(CNN) -- From time to time, in the years just after his television show was taken away from him, you might see him in the lobby of a Las Vegas hotel or casino. It was always a startling sight. Ed Sullivan, walking among the guests. In town for the weekend, more free hours on his hands than he would have liked, catching a few stage shows. It wasn't that he had quickly become anonymous -- far from it. That kind of fame doesn't fade, at least not for a long while. "The Ed Sullivan Show" was gone, but the man survived. It had to have been so odd for him.Bob Greene: 50 years ago TV host Ed Sullivan introduced The Beatles to U.S. on his showSullivan an unlikely impresario; he'd been Broadway columnist competing with Walter WinchellSullivan was stiff but had great guests, was hugely influential in American culture, says GreeneGreene: Less than decade after that 1964 show, Sullivan show and Beatles were over
And then came the first appearance by _, which propelled both the young singers and their host to almost unfathomable heights of renown.