Happy and safe Saturday, April 5, 2025 everyone! Remembering the Elvis’s fabulous fifties. Once upon a time in Louisville, KY. The Golden-Boy-King was there. The date was: Sunday, Nov. 25, 1956, 8:00 p.m. The place was: Jefferson County Armory. Through some press reviews of the time, as well as the memories of people who attended this historic event. In addition of some pics that i have edited by changing quality and size with writing on, i invite you for a trip back in history to relive this fabulous era in the career of our unforgettable Elvis. In the Mid-50s the hysteria surrounding the phenomenon Elvis was UNBELIEVABLE as can be seen in the following text and pics. On Sunday, November 25, 1956 Elvis, Scotty, Bill and DJ made their second appearance in Louisville when booked to perform two shows at the Armory. They had performed a year earlier in the City at the Rialto theater in an unadvertised show show for Philip Morris employees at the Rialto Theater a few blocks away. By this time though, they were national news, had been on network television and Elvis had completed his first movie, due to be released days before the show, at the very theater they performed at the year before. While Love Me Tender may have been playing at the Rialto, it didn’t stop other businesses in town to capitalize on the excitement of the Elvis craze. While RCA was plugging the show and record sales down the street from the Rialto, the Ohio Theater across the street offered free 8 x 10’s to the first 500 adults to show up to see an Abbott and Costello double-feature. Gay’s department stores were giving a free ticket away to a show at the Armory with any purchase of $9.95 or more in addition to selling tickets to the shows. As excited as the fans were that Elvis was coming to Louisville, there were other factions that didn’t share in the enthusiasm and saw the occasion as cause for concern. Coincidentally, Bill Haley and the Comets were scheduled to appear at the State fairgrounds across town the same day as the Armory shows. They had received reports reputedly of rioting in other parts of the country as a result of “simultaneous” rock and roll performances. On November 7, the chief of the Louisville Police Department, Colonel Carl E. Heustis, contacted the regional F.B.I. field office in Louisville requesting any information on how to prevent any riots that might occur there, fearing a competition between Haley and Presley camps for “the attention of Rock and Roll fans.” The regional office contacted Washington and Hoover responded saying they had no more information on the riots and that they be “tactfully suggested” to consult with the local police chiefs where the riots supposedly occurred. It was not the first time, nor would it be the last, that the F.B.I. had been contacted regarding Elvis Presley. On November 14th, in an attempt at censorship and to thwart potential rioting, the chief announced that he was enforcing a “No Wiggle Ban” for Elvis’ appearance at the show. The report in the papers the next day read, A no-wiggle restriction has been placed on Elvis Presley’s appearance here Nov. 25. Police chief Carl Heustis said yesterday he wont permit “any lewd, lascivious contortion that would excite a crowd” when the long-sideburned, guitar-strumming singer comes to town. “As you can surmise,” the Chief said, “I just don’t happen to be one of his admirers.” Ultimately, portions of the matinee show at the Armory filmed (reputedly by the police and most likely as evidence in case Elvis violated his restrictions), unfortunately for posterity, without sound. The night before the Louisville shows, the boys had performed in Troy, Ohio. According to Lee Cotten, after driving all night, Elvis arrived in Louisville, Kentucky, and booked himself into the Seelbach Hotel. It did not take long before fans began roaming the corridors in search of their idol. At some point during the Louisville trip, Elvis visited with his grandfather, Jesse D. Presley, who lived in a small house in southern Louisville. When Elvis left, he gave his grandfather a new car, a television set, and a $100 bill. By that time, a crowd of 500 had gathered in front of the elder Presley’s home. Later, J. D. and his second wife attended Elvis’ matinee performance. When tickets for this show went on sale, mail orders came in from every county in Kentucky and more than 180 cities. Elvis was introduced on stage at the shows at the Armory by WKLO deejays Beecher Frank, and by his account, Pat Cowley. At that time WKLO was basically a country music station and Beecher Frank was the night disc jockey who played pop music and thus built a huge teenage audience. At the show, Beecher was presented with an award for his promotion of Elvis’ music in Louisville. Pat Cowley was hired as a backup to Frank in anticipation of his move to station WGRC. The reviews of the shows in Louisville’s paper the following day were as follows: Elvis Plays To Near-Capacity Crowds At