January 6, 1957: Elvis Presley On "The Ed Sullivan Show"

January 6, 1957: Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show, only from the waist up.

Television had helped to make Elvis "The King of Rock and Roll," but it could well have destroyed him.

He first appeared on national television on January 28, 1956, on Stage Show, a CBS variety show starring brothers and Big Band leaders Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. This was the day after his 1st national single, "Heartbreak Hotel," was released; and 18 days after he made his 1st recordings for RCA Victor.

This made it a bit ironic that his debut was on CBS, since CBS owned Columbia Records, while RCA was the parent company of both RCA Victor and the NBC TV and radio networks, CBS' great rival. (ABC was still on the rise, and a distant 3rd behind the "Tiffany" and "Peacock" networks.)

For the 1st time, a nationwide audience saw a white man singing like a black man. He wasn't just singing rock and roll music, which had been developing through the 1950s, he was moving like it, jiggling his body and swiveling his hips, earning him the nickname "Elvis the Pelvis."

The appearance was a success, and he appeared on Stage Show again in each of the next 3 weeks: February 4, 11 and 18. He appeared again on March 17 and 24.

NBC decided they needed to get in on the action. So on April 3, Elvis appeared on The Milton Berle Show. Known as Texaco Star Theatre from its 1948 debut until 1953, and named for its host after the oil company dropped its sponsorship, it helped make Berle one of the earliest TV stars, known as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television."

But Berle's novelty had worn off, the ratings had dropped, and he was told that his show would be canceled, effective the end of the TV season. So he decided to go out with a bang. He did a show live from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hancock at the San Diego naval base, and Elvis was the star attraction.

For his last show, on June 5, back in New York, Berle brought Elvis on again, and he closed the show by playing a song he liked, but hadn't even recorded yet: "Hound Dog," written by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller (who would go on to write several of his best songs), and turned into a Number 1 hit on the rhythm & blues charts by black singer Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton in 1952.

Elvis had heard a band play a version with a different tempo and different lyrics, and liked it better that way, so that's how he did it. But this time, he closed by slowing it down even further, and exaggerating his gyrations beyond what he'd previously done. Berle loved it. The studio audience, mostly teenage girls, loved it.

The TV viewing audience hated it. Berle said, "I got 700,000 pan letters. Not fan mail, pan mail. They said things like, 'Uncle Miltie, we'll never watch you again! How dare you put on someone filthy like that, who does those things on stage!' What did I do? I called up (Elvis' manager) Colonel Tom Parker, and said, 'Colonel, you have a star on your hands."

The biggest variety show at the time was The Ed Sullivan Show. Sullivan had started out as the theater critic for the New York Daily News. In 1947, he had hosted a dance program sponsored by the Daily News. CBS saw this, and decided he'd be a good variety show host. In 1948, Toast of the Town began airing on CBS on Sunday nights at 8:00. It was renamed The Ed Sullivan Show in in 1955, mainly because that's what everyone was calling it anyway.

Sullivan said he would never have Elvis on his show. That was all his big competitor, NBC's Steve Allen, had to hear. Allen was a big jazz fan, and didn't like rock and roll (although he would later become close friends with Jerry Lee Lewis), but, like a dictator who didn't like sports, knew a good propaganda move when he saw one.

On July 1, he said, "I'd like you all to meet the new Elvis Presley!" Elvis came out wearing white tie and tails, as if he was Fred Astaire. He was ordered to not move. And they wanted him to sing "Hound Dog" to an actual basset hound, wearing a bow tie and a little plastic top hat. Colonel Parker told Elvis the money was good, and so he did it. It worked, and his version of "Hound Dog" became the Number 1 song in America -- as did the other side of the record it was on, "Don't Be Cruel," which became his biggest record. Or, as he said himself, "I mean, it was no bigger than the rest of 'em."

Sullivan could be stubborn, but he was no fool. He signed Elvis for 3 appearances. On September 9, with Elvis in Los Angeles filming his 1st movie, Love Me Tender, he was taken to CBS Television City in Burbank, and a network setup would broadcast it back to New York. By a weird twist of fate, Sullivan didn't host that night: He had been badly hurt in a car accident. The host was Charles Laughton, the great British actor best known for starring in the film The Private Life of Henry VIII in 1933.

It didn't matter who hosted: Elvis was the star of the show, and over 60 million people watched. Sullivan recovered in time to host the show himself on October 28, and Elvis was a smash again. Sullivan did not, however, invite Elvis over to talk, which would have been a sign of approval.

A 3rd appearance was set up for January 6, 1957, 2 days before Elvis' 22nd birthday. This Sullivan Show was also the 1st national TV appearance of comedienne Carol Burnett, and she paid tribute to Elvis, saying his success was inspiring for young performers. (She was 2 years older.)

