cadillac-elvis wrote:There may not have been significant increases in the viewing numbers on those Dorsey shows, but
the difference between the first four appearances and the 5th appearance is very noticable.
the reaction of the live audience has changed. It's no longer polite or nervous applause, they are losing it and letting themselves go.
Elvis must have felt the difference too. Of course by this time, he had his first real national hit on the charts as well.
Mojo Filter wrote:cadillac-elvis wrote:There may not have been significant increases in the viewing numbers on those Dorsey shows, but
the difference between the first four appearances and the 5th appearance is very noticable.
the reaction of the live audience has changed. It's no longer polite or nervous applause, they are losing it and letting themselves go.
Elvis must have felt the difference too. Of course by this time, he had his first real national hit on the charts as well.
Yes, the Dorsey shows did have quite a stir by the 5th appearance for the reason you state, but if I remember correctly, there are some screams and reactions starting from the second appearance. Of course, the first show Elvis was an unknown, outside the south anyway, so the reaction was going to be moderate from a national point of view because they didn't know who he was, even though by that point he'd already caused sparks in the south with his unique brand of music that caused the initial change in music by future musicians while he was at Sun, and now he was spreading that change even more nationally by TV exposure. But even the first show you can bet that people started talking "who the hell's that?"or "he's weird" because he so different from all previous entertainers before him, certainly this would be the case outside the south. Elvis' regional fans were probably watching him from the first Dorsey show.
But the second Dorsey show did cause enough stir and interest from Hal Wallis to give Elvis a screen test for Paramount in March 1956 when someone told him, "switch onto the CBS program and watch this guy". As a result, Wallis was impressed and admitted that the boy "had something" that could result in something special for the big screen.
The Dorsey shows may not have had the TV ratings of Berle or Sullivan but they certainly did send ripples throughout America, and the very reason he was booked for the Berle show.
The reason the Berle show caused such controvsey was because of his "stage act". If you study Elvis' stage act from Jan '56 to '57, by television footage and concert footage from both years, you can see that it progressed wilder and wilder as time moves forward. For instance, the Dorsey shows basically has him just shaking his legs (and I must point out that the cameras on the Dorsey shows don't really show all of his legs and in some cases not even below the waist, it's only when it comes to Scotty's solos that the camera moves back a little and even then not past the knees sometimes) and playing the guitar which he does all the way through the song except for "I Was The One" where he removes the guitar. So that's the difference between the Dorseys and the Berle the stage act was a little wilder on the Berle show. And "Heartbreak Hotel" plus his first album were massive sellers before he even hit the Berle show and part of the reason for its success was his appearances on the Dorsey that boosted the sales no doubt.
In later performances, TV or Concerts, the guitar is virtually not being used and giving Elvis more freedom to move around because he knows it's his stage act that is causing the mayhem so he does it more and more and exaggerates his moves and this is what is captured on the Berle Show and people couldn't believe it.
But his act gets even wilder, particularly in concerts as '56 is nearing its end where he starts to lie all over the stage, dragging the mic across the stage floor, dropping to his knees. Unfortunately not much of this is caught on film except for the 57 Tupelo footage, which is a shame really.
PiersEIN wrote:Respected Elvis author (Reconsider Baby) has written this great article for EIN.
'Orgies and Orgasms: Presley In The Press 1956'
It's over 3000 words but is a cracker read.
‘Every girl watching him sees herself as Elvis’ partner in his fantastic writhing orgy’: Elvis Presley and the Press in his Breakthrough Year.
By the beginning of 1956, everything was in place for Elvis Presley to burst onto the national and international music scene. Since July 1954, his recordings for Sun and his exciting live performances had brought him regional fame, and Presley was rewarded for his hard work at the end of 1955 when he was signed to the major label RCA. Within weeks, he would record Heartbreak Hotel, his first single for RCA and his first to reach number 1 in the U.S. charts, and then, at the end of January 1956, he would appear on national television for the first time.
Despite all of the success that 1956 would bring Elvis, with three singles and two albums reaching the top spot in the U.S. charts (and that’s without mentioning the release of Elvis’s first film), the year would also prove to be a difficult one when it came to his treatment in the national and international press. So, let’s go back in time and examine how a single television performance in June 1956 resulted in a change of attitudes towards Elvis within the media from little more than curiosity about the new phenomenon to downright hostility and revulsion.
Elvis on his first national TV appearance, January 28th 1956, Stage Show
Elvis Presley’s first national TV appearance was on the January 28th 1956 edition of Stage Show (CBS, 1954-1956), hosted by big band leaders Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Rather strangely, Elvis didn’t perform Heartbreak Hotel, his first RCA single, until his third appearance on the series. By this point, he appeared to be causing little controversy beyond a few raised eyebrows. The trade journal Motion Picture Daily referred to him in advance of his fourth appearance as ‘an abandoned performer who plays and sings in a manner that Marlon Brando should, and doesn’t’ – no doubt a dig at Brando’s vocalising in the previous year’s film Guys and Dolls (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1955). What is interesting (and largely forgotten) is that viewing figures for Stage Show did not significantly increase during Elvis’s six appearances.
Go here for the full article..
http://www.elvisinfonet.com/Spotlight-P ... Brown.html
It also leads nicely into a follow-up article on 'Steve Allen and Elvis' where Shane Brown has discovered some interesting facts that challenge the usual Steve Allen Myths.
My thanks to Shane for his hard work and his fine investigations.
Enjoy the read ..
Cheers
Piers
cadillac-elvis wrote:Mister Moon, I don't think they count "I want you, I need you , I love you" as a number one.
It didn't quite make it. Number 3 if I recall without looking it up.
cadillac-elvis wrote:Oh, the country chart. I understand.
I usually only think of the pop/rock chart for comparisons.
cadillac-elvis wrote:When he comes aboard the Navy Ship to do his first appearance on the Berle show, it doesn't seem like he had the impact he had on the Dorsey shows. It looks like the audience is all adult and mainly service men and woman.
Jukebox wrote:cadillac-elvis wrote:When he comes aboard the Navy Ship to do his first appearance on the Berle show, it doesn't seem like he had the impact he had on the Dorsey shows. It looks like the audience is all adult and mainly service men and woman.
It was outdoors in front of a military crowd (as you mentioned).
Their reaction was good and they seemed to enjoy Elvis... and the animated Bill Black!
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