Events Date 1964 February | History by KabAstro

Baseball Hall of Fame

Feb 2 Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame - Red Faber, Burleigh Grimes, Tim Keefe, Heinie Manush, John Montgomery Ward, & Miller Huggins

Feb 2 GI Joe, debuts as a popular American boy's toy
Feb 2 Sjoukje Dijkstra (Netherlands) wins Olympic gold for figure skating
Feb 3 "Meet the Beatles" album goes Gold
Feb 3 Black & Puerto Rican students boycott NYC public schools
Feb 3 French sisters Marielle Goitschel (gold) and Christine Goitschel (silver) repeat (in reverse order) their top-2 finish in the slalom 2 days earlier, in the giant slalom at the Innsbruck Winter Olympics
Feb 4 FAA begins 6 month test of reactions to sonic booms over Oklahoma City
Feb 6 "Rugantino" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 28 performances

Latest Wonder of the World

Feb 6 France & Great-Britain sign accord over building channel tunnel

Tunnel diggers from France and England meet half way. Photo: Rex Features

Feb 6 WCIU TV channel 26 in Chicago, IL (IND) begins broadcasting
Feb 7 Baskin-Robbins introduces Beatle Nut ice cream
Feb 7 Beatles land at New York's JFK airport, for 1st US tour

Sessions' 5th Symphony

Feb 7 Roger Sessions' 5th Symphony premieres in Philadelphia with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra

Composer and Musicologist Roger Sessions

Royal Hunt of the Sun

Feb 8 Peter Shaffer's musical "Royal Hunt of the Sun" premieres in London

Feb 8 US Rep Martha Griffiths address gets civil rights protection for women being added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act

Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show

Feb 9 1st appearance of the Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show", live from New York; broadcast draws 73.7 million television viewers

The Beatles with TV host Ed Sullivan during their first appearance on his show in February 1964

Feb 9 G.I. Joe “action figure” introduced at the American International Toy Fair in New York
Feb 9 Hanumant Singh scores 105 India v England on debut at Delhi
Feb 9 IX Winter Olympic Games close in Innsbruck, Austria
Feb 9 NYC news anchor Jim Jenson's 1st appearance on WCBS-TV
Feb 10 Australian destroyer HMAS Voyager sinks after colliding with aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne, killing 82
Feb 10 WBGU TV channel 27 in Bowling Green, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting
Feb 11 Beatles 1st live appearance in US, at the Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C.
Feb 11 Greek & Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus
Feb 11 Taiwan drops diplomatic relations with France
Feb 12 Beatles 1st NYC concerts, two shows at Carnegie Hall

Cricket History

Feb 12 End of Richie Benaud's 63-Test cricket career in drawn 5th Test v South Africa in Sydney

Feb 12 Fighting breaks out between Turks and Greeks over dispute islands in Cyprus and 16 are killed; the UN responds the following month by sending a peacekeeping force

Sports History

Feb 12 US female Figure Skating championship won by Peggy Fleming

Feb 12 US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Allen

A World Without Love

Feb 14 British pop music duo Peter & Gordon release single "A World Without Love" (written by Paul McCartney, credited to Lennon-McCartney)

Feb 15 Beatles' "Meet the Beatles!" album goes #1 & stays #1 for 11 weeks

College Basketball

Feb 15 Bill Bradley scores 51 points for Princeton

Basketball Player and US Senator Bill Bradley

Foxy

Feb 16 Robert Emmett Dolan and Johnny Mercer's musical "Foxy", starring Bert Lahr, opens at Ziegfeld Theater, NYC; runs for 72 performances, with Lahr winning a Tony Award

Music Concert

Feb 16 The Beatles' 2nd appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show", live from Deauville Hotel in Miami, Florida; broadcast draws about 70 million television viewers

Feb 17 101st member elected to Baseball Hall of Fame, Chicago White Sox shortstop Luke Appling
Feb 17 US House of Representatives accept Law on the civil rights
Feb 17 US Supreme Court rules - 1 man 1 vote (Westberry v Sanders)
Feb 17 WMEM TV channel 10 in Presque Isle, ME (PBS) begins broadcasting
Feb 18 Muriel Resnik's "Any Wednesday" premieres in NYC
Feb 18 Papandreou government takes power in Greece
Feb 19 UK flies ½ ton of Beatles wigs to the US
Feb 21 UK flies 24,000 rolls of Beatles wallpaper to US
Feb 22 Beatles arrive back in England after their 1st US visit

Daytona 500

Feb 23 6th Daytona 500: Race winner Richard Petty leads for record 184 of the 200 laps

Feb 23 Charlie Finley signs a 4 year lease to keep MLB A's in Kansas City
Feb 23 The Beatles' 3rd appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show", featuring 3 performances taped on February 9, prior to their live debut
Feb 24 "My Heart Skips a Beat" single released by Buck Owens (Billboard No. 1 U.S. Hot Country Singles, 1964)
Feb 25 Austrian chancellor Alfons Gorbach resigns

Ali vs Liston

Feb 25 Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay] wins his first world heavyweight boxing title when Sonny Liston fails to come out for round 7 at the Convention Center, Miami Beach

Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali

Boxer and World Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston

What Makes Sammy Run?

Feb 27 Erwin Drake's musical "What Makes Sammy Run?", starring Steve Lawrence, Robert Alda, and Sally Ann Howes, opens at 54th St Theater, NYC; runs for 540 performances

Feb 27 The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
Feb 29 "Rugantino" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 28 performances

World Record

Feb 29 Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser records the fastest 100m freestyle of her brilliant career; smashes her own world record 58.9s in Sydney; goes on to win her 3rd straight gold in the event at the Tokyo Olympics

Sports History

Feb 29 Cincinnati's Jerry Lucas and Oscar Robertson combine for a rare 40-40 performance as the Royals beat host Philadelphia 76ers, 117-114; NBA MVP Robertson has 43 points; Rookie of the Year Lucas, 40 rebounds

Event of Interest

Feb 29 LBJ reveals the US has secretly developed the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, an advanced, long‐range high-speed and high-altitude reconnaissance airplane [1]