60 years ago today, the Beatles conquered New York

Good morning. It is Wednesday. Today we look back on a week in New York that cemented the Beatles' place in American popular culture. We'll also find out why Mayor Eric Adams says the city needs $4.6 billion to pay for half of the annual costs associated with the influx of migrants..

The fifth person from the plane was afraid that the four in front of him had forgotten what he wanted them to do.

He wanted them to turn around.

He wanted to take their photo with the giddy, screaming crowd in the background. But the four – the Beatles, arrival in the United States for the first time – were as caught up in the excitement as the fans on the other side of the barricades at Kennedy International Airport on February 7, 1964, 60 years ago today.

Harry Benson, on assignment for The Daily Express in London, was the only newspaper photographer on the Beatles' plane, and he was determined to get one more exclusive as they descended the stairs to the tarmac.

“He grabbed Ringo's jacket and said, 'Turn them over,'” said Benson's wife Gigi, who joined the conversation as he told me the story. Ringo Starr complied and the others followed. Benson shot three frames.

Benson has told the story many times, in books and in Vanity Fair magazine. “I wanted a photo that no one else could get because that's what the London Daily Express wanted,” he told me. A newspaper photo editor had staged a coup, giving Benson access to the Beatles and a seat on a plane if he first joined them in Paris, where they had gone in mid-January.

The Daily Express published Benson's photo with a first-person account, attributed to George Harrison, about how surprised the Beatles were at the scene. The article quoted Starr as saying of fans, “There won't be many – the airport is too far out of town.”

Harrison added: “Was he wrong!”

Full-fledged Beatlemania

Beatlemania, a word that was apparently coined a few months earlier, continued as a motorcade brought the Beatles to Manhattan, where they were scheduled to appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” one of the nation's highest-rated television programs. The crowd longed for a glimpse of John or Paul or George or Ringo through a window of their suite at the Plaza Hotel.

The Beatles weren't the only ones in the air the day they landed. President Lyndon Johnson flew to Texas for a friend's funeral. The day before, he had visited the headquarters of The New York Times and, despite a cold rain, dared to shake hands. He didn't get the kind of reception the Beatles would get. “The crowds on West 43rd Street were thin,” The Times reported.

The Times article about the arrival of the Beatles appeared on page 25. “The Beatles invade, complete with long hair and screaming fans,” read the headline. The story read: “Multiply Elvis Presley by four, subtract six years from his age, add British accents and a sharp sense of humor. The answer: it's the Beatles (yes, yes, yes).”

Everyone is a photographer or an author

Somewhere along the way, Paul McCartney photographed Benson. “I wasn't that excited about cameras at all,” Benson said of the Beatles. 'You know, they gave the occasional roll of film to opposition newspapers like The Daily Mirror and The Daily Mail. It was a problem.” (Some photos of McCartney were shown in the National Portrait Gallery last year in London. That exhibition is moving to the Brooklyn Museum in May.)

The Beatles left New York having built a unique kind of fame. Benson stayed behind and had a long career as a photojournalist, capturing everyone from Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson to Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. He photographed Robert Kennedy as he was dying after being shot in 1968.

Last night, Benson, now 94, attended a screening of the documentary “Harry Benson: Shoot First” at the Museum of Art and Design and a dinner given by museum chairman emerita Barbara Tober.

In the sixty years since the Beatles came to Kennedy, Benson has published more than a dozen books. McCartney also recently published one: “1964: Eyes of the Storm.” And that includes Debbie Gendler, who was in the audience for “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Her book is titled “I Saw Them Standing There,” a twist on the early Beatles classic.

“What we've really seen is a new revitalization of Beatles fans, which to me is amazing,” Gendler, now 73, told me this week. “As I get older, they're getting into this Beatles thing younger and younger. I can't tell you how many people I know who are grandparents and are amazed that the grandkids are singing 'Yellow Submarine' and 'Octopus's Garden'.”

“The enduring power of the Beatles,” she said, “is like a storm that keeps picking up energy as it goes along.”

Weather

Expect a sunny day in the high 40s. Mostly clear at night in the low 30s.

ALTERNATE PARKING

In effect until Friday (New Year's Eve).

Mayor Eric Adams told state lawmakers that New York City needed $4.6 billion to cover half the cost of caring for migrants seeking refuge in the city.

That amount is far more than the $2.4 billion that Governor Kathy Hochul had just agreed to, which in turn was more than double last year's proposal.

“We need more,” Adams said in Albany on what is known as Tin Cup Day, when local leaders make their budget pitches to the state. The comment came in a conversation with Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Manhattan Democrat, who had asked whether city budget cuts would be restored if the $2.4 billion came through.

City officials had hoped to split the costs of housing migrants equally among the city, state and federal governments. But federal officials refused to abide by that arrangement, forcing the city to press the state for more money.

Adams also asked lawmakers to expand the city's borrowing power and its control over the public school system, and to give the city the authority to crack down on illegal cannabis sellers.

The mayor received a mostly warm welcome. But during a later conversation about the request to increase the borrowing limit, Senator John C. Liu, a Democrat from Queens, questioned the mayor's priorities.

“So what comes first: schools or the prisons?” the senator asked the city's budget director, Jacques Jiha.

Jiha laughed and said it was a good question.

“Say 'school' quickly before I run out of time,” Liu said.

“We have three big…” Jiha started.

Lazy interrupted him. “Wrong answer,” he said.

METROPOLITAN diary

Table for two

Dear Diary:

I was in the East Village and went to Veselka, planning to grab a quick lunch. I was disappointed when the hostess said it would take 15 minutes for a table for one.

As I pondered what to do, an older woman in line ahead of me leaned toward the hostess.

“If we're together, can we sit down now?” the woman asked.

“I think so,” said the hostess, looking confused for a moment.

I said I was game, and we were led to a table. On the way, my new companion turned to me.

“Conversation is optional!” she said.

That, of course, was the start of an hour of non-stop chatter. It turned out that we lived about ten blocks apart in the same Brooklyn neighborhood and our kids went to the same school.