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hooked-on-elvis · 3 months

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ELVIS' DEBUT ON TV — 📺 [CBS] The Dorsey Brothers 'Stage Show'

Elvis with Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey at CBS Studio 50, New York, March 17, 1956 [that would be Elvis' 5th appearance on their TV show, out of 6 total.].

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By December 1955 Elvis had still not made an appearance on national television. His manager Colonel Tom Parker negotiated a deal through Steve Yates with CBS's "Stage Show" for four appearances on the show in January 1956 at $1,250 each and an option for two more at $1,500 each.

On the January 28, 1956, Elvis was broadcast for the nation for the very first time, performing "Shake, Rattle and Roll", "Flip, Flop and Fly" and "I Got a Woman".

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[ABOVE: the January 28th 1956 FULL PERFORMANCE]

On Elvis' first appearance on American television, Bill Randle, one of the most influential disc jockeys of the time, was the man who actually presented Elvis Presley to the nation. He said:

"We'd like at this time to introduce to you a young fellow, who like many performers, Johnnie Ray among them, come up out of nowhere to be overnight very big stars. This young fellow we met for the first time while making a movie short*. We think tonight that he's going to make television history for you. We'd like you to meet him now - Elvis Presley. And here he is!" — Bill Randle, Disc Jockey, the man presenting Elvis Presley to America for the first time. January 28, 1956.

After this, things would never be the same, specially the society. Such a good beginning for a year, that special day in a January month! ♥

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🎞️THE SHORT-FILM THAT NEVER SAW THE LIGHT OF DAY (for the general public... at least until now...)

The movie short Bill Randle referred to during his introduction to Elvis was "The Pied Piper Of Cleveland - A Day In The Life Of A Famous Disc Jockey" a short film made by Universal pictures about Bill Randle himself. Filmed on October 20th, 1955, at a concert in Brooklyn High School, Cleveland, it featured the stars Bill Haley & The Comets, The Four Lads, Pat Boone, plus the addition of a little-known Elvis Presley.

The original forty-eight-minute film was supposed to be cut down to a twenty-minute "short" for national distribution, but never made it that far. We're in 2024... 69 years went by since this shortcut was produced but the movie remains unreleased.

There is some dispute over whether or not this film actually exists, although it's said it was shown publicly, albeit only once in Cleveland, and excerpts were also aired on a Cleveland television station in 1956. Marshall Lytle, bass player for Bill Haley's Comets, corroborates the existence of the film in his memoir, "Still Rockin' Around the Clock", but he makes the unsubstantiated claim that Colonel Tom Parker, Presley's manager, bought the film and destroyed the existing copies. According to historians, tho, DJ Bill Randle, before his death in 2004, sold the rights to the film to PolyGram (it has been reported that Universal Studios has the negatives of the film in its vaults).

Much uncertainty about this short film, but can you imagine this film being release in Elvis' birthday centenary celebration? We watched, and listened, on Elvis' 89th birthday a few days earlier this year, to them playing during his birthday celebration at Graceland the original "That's All Right" record as it was cut at Sun Records studio in 1954, so who knows? There's always rare things surfacing here and there, so... we better keep our hopes this Bill Randle's 1955 movie, with some new 'baby Elvis' footage, will be release any day now [such as we know there's 'Elvis On Tour' and 'Elvis: That's the Way It Is' never seen before footage coming our way, as confirmed by the "Elvis" 2022 biopic's film director, Baz Luhrmann — finally! We hope it will be released soon].

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But enough daydreaming... Back to Elvis' 1st television appearances.

After the premiere on America's television on January 28th, 1956, Elvis would do five more appearances on 'The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show" for the next eight weeks. Those would take place on February 4, February 11, February 18, March 17 and March 24th, 1956.

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February 4th, 1956 | "Baby Let's Play House" and "Tutti Frutti"

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February 11th, 1956 | "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Heartbreak Hotel" *

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* This is a special arrangement for 'Heartbreak Hotel', so good! Jazzy, dramatic, really rarity. I loved this! ♥

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February 18th, 1956 | "Tutti Frutti" and "I Was The One"

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March 17th, 1956 | "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Heartbreak Hotel" *

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* This is the usual arrangement for the "Heartbreak Hotel" song. On February 11th, 1956, Elvis performed this same song onstage of 'The Dorsey Brothers Show' but it sounded something more… dramatic (I guess it matched the lyrics after all, but I love the usual arrangement better yet).

