Did Elvis ever rule Orlando?

[MikeFromHolland]

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The King is dead, but did Elvis ever rule Orlando? | Ask Orlando

By David Whitley
Orlando Sentinel
•
Aug 16, 2019 at 4:35 pm


In summer 1956, Elvis Presley played Orlando for his 3rd time in the 1950s, and the newspaper's 'On the Town' columnist Jean Yothers got a kiss for the cameras. (ORLANDO SENTINEL FILE)

B210D493-AA13-4154-86DE-2CC73694622F.jpeg

There was an ad in the newspaper May 11, 1955. The Hank Snow All-Star Jamboree was performing at Orlando’s municipal auditorium.

Under Snow’s photo was the list of warmup acts. Faron Young, The Wilburn Brothers, Mother Maybelle & The Carter Sisters, Slim Whitman, Elvis Presley….

Hey, whatever happened to that guy?

That sort of brings us to this week’s Ask Orlando question.

“Did Elvis ever come to Orlando and did he get in trouble for shaking his pelvis?”

Now’s a good time to answer since we are coming off Elvis Week, aka High Holy Days in Memphis. There were concerts, symposiums, Graceland tours, a 5K run (insert Fat Elvis joke), trips to his birthplace and a candlelight vigil.

It all revolved around the anniversary of Elvis’s death on Aug. 16, 1977. He was 42.

The King has now been dead as long as he was alive. Though you might be surprised at how well he’s living on.

According to Spotify, more than 16.5 million hours of Elvis music has been downloaded this year. The surprising thing is 18-22 year-olds stream his music almost as much as 45-59 year-olds.


Elvis Presley’s performance at Orlando’s Municipal Auditorium in August 1956 came just a month before his famed first appearance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ (Joy Wallace Dickinson / Orlando Sentinel)

9F75864E-1A8A-4ECC-98A6-A554BAEA575A.jpeg

I figured most millennials would laugh those who worship the King. They would think of that bloated druggie in the white jumpsuit who briefly would have been Michael Jackson’s father-in-law, not the preternatural force that changed the entertainment world.


As John Lennon said, “Nothing affected me until I heard Elvis. Without Elvis, there would be no Beatles.”

Maybe he sneaked over from Liverpool and caught that first show in Orlando. Elvis was just a few months removed from driving a truck for a living. Sentinel columnist Jean Yothers had never been to a “hillbilly music” show, much less heard of the guy in an orange jacket who came on before Slim Whitman.

“What really stole the show was this 20-year-old sensation, Elvis Presley,” Yothers wrote, “a real sex-box as far the teenage girls are concerned.”

Elvis returned to Orlando two months later as part of the Andy Griffith Show. Like the Hank Snow Jamboree, it was two shows in one night. This time, Yothers got an autograph from Elvis that read “Love Ya.”




Girls scream for Elvis Presley during a performance in Orlando on Aug. 8, 1956. (Orlando Sentinel)

E37C8F72-0ACD-40D9-997C-9779D73AE340.jpeg

She gave him some advice in the paper.

“He’s wearing himself out giving customers more than their money’s worth. I wanted to say to him, ‘Slow down, boy… your fame won’t disappear.'”

A few months later, Sun Records sold Elvis’s contract to RCA for $40,000, and Col. Tom Parker became his manager.

Elvis’s days of warming up for Mother Maybelle were over when Parker set up a Florida blitz in August of 1956.

Nine days, seven cities, 25 shows. All sold out.

By then, Elvis’s dangerously gyrating hips were preceding him. The prudes in Jacksonville wanted them banned.

Rev. Robert Gray of Trinity Baptist Church said Elvis had “achieved a new low in spiritual degeneracy.” Judge Marion Gooding threatened to have Elvis arrested for “impairing the morals of minors” if he broke into his “suggestive” movements.

Elvis and his pelvis somehow made it through six shows without getting busted. There were no such threats for his two shows in Orlando, much to the joy of female minors.



Elvis Presley performs in Orlando on Aug. 8, 1956, wowing his fans. (Orlando Sentinel)

F18053DD-C155-4DE4-83B3-C2B732C237FA.jpeg

The critics still weren’t impressed. A Sentinel story had this prediction: “He’s a fad, a fellow girls turn to for one of those mad, impetuous infatuations, whereas Perry Como and Eddie Fisher will still be around, the dependable types, when Presley is back driving his truck in Memphis.”

Well, not quite. Twenty-one years, a few hundred million records and too many fried-peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches later, Elvis returned to Orlando in his private jet.

He played the Sports Stadium on Feb. 17, 1977. The barn-like structure near Bithlo held 7,200 people and was packed.

At 10:10 p.m., the stage went dark and “2001: A Space Odyssey” cranked up. The Elvis appeared in full Elvis glory: white jumpsuit, gold chains and diamond rings.

“He appears healthy, but somewhat overweight,” the Sentinel reported the next day.

The audience didn’t seem to notice.

“I think he drrriiiips sex appeal,” one woman said.

“I hope his pants split,” a 25-year-old teacher said.

There was enough “suggestive” gyrating to make Elvis drip with sweat. He wiped his face with silk scarves and tossed them into the shrieking audience. After 21 songs, he finished with “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

Then the lights came up. Elvis had left the building. Six months later, he left the Earth.

So to answer the original question, Elvis played seven shows in Orlando. Unlike Jacksonville, our morals weren’t impaired by his pelvis.

And he never took Yothers’ advice to slow down, boy.




