(Typical 1956 Elvis Presley Concert Poster)
Several months ago an old classmate of mine who I had become reacquainted with through a class reunion contacted me and asked if I would be interested in having a copy of a CD which had been offered to them by an individual from the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and contained a concert which Elvis Presley had put on here in Little Rock, Arkansas on May 16th of 1956. I would have been fifteen years old at the time and just finishing the ninth grade of junior high school. I immediately responded that I would love to have a copy and several weeks later I received the copy.
The concert was performed at the Robinson Memorial Auditorium which was pretty much the main venue for big name entertainment and stage productions at the time in Little Rock. Although the audio quality was not all that great it was actually better than I expected it to be, given how long ago that was. The recorded broadcast was apparently done by one of Little Rock’s local radio stations. The CD wasn’t all I hoped it would be with regard to content since it actually only had seven songs on it so it was more of a selective excerpt from the concert of some of the music he had performed.
(Typical stage setup for Elvis concert in 1956)
Although I did not attend this particular concert , and boy I wish I had, I was a huge, huge fan of Elvis and remained so to this day. In 1956 Elvis was really just becoming nationally recognized. But after listening to the CD’s content there were three things in particular that grabbed my attention. A couple were somewhat humorous while the other shed some historical light on one of Elvis’ more well known hits.
In the opening of the concert I thought it quite humorous that the broadcast commentator, whoever he was, was obviously not all that familiar with Elvis or at least his music since he didn’t know the correct name for Elvis’ first song. Give the excerpt below a listen…..
I’m sure it was easy to note the broadcaster introduced the song as “Heartbreak Motel” instead of “Heartbreak Hotel”. Obviously I got a pretty good chuckle from that. At the time Heartbreak Hotel had only been out about 10 weeks so it was still relatively new. This was his first national release since signing with RCA in November of 1955.
Obviously his stage presence even then was huge but he seem to have a bit of a hard time with his dialogue and exchanges with the audience. At one point it sounds as if he may have actually burped into the microphone! I’m sure the audience couldn’t have cared less but it is interesting to listen now. Here is an excerpt as he prepares to sing “Blue Suede Shoes”…..
The final clip is one of a more historical nature, musically speaking. When originally listening to the CD I was immediately struck by the fact that it contained a performance of the song “Hound Dog”. What was odd about it was the fact that “Hound Dog” had not even been released nor recorded at that point in time. “Hound Dog” was subsequently recorded and released by RCA in July of 1956. Needless to say I was quite curious as to how and why a song not yet released had ended up in his repertoire.
After doing a little research I was led to some information regarding Elvis Presley’s first, apparently not very successful, appearance in Las Vegas. He was an “extra added attraction” to another show and appeared in the Venus Room of the New Frontier from April 23 through May 6, 1956. Freddie Bell and the Bellboys was the hot act in town and Elvis went to the Sands at some point to take in their show. Elvis not only enjoyed the show but after hearing their performance of the song “Hound Dog” decided to ask Freddie if he had any objections to him recording his own version. By May 16 Elvis had added “Hound Dog” to his live performances.
(Obviously what is important with regard to that bit of information is that the Little Rock concert was held on May 16th implying that the Little Rock concert was the first time “Hound Dog” was performed in front of a live audience. It had been just 10 days since closing in Las Vegas.)
In lieu of this information I found myself extremely curious with regard to who Freddie Bell and the Bellboys were since I personally had never really heard of them up until this revelation with regard to “Hound Dog”. So with little effort – low and behold YouTube would shed light on my curiousity. Below is a video clip Freddy Bell and the Bellboys performing “Giddy Up A Ding Dong” which was performed in the movie “Rock Around the Clock”…..
It was somewhat obvious after seeing this video as to why Elvis may have been so attracted to their act. And some of those moves by Freddy in the video look eerily familiar to some of the moves Elvis use to make. The group apparently did not have any real success in the United States never breaking into the “Top Forty” but did garnish some brief success overseas in Australia, England and France with the song viewed in the video above. I was also curious with regard to the version of “Hound Dog” that they had done that so impressed Elvis. An audio clip of Freddy Bell and the Bellboys performing “Hound Dog” follows…..
The audio clip below is the excerpt from the Little Rock concert of that apparent first live performance of “Hound Dog” to include the closing comments of the broadcast commentator as the concert reached it conclusion.
Again I had to chuckle at his vocal mannerisms as he spoke to the audience. Already with the, “Thank you….Thank you very much.” Also a bit humorous was his adding “…and everything.” to almost everything he said. And…..we were all his “friends”. I think most of us may have had a similar irritating vocal mannerism when we were that young. I know I use to drive my parents up the wall by concluding every sentence with “…..you know?”
It was such a treat and pleasure to have grown up with Elvis and been witness to this greatest of performers. There’s a lot about this old life we endure that really sucks….but Elvis and all that he brought will always remain one of those shining moments that helped make life really good on those bad days.
NOTE: Previously published in my journal, Writing To Myself, on 09/17/2009