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And the last one... the 6th appearance on 'Dorsey Brothers Stage Show':

March 24th, 1956 | "Money Honey" and "Heartbreak Hotel" | [FULL PERFORMANCE]

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We can see how on those first TV shows Elvis still looks quite shy. Although he moves the usual lot, he doesn't flirt with his audience as much as he would on the upcoming TV appearances (and throughout his life, actually). It's funny how he grew comfortable with being in front of the cameras so fast tho. As his photographer Wiliam Speer said, "I guess you must really like being photographed."

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Elvis with Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey at CBS Studio 50 in New York, on March 17, 1956. That would be Elvis' 5th appearance on their TV show. 'The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show' (CBS) was the place Elvis debut in his TV appearances, on January 28th 1956. He would appear on the show for 6 times total, from January to March 1956. ♥

Performing on the 'Dorsey Brothers Stage Show' at the CBS Studio 50, New York City, on March 24th, 1956. His 6th and final appearance on the show.

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EDIT: THE BLUE MOON BOYS

I hate it when I forget to mention such important, trivial, facts — and this shouldn't be footnote info and I feel guilty it is now but I forgot mentioning — The Blue Moon Boys. I love them so much! I watch those footage looking at them as much as I look at Elvis.

Like, I love Bill Black's energy onstage! I love him hollering, vibing to their sound, as loud as Elvis (on occasion). I love how he seem to love chewing gum (Bill is chewing gum in some of those footage), because it makes me look at the Blue Moon Boys and Elvis as a unit, real close friend who look alike, just how it should be. We know although EP for obvious reasons can't chew gum while singing, he loooooved gum and kept this - should I say "habit?" - throughout his life. It's sounding silly what I'm saying, I know, but I think this Elvis habit in fact date from back when he was rocking onstage with Bill, Scotty and DJ Fontana and it makes my heart warm how close and similar they seem to be, as friends, real friends. Bill is actually said to be the one cheering the crowds onstage when they first begun performing, when Elvis was still learning how to be the great leading man he became. When EP was still learning how to act onstage, how to manipulate the audience, creating the mad passionate reactions he learned to create whenever he wanted, Bill was the one heating things up, joking with the audience, cheering, hollering. Bill is amazing! His energy is intoxicating, and we can see it clearly on those first TV appearances performances. ♥

I also love how hot Scotty Moore looks! I kinda laughed thinking 'Oh my goodness' ... So this thing about rock and roll bands always having hot vocalists and hot guitar players as a rule, it looks like it all started from the 50s with EP and Scotty! (really, at least the singer and guitar player in most rock bands are hot AF, am I lying? *lol*). I have a thing for Scotty... When he smiles at times on those footage, I'm like: 🤤🥹🥴🫠 And I also love how he's elegant but at the same time menacing looking holding and playing his guitar like the guitar hero he was. Really, if you haven't yet, do yourself a favor and read Scotty's book "THAT'S ALL RIGHT, ELVIS: The Untold Story of Elvis' First Guitarist and Manager, Scotty Moore", by Scotty as told to James Dickerson (1997). Scotty's life story is fascinating and as interesting as Elvis'. ♥

And last, but never least, I love how together, calm and concentrated DJ Fontana looks. Ok, unfortunately being the drummer has it's disadvantages. We can't see DJ Fontana as much as we see the other boys onstage, but I listen to the songs until the very last minute and it's amazing how the music always has the closing, the important and dramatic ending, done by DJ's talented hands. I love that guy. ♥

Elvis Presley and The Blue Moon Boys were the best rock and rollers! I love their energy together. As much as I adore 70s Elvis onstage, the TCB Band, the Sweets Inspirations and all, if I only had one performance of Elvis' I could attend, just one to choose, I would go for - undoubtedly - the 50s ones, when those guys, The Blue Moon Boys and Elvis, were playing together.