Jefferson Armory: ON STAGE By Eugene Lees: Elvis Presley and about 15,000 dyed-in-the wool fans yesterday gave Louisville one of the most fascinating studies in mob psychology the city has ever had the questionable pleasure of witnessing. The event was of course, Presley’s appearance at Jefferson County Armory. Or rather, his two appearances, afternoon and evening. Elvis was preceded by a vaudeville-type show that included a magician, a balancing act and a male quartet-a very good quartet, if anyone bothered to notice, the Jordinaires. Plaque Awarded: Then came Beecher Frank, a disc jockey, who was awarded a plaque in Presley’s name for work in supporting the young singer from Memphis, Tenn. Frank referred to recent “newspaper articles” critical of Presley and said that in America, “it’s not the cultural commissars, not the social snobs,” who have the say in choosing stars, “but we the people.” “God bless America and God bless Elvis,” he cried, and introduced the singer. The north end of the armory went suddenly blazing white as kids fired flashbulb camera. So intermittent was the firing that it seemed a huge spotlight had been turned on. Simultaneously a roar went up that seemed sure to blast the walls from the armory. And Elvis appeared in a Kelly-green, neon-bright jacket. The small combo of musicians to accommodate him wore dazzling red. He stepped to the microphone. The teen-agers-girls far out numbered the boys-screamed. Elvis turned his head. They screamed again. He blew across the microphone (checking apparently if it was turned on.) The crowd screamed. He sang. But one couldn’t hear a word of it, though his hit tunes such as “Don’t Be Cruel,” were vaguely recognizable by by the dull chord changes behind Presley. Presley kept bumps and grinds to a minimum, in compliance with an order issued some days ago by Col. Carl Heustis, chief of police. But there were occasional hints of the pelvis manipulations that are credited, as much as anything, with making Elvis Presley a household word. And those really brought the house down. Girls of 14 and 15 would go glassy eyed, tense, and quiver all over before resuming their screaming. Observers who remember the Frank Sinatra fad inclined to think it exceeded, in more ways, even that. The Sinatra crowds lacked this sense of hysteria. Even at that, the Louisville crowd was described as more subdued than those the singer has encountered elsewhere.The crowds at both performances were near the Armory’s capacity. In the afternoon, there were 8311 present, with a few hundred seats left empty. At the evening show there were 8,349. Elvis came, he saw, he conquered – those that were there, at any rate. As Pogo would say, “Oog”. The Louisville Times – Nov. 26, 1956. Teen-agers Squeal, Flash Bulbs Pop as Elvis Sings and Emotes for Two Shows Here: Well Guarded, He Slips Away From His Fans: by Don Freeman: Teenagers deliriously squealed, the flash bulbs of shutterbugs shot off all over-the whole armory suddenly felt like the inside of a heavily pounded drum. Elvis Presley had sprung forth in all his glory, plus a green dinner-type coat and black slacks. Elvis-the ideal of every red-blooded American girl. He wheeled squeals out of his fans with 23 minutes of high emotion singing, then disappeared under heavy escort. Unable to corner him, fans did the next best things. A bevy of girls shriekingly touched the microphone he had used and some other girls kissed the palms of their hands after rubbing them over the stage dirt he hard trod, police said. how is a sellout: All this was at the matinee show yesterday. It drew a sellout crowd of 8500, armory officials said. Last night, by Armory count, Mr. Sideburns played to a crowd of 8349. The night crowd being more adult, was slightly more sedate, but Elvis was even livelier this time, wearing a satiny gold coat and shaking hands with two girls seated behind the stage. Police Chief Carl E. Heustis, who attended both shows as an observer and something of a cynic, said he generally was “well pleased” by the audience conduct. Girl Wants A Button: One exception, he said, was a 20-year old girl who offered police to get a button off Presley’s coat. three men were arrested before the afternoon show for drinking in a washroom and two Illinois girls were arrested at night on vulgarity charges. Heustis said Louisville’s relative success in controlling the enthusiasm of Presley fans was due largely to police and fire precautions. About 100 police and 60 ushers were on hand spreading cordons around the halls interior and exterior. Heustis said this was a record number of ushers, but not of police-there were more policemen at a Duke Ellington performance years ago, for instance. Presley drew a laugh from the crowd when he remarked good naturedly, “I never knew I had so many fans in the Louisville Police Department.” Wait Impatiently: The matinee crowd waited impatiently for Elvis through 75 minutes of tap-dances, impersonations, and the