The Beatles and Ed Sullivan?

After recently rewatching some of the songs The Beatles played on Sullivan, particularly my fav I saw her standing there (true rock) I'm wondering how famous they were before that night. the performance they gave that night and the reaction by the crowd is truly amazing. I was under the impression that Beatlemania started after and because of that night. So when the went on Sullivan and rocked the house, how big were they? obviously they blew up afterwords but how bout before?