That's Rock and Roll royalty. ✨👑 ♥

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There you go. All the videos together so you can watch of them easily. ♥

#elvis for the first time on America television #imagine seeing this baby for the first time out of the blue and then watching him skyrocketing in less than a year...#and then testify as he only grew bigger and bigger and even when he's no longer walking in earth how people still love him #man how I wanted be an old lady just because i would have lived and breathed Elvis Presley 🥹#all i can do is imagine #elvis the king #elvis #elvis presley #the blue moon boys #bill black #scotty moore #DJ fontana #Youtube #elvis fans #elvis fandom #elvis history #50s elvis #tv history #tv shows

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numnum-num · 7 months

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"Brideshead revisited" starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews (1980)

#wiedersehen mit brideshead #brideshead revisited #evelyn waugh #jeremy irons #anthony andrews #venice #venedig #tv history #gay history #lgbtq history #lgbt history #bright young people #bright young things #vintage fashion #male fashion #male style #architecture

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vintagegeekculture · 1 year

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Prolific 70s-80s television actor Theodore Martin McGinley has a dubious reputation as “the Patron Saint of Shark Jumping” and “the killer of television shows.”

You see, Ted McGinley was usually added to a long-running and venerable show’s cast well into the show’s run, in later seasons, right when they run out of steam creatively and continue unecessarily. In these cases, Ted appears on dying shows like the Grim Reaper himself. Ted McGinley joining the cast can usually be identified as the exact moment the show jumped the shark, as he did as a later season cast addition on such TV classics as Happy Days, Dynasty, the Love Boat, and Married With Children.

What gets even more impressive is that his appearance serving a harbinger of doom for television shows continued well into the 2000s. His run of guest appearances on both the West Wing and the Practice coincided at just the precise moment when the consensus of most long term viewers was that the shows had gone on a bit too long. Ted McGinley is, in that respect, like the gods Mercury or Anubis, a psychopomp who’s duty is to guide a dying show to the next world.

#ted mcginley #shark jumping #tv history

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arconinternet · 10 days

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Jenny and the Fuzzy Avengers 1 & 2 (Videos, 1985/1988)

You can watch them here, and you can read an article about them here.

@skinslip @hystpod

#internet archive #video #videos #weird videos #short film #short films #weird movies #public access #tv history #television history #puppet #puppets #puppetry #yakima #washington #washington state #1985 #1988

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wordfromoursponsor · 11 months

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“There just isn’t any privacy any more around here since I bought that new television set” (1949)

#retro #vintage #cartoon #vintage cartoon #TV #1940s #black and white #old tv #tv history

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madsworld15 · 25 days

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Why Queer as Folk (2000) Was Seemingly Forgotten

An analysis by a professional TV Critic

Let me start off by saying the initial run of Queer as Folk and its current resurgence can be represented by this mantra by Brian Kinney: There are two kinds of straight people. The ones who hate you to your back and the ones who hate you to your face.

The initial run of QAF coincides with the first half of the statement: hate behind your back.

So, recently I started thinking about how in the early 2000s, Queer as Folk seemed to be on a trajectory of going down in TV history. Then, seemingly just as quickly, people stopped talking about it. So much so that by the time I finished watching it in 2009, I only got a few good months of chatter on social media platforms (Twitter mostly) with other fans before it just stopped being talked about in a wide-reaching manner.

I will even admit that I stopped thinking about the show not long after that and wasn't reminded of its full impact on my psyche until late last year when it was back on easy-access streaming due to Showtime's merge with Paramount+.

But why is it that this show is only just now starting to pick up speed again? (I'm talking fan cams on TikTok, memes, etc.)

I have some theories about all of this, so buckle in.

To really get a grasp of what Queer as Folk was working against when it aired on Showtime -- a paid subscription channel back before the days of an overabundance of streaming services, you have to look at the climate we were living in. Also, how inaccessible a paid TV channel was for most people.

So, in the early 2000s, life in the United States, and probably the world, but I'm not fully educated enough to comment on that, wasn't the greatest for those in the LGBT+ community. It would be years before the President of the United States would pass legislation that Gay Marriage be legal nationwide.

Employers were able to fire people for being gay, and the employees couldn't fight it. Gay parents had very little in terms of rights to their own children; in fact, some couldn't even adopt the kids they wanted to because there were no laws against discrimination.

All of these things are depicted left and right throughout Queer as Folk, with Ted getting fired from his job, Michael being extremely closeted at his job, and Melanie not being afforded rights to Gus because of adoption regulations during that time.

So, for our community to receive a show that was by us for us, we were overjoyed. There was something so resolutely refreshing about the unapologetic manner in which these characters were allowed to present themselves and live their lives. And while the show gets dinged today for its lack of racial diversity, we were glad to see queer people represented in a variety of ways -- we got to see the Emmett's and Justin's of the world being friends with the Ted's and Michael's and Brian's.

