--- title: See Photos of the Beatles on the Brink of Beatlemania description: On the anniversary of the release of “A Hard Days Night,” a look back at the early days of the Beatles’ American invasion. canonical: https://time.com/3935825/the-beatles-miami-1964/ author: Liz Ronk article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-06T13:00:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:47:20.750Z og:title: See Unpublished LIFE Photos of the Beatles on the Brink of Beatlemania og:description: On the anniversary of the release of “A Hard Days Night,” a look back at the early days of the Beatles’ American invasion. og:url: https://time.com/3935825/the-beatles-miami-1964/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaaacc370b0a72cec/69885855cd1bbadac76fbfb2/150625-beatles-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Beatles relaxing poolside, February 1964. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Unpublished LIFE Photos of the Beatles on the Brink of Beatlemania twitter:description: On the anniversary of the release of “A Hard Days Night,” a look back at the early days of the Beatles’ American invasion. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaaacc370b0a72cec/69885855cd1bbadac76fbfb2/150625-beatles-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Photos of the Beatles on the Brink of Beatlemania by [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Jul 6, 2015 1:00 PM CUT  The Beatles relaxing poolside, February 1964. The Beatles relaxing poolside, February 1964.Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images by [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Jul 6, 2015 1:00 PM CUT When the Beatles landed in the U.S. for the first time, on February 7, 1964, American teens went wild. The editors of LIFE Magazine, taking notice of the phenomenon, quickly assigned photographers to cover the band’s first American tour and television appearances. A week into the tour, Bob Gomel was [dispatched](http://www.khou.com/story/news/features/2015/07/07/houston-photographer-shares-never-before-seen-pictures-of-the-beatles/29846687/ "undefined") to photograph the “Fab Four” in Miami Beach, where they were scheduled to perform for a second night on _The Ed Sullivan Show_ at the Deauville Hotel. But when the time came to photograph the band, the hotel was swarming with so many fans that a shoot would have been nearly impossible. The shoot was moved to the private residence of Paul Pollak, a hotel owner, and his wife Jerri Pollak, a former big band recording artist. Away from the spotlight and overwhelming hoards of fans, Gomel was able to capture candid moments of the young lads relaxing and goofing around in the family pool and on the beach. In the book _Memories of John Lennon_, edited by Yoko Ono, Gomel recalls the shoot: --- > “” --- The Pollaks’ daughter Linda, who was 15 years old at the time, later wrote about what it was like to witness four of the most famous musicians in the world splashing around in her parents’ pool. “The photographers asked my three brothers and me to get into the pool first, so they could focus,” she [wrote](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-02-09/features/8903040045%5F1%5Fbeatles-miami-beach-appearance "undefined") in the _Chicago Tribune_ in 1989\. “Then the Beatles tiptoed in to take our positions … They started splashing and goofing around, except John. He got out of the pool and sat in the back with his wife, Cynthia, just watching. Even then he wasn’t much for publicity.” The photos, which never made it to the pages of LIFE — the editors instead ran a different swimming pool [photo](http://time.com/3456455/photographer-my-iconic-beatles-photo-is-actually-kind-of-lame/ "undefined") by LIFE staffer John Loengard — capture the youthful exuberance of four young men as their careers were taking off and Beatlemania was taking hold. Long before the rifts that would lead to their breakup in 1970 and before fame took its toll, Gomel documented the rare moments of playful bliss of a band soaring rapidly to the top. _See more photos by Bob Gomel at the_ [_Monroe Gallery._](http://www.monroegallery.com/photographers/display/id/93 "undefined") _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk "undefined")_._  The Beatles relaxing poolside, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  George Harrison by the pool in Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  The Beatles splashing in the ocean, Miami, Florida, 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  John Lennon relaxing on a lounge chair, poolside in Miami, 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  John Lennon doing cannonballs, Paul McCartney splashing and Ringo Starr turning away in Miami, 1964. ©Bob Gomel  Ringo gets a hug by the pool, Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  George Harrison and John Lennon in a swimming pool, Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  Paul McCartney relaxing on a lounge chair, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  George Harrison eating by the pool, Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  Ringo Starr relaxing on a lounge chair, poolside in Miami, Florida, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  John Lennon with a towel wrapped around his head after emerging from pool, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  George Harrison by the pool in Miami, Florida, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Paul McCartney shakes out his wet hair beside the swimming pool in Miami, Florida, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in a swimming pool in Miami, February 1964. Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  John Lennon drinking tea, poolside in Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  Paul McCartney in the ocean with fans in Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel  The Beatles running on the beach in Miami, Florida, February 1964. ©Bob Gomel ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3935825/the-beatles-miami-1964/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3935825/the-beatles-miami-1964/"},"headline":"See Photos of the Beatles on the Brink of Beatlemania","datePublished":"2015-07-06T13:00:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:47:20.750Z","description":"On the anniversary of the release of “A Hard Days Night,” a look back at the early days of the Beatles’ American invasion","url":"https://time.com/3935825/the-beatles-miami-1964/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Music","photography","The Beatles","LIFE Magazine","1964","Icons"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaaacc370b0a72cec/69885855cd1bbadac76fbfb2/150625-beatles-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaaacc370b0a72cec/69885855cd1bbadac76fbfb2/150625-beatles-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Beatles relaxing poolside, February 1964.","caption":"John Lennon;Paul Mccartney;Ringo Starr;George Harrison","creditText":"Bob Gomel—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3935825/the-beatles-miami-1964/","name":"See Photos of the Beatles on the Brink of Beatlemania"}}]}] ```