March 26, 1960: Elvis Presley is back from serving in the U.S. Army, and grownup American culture, including its Chairman of the Board, while not quite ready to pass the torch, takes a moment to hail the King of Rock and Roll.
When Elvis was drafted in early 1958, the grownup establishment considered it a win: The living symbol of the new music they hated was going away to serve his country, getting his famous hair shaved off, he wouldn't be singing and shaking his legs and his hips; and not only were the kids were going to have to listen to whatever music adults shoveled at them again, but they were going to learn the lesson that no one is immune to the demands of the country at large.
Except it didn't work out that way. Right before going in, Elvis recorded enough songs to still have RCA Victor Records put out regular releases of 45 RPM "singles" throughout his service. Between his induction and his discharge, he had 2 Number 1 hits on Billboard magazine's popular music chart: "Hard Headed Woman" in 1958, and "A Big Hunk o' Love" in 1959. Neither of them was anywhere close to his best work, but they still topped the chart. A greatest hits album was released, titled Fifty Million Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong.
And kids continued to listen to rock and roll. True, Little Richard gave up rock and roll for the ministry and gospel music (temporarily, as it turned out), Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry were both tainted by personal scandals, and Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash. But doo-wop music got bigger than ever, and several minor acts filled in the gap, often with novelty songs that helped to humanize rock and roll for the older audience.
And Elvis served his time overseas, mainly in West Germany, like a regular soldier, never publicly complaining, and rose to the rank of Sergeant. When he was discharged after 2 years, a lot of adults who didn't accept him before now did so, since he was a proven patriotic veteran: Even if his service was in official peacetime, it was still during the Cold War, when anything could have happened.
So a lot of adults were now willing to give him a chance. And his original audience had grown up, too: People in high school in 1956 were in college in 1960. And the songs he would hit with over the next 2 years were more grown-up in tone, as well. "It's Now Or Never" was an English rewrite of the Italian classic "O Sole Mio." "Surrender" was also a rewrite of an Italian song, "Come Back to Sorrento." (Lyricist Doc Pomus was proud of having come up with a title that sounded like "Sorrento.") And he recorded a 1927 song that was, in 1950, the last hit of adults' beloved Al Jolson: "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" All of these hit Number 1.
In 1959, Frank Sinatra began a series of 4 TV specials on ABC, sponsored by Timex watches. The 1st 3 did not get good ratings. The 4th would, since it would be titled The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis. Elvis' manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker, got $150,000 for him, which was more than Frank was getting for the 4 specials combined.
Frank was 44 years old. His opinion of the kids' music was harsh: In a magazine article, he was quoted as saying, "Rock 'n' roll smells phony and false. It is sung, played, and written for the most part by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecilic reiteration, and sly lewd, in plain fact, dirty lyrics… It manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth."
About Elvis himself, Frank said, "His kind of music is deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac... It fosters almost universally negative and destructive directions in young people." In other words, Frank was giving his generation's "company line."
But Frank agreed to the terms of the special, because he knew it would be good for his career, as well as for Elvis'. He even sent his 19-year-old daughter Nancy to meet him at the airport when he returned to America.
Nancy loved Elvis' music, and would eventually become a big singing star in her own right, even co-starring with Elvis in the 1968 film Speedway -- one of his worst films, not that it was his fault, or hers. They stayed friends for the rest of his life, though their relationship never extended beyond flirting.
The special was taped at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach on March 26, 1960. Fellow "Rat Pack" members Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford -- but not the man who could have rounded out the main lineup, Dean Martin, one of Elvis' musical heroes -- also appeared on the show.
Elvis sang both sides of his 1st post-Army single, "Stuck on You" (a weak effort on his part, but it hit Number 1 because fans were hungry for anything new from him) and "Fame and Fortune." Then came one of the most unusual duets in music history: A medley of Frank singing Elvis' hit "Love Me Tender" in his own style, and Elvis singing Frank's hit "Witchcraft."
The two men projected an image of friendship, and the image had become reality. And when the special aired on May 12, it got 67.7 percent of the viewing audience.
In her book, Elvis For Dummies, author Susan Doll notes how important this television special was to Elvis' career: "Appearing with Sinatra suggested that Elvis was following the same career path and was therefore the natural heir to the Voice."
Elvis' 1st post-Army film was G.I. Blues, set at an Army base in Germany. One of the songs he recorded for it was "Wooden Heart," a combination English-German song. He never released it as a single, but in 1961, Joe Dowell, one of several men signed to recording contracts because it was thought they sounded like Elvis (also including Ronnie McDowell, Ral Donner and Terry Stafford), recorded it, and hit Number 1 with it.
It was written by German composer and conductor Bert Kaempfert. Kaempfert had also written an instrumental he'd titled "Beddie Bye." Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder gave it English lyrics, and titled it "Strangers In the Night." In 1966, Sinatra recorded it, and it hit Number 1.
During their "internship" in Hamburg, Germany, The Beatles made some recordings that Kaempfert produced. So Sinatra's version of "Strangers In the Night" made Kaempfert the only man ever to be involved in the careers of the 3 biggest musical acts of the 20th Century: Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
Quincy Jones almost topped him. He played trumpet on recordings by Frank and Elvis, conducted orchestras for Frank, and produced songs by Michael Jackson, including a duet with former Beatle Paul McCartney: "The Girl Is Mine," from Michael's 1982 album Thriller. (Their duet "Say, Say, Say" was produced by ex-Beatle producer George Martin, for Paul's 1983 album Pipes of Peace.) But not only did Quincy never work with The Beatles while they were together, he was famously critical of them, even calling them "the worst musicians in the world." Quincy was right about a lot of things, but not that.
By 1960, Sinatra and his Rat Pack, and Las Vegas, had become synonymous with each other. Vegas became what would now be called a "safe space" for grownups who wanted to imagine that teenage culture, with its long hair, leather jackets, "muscle cars" and rock and roll, didn't exist. And, since a person had to be at least 21 years old to so much as set foot on a casino floor, and most teenagers couldn't afford the prices to see a show in a hotel ballroom, and the city was surrounded by seemingly endless desert, it was quite the buffer zone.
In his 1st engagement in Vegas, in 1956, Elvis failed, because his earliest fans couldn't get in. When he returned in 1969, most of his fans were now grownups. The King conquered the place, and both Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. were occasionally seen at his shows.
When Elvis died on August 16, 1977, at age 42, Frank, then 61, said, "There have been many accolades uttered about Elvis' talent and performances through the years, all of which I agree with wholeheartedly. I shall miss him dearly as a friend. He was a warm, considerate and generous man."
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March 26, 1960 was a Saturday. Actress Jennifer Grey, daughter of actor Joel Grey and granddaughter of comedian Mickey Katz, was born.
Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There was 1 game played in the NBA: The St. Louis Hawks beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 97-86 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. The Lakers moved to Los Angeles the next season; the Hawks, to Atlanta in 1968.
There were 2 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-3 at the Montreal Forum. Doug Harvey scored the winning goal at 8:38 of overtime. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Canadiens would go on to beat the Leafs for their 5th straight Cup.
And in English soccer, Arsenal played Yorkshire team Leeds United to a 1-1 draw at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.
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