The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit
1991 film
The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit, released in 1991, is a re-edited version of the 1964 16mm documentary What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A. by Albert and David Maysles.
Both versions follow the Beatles on their first trip to the United States as they travel to New York City, Washington, D.C., and Miami Beach. Most of the non-musical footage is of the Beatles in hotel rooms, often acting irreverently in front of the camera.
The new version is directed by Kathy Dougherty, Susan Froemke, and the Maysles. It is 83 minutes long, two minutes longer than the original. Among other changes, it adds 22 minutes of the Beatles' live recorded performances on The Ed Sullivan Show and removes several scenes with Brian Epstein.
The original film premiered on 13 November 1964 as a special episode of the CBS variety series The Entertainers. It is still shown at various festivals, such as Silverdocs in 2008, and was shown at a special screening at the Maysles Cinema in New York on 18 November 2011 in honor of Albert Maysles' 85th birthday.
Substantial footage from this documentary was digitally remastered and used in the 2024 documentary Beatles '64.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit” as 1991 film. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1991 film. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1756647. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1991, 1964, 2008 and 2011.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit primary sources, The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit archive and Beatles research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.