Rock 101: The Pelvis of Elvis

Everybody knows that when Elvis Presley was on TV the first time, on The Ed Sullivan Show, the cameras showed him only from the waist up. But like many of those things that 'everybody' knows, it ain't true. Presley's first television appearance was not on Sullivan, it was on Louisiana Hayride, a local TV show broadcast from Shreveport and seen throughout the South. Elvis had been a regular on the the show's radio version for several months before his TV debut in March 1955. It would be nearly a year before Elvis appeared on national TV, and even then, it wouldn't be on Sullivan. It was on Stage Show, hosted by swing bandleaders Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, and Elvis appeared four weeks in a row beginning in late January 1956. After a total of six Stage Shows, he would make two appearances on The Milton Berle Show in the spring.

As newspapers became aware of Presley during the first half of 1956, controversy erupted over the way he moved his hips while performing: writers called it "suggestive," "vulgar," and "difficult to describe in terms suitable to a family newspaper." In July, Elvis was scheduled to appear on The Steve Allen Show. After wobbling on the appearance, Allen went ahead with it, costuming Elvis in white tie and tails. Elvis looked fine singing I Want You, I Need You, I Love You, but then, Allen had him sing Hound Dog to a basset hound wearing a top hat.

Allen, a noted hater of rock and roll, claimed the staging was for comedic value. Presley fans didn't get the joke. The next day, a few picketed NBC's studios in New York, some carrying signs that said, "We want the real Elvis."

It would be September 1956 before Elvis appeared on the Sullivan show. For his first number, Don't Be Cruel, the camera did indeed stay tightly on him above the waist. It's unclear, however, whether this was done deliberately; during his second number, he was shown in full. When Elvis appeared on Sullivan a second time in October, he was shown in full. During his third appearance, in January 1957, he was again shot from the waist up. It seems odd that Sullivan might order such 'censorship' of Elvis after letting him go on two previous occasions, and there's some speculation that Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker, might have ordered it for the sake of publicity.

It's hard for viewers today to understand why Elvis' movements made adults so upset, living as we do in a world where we can see more suggestive dancing at a grade-school pageant. As evidence of the tectonic cultural shift that began with the birth of rock and roll, you can scarcely find better.