Remembering the Elvis Presley’s fabulous 1950s

February 13, 2021 to everyone! Remembering the Elvis’ fabulous 1950s. Once upon a time in Minneapolis, MN. The Golden Boy King was there. The date was: Sunday, May 13, 1956. The place was: The Minneapolis Auditorium. Through some press reviews of the time, as well as the memories of people who attended this historic event. In addition of photos that I have customized by changing quality, resized and writing on, i invite you for a trip back in time to relive this fabulous era in the career of the phenomenon Elvis.

On May 13, 1956, Elvis, Scotty, Bill and DJ made their first and only appearance at the Minneapolis Auditorium. It was however, their second appearance in the Twin Cities that day, the first played that afternoon in St. Paul. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that 4,000 persons, only slightly less exuberant [than St. Paul], screamed and squealed through Presley’s evening show in the Minneapolis auditorium. Will Jones of the Tribune, at the time a morning paper, reviewed the appearances in his column on the TV Page as follows:

After Last Night, By Will Jones: Squeals Drown Presley’s Songs: Elvis Presley, young bump-and-grind artist, turned a rainy Sunday afternoon into an orgy of squealing in St. Paul auditorium. He vibrated his hips so much, and the 3,000 customers squealed so insistently at the vibrations, it was impossible to hear him sing. None of the smitten seemed to care. The crowd was much smaller than expected. Presley faced a sea of empty seats. When the noise started, however, even the empty seats seemed to be screaming. Presley wore a Kelly green jacket, tight blue trousers, and, disappointingly, black leather shoes. He only sang “Blue Suede Shoes.” (I couldn’t actually hear him sing it, because of the squeals. A girl in tight pink slacks assured me that’s what it was.) Uniform for the Day: Pink Slacks: Tight pink slacks were almost a uniform among the fans.

Tight white slacks and tight black slacks were popular. Presley was wearing tight black jeans and a black silk shirt when he arrived at the auditorium. A dozen policemen marched him into his dressing room. Then he stood around with his hands in his jeans posing for pictures and talking with reporters. He smiled a faint, half-sneering kind of smile at times. He didn’t look nearly so tortured or pouty as he does in most published photographs. His brown hair doesn’t appear so dark, either. He has pimples all over the back of his neck, a few on his chin, and a number of nervous facial mannerisms. The most intriguing is the repeated rapid puffing of a single cheek. His long eyelashes have a Valentino-like mascaraed look. “Any advice for all your girl friends?” asked a TV reporter. “Well, that’s a pretty stiff question,” said Presley. “I have one word for ’em – ‘Hi.’ ” People kept handing him pictures and slips of paper to autograph. His right cheek twitched each time he signed an autograph.

His Record Firm Is ‘the Biggest’. A radio interviewer asked him about his record successes. “I switched to Victor because that’s the biggest company there is,” drawled Presley. “You 19 or 21?” asked another. “I’ve heard both.” Elvis took a moment to compose himself after the Minneapolis show. “Twenty-one,” answered Presley. “Wish ah was 19.” Presley came here from Memphis, Tenn., his home. He’s been so busy he hasn’t had a chance to get home for awhile. He got a few free days by surprise after he flopped at a Las Vegas night club. They replaced him with a girl singer. The older customers in Las Vegas just didn’t dig him. I asked Presley about his movie plans. He’s been signed for one picture a year for seven years by producer Hal Wallis. “I was asked to do one of the leading parts in ‘The Rainmaker’ with Burt Lancaster,” he said. “A young kid, lovesick, real shy. I mean, he wasn’t real shy. Real jolly.

Real happy, real jolly, real lovesick. It wasn’t like me. “I took this screen test where I came in and was real happy and jolly and I didn’t like it. I did this other one where I was mad at this girl, and I liked that better — it was me.” He’s Against Any ‘Excess Actin’: As he talked, he gently stroked the hand of a pretty girl who was standing beside him waiting for an autograph. “Mr. Wallis asked me what kind of a part I’d like, and I told him one more like myself, so I wouldn’t have to do any excess actin’. So he’s havin’ somebody write one for me like that.” I asked him who was to play the girl in “The Rainmaker.” “Katharine Hepburn,” he said, “if you wanna call her a girl.” The policemen let a few lucky girls at a time into the dressing room for autographs. One who came in had a haircut just like Presley’s. Another one brought him a flattened greasy popcorn box to sign. He had a way of whipping up the crowd at the start of a song by playing a few introductory notes, stepping to the microphone, and then singing nothing. Squeals! Another pause, another false start, more squeals, and then finally the song.

