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Elvis Presley | LaCrosse Wisconsin | May 14, 1956

Reports from this La Crosse performance cause the editor of the local newspaper to complain to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover that from what he has heard Elvis' act consists of 'sexual gratification on stage'.

Without preamble, the three-piece band cuts loose. In the spotlight, the lanky singer flails furious rhythms on his guitar, every now and then breaking a string. In a pivoting stance, his hips swing sensuously from side to side and his entire body takes on a frantic quiver, as if he had swallowed a jackhammer. Full-cut hair tousles over his forehead, and sideburns frame his petulant, full-lipped face. His style is partly hillbilly, partly socking rock 'n' roll. His loud baritone goes raw and whining in the high notes, but down low it is rich and round. As he throws himself into one of his specialties - Heartbreak Hotel, Blue Suede Shoes or Long Tall Sally - his throat seems full of desperate aspirates ('Hi want you, hi need you, hi luh-huh-huh-huv yew-hew') or hiccuping glottis strokes, and his diction is poor. But his movements suggest, in a word, sex.

Elvis Presley May 14 1956, LaCrosse Wisconsin

He is Elvis Aaron Presley, a drape-suited, tight-trousered young man of 21, and the sight and sound of him drive teenage girls wild. All through the South and West, Elvis is packing theaters, fighting off shrieking admirers, disturbing parents, puckering the brows of psychologists, and filling letters-to-the-editor columns with cries of alarm and, from adolescents, counter-cries of adulation.

Elvis Presley & Bill Black May 14 1956, LaCrosse Wisconsin

-: In Fort Worth 16-year-olds have carved his name into their forearms with clasp knives (one did it four times), and an older woman was heard to plead with him: 'I've got my husband's Cadillac outside. Come with me?'

-: In Oklahoma City he was safely whisked away in a police car after his show, but a reporter who had interviewed him was mobbed by the stage-door Jennies. 'Touch him', yelled one. 'Maybe he's touched Elvis!'

Elvis Presley & Bill Black May 14 1956, LaCrosse Wisconsin

Heavy Beat. The perpetrator of all this hoopla was born in Tupelo, Miss, (pop. 11,527). His parents gave him a guitar before he was twelve. 'I beat on it for a year or two', he drawls. 'Never did learn much about it.' He learned to sing church hymns with a heavy beat, as Negro revival singers do, but gave no thought to a musical career. A couple of years ago, Presley, working as a truck driver, was seized with the urge to hear his own voice, took his guitar with him and made a recording in a public studio. 'It sounded like somebody beatin' on a bucket lid', Presley recalls. 'But the engineer at this studio had a recording company called Sun, and he told me I had an unusual voice, and he might call me up sometime.'

When the call came, Presley was overcome by the stiffness that still bothers him when he sings without an audience. The session was about to fizzle when he started fooling around with a rock-'n-roll beat, the same heavily accented style he uses today. Records started to sell, and Elvis set out to get himself a manager. The manager booked Presley with the words, 'He may not sound like a hillbilly, but he gets the same response.'

It was not long before the response was even better, comparable to Johnnie Ray or Frankie Sinatra, with girls snatching Presley's shirt, belt, shoes, and RCA Victor buying out his recording contract for $35,000. Elvis now nets $7,500 a week for personal appearances, will net more than $100,000 this year; he owns three Cadillacs and a three-wheeled Messerschmitt, plus a dazzling wardrobe.

Dodgem, Too. Last week his Heartbreak Hotel was the nation's No. 1 best-selling record, and Elvis Presley himself was appearing at Las Vegas' New Frontier and getting a taste of more adult audiences. There was little screaming to be heard, but some fully grown female listeners matched the star squirm for squirm. As for Elvis, he spent some of his offstage time amusing local showgirls, but most of it amusing himself in a small amusement park, where, for hours on end, he and his cronies rode the dodgem cars, having a wonderful time.

Elvis Presley LaCrosse Wisconsin

Elvis Presley - Teeners' Hero - May 14, 1956 (Time magazine)

Elvis Presley Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota : May 13, 1956
Elvis Presley May 15, 1956 - Ellis Auditorium

January 1956

= Elvis on TV | 1956 One incredible year !!!

Elvis Presley RCA's McGavock St Studio | January 10 and 11, April 14, 1956
1956 business contract signed by Colonel Parker and Elvis for The Elvis Presley Show
Elvis Presley The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show | January 28, 1956

What is an Elvis Presley?

February

Elvis Presley The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show | February 4, 1956
Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black | February 9, 1956
Elvis Presley Backstage February 10, 1956
Elvis Presley The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show| February 11, 1956
Elvis Presley The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show | February 18, 1956

March

Elvis Presley 1956 | March/June/July
Elvis Presley's 1956 Home | 1034 Audubon Drive, Memphis, TN

Elvis Presley The Lousinana Hayride | March 10, 1956
Elvis Presley The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show | March 17, 1956
Elvis Presley singing and playing gospel music | March 17, 1956
Jimmy Dean and Elvis Presley on the Jimmy Dean WMAL-TV Show, March 23, 1956
Elvis Presley The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show | March 24, 1956

April

May

Review | Elvis Presley at The New Frontier | Las Vegas SUN | May 1, 1956
Letter to the editor | Las Vegas SUN | May 12, 1956
Elvis Presley Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota | May 13, 1956
Elvis Presley May 14, 1956 | LaCrosse Wisconsin
Elvis Presley May 15, 1956 | Ellis Auditorium
Elvis Presley Detroit, MI. Fox Theater May 25, 1956
Elvis Presley Columbus, Ohio | May 26, 1956
Elvis, Scotty, Bill and DJ performed two shows at the UD Fieldhouse in Dayton | May 27, 1956
Elvis Presley Dayton, Oh., as Elvis left for Memphis | May 28, 1956
Elvis greeting fans at Los Angeles Airport, 1956

June

July

The Movies Of 1956

1956, Love Me Tender, Twentieth Century Fox

The Movies In Photos

Love Me Tender

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Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD

Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD

Never before have we seen an Elvis Presley concert from the 1950's with sound. Until Now! The DVD Contains recently discovered unreleased film of Elvis performing 6 songs, including Heartbreak Hotel and Don't Be Cruel, live in Tupelo Mississippi 1956. Included we see a live performance of the elusive Long Tall Sally seen here for the first time ever. + Plus Bonus DVD Audio.

This is an excellent release no fan should be without it.

The 'parade' footage is good to see as it puts you in the right context with color and b&w footage. The interviews of Elvis' Parents are well worth hearing too. The afternoon show footage is wonderful and electrifying : Here is Elvis in his prime rocking and rolling in front of 11.000 people. Highly recommended.

Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD Video with Sound.

Elvis Presley | LaCrosse Wisconsin | May 14, 1956

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