By April he was doing the Milton Berle show, from a special episode recorded on the deck of the USS Hancock.
The performance was his first chance to show his natural stage presence, playing off the comedian TV show host like they were Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Shortly thereafter he inked a seven picture deal with movie producer Hal Wallis and Paramount Pictures (one movie guaranteed, with the option for six more at the studio’s behest). Despite his talent and obvious love of music, “performing” was Elvis’s true passion and the young singer always admired movie stars and desired to be one, even while being the biggest music star of his day.
Milton Berle invited Elvis back to his show and in June he made a return appearance, performing a song he made very popular in live shows, “Hound Dog.” Before taking the stage, Berle encouraged Elvis to leave the guitar behind, saying “let em see you, son.” Truth be told Elvis never was any more than average with the guitar and rarely ever bothered hitting the right chords while dancing around on stage anyway. Free from its shackles, Elvis turned to the microphone stand for support, which gave rise to its own sexual innuendos and parental consternation.
Pay attention to what he does at the 1:30 mark in the video. He calls for the song to stop and then breaks into a slowed down, bluesy and–thanks to those hips of his–highly sexually charged performance. The fifty-year-old Milton Berle heartily embraced Elvis but many of Berle’s contemporaries were appalled at Presley’s performance. Ed Sullivan declared him “unfit for family viewing” and Steve Allen initially refused to have him on his show.
Until the ratings came in.
Berle blew away the competition and Allen relented on his Presley ban, allowing the young singer to appear but only on the condition that he dress and act “appropriately.”
Forced to wear a tux and sing to a dog, the humiliated Elvis gave a stiff and tame performance to a silent audience, after which he swore never to be so creatively (not to mention culturally) restricted again (a promise he would recall a decade later as having failed to keep).
The next day Elvis returned to RCA’s New York City studio and recorded a proper version of “Hound Dog” as well as two more songs that would become Presley classics. “Don’t Be Cruel” (which would be paired with “Hound Dog” as a double-A-side single) would go on to be Elvis’s biggest single, selling an unprecedented one million copies a year, every year, for six years straight.
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
In addition, he recorded the haunting ballad “Anyway you Want Me” reminding his listeners that his talent went beyond simple on-stage gyrations.
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
A month later, Elvis flew to California to film a Civil War movie originally entitled The Reno Brothers. Presley initially insisted that he would not sing or play a singer in this or any of his movies, intending to be taken seriously as an actor. He wanted to star in dramatic roles like his idol James Dean, not be bogged down by lightweight “musicals.” His manager “Colonel” Tom Parker had other ideas, however. He envisioned a cross-promoted Presley, who starred in hit movies and recorded hit music simultaneously, and used one to sell the other. That kind of a career necessitated, in Parker’s mind, that Elvis “perform” in his movies.
Elvis yielded to the counsel of his manager and recorded one song for the movie, a ballad entitled “Love Me Tender.” That one song then blossomed to four, and after the “Love Me Tender” single reached advanced sales of one million copies (the first time a single had ever become a gold record before even being released), the movie’s title was changed to Love Me Tender and the studio switched to marketing it officially as a “musical.”
Despite his personal disappointment in how his first movie-making experience turned out, the final result was a box office and billboard success. The movie debuted at #2 (behind James Dean’s final movie, Giant) and despite being released in November, was the 23rd highest-grossing movie of the year.
Midway through filming the movie, Parker negotiated with Ed Sullivan to bring Elvis onto his show. Sullivan had been the last major variety show that Elvis had not done, due to the fifty-five-year old’s dislike and distrust of rock and roll. Sullivan was also the highest-rated show on the air in those days making it a big get for Parker. The appearance featured an infamous compromise: Elvis refused to do the show if the condition was that he would be stifled as he’d been on Steve Allen. Sullivan refused to play host to the young singer’s hip-swinging style. In the end, Elvis performed his songs (including “Hound Dog” and “Love Me Tender”) in his own way, but was only filmed from the waist up, “protecting virgin eyes from his demonic hips.”
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
The ratings were record-breaking, leading to two additional appearances. As the third show drew to a close, Sullivan shook Presley’s hand and informed the audience that he considered Elvis to be a “fine” and “decent” young man. His initial-negative opinion had been based on presumption, and reversed once he actually met him. Sullivan’s sudden about-face was not as “feel good” as it is often portrayed, however: The fact that the TV host reversed his judgment so suddenly based on one conversation with the polite and charming southerner, implied that he assumed that because Elvis was a rock and roll-playing youth, that he must naturally be rude and disrespectful to adults. It highlights how wide the divide was between the two generations and how little older folks understood Elvis’s appeal.
Presley returned to the studio after finishing Love Me Tender, and released his second LP, entitled “Elvis.” Among the eleven songs he recorded for the album was a standout that would go on to be a personal favorite and regular feature in his concerts, a balled entitled “Love Me.”
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
By the end of 1956 Elvis would become the first man in history to have nine singles in the Hot 100, and more were coming every time he stepped into a studio.