The Mob Screams, Closes In: When he wanted silence to announce a number he held up a hand in the traditional platform gesture — but a double-jointed thumb twitched as he held the hand aloft. In moments of public passion, he clutched the microphone to his forehead. He ended up limp and sweating and loped off the stage half-staggering. The mob screamed and ran for him. The police marched him to a waiting car. A young, beautiful, well-dressed, highly-made-up blonde tried to get in the car with him. The police barred her. “I’m a member of his company!” she cried. “I belong with him! Stupid police!” Presley got away. The blonde walked around in the rain complaining while the rain made a soggy mess of her hair. The Minneapolis Tribune TV Page – May 14, 1956. Suzie Olson, was one of the girls who was photographed getting autographs backstage. The photo with her has been published at times over the years and most recently responded to an article by Ben Welter of the Star Tribune. She wrote, “I thought you might be interested to know that I’m one of the girls in the Elvis photo. In fact, I may be the only living person left in that photo. The girl standing closest to Elvis is Timi Anderson, then myself, next to me is Dede Smith, who is responsible for getting us all backstage for the concert, and the girl on the far right is Anna Skarning, the promoter’s daughter. “Timi, Dede and I all knew each other and went to St. Louis Park Junior High School. Dede and I were 14 years old and were best friends, Dede and Timi were neighbors and I believe Timi was 13 at the time.

I have no idea how much the ticket cost. I think Dede must have purchased them. I remember waiting out in the pouring rain for hours before we were allowed in. Then it was a mad stampede to get seats. Dede’s mother was a free lance writer and Dede was following in her footsteps and had a part time job writing for the local Sun Newspaper. She was the one who bugged the promoter to get us back stage which happened very shortly after the mad stampede.” The boys had just completed their appearances the previous week in Las Vegas and were now touring with a six-act variety show that, in addition to the Jordanaires, also included Irish tenor Frank Connors, the Flaim Brothers and Rick Flaim and his Orchestra. Though the reviews in the papers seemed to focus mainly on the St. Paul appearance, the most critical one of the shows came a week later from another deejay in attendance, Bill Diehl. Diehl had been a movie columnist in the area since 1948, and also a radio and movie host on local TV. In his column a week after the shows he wrote what he titled as an “Open Letter To Elvis Presley:” Open Letter To Elvis Presley: By Bill Diehl,Motion Picture Editor. OPEN LETTER to Elvis Presley: Dear Elvis: Last Sunday we met you for the first time. Remember Sunday? It was a day of disappointments.

The weather was disappointing. Your crowds both at the St. Paul and Minneapolis auditoriums were disappointing (a Twin Cities total of something like 25,000 was expected and the combined total was only about 6,000). And Elvis, we’re sorry to say it, but your act was disappointing. This column has been quite a booster of yours. And we’re not giving up on you. Yet. We liked you because you dared to be different. and we liked you because we heard you didn’t drink or smoke. Knowing you were idolized by millions of kids, we thought you were setting a fine example. Oh, we heard grown-ups make cracks about your sideburns but so what? And we heard that you looked like “one of those hoodlums.” Again, so what? Maybe the kids would let their sideburns grow, but also in setting an example — didn’t smoke and drink, maybe eventually the kids would ape you that way, too. And you’d accomplish something. So we said, okay, come on, Elvis! We saw you, talked to you and were impressed by your courtesy and consideration and poise in the dressing room.

