Harry Benson’s “When the Beatles Stormed America, I Was with Them” is a memoir that
tells us how he got to be with the Beatles when they came to America for their Ed Sullivan show.
The Beatles’ tour in America was a historic turning point in the band’s history and a cultural
milestone in the music world, especially for America. Harry Benson was the photojournalist who
was more closely involved with the band than any other journalist. The band’s early life,
moments amidst all the craze about them, and a closer look at each member’s personality and
role in the band are all shown in Benson’s direct interaction with them. This first-person
involvement with the group made his collection a crucial piece of the 60’s and for the Beatles’
fans to come later. This essay will analyze the rhetorical elements of the memoir.

The photo essay starts with two photos, one of the Beatles getting off the plane in front of
tons of journalists and fans and the other of fans rushing toward the band’s limo (Benson 1). As
we progress further in the essay, we see the iconic pillow fight moments of the members in one
of the pictures after they learn that their song was in the billboard chart in the USA and got the
invitation to appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” that time which was a sure shot at publicity
(12), also, the band running on one of the beaches in Miami (22). These photos tell us stories of
their rising popularity, playful youth, and vitality.

If we look at the shots, we can see how close Benson took them from the band. Along
with the photo, the descriptions in the essay make it very clear that it was a very tight-knit
friendship between Benson and the Beatles. The friendship allowed the Beatles to be themselves
beyond what they were in the music world. Benson didn’t let those moments slip away; he took
their photos as friends, but to us as artists. The published pillow fight photos were posed and pre
planned, but it started as one of their mischievous acts. To Benson, in his 70 years of
photography career, these pictures were his favorite, as he said, “It’s a fun picture. It has access.
It has intensity and fame and pure joy. And irony: grown men in their pajamas, acting like kids.
It shows the greatest band in history at their giddiest moment of greatness. And it can never be
repeated.” (13)

The black and white photos also remove all the unnecessary distractions and focus more
on the movements and emotions of the pictures. For this reason, we feel closer to the Beatles
when we see the photos. “Every night I’d stay up in my hotel bathroom… it would take about
eight minutes to transmit each picture” (7-8). With the descriptions of him developing the photos
in the hotel toilet, we live those moments, imagining being with the band in the same hotel,
breathing the same air as the Beatles. This setup doesn’t only connect us to the band but also with
the fans at that time. The rush of emotions, tranced expressions, and the cultural phenomenon
called “Beatlemania” becomes so natural to us when we see those pictures from the 60’s. It
becomes less of a news coverage and more of an art.

While Benson tells us about the roles and personalities of the Beatles, one may argue that
the persona we see of each member is what they wanted the world to know; it’s not their
authentic self. “I began to understand how the band interacted. As I saw it, Paul was the leader.
He seemed the most sophisticated, most business-minded, thinking about their image. He was
upbeat and encouraging. John was a leader in other ways on other days. He was the conscience
of the group, certainly… George was very serious and thoughtful. He was secretly impatient, I’d
say, with all the bowing and scraping. But he was always courteous—to the point where, if the
band would rush past a group of fans, he’d go back and apologize for how they got caught up in
the moment… Ringo was accommodating, funny, even-keeled. He was part of the formula that
made them a success. And he actually became an anchor for the band, onstage and off.
Whenever there was tension, Ringo brought composure” (18-19). These four people were
managed and protected by a steadfast guardian, Brian Epstein, “who kept his cool amid the
‘Beatlemania’ frenzy” (9). This group of people knew what the people wanted. Benson’s duty
was to showcase his time with them to the world. They were aware of it as John told Benson at
the beginning of their journey together: “I know this is good for you. But this is good for us
because you’re doing our publicity for us. Otherwise, this would cost us a lot of money” (3-4). At
the moment of political unrest in America, they knew what songs to sing to raise people’s mood
while being good ambassadors of Great Britain, as Benson mentions the songs “‘All My
Loving,’ ‘Till There Was You,’ ‘She Loves You,’ and then ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘I
Want to Hold Your Hand…’ All love songs” (21). All four members of the Beatles were in their
early 20s, and they became famous with hit after hit. They are bound to feel the differences
between their personal life and celebrity life, and they were all professionals when it came to art.
Benson nudges at these differences in subtle ways- like when they read fan mails, relax or
compose music, spend their time in the hotel amongst themselves, and fans always surround
them when they go to bars. Benson, being a photographer in the band’s inner circle, gives us
some genuine and more personal access to the members’ lives, which turned out to be one of the
most significant contributions to the history of the Beatles.

Benson’s photo essay covers the Beatles’ part in the cultural shift of America, too. “It’s
important to remember the mood of the US in the winter of 1964. The Beatles didn’t only need
America; America needed the Beatles. President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated less
than three months before. The country was still in mourning. The civil rights struggle was in full
force. Russia and America were in a cold war. The nation needed something uplifting.”(14) He
captures the moments of the Beatles healing wounds, closing gaps, and uplifting a nation’s mood
during great turmoil in America. They heard people everywhere in America listening to their
songs. The Beatles didn’t affect the people of that time; their influence stretched further into the
future. Their popularity became worldwide, and generations passed, but their songs remained,
and people began to follow their fashion, ideals, and language.

The photos Benson took during his time with the Beatles are now a historical artifact in
the music world. He took the item in the ’60s, but it was still relevant in 2024. The memories
were still fresh after all these years, which compelled Benson to write this memoir in Vanity
Fair. That shows how the Beatles made an impact on the world of music. They became the new
idea of youth with their songs and interactions with their fans. They were inspired by the artists
that came before them, and they inspired the artists that came after them. We can see that Benson
was a part of the band’s upcoming tours. His pictures taken of the Beatles are stories of how they
rose to fame and how a nation responded to a new era in the music industry. Critically analyzing
Benson’s photo essay makes it clear that his photos will transcend time and generation as long as
the Beatles are popular.

Works Cited
Benson, Harry. “When the Beatles Stormed America, I Was With Them.” Vanity Fair, Vanity
Fair, 17 Jan. 2024, https://www.vanityfair.com/style/when-the-beatles-stormed-america
i-was-with-them