Were The Beatles "Asexual"?

On 10 February 1964, the day after The Beatles' debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, Leroy Aarons wrote an article titled "The Beatles Prove Fairly Tame Chaps" reviewing the performance in The Washington Post:

"They behaved in a more civilized manner than most of our own rock and roll heroes. There were no Presleyan gyrations, no leering, no grimacing, no screeching. Except for the outrageous bathmat coiffures, the four young men seemed downright conservative. In matter of fact, the Beatles are rather asexual . . . homely . . . Their faces are fixed in vacant, almost angelic expressions when they sing and their most provocative maneuver is a slight shaking of the head and a smile . . . The songs, while very much in the teen age genre, were restrained in comparison with the jungle calls popular here."

It's an article that has been quoted frequently in a variety of contexts (including on p. 473 of Bob Spitz's admittedly factually challenged The Beatles: The Biography and on this Washington Post website). There's only one problem...

While researching for From the Shadow of JFK: The Rise of Beatlemania in America last year, I probably scoured a few miles of microfilm of The New York Times and The Washington Post (including every page of The Post between 8-25 February 1964) in search of Kennedy- and Beatles-related articles. I found a great many, of course, but I never did find Aarons'.

I assumed I had just missed it - that it was there, but my bleary eyes simply failed me - so on 27 May 2015 I contacted The Post directly, asking for assistance in finding the article. A Post employee promptly replied confirming that he could find no trace of the article, either. My bleary eyes hadn't failed me, after all!

My attempt to contact Aarons' estate directly, however, did fail. My email to the address provided on their website bounced, which forced me to at least temporarily conclude that the article is unreliable. Because I could not substantiate it, I had to remove Aarons' quotes from my book.

Then the other day, while driving through Connecticut, I stopped at Wesleyan University, where I conducted much of my microfilm research. I knew they had the complete Washington Post, so since I was in town anyway and had the extra time, I made one final search. I found two Beatles references in the 10 February 1964 Post...

​The first, on page B6, is a caption for three photos of Ringo starr.

The second, on page B20, is an ad for the album Meet The Beatles (just $2.77!).

... but I did NOT find the Aarons article.

It is possible that the microfilm was incomplete, though that seems highly unlikely. The microfilm I searched had 24 pages of A section, and an equal number of B section pages. I suppose there could have been additional pages of either section, or a C section that was somehow omitted from the microfilm, but that seems like an even greater stretch - especially since other weekdays also had only A and B section. In any case, given the evidence, I am convinced that Leroy Aarons' "asexual" article DID NOT appear in the 10 February 1964 Washington Post.

To be clear, none of this means the article is necessarily fabricated, nor does it mean that the ideas are inaccurate (even if it is fabricated). Example: There is a quote floating around the internet (and of course if it's on the internet it must be true!) attributed to John Lennon about why The Beatles fired Pete Best and hired Ringo Starr instead: "Pete was good drummer; Ringo was a good Beatle." But that quote is manufactured - John Lennon never said that. Nevertheless, there is a degree of truth behind those counterfeit words: Ringo played the role of Beatle better than Pete did. So even though the quote is contrived, its meaning is still accurate. And the same applies for Aarons' comments. They might or might not be fabricated, but either way it has no influence on the validity of the ideas, whether you agree with his assessments or not.

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Where October 11-29 will be the busiest 19-day stretch of my career so far (23 speaking engagements in 19 days), tomorrow through Saturday will be the busiest 3-day stretch (6 speaking engagements - 2 per day for each of those 3 days).

Thursday, 20 October 2016, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Wilmington Memorial Library, 175 Middlesex Ave, Wilmington, MA
The Beatles: Band of the Sixties
Explore the music of The Beatles in this 60-minute multimedia presentation (part history and part musical analysis) spanning the full 1960's: beginning with the band's seminal visits to Hamburg, continuing through Beatlemania, and concluding with Abbey Road. The program will be supplemented with audio clips of music and excerpts from interviews with the band members.

Thursday, 20 October 2016, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Peabody Institute Library, 15 Sylvan St, Danvers, MA
The Beatles: Band of the Sixties
Explore the music of The Beatles in this 60-minute multimedia presentation (part history and part musical analysis) spanning the full 1960's: beginning with the band's seminal visits to Hamburg, continuing through Beatlemania, and concluding with Abbey Road. The program will be supplemented with audio clips of music and excerpts from interviews with the band members.