Not only that, these characters got to love who they wanted, however, they wanted, and whenever they wanted. Characters like Michael and Emmett could go from wanting to freely fuck whoever to finding that special person and settling down. We got to see Ted find the right guy at the wrong time over and over and over again until it was finally the right guy at the right time.

But most of all, we got to see a character like Brian, who, in the hands of a straight person, might've actually gone "soft" and "domestic" just by being with Justin. Instead, we got to see him never change his opinion about what he wanted, but still finding love in his own way.

However, not long after the show ended (like around 2008), the climate in the United States started to shift more towards open acceptance of the queer community. So, people stopped needing an escape from the hardships of real life because things seemed to be on an upward trend toward love and equality. Therefore, Queer as Folk sort of fell off the radar of viewers because we didn't want more of the gritty, complicated, messy queer stories. We wanted our stories to be happy and lighthearted.

(Keep in mind I am speaking in terms of general viewers. There are always exceptions to the rule)

Then, in 2016, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, and suddenly, it was totally okay for people to openly mock us and hate us.

This is where the resurgence of QAF falls into the second half of Brian's mantra: hate us to our face.

Around 2016/2017, people started talking about this show again. And the love and fervor for it has only increased exponentially over the last few years, especially with the onset of COVID-19 and the merging of Showtime/Paramount+. Both events made the public more aware and able to access the show.

Now more than ever, we need something that isn't afraid to show queer people as we are, not as the media and those outside our community paint us. We need to feel like there is a media format that understands what we are like when we are with our closest friends. We say things that, in today's world, would probably get us canceled, and we judge those around us and have very biased opinions about certain people.

Brian Kinney's unapologetic "I am who I am and fuck anyone who tries to change me" attitude is the exact level of strength and courage we wished more people right now had. His biased, but not illogical, opinion of non-queers needs to be loud. It needs to be shouted from the rooftops because we now live in a world where we are hated just for existing as we are.

Even our rights that had been given to us just a decade ago are being stripped away from us once more. So, the fight for love and equality continues, and the hope that Queer as Folk gives us is important now more than ever.

So, people are seeking this story out and are begging others in the world to watch it and understand that we have always been here. We've always been these flawed but loving characters. We deserve to be heard.

In 2022, Peacock tried its best to create a redo of the series but failed miserably. But why? If we are desperately looking for queer media that is gritty, unapologetic, and real, then why didn't we latch onto this latest iteration?

The answer is simple. This new version was great at creating a more diverse image of the characters created for the Showtime series but failed to understand that recreating things almost note for note with entirely new characters isn't what we want.

It would've been better if the show stuck to broad-stroke themes and made these characters and their experiences their own. Queer today is different than queer in the early 2000s, just like queer in the 2000s was different than queer in the 1980s. Trying to put queer 2000s stories into a queer 2020s world isn't going to work.

We need to embrace this resurgence of Queer as Folk (2000) and give it the love and attention it should've always had. Perhaps finally giving its rightful due in the eyes of the history of queer media. Does it have its issues as the world changes? Absolutely, but we also can't sit here and deny the insane level of impact this show had on the queer media we now know and love.

We wouldn't have casually queer shows like Schitt's Creek, Heartstopper, and Our Flag Means Death if Queer as Folk hadn't broken down our walls and made us realize that we can demand stories for queer people by queer people.

#queer as folk #brian kinney #justin taylor #emmett honeycutt #ted schmidt #michael novotny #TV retrospective #TV history #queer history #looking at QAF from the lens of social queer climates then and now #opinions of a professional TV critic

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thegirlsarethriving · 11 days

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This is the greatest long-con in television history.

Please watch I Woke Up A Vampire. Two whole seasons led up to this long-anticipated scene and THIS is what she says. Legendary. Iconic.

#rickroll #memes #I woke up a vampire #netflix #Netflix memes #tv tropes #april fools #trolls #iwuav #tv history #meme #never gonna give you up #never gonna let you down #never gonna run around and desert you #never gonna make you cry #never gonna say goodbye #never gonna tell a lie and hurt you #rick astley

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millionmovieproject · 7 months

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Happy Buster's B-Day, everyone!! Here's an animation I made a few years back commemorating his most famous film, The General.

