Throughout this week, I will be doing special contributions featuring Elvis Presley, in honor of Elvis Week, taking place in Memphis, Tennessee—but as always, Elvis is celebrated all over the world. My personal history with Elvis is he was one of the first musical acts I ever heard on my own, without my parents’ influence. My parents were never big Elvis fans, and they were passive fans at best. I’ve been a lifelong fan, collecting books on his life and went to Memphis in 2003 to visit Graceland and Sun Studios. Elvis has influenced many aspects of pop culture, from music to movies to fashion to celebrity to television and broadcasting to the evolution of sexuality in the world. Elvis also encompasses living the American dream, coming from a impoverished background and becoming a overwhelming success story. Few people in this world can go by one name and collectively, we know exactly who they are referring to without a last name: Jesus, Ghandi, Elvis, Marilyn, Diana, Madonna—to name a few from a elite category of people throughout history.
Elvis’ revolution on television is directly tied to the restrained sexuality in music and in America in the 1950s. He was simply moving with the music, sometimes out of extreme nervousness, influenced by rhythm-and-blues, country, gospel and soul, but the censors took it to be “vulgar” and “obscene”. It’s amazing how far we’ve come when Elvis was at the beginning of his career only shown from the waist up. His stage presence was incomparable to anything before, and has set the standard for anything since.
Because of the performing controversy, in a effort to capitalize on the rock-and-roll movement by Elvis Presley, Steve Allen booked Elvis, despite not being a fan of rock-and-roll music. Allen placed Elvis in a tuxedo and had him sing “Hound Dog” to a basset hound and only showed him from the waist up. This could be considered one of the earliest rating-sensational stunts in the history of television broadcasting. It could also be considered one of the biggest ways a performer has been embarrassed on television by a host.
Ed Sullivan also capitalized on the ratings boom Elvis created throughout variety show broadcasting, as he booked Elvis three times on his programming for $50,000 and only showed him from the waist up on his third appearance. Sullivan went further then Allen did, by giving him a public endorsement in the middle of the heated controversy if Elvis was corrupting the youth of America, by saying: “This is a real decent, fine boy. We’ve never had a pleasanter experience on our show with a big name than we’ve had with you… you’re thoroughly all right.”
Would Elvis had been legendary without getting his breakthrough opportunities in the television medium? Doubtful. It was Elvis’ stage performance—being a white performer singing the “black music” was considered unheard of—that made him one of the most controversial performers of any generation, as well one of the major influences of every genre of music since rock and roll was created.
Later on in his career after being contractually obligated with a seven-year contract through his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, with Hal Wallis, to star in movies. As Elvis’ movies became more and more ridiculous, his career began to suffer. However, Elvis went back to television to NBC, for the later-named ‘ 68 Comeback Special aired on December 3, 1968. The special was filled with lavish production numbers, and live, intimate sessions where Elvis was wearing his now famous black leather jumpsuit and doing what he does best: rock and roll.
Elvis in January 1973 had two concerts in Hawaii, the second one called Aloha from Hawaii was broadcasted live around the world via satellite and was the first to reach a billion viewers. Elvis’ famous red, white and blue American Eagle jumpsuit was featured during this broadcast. The concerts were a benefit for the Kuiokalani Lee Cancer Fund and raised close to $75,000.
When Elvis was found dead in his Graceland home on August 17, 1977, the media coverage was a national event. President Jimmy Carter issued a statement, the press covered the passing, and hundreds of thousands of fans gathered to mourn outside of the gates of Graceland. Action News 5 for Elvis Week is streaming past coverage of Elvis’ passing at wmctv.com.
Since his passing, Elvis has benefited from re-broadcasting over the years, on networks such as TNT, ACM and TBS, of his movies and concert specials. Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE) has also been successful at constantly releasing repackaged and digitally remastered of his concert specials and movies to keep the Elvis Presley name and brand highly successful throughout the world.
Thanks for reading, look for the next Elvis installment tomorrow, make your moment your breakthrough.
