March 24, 1958: Elvis In the Army

March 24, 1958: To millions of teenage girls all over America, it is known as Black Monday. It is the day that Elvis Presley is inducted into the U.S. Army. Fulfilling his draft requirement in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, he reports, and his famous hair is shaved off.

Elvis had dominated the American music scene in 1956 and 1957, thrilling many, and upsetting many others. Those who opposed him thought that getting drafted would make a man out of him, and he would come back as a solid, upstanding citizen.

They were very, very wrong. It was in the Army that Elvis was introduced to amphetamines, and they became his gateway drug. But the general public didn't know that during his lifetime.

He was sent to Army bases in West Germany, and his income dropped from about $100,000 a month to $70 a month. (In 2022 money, from around just under $1 million to a little under $700.) Keep in mind, though, the Army paid for his housing and his food. But, in the theme song to the movie he made based on his Army experience, G.I. Blues, the food included German rabbit meat and hard bread: "We get hasenpfeffer and black pumpernickel for chow. I'd blow my next month's pay for a slice of Texas cow."

On March 2, 1960, with his commitment fulfilled, the Army began the process of honorably discharging him. That night, the plane taking him back to America stopped to refuel at Prestwick Airport in Scotland. This would be the only time Elvis ever set foot on British soil: His manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker, was an illegal immigrant, so, aside from his Army service, and a few concerts in Canada in 1957, Elvis couldn't travel abroad, because Parker couldn't.

On March 3, his plane landed at McGuire Air Force Base in South Jersey, where he was met by 19-year-old singer Nancy Sinatra, daughter of Frank, a nasty critic who had come around to become a fan. (Frank received a medical deferment from service during World War II.) In fact, seeing Sergeant Presley come home and be formally discharged on March 5, 1960, after doing his duty, millions of Americans came to see him as exactly what they'd hoped he'd become: A good American.

And after filming a TV special hosted by Frank in Miami, Elvis went right back to being a star. But his new songs were more adult as well, and it won him millions of new fans, without losing any of the old ones, who were now, themselves, a few years older: A kid starting high school when Elvis first became a star would now be starting college; a kid starting college then would now be in the workforce, and might even be married with a child.

Rock and roll was growing up. Some people didn't like that, but there were many more who did. As the title of a greatest hits album put it, Fifty Million Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong.

*

March 24, 1958 was a Monday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were no NBA games scheduled for the day. And it was the day between the NHL's regular-season finale and the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So there were no scores on this historic day.