The 1964 Wellington Study of Beatlemania Revisited

Abstract

In June 1964, an Honours class in clinical psychology set out to objectify the major parameters of crowd and audience reaction to the Beatles’ during the group’s three-day visit to Wellington, New Zealand. Advance publicity had warned of the “mass-hysteria” to be expected at the sight, sound and lyrics of the four lads from Liverpool. Adolescents anticipated their arrival eagerly, while the authorities were disparaging and somewhat fearful of the breakdown in law and order that might occur. The findings were published in Britain in 1966, taken a little further in the United States in1968, and the original published once more in Britain in 1992 by special request to encourage more psychologists to undertake research off campus. When writers from those countries mentioned the study recently near the 50 th anniversary of the Beatles’ visit, it seemed interesting to review the accretion of similar studies that might have occurred. Sadly, the outcome showed that psychologists had not taken mass-audience research any further. Hence it was thought appropriate to lift the Wellington study from obscurity, in the hope of inspiring the next generation to make amends.