A STORY WORTH TELLING
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“I wanted to say to Elvis Presley and the country that this is a real decent, fine boy.”
— Ed Sullivan, during Elvis’ third appearance on his show, Jan. 6, 1957
I saw Elvis Saturday in Center. Saw him again Sunday. At church. Sort of, but that’s another story.
Saturday’s sighting was Elvis tribute performer Kraig Parker, who delivered an incredible show for the Shelby County Outreach Ministry fundraiser event. It was only fitting that Parker’s appearance was for an organization whose mission is to help the hungry and those in need. Elvis’s generosity toward those in need was almost as legendary as his singing.
Although a lifelong fan of the King of Rock and Roll, I never saw him in person during his Las Vegas years. But I think I did early in his career, performing in small towns across the South.
Seymour, some 54 miles west of Wichita Falls, was my home when I was in grade school. It was one of those small towns where everything was a couple of blocks from downtown, including our house and the high school gym where Elvis performed in the mid-1950s.
The teenage daughter of a family friend wanted to attend a country-music show at the gym with her friend. Permission was granted on the condition they take a couple of “the younger kids” who wanted to go — most likely to hinder any deal of meeting boys at the show.
I was one of the younger kids.
My memories include staying up late, loud music, some guy dressed in a brightly colored outfit singing and dancing all over the stage and girls screaming. Made no sense to my young mind.
Fast forward to 2003 and a call from Ernst Jorgensen. I recognized his name as the record executive who remastered Elvis’s songs into box sets and published books about his career. He said he was working on a book about early Elvis appearances and needed confirmation of an appearance in Mount Pleasant. He added that Jordanaires singer Gordon Stoker suggested he call me.
“Gordon says you’re from Mount Pleasant.”
“We didn’t move there until 1959,” I told him. “We were in Seymour during the time you’re talking about.”
Jorgensen responded, “Elvis was in Seymour, too. I’ll email you a copy of a newspaper clipping.”
The piece related a story about a “ Volunteer Fire Department sponsored
country music show at the Seymour High School with special guest star, Elvis Presley.”
Writer Doug Dixon, who attended the show, said, “The crowd was impatient to see Elvis, who was late. Every singer sang twice. Even the man who had taken our money at the door got up and sang.”
He said the M.C. finally admitted that Elvis wasn’t there, but that he would be soon. “Eventually, most of the audience left, grumbling about being ‘took.’ Only the hard-core Elvis fans remained,” the article related.
“Suddenly a girl screamed, ‘He’s here!’” Dixon described Elvis as “… wearing a fire engine red sport coat, bow tie, white shirt and blue trousers. Both coat and trousers were two sizes too large, so he could make his moves without ripping something. Elvis suddenly grabbed his guitar and broke into ‘That’s All Right Mama’… and the show was on.”
“Elvis shook, danced and twisted,” Dixon wrote, “as he sang one song after another … girls screamed, cried and several appeared to faint. The girl standing next to me moaned and slid to the floor and lay there jerking, as if she was having some kind of a seizure.”
Elvis explained, “We were booked into Miller Brothers over at Wichita Falls for a dance. We didn’t know about this booking until we got a phone call earlier in the evening. … some kind of mix-up.” He reportedly said he asked for a long intermission for a quick appearance in Seymour when they learned that fans were staying late. The problem was compounded, according to Elvis, when they ran out of gas just outside Seymour and had to hitchhike into town.
“Hectic man,” Dixon quoted Elvis as saying. “Real hectic.” Elvis also reportedly said they would appreciate someone taking them back to their car with some gas after the show, and that “… almost every girl in the house volunteered.”
So, was that Elvis I saw? Was my childhood memory from the night Elvis was in Seymour? There’s no way to ever know for sure. But I like to think so.
Oh yeah … last Sunday’s Elvis appearance? Just sayin’ for a friend, if you attempt to silently text someone something from Sunday’s church bulletin while at church, make sure the last thing opened on your phone is not videos of the previous night’s Elvis tribute concert.
Thank goodness the song was “How Great Thou Art.”
