Mike Wallace

Mike Wallace's death the other day reminds us that he was SUPPOSED to be remembered as the guy who introduced us to The Beatles, lost in the shuffle ("THANKS Lee Harvey!" he said, "why do these things always happen to me??!!"):

As we salute the memory of Mike Wallace -- it's a little known fact that among his many notable accomplishments, he was the first American to introduce the Beatles on U.S. TV.

Not that he remembered it.

Because just two hours after he became the very first person to introduce American TV viewers to the Beatles via a five-minute film story about the phenomenon of Beatlemania sweeping Britain -- something rather more newsworthy occurred.

For the day that Mike Wallace scooped Sullivan, Paar, Cronkite, Brinkley, Huntley and every other American TV host by presenting a film clip of the Beatles on his mid-morning show CBS Morning News With Mike Wallace was... Friday November 22nd 1963.

Of course it was Walter Cronkite who the played the clip a coupla weeks later to lift everybody's spirits, which led to a girl in Queens giving America I Want to Hold Your Hand.