Source:
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-op-ask-orlando-elvis-david-whitley-20190816-7inwwu5cina63lout4435vpzcy-story.html

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[drjohncarpenter]

This entire 2019 opinion column, plus vintage 1956 Orlando reports and photos, got posted here in July 2020:


"I Hear Ya Knockin'" … Orlando, August 1956!
https://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=107587

The King is dead, but did Elvis ever rule Orlando? | Ask Orlando

By David Whitley
Orlando Sentinel
•
Aug 16, 2019 at 4:35 pm


In summer 1956, Elvis Presley played Orlando for his 3rd time in the 1950s, and the newspaper's 'On the Town' columnist Jean Yothers got a kiss for the cameras. (ORLANDO SENTINEL FILE)




There was an ad in the newspaper May 11, 1955. The Hank Snow All-Star Jamboree was performing at Orlando’s municipal auditorium.

Under Snow’s photo was the list of warmup acts. Faron Young, The Wilburn Brothers, Mother Maybelle & The Carter Sisters, Slim Whitman, Elvis Presley….

Hey, whatever happened to that guy?

That sort of brings us to this week’s Ask Orlando question.

“Did Elvis ever come to Orlando and did he get in trouble for shaking his pelvis?”

Now’s a good time to answer since we are coming off Elvis Week, aka High Holy Days in Memphis. There were concerts, symposiums, Graceland tours, a 5K run (insert Fat Elvis joke), trips to his birthplace and a candlelight vigil.

It all revolved around the anniversary of Elvis’s death on Aug. 16, 1977. He was 42.

The King has now been dead as long as he was alive. Though you might be surprised at how well he’s living on.

According to Spotify, more than 16.5 million hours of Elvis music has been downloaded this year. The surprising thing is 18-22 year-olds stream his music almost as much as 45-59 year-olds.


Elvis Presley’s performance at Orlando’s Municipal Auditorium in August 1956 came just a month before his famed first appearance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ (Joy Wallace Dickinson / Orlando Sentinel)




I figured most millennials would laugh those who worship the King. They would think of that bloated druggie in the white jumpsuit who briefly would have been Michael Jackson’s father-in-law, not the preternatural force that changed the entertainment world.


As John Lennon said, “Nothing affected me until I heard Elvis. Without Elvis, there would be no Beatles.”

Maybe he sneaked over from Liverpool and caught that first show in Orlando. Elvis was just a few months removed from driving a truck for a living. Sentinel columnist Jean Yothers had never been to a “hillbilly music” show, much less heard of the guy in an orange jacket who came on before Slim Whitman.

“What really stole the show was this 20-year-old sensation, Elvis Presley,” Yothers wrote, “a real sex-box as far the teenage girls are concerned.”

Elvis returned to Orlando two months later as part of the Andy Griffith Show. Like the Hank Snow Jamboree, it was two shows in one night. This time, Yothers got an autograph from Elvis that read “Love Ya.”




Girls scream for Elvis Presley during a performance in Orlando on Aug. 8, 1956. (Orlando Sentinel)




She gave him some advice in the paper.

“He’s wearing himself out giving customers more than their money’s worth. I wanted to say to him, ‘Slow down, boy… your fame won’t disappear.'”

A few months later, Sun Records sold Elvis’s contract to RCA for $40,000, and Col. Tom Parker became his manager.

Elvis’s days of warming up for Mother Maybelle were over when Parker set up a Florida blitz in August of 1956.

Nine days, seven cities, 25 shows. All sold out.

By then, Elvis’s dangerously gyrating hips were preceding him. The prudes in Jacksonville wanted them banned.

Rev. Robert Gray of Trinity Baptist Church said Elvis had “achieved a new low in spiritual degeneracy.” Judge Marion Gooding threatened to have Elvis arrested for “impairing the morals of minors” if he broke into his “suggestive” movements.

Elvis and his pelvis somehow made it through six shows without getting busted. There were no such threats for his two shows in Orlando, much to the joy of female minors.



Elvis Presley performs in Orlando on Aug. 8, 1956, wowing his fans. (Orlando Sentinel)





The critics still weren’t impressed. A Sentinel story had this prediction: “He’s a fad, a fellow girls turn to for one of those mad, impetuous infatuations, whereas Perry Como and Eddie Fisher will still be around, the dependable types, when Presley is back driving his truck in Memphis.”

Well, not quite. Twenty-one years, a few hundred million records and too many fried-peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches later, Elvis returned to Orlando in his private jet.

He played the Sports Stadium on Feb. 17, 1977. The barn-like structure near Bithlo held 7,200 people and was packed.

At 10:10 p.m., the stage went dark and “2001: A Space Odyssey” cranked up. The Elvis appeared in full Elvis glory: white jumpsuit, gold chains and diamond rings.

“He appears healthy, but somewhat overweight,” the Sentinel reported the next day.

The audience didn’t seem to notice.

“I think he drrriiiips sex appeal,” one woman said.

“I hope his pants split,” a 25-year-old teacher said.

There was enough “suggestive” gyrating to make Elvis drip with sweat. He wiped his face with silk scarves and tossed them into the shrieking audience. After 21 songs, he finished with “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

Then the lights came up. Elvis had left the building. Six months later, he left the Earth.

So to answer the original question, Elvis played seven shows in Orlando. Unlike Jacksonville, our morals weren’t impaired by his pelvis.

And he never took Yothers’ advice to slow down, boy.




Source:
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-op-ask-orlando-elvis-david-whitley-20190816-7inwwu5cina63lout4435vpzcy-story.html

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