Remember, you can still see Oh Buster, Where Art Thou? for free on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/GxL_d_2bbts and the companion book, Another New World (part 1), comes out November 25th.

I'll also have a new live show tomorrow night 8pm est talking Buster and my upcoming projects.

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railwaysparrow · 6 months

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"Thomas is a tank engine. With six small wheels, a short stumpy boiler. A short stumpy funnel and a short stumpy dome!"

Happy 39th Anniversary to the TV Adaption of Thomas the Tank Engine!

#ttte #trainz #thomas the tank engine #thomas and friends #1989 tv #tv shows #tv history #kids show #railway series #anniversary

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alex99achapterthree · 9 days

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TV History...

Did you know that Raquel Welch auditioned for the part of "Mary Ann" on Gilligan's Island? She was turned down for being "too sexy" and the part went to Dawn Wells...

... who many people now consider VERY sexy!.

#tv #TV History

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detroitlib · 11 months

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View of actor Jim Brown and Phyllis Diller on "The beautiful Phyllis Diller show." Label on back: "NBC Television. Exclusive to you in your area. Now, now -- Jim Brown, ex-football star with the Cleveland Browns now a successful actor, admonishes Phyllis Diller in a comedy sketch when he guests on "The beautiful Phyllis Diller show" Sunday, Dec. 9 (10-11 p.m. PST & EST; 9-10 p.m. CST) in color on NBC-TV. Phyllis Diller, Jim Brown. The beautiful Phyllis Diller show, Sunday, Dec. 8."

E. Azalia Hackley Collection of African Americans in the Performing Arts, Detroit Public Library

#jim brown #phyllis diller #1970s #seventies #football #nbc #tv #television #television history #tv history #vintage television #detroit public library

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numnum-num · 1 year

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#brideshead revisited #tv history #television #television series #evelyn waugh #male style #male fashion #gay movies #gay life #gay love #teddy bear #teddy #jeremy irons #anthony andrews #80ies

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vintagegeekculture · 1 year

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I was actually just thinking of a variation on the Escaped Nazi plot thanks to rereading a few different series’ TVTropes pages and that is the “Escaped Nazi specifically hiding out in the guise of a Holocaust survivor” and while I’m sure that specific variation predates the Magnum P.I. episode “Never Again, Never Again” which is I think the earliest I’ve personally seen that variation, I am 99% certain that the CSI: NY episode “Yahrzeit” has got to be one of the last instances that was a then-contemporary set piece of media. Curious if anyone knows how common or uncommon of a variant that is, cuz it honestly feels like a really misguided plot idea so I kind of hope the reason I haven’t seen it as often is because it’s genuinely not common.

That specific plot comes from a great stage play called "The Man in the Glass Booth" from 1971, which was widely seen and influential. It's about a Nazi prisoner who is captured and sent to Israel, awaiting the death penalty for war crimes. The longest serving actor in this play was none other than Leonard Nimoy.

When he is a prisoner, instead of being conciliatory, he is defiant, gloating over his crimes and genocide and taunting his captors. He refuses to apologize and dares his captors to execute him, not particularly caring about his own life. Nearly everyone sent to interact with him is convinced he is the very incarnation of evil and without any redeeming qualities. It must have been a shock to see a man best known as the ethical and stoic Mr. Spock as a sneering, taunting, haranguing villain.

But in the third act, there's a twist. An old woman identifies him. She says that while he was at a death camp, he was actually a Jew. You see, he hoped that in their heated frenzy to condemn him right away, they would eventually realize they were executing an innocent man. it was also implied, particularly by Nimoy's performance, that he had survivor's guilt, and wanted to die at some level with everyone else and was ashamed to be alive when others were not.

To understand TV of the 50s-80s, you have to look at theater. Even more so than cinema, and this play is a great example of this. Theater and early TV had similar limitations in terms of sets and action and camera flexibility, and which TV imitated far more than movies. With the fixed camera, TV in the beginning was more of an actor's medium than it presently is, (cinema of course is a director's medium). "The Man in the Glass Booth" was not only the inspiration for a number of TV episodes, since like many plays, it had minimal sets and so could be duplicated cheaply for drama.

In fact, it specifically inspired a Star Trek episode, "Duet," which is generally considered the best episode of Deep Space 9 (or at least among them).

#leonard nimoy #theater #tv history

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