Footage of The Beatles' American TV debut has been released on DVD in the US for the first time.

The performance is featured on a compilation of classic material from The Ed Sullivan Show, which ran in the US from 1955 to 1971 and featured some of the most famous acts of the era.

The Beatles appeared on the show in February 1964, performing five songs - All My Loving, Till There Was You, She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There, and I Want To Hold Your Hand.

The performance brought the country to a standstill, with 50,000 people applying for tickets for the show, and around 73 million people tuning in.

Talent

The band subsequently appeared on the show a further eight times, including two performances over the following two weeks.

Elvis Presley is also featured on the DVD

Sullivan, who died in 1974, had a reputation for discovering musical talent, and many of the era's up-and-coming stars were featured on the show.

The DVD features 144 performances, together with rare footage from the show.

"He's left us an amazing archive of pop culture in America as seen through television for almost a quarter of a century," said the DVD's producer Andrew Solt.

Other highlights of the nine-disc DVD include a performance of Light My Fire by The Doors that resulted in them being banned from the show, after Jim Morrison defied the producers' requests to alter lyrics that implied drug abuse.

Elvis Presley's debut on the show in 1956, and performances from The Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits , The Jackson Five and The Temptations are also included.