1963 — Pop Pandemonium in Israel
Fifty-five years ago, two thousand shrieking youths converged on Lod Airport, now Ben Gurion International Airport, in Tel Aviv. They trespassed on the tarmac to meet an incoming flight bearing a group of British musicians who had taken the world by storm, starred in hit films, and even recently appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Who were this fab foursome? I’m speaking, of course, of …. Cliff Richard and the Shadows!
While comparatively obscure in America, Cliff Richard is among of the most successful British musicians of all time. He has sold over 250 million records worldwide and has had more top twenty records on the UK charts than any other artist. He was originally marketed as “the British Elvis” and recorded what some consider the first British rock song. Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate any concert footage of his 1963 tour of Israel. But this clip from the same period gives a sense of what Israeli teens were screaming about:
As best I can judge, Richard is a true gentleman who has avoided many of the pitfalls of stardom during his sixty year career. That said, I am unable to call myself a fan. I find most his material — the above clip excepted — stultifyingly bland. Indeed, listening to him renews my appreciation for just how remarkable both Elvis Presley and that other Fab Four really were. Which leads to a question. Why didn’t they ever perform in Israel?
In Presley’s case, the short answer is straightforward: he never toured anywhere outside the United States and Canada. That may have been due to the dubious immigration status of his manager, “Colonel Tom Parker,” who — despite attempting to pass himself off as a native of West Virginia — was born Andreas van Kuijk in the Netherlands and was rumored to have fled to America after murdering a woman in his home town. But what about the Beatles, who traveled the world? Following much speculation, the true story emerged with the help of research by historian Alon Gan in the Israeli State Archives.