Beatle History
Footage of the 1964 appearance, where the Fab Four played "Can’t Buy Me Love" and "You Can’t Do That," was erased from BBC archives, but British conservationists obtained 35mm footage
Complete footage of the Beatles’ long-lost first-ever appearance on Top of the Pops in 1964 has been found.
Recorded March 19, 1964 at the BBC’s Television Theatre in London, the Beatles pantomimed through “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “You Can’t Do That” the day before those songs were released as a single. After airing, the recording of the historic performance was placed in the BBC archives and subsequently erased, as the BBC commonly (and now notoriously) wiped and reused tapes at the time.
While grainy, distorted clips of the Beatles’ Top of the Pops visit existed, a complete and clean copy of the footage was believed lost for good… until Thursday, when British conservation non-profit Film Is Fabulous! announced that they had obtained a 35mm film of the Beatles’ entire performance, banter and all, NME reports.