You were generous with autographs and interviews. Your fingers showed no yellow stains, so we assume the stories about your not smoking are true. Your hair was long, sure, but neatly groomed. Even your fingernails were reasonably clean. Yes, you had pimples as some people cracked, but many at your age do. (I might be getting one on the end of my nose right now!) But then, Elvis, we saw your act. And we were, in a word, disappointed. Somebody, probably an adult, has told you to wriggle around when you sing. Your actions, Elvis, were “low.” And you don’t have to be like that, boy. Your records are selling like crazy to kids who have never seen you but who like your singing style . . . free and uninhibited. On stage, Elvis, you were nothing but a male burlesque dancer. Your gyrations were straight from strip-tease alley. Happily, you did leave your clothes on. Now, you flopped in Las Vegas because you were playing to adults who don’t dig you. some calculating adult booked you in there — and he was pushing you. You got the bounce. Do you wonder why flops No. 2 in St. Paul and No. 3 in Minneapolis happened? Oh, they’ll blame the weather and Mother’s Day and anything else. We’ve been asking around, though, and I’ll tell you one big reason: Moms and Dads had seen you on TV and didn’t like your unnecessary bump-and-grind routine. If more Moms and Dads had seen you, I bet not even the scattered 6,000 would have turned up. You disillusioned many of your fans needlessly. You set a fine example with your courtesy and by not smoking and not drinking. Why, Elvis, do you resort to your “Pelvis Presley” routine? You’d better drop it before more and more people drop you.

Of course, there’ll always be a few crackpots to screech: “Oohhh, Elvis” when you do your hip-wriggle bit. But by now you should know that in show-biz nothing grows in dirt. Clean it up and you’ll really clean up. Hopefully, Bill Diehl, St. Paul Pioneer Press May 20, 1956. Needless to say, most of the fans were not in agreement with the reviews. Suzie also wrote, “Watching the concert from back stage was such a surreal experience. I remember thinking that he was unlike any 21 year olds I had ever come in contact with. He didn’t seem at all adult, and at the same time very adult. I’m sure it had something to do with how sexy he was. I didn’t really take it all in until the next day. Of course when we went back to school on Monday nobody would believe us that we had been back stage. That is, until the Parade Magazine came out 2 Sundays later.

Then we were celebrities. And continue to be every time the picture is printed (about once every 10 years). The picture even turned up in another class yearbook that was remade for a 1968 reunion yearbook a few years ago. “I never imagined that Elvis would continue to become such an icon. And yes, I’m still a fan. At one time I even had an autograph on a program from the event and I threw it out because it was such a bad scrawl that it was illegible. I’ve been kicking myself ever since.” Diehl also reported that “the promoter who brought Elvis to the Twin Cities had to pay out a reported $15,000 to get the singer – and he lost a bundle.” Though T. B. Skarning may not have profited as hoped from the bookings he would continue to book and promote tours of such, including Wanda Jackson later that summer and Buddy Holly in the years after. While in Minneapolis Elvis and the boys got to visit again with Texas Bill Strength. They had shared several dates with Bill around Memphis and elsewhere, the last of which was the previous November, weeks before Elvis signed with RCA. In addition to performing and recording on Capitol Records, Bill had previously been a DJ at KWEM in West Memphis. On November 13, 1955 Bob Neal dedicated his Western Jamboree at Ellis Auditorium to Bill who was leaving for KEYD in Minneapolis.

The tour took the boys to La Crosse Wisconsin the next day where they played two shows to capacity crowds of about the same size. They were back in Memphis the day after for a show, the boys then played in Little Rock, Springfield Missouri, Wichita Kansas, Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, Topeka Kansas, Des Moines and Sioux City Iowa, Kansas City Missouri, Detroit, Columbus before completing briefly in Dayton, Ohio. The following month the show was off to Oakland California after which Elvis would make his second and most controversially reviewed appearance on the Milton Berle show.

Elvis, at least, would be through the Twin Cities and stop briefly the following year while traveling by train from Chicago to appearances in the Northwest. He would speak of “the riotous greetings he received in Minneapolis” but no reports of it was found in the local papers. Bill Diehl, as disappointed as he was with Elvis’ show, would also ride the rock ‘n roll band wagon that year doing a top 40 radio show on WDGY. He would later emcee many bands and book in the Midwest. He would also be instrumental in bringing the Beatles to Minneapolis in 1965, promoting the event with phone-ins with George Harrison’s sister Louise. In contrast to Elvis’ appearance, he actually defended the Beatles against bad publicity they received there. If you have any other memories to share, leave a comment on my post. Thanks for reading! See you next time and another Elvis story. Elvisly yours, Lanani. MMXXI. My fb.: https://www.facebook.com/memphis.memories1965. For more fun, i invite you to join my own group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lanani.remembers.elvis.