like. Then, as he made his advent the bottled -up emotions burst the cork out. He said, “Thank you,” and there were shrieks from the crowd. He panted briefly into the microphone. More shrieks. He got into the first notes of that relatively early hit, “Heartbreak Hotel.” Still more shrieks. Shoulders Hunch Up: Through the whole-hearted singing and half-hearted guitar strumming (he had rhythm band accompaniment), he’d hunch up his shoulders like a football tackle ready to leap. Or he’d stomp back and forth with the mike, his 6 foot frame firmly flexed, suggesting a Frankenstein’s monster. Every change of motion brought shrieks. By moving back and forth rather than sideways, Presley adhered to the strict rule that police officials had laid down with his agents. Sideward motions, the police felt would have been lewdly suggestive.The throng’s “eeeeeeeehs” and “ohhhs” were so insistent that Presley’s words usually were unintelligible even by his standards. But the voice came through, even if the words didn’t. Here was a clean voice, broad in range, sure in rhythm, and tender. And the Presley spirit came through too. Here was the Presley of fast modernism and shiny Cadillacs mixed with the Presley of boyish simplicity, the hobby of collecting teddy bears, and the cotton-country origins. Sings Recorded Hits: Here was a figure who seems both innocent and knowing, a 21 year-old who is both worldly and of the inner heart. That mixture of personality is part of his magic. He went through many of his recorded hits – knifing the air with his hands in “Don’t Be Cruel,” sinking his voice and even choking in “Love Me Tender,” pointing an accusing finger in his final number, “Houn’ Dog.” In honor of his Louisville grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Pressley, Elvis spells the family name with only one “S”, who were in the audience, he sang the type of hymn he had sung with his church going family in childhood – “Peace In The Valley.” Many adults who had come out of curiosity and to check the overexcitement of their children, listened with respect. A big help in preserving order was the mystic swiftness of Presley’s entrance and exit. A taxi whisked him to the Armory from a back door of the hotel where he had slept and breakfasted in near secrecy until due in the afternoon show. Before show time a few girls had managed to find out what floor of what hotel he was in. But two special bodyguards, Billie Joseph and Nick Pinto, kept them out of reach of Presley. After Elvis returned to the hotel, 100 girls followed him there, even looking for him in the basement. Again, no luck. Armory officials tried to avoid selling tickets to youngsters not chaperoned by parents. Except for the press and police, no one was allowed to stand in front of the stage. all rows of seats were corded together to keep them- and the sitters- from getting tossed around. Along with the other public and private gendarmes yesterday, there were volunteers who have been studying at Southern Police Institute – policeman from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Interviewed before his dash onstage Presley said of the criticism that has been leveled at him: “You’ve got to accept the criticism along with everything else, no matter who you are.” There were some, he noted, who didn’t like President Eisenhower or Adlai E. Stevenson. Asked if he thought if his artistic style contributed to juvenile delinquency, he answered, “I’ve never shot anybody or robbed anybody.” Does he plan to switch more from rock ‘n’ roll to the ballad type singing represented by “Love Me Tender?” “Well, I don’t know, sire.” he replied, pondering. “I’m just taking things as they come. I don’t want to switch anything as long as people like it. It’s if you’ve got a good complexion, you don’t put any make up on it.” With a chuckle he added, “That makes sense.” Presley had expected his parents to be here from Memphis, “but the folks got snowed in.” This, he noted, was not his first Louisville appearance. A year ago, he said, he did a show for employees of a cigarette firm here. “But there wasn’t too much mobbing then.” Presley’s big reputation had developed in the ensuing year. And as he good naturedly told yesterday’s turnouts, “You bring a lump – to my billfold.” Courier-Journal – Nov. 26, 1956. The Courier-Journal implied that Elvis’ performance of “Peace in the Valley” appeared to have won over some of the adults at the Armory show(s). It would have the same effect two months later on national viewers when he performed it on his last Ed Sullivan appearance. Ed would announce that Elvis was “a real decent fine boy.” The Armory shows completed the last of the tours for 1956 and the boys would only make only one more appearance that year, in December, to fulfill a final obligation to the Louisiana Hayride. If you have any other memories to share, please feel free to leave a comment on my post. Thanks for reading! See you next time and another Elvis’s story.