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(CNN) Two of them watched on television. One of them was on television. And one of them was helping make television. Andrew Solt, Ken Ehrlich, Debra Supnik and Vince Calandra were all part of the massive audience who watched The Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Solt and Ehrlich were part of the then-record 73 million people who gathered around CBS that Sunday evening, February 9, 1964. Supnik was in the studio audience, one of 728 lucky souls. And Calandra, part of the Sullivan production staff, watched from offstage -- when he wasn't hustling to keep the show going.

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Read more at Newsweek.

(Newsweek) Sunday nights were always special in our home. Each week, my family would gather in front of our four-legged, wooden box of a TV to see who would be appearing on that week's Ed Sullivan Show. It was the only TV show I watched regularly with my family (assuming my homework was done). Just 10 weeks before Americans met the Beatles, our world was turned upside down on the bleakest Friday ever-November 22, 1963. With President John F. Kennedy's assassination, the balloon had suddenly popped, and very dark days and nights followed. The Fab Four...

It was inevitable, time marching on as it does, and yet it also hard to believe: Half a century has passed ince the Beatles touched down in New York for the first time, on Feb. 7, 1964, and seduced the country with three performances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and three concerts, one at the Washington Coliseum and two at Carnegie Hall. Everything about them — their pudding basin haircuts, their Cardin suits and pointed boots, their sharp, irreverent sense of humor — seemed outlandish, compared with American pop groups. And though their music was firmly rooted — as they were always quick to point out — in American rhythm and blues, soul and rock, they...

Last night, as he stood onstage in Los Angeles to mark the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, Paul McCartney confessed to wondering “if it was seemly to tribute yourself?” By then, none of the thousands gathered in a large ballroom of the L.A. Convention Center was about to object, not with a rare onstage reunion between McCartney and his fellow Beatle Ringo Starr only minutes away. Leading up to that moment Stevie Wonder, Dave Grohl, Pharrell, Alicia Keys, Gary Clark Jr. and Joe Walsh had performed inspired takes on Beatles classics as part of The Night...

Fifty years ago next Sunday, on Feb. 9, 1964, via “The Ed Sullivan Show,” America met the Beatles. It was not the group’s first appearance on American television. CBS News had reported, dismissively, on British “Beatlemania,” and Jack Paar had aired on his talk show a clip of the band playing in England. Their music was in the charts, finally: After a year of outright refusal, Capitol Records (an American arm of EMI, the Beatles’ British label) was finally releasing and promoting their records. In “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” the band had its first U.S. No. 1 About 3,000 fans greeted the Fab Four...

CBS is digging into its archives to commemorate two notable 50th anniversaries: The Beatles' debut performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The net will celebrate classic TV and classic rock music at 8 p.m. on Feb. 9 when its airs a Grammy salute to the Fab Four. The two-hour special, which will tape on Jan. 27, 2014, (the day after the Grammy Awards), will feature top musicians covering classic Beatles tunes. Meanwhile, CBSNews.com will stream CBS News’ historic coverage of the JFK...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. CBS, to the surprise of no one, will mark the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first 'Ed Sullivan Show' appearance with a two-hour tribute show on Sun., Feb. 9. That's exactly 50 years to the day and hour from the Fab Four's first Ed Sullivan date — a show that drew massive viewership and, depending on one's tolerance for superlatives, either kicked off the '60s or altered pop culture forever. In its formal announcement Thursday, CBS reported it is modestly titling this new show...