Sixty years ago this month, on Sunday February 9, 1964 at 6:00 PM Eastern Time, YIP HARBURG’s most frequent composer-collaborator, HAROLD ARLEN, was honored with a one-hour CBS TV special entitled “The Songs of Harold Arlen.” Hosted by Walter Cronkite, the lineup of participants included Yip, as well as lyricists Johnny Mercer and Ira Gershwin, and singers Lena Horne and Tony Bennett. But most people remember that date for a program that aired two hours later at 8:00 PM on the same network: “The Ed Sullivan Show,” introducing U.S. viewers to The Beatles who performed several songs including “She Loves You [Yeah, Yeah, Yeah].” Things would never be the same in Popular Songdom after that night.
