened at the Martin Theater downtown, “we were right in the middle of it,” Eagle said. “We hosted a sneak preview and played Beatles music for about an hour before it started. Anything that had the Beatles in it or on it, our listeners couldn’t get enough.”
In a clever marketing move, a few days after the Beatles rocked the nation in their first “Ed Sullivan Show” appearance, Channel 3’s Wayne Abercrombie had an idea. As director of the daily “Roy Morris Show,” which aired at 9:00 a.m., he was always looking for something funny or clever for the show. Crew members like film director Irv Prevou and camera operator Bill Myhan would often join in the fun. It was live TV, they were making it up as they went along and nothing seemed too silly or far-fetched. “We had a lot of time to fill,” Abercrombie said, “so not too many ideas got shot down.”
Roy Morris, Irv Prevou, Wayne Abercrombie, and Bill Myhan
Abercrombie found four mop-top wigs, and convinced his colleagues to “pantomime” a Beatles song. Channel 3 viewers found it amusing, so the guys decided they might as well go all out. They rented four matching coats, and used the station’s revolutionary new videotape recorder to capture the moment. Abercrombie said, “I told Roy that we needed a catchy name. If they were going to be the Beatles, we’d be another insect, so we became The Four Ticks.” The quartet rehearsed briefly, then cranked up “I Saw Her Standing There,” one of the Beatles’ first Sullivan show songs.
They made the most of the small studio set on McCallie Avenue, incorporating some dance moves, and attempting to mimic George Harrison’s energetic guitar solo. “We had a lot of fun with it,” he said. “We played that tape on the show a number of times, because people kept requesting it. We sent that publicity photo out to hundreds of people. Some people even asked if we could do a live show, but we never got around to that. We were a one-hit wonder.”
To this day, you can ask fifty different people to name their favorite Beatles song, and you could get fifty different answers. On that first flight from London to New York on February 7, 1964, Paul McCartney was worried that his band’s heavily hyped “invasion” would be a huge flop. He said, “America has everything. What can we possibly give them that they don’t already have?” It didn’t take long to answer that question.
Great job, David, as usual. Loved the Beatles and was one of the screaming girls at the Martin Theatre for “Hard Days Night”. Loved the video of The 4 Ticks. Is there any way you can tell us who is who?
Keep up the good work. Channel 3 rocks!!!
Thank you Brenda. Roy Morris is the lead singer, Wayne Abercrombie is front middle, Bill Myhan is on the right, and Irv Prevou is on the drums.
I was in the 3rd and 4th grades at Rivermont Elementary when Beatlemania hit.
I remember a contest that was promoted by a Chattanooga radio station (probably WFLI) in 1964. It was a “Who is most popular: The Beatles or Elvis?”. It generated a lot of excitement and energy among school kids (I was in the 4th grade). The Beatles won, but not by much. We were so happy at this victory! I told one of my cousins who lived in Memphis, Tennessee about the Beatles’ victory and she informed me that they had one of those type contests in Memphis but Elvis had won.
People may not recall, but The Beatles were viewed by many fundamentalist Christians, as a sinister group of young men. And Chattanooga, being a hotbed of hyper-fundamentalist center of Baptist and “bible churches,” jumped in to condemn the new music, look and hair styles of The Beatles as ungodly and perhaps a satanic-inspired group sent to cause young people to be defocus off of Jesus an church!
In my childhood church (Rivermont Baptist now Grace Bible Church on Hixson Pike), St. Paul’s dictum that it is a dishonor for men to have “long-hair” (though it was never clarified what length qualifies for ‘long hair’) was quoted as a biblical basis for rejecting the Beatles (This was pre-John Lennon’s off-hand quip that “We are more popular than Jesus”, which set off a fire-storm of Beatle record burning in the South).
I also recall going to the skating rink that was down the road from DuPont. During this 1964 Beatlemania phase, they promoted days in which they would only play Beatle records over their sound system for us to skate to.
Yes, the music and cultural world overnight changed from Bobby Vinton singing “She wore blue Velvet” to “Help”. It was an exciting time that has never been duplicated.
Well written, Larry, and very informative!
Great job, David!!! you always deliver. LOVE reading your posts and blog.
I love this, David!!!!!!
Thanks for reading, Art Man!
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Many many years ago, someone very special made a cassette tape of his favorite songs for me. One of the songs was on it was “If I Fell”. I still have that very special cassette somewhere…it’s priceless to me!!! Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane…. :):):):):)
Someone has good taste, Brenda!
Wasn’t this an exciting time? I can remember listening to the Top Five at Five from WFLI. I was in about the 5th grade, and I always HAD to listen to see if the Beatles songs made #1. If another group happened to beat them out, I would sit and sulk for hours. Does anyone remember who the DJ was that hosted this portion of the radio show? I would really like to know.:)
Debbie, my guess would be Nick Smith. I think he was on in the afternoon (3-6 p.m.) in 1964. If not him, it could’ve been Tommy Jett. But I’m thinking it was Nick.
Debbie, it was definitely Tommy Jett who did the Top 5 at 5, and the Top 8 at 8. I heard it from TJ himself!