September 9, 1956 Elvis Presley made his television debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. I was fourteen, but, unlike most teenagers, hadn’t yet caught up with the new rock-n-roll frenzy.
I had heard Elvis on the radio singing something about a houndog and blue suede shoes. The guitars, determined to drown him out, tied my nerves in knots. Rumor was that he danced vulgar when he sang. No, I didn’t like this Elvis guy, but I couldn’t wait to see him on TV.
For the younger generation, Ed Sullivan was an old man with a prune face and bent shoulders. He didn’t have a neck. Every Sunday evening an hour before church, he walked on stage with folded arms and spoke to a live audience. “Tonight we have a reeelly big show,” he’d say. Perhaps his amateur hour was the granddaddy of American Idol.
Elvis appeared on our fifteen inch black and white screen like a flashing Fourth of July night sky. Bending his knees every which way and shaking his middle, girls screamed, cried, and fainted. I had to admit he was handsome, but oh my, that dance.
Daddy, who played folk music for years with guitar, mandolin, and fiddle shook his head and grimaced. “That’s not music.” I agreed.
But when he sang "Love Me Tender",I swooned.