Contrary to the legend, the 1st 2 appearances showed Elvis from head to toe, and there was no great negative reaction. For whatever reason, the 3rd time, he was shown on camera only from the waist up.

He started with a medley of "Hound Dog," "Love Me Tender" and "Heartbreak Hotel," then sang a full version of "Don't Be Cruel." Knowing that he was being shot only from the waist up, he closed with some hand gestures that drove the teenagers in the theater crazy.

For his 2nd set in the show's 2nd half, he sang, "Too Much" and "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again." Though it was 12 days after Christmas, some of the guests made Christmas notations, and Elvis added to this by singing a gospel song, "Peace in the Valley." 

At the conclusion of that song, Ed didn't call Elvis over. Ed paid Elvis the ultimate tribute: Ed walked over to Elvis, and told the audience, in-studio and nationwide, "This is a real, decent, fine boy," and said to him, "We've never had a pleasanter experience with a big name than we've had with you." Elvis was visibly moved.

The Ed Sullivan Show continued to air until 1971, but Elvis never appeared on it again. In 1958, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. When he was discharged in 1960, he had his first "comeback," and had several big hits over the next 3 years. But things went downhill: The hits became fewer and lower-charting, and his movies became more and more ridiculous, with the idea that a movie with Elvis in it would make a profit no matter what, so who cared about quality.

TV saved him. In 1968, NBC signed him to do a special, and it was a smash. In 1973, he did Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite, broadcast around the world. Ironically, it didn't air in America on the day he performed it, because it was Super Bowl Sunday, and NBC was committed to promoting that. (Super Bowl VII: Miami Dolphins 14, Washington Redskins 7.) It aired in the U.S. 3 months later.

In 1977, CBS signed him for another special. But the difference in 4 years was stark. In Hawaii, he was still relatively slim. Now, he was terribly overweight, and sweating like crazy under the hot lights. A bad diet led to diet pills, which led to other pills, and none of them seemed to work. 

Two concerts were taped, one in Omaha, Nebraska on June 19; and one in Rapid City, South Dakota 2 days later. The Omaha footage was considered unusable, because he looked and sounded so bad. A critic later said that if the Rapid City show had been broadcast during his lifetime, it would have ended his career. TV had made him in 1956, and saved him in 1968; it could have destroyed him in 1956, and it might have in 1977.

What really destroyed him in 1977 was the pills. On August 16, at his Memphis mansion, Graceland, he had a massive heart attack, and died. He was only 42 years old.

Suddenly, anybody who could try it was making money off of Dead Elvis. CBS was no exception: They edited the footage as best they could, and aired the special in December as planned. It was the highest-rated TV program of the entire calendar year except for ABC's showing of the miniseries Roots.

After his death, his ex-wife, actress Priscilla Presley, was handed control of Elvis Presley Enterprises. She fired Colonel Parker, who did bear some responsibility for the conditions that led to Elvis' death, and fired a bunch of other hangers-on. Under her management, Elvis made more money in the 3 years after his death than he did in the 42 years he was alive.

Priscilla also released as much material as she could, including a special that aired on CBS in 1993, Elvis: The Great Performances. It included "Don't Be Cruel" from his January 6, 1957 appearance on Ed Sullivan, and Ed's praise for Elvis at the end of the show. And, for context, it included his performance of "Unchained Melody" from the 1977 special. But the special, in its entirety, has never been officially released on video in any form. Nor has it ever been broadcast again. A bootleg copy is available on YouTube.

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January 6, 1957 was a Sunday. It was the off-season for Major League Baseball. The NFL season had ended a week before, with the NFL Championship Game: The New York Giants beat the Chicago Bears, 47-7 at Yankee Stadium. There were 4 games played that day in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 111-101 at the Minneapolis Auditorium. Kenny Sears scored 26 for the Knicks, while Clyde Lovellette of the Lakers led all players with 29 in a losing cause. The Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 118-92 at the Boston Garden. The Pistons moved to Detroit the next season.

* The Syracuse Nationals beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 128-123 at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse. This was a rematch of the previous season's NBA Finals, won by the Warriors, while the Nats had won the NBA title the season before that. Paul Arizin scored 37 points for the Warriors, but it wasn't enough.

The Warriors moved to San Francisco in 1962, and changed their name to the Golden State Warriors in 1971. The Nats took their place in 1963, becoming the Philadelphia 76ers.

* And the Rochester Royals beat the St. Louis Hawks, 93-86 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Despite this loss, the Hawks won the Western Division title, reaching the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Celtics. They beat the Celtics in the 1958 Finals, then lost to them in the Finals in 1960 and 1961. They moved to Atlanta in 1968. The Royals moved to Cincinnati in 1957, to Kansas City where they became the Kings in 1972, and to Sacramento in 1985.

And all of the NHL's "Original Six" teams were in action:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 4-4 at the Chicago Stadium.

And, while golf is not a sport, golfer Nancy Lopez was born on this day.