By the time the Beatles hit the TV in the US, I already knew all about them. I was living in Short Hills, NJ, and I had a friend, Patty, who had just returned from boarding school in England. Over the previous couple of years, when she came home for the summers, all she talked about was the Beatles. She brought back a bunch of official Beatles fan club magazines, which I read from cover to cover, and she had all of the Beatles records. So by the time they were on Ed Sullivan, I was pretty familiar with them. I had never seen them perform though.
So on February 9, 1964, just like everyone else in the country, I was glued to the TV to watch then on the Ed Sullivan Show. My dad thought they were downright ridiculous, but my mother thought they were cute, especially John. I was not that impressed, because by then, I had discovered the Rolling Stones.
When we lived in Short Hills, NJ, my parents had some friends, Ruby and Albert, whom they had known in France. I can't remember their last name. They had 2 children, Albert Jr and Patty. What I remember most about them was their house, which was a mansion and totally overblown. Ruby was overblown. She wore tight dresses of flowered print. She was dominating and loud. She had a bit of a Spanish accent (she was from South America). Albert, on the other hand, was a quiet little mustached man. Their son Albert (Albertito) has the distinction of telling me about "the drinking man's diet" (which I went on some years later, it's actually the Adkins diet). He was florid and loud. He was probably around 20 or 21.
Patty was about my age (16 or 17) and obnoxious, which was why she was in boarding school in England. She and I never got along at all, except when we talked about bands. I couldn't stand her. When she returned from boarding school every summer, we all went over to Ruby and Albert's house in Westfield for dinner.
What I remember best was that we sat in the kitchen and ate TV dinners. It was my first experience with TV dinners. Yes, they were Swanson. I think the one I remember best was the meat loaf one. I just never understand why we were stuck with TV dinners when the adults had lavish, multi-course meals in the dining room.
That first TV dinner was a life-changing event for my sister and me. After that, we kept asking my mother to buy them and she never would.
