That Fifties Music - THE INNOCENT ELVIS SONG That Shocked A 1956 TV Audience

[@jadakowers590]

Although the following has nothing to do with the story, Uncle Milty once singled my late mother out the an entire audience and told everyone how beautiful she was. At the time, she was in her 50s and his lovely compliment became much cherished. This video reminded me of his kindness to her. Thank you.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Wow. What a neat memory to have! Thank you so much for the view and comment! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel and videos with your friends!!

[@sapelesteve]

I was never an Elvis fan. However, as a Veteran, I admire him for his unselfish service to our country. He always wanted to be treated as just another guy serving in the armed forces. That was an excellent video Guitar Trooper! Well done, BRAVO! 👍👍

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Great to see you again! Thanks for the view! As always, please share this puppy for me!

[@jimlong20]

!Y YO TAM BIEN!,HE HAD MAYHAP THREE SONGS I LIKED BUT I LIKE THEM A LOT

[@Flerg3]

Those critics would have a field day with todays music

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ha! Good point. Thanks for the view! Please share for me!!

[@robertewalt7789]

Notice today’s musicians no longer appear on national network variety shows.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

@@robertewalt7789 The variety show genre is pretty well wiped out. The audience has so many other options now that variety shows have lost their appeal, hence, would not be an attractive venue for any act.

[@chrispope5230]

@@the_guitar_trooper And, unlike then, there are myriad entertainment outlets. None of them would have a market share comparable to any successful network broadcast. Milton Berle 40 million viewers was one-fourth of the population of the U.S. in 1956. Popular music in particular has become so balkanized that it would take a rare talent like Taylor Swift to have broad appeal. *thinking* But, like Elvis, her roots are in country music, so that might be bucking the trend towards babelism in the music world. On the Ed Sullivan show 3 months later (9/9/56), 60 million Americans watched. They finessed the "Elvis the Pelvis" style by only showing him above the waist. These days, only the Super Bowl pulls in a comparable fraction of viewers. But by the time a performer lands a gig there, they already are superstars. Thank you for this show! 🎼🎶

[@BryanTorok]

@@chrispope5230 You made several of the comments I was about to make and answered the questions I was about to ask, the date of the Ed Sullivan show. For some reason, I thought it was in 1962, Perhaps that was a different appearance. Several cable channels (MeTV, Olympic, NBC Golf) have been playing excerpt shows from the Ed Sullivan Show (Ed Sullivan's Rock 'n Roll Classics).

[@gns423]

The hit version of ‘Hound Dog’ was recorded a month after the June 5th Berle show. It was recorded, along with its flip side, ‘Don’t Be Cruel’, on July 2nd at RCA Victor’s studio in New York City. It was released later in July. Therefore, the only version Elvis and his band were performing was the live version.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Fair enough. You’re absolutely right!

[@gns423]

@@the_guitar_trooperLove your videos!👍

[@the_guitar_trooper]

@@gns423 Love ya back! Thanks a MILLION!! Please share them for me!

[@gns423]

@@the_guitar_trooperI sure will

[@chrismurnane6389]

Thanks a lot Trooper 😊 l turned 8 years old on the 3rd of April 1956 and it wasn't long after that l heard Elvis for the first time. But it was Jail House Rock that Jumped out of the Radio and Grabbed Me! I was hooked!!! I have always preferred his pre army music and visuals and have had Side burns ever (when they finally grew, ten years later) accept when l did my stint in the Australian army 1970 71.😊

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks for the view and the post, Chris! Please share the videos for me!!

[@8stringswildoo]

Very cool story, thanks for posting!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you enjoyed it! And THANK YOU for watching!! Please help me spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel and videos with your friends!!

[@danieljstark1625]

Fascinating! Perfectly presented. Nice.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thank you kindly, Daniel! Please share the channel and videos for me!!

[@grahampaulkendrick7845]

Vulgar? That's sort of the point of rock'n'roll music! Great hitory, Mr.Trooper, sir!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hay Graham! Thanks as always! Share this puppy for me please!!

[@grahampaulkendrick7845]

@@the_guitar_trooper Will do.

[@jimlong20]

NOT VULGER, BREAKING THRU BARRIORS

[@tpatrick44]

Great Job as usual GT! The Colonel was quite the Promoter! RIP Elvis!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks as always, Tim! Please share this puppy for me!

[@tpatrick44]

@@the_guitar_trooper Ok! No problem 😉

[@Music_is_Breathing]

This is absolutely riveting!!!! I think this is the best video yet!!!! And I don't even like Elvis. Your delivery and the way you told the story was fun and exciting. Wowza!!!!!!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Wow, thank you! We’ll see how it does.

[@dickjohnson1158]

You don’t like Elvis ? WOWZA .

[@Music_is_Breathing]

@@the_guitar_trooper I think you will easily hook more than a few subscribers!

[@toddthedrysocket]

I didn't see this show - my family watched the Phil Silvers Show - but I heard about it on the playground the next day - I was eight. As a soap opera my mother liked would say, "These are the days of our lives." You have a great show.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hey, THANKS for watching, Todd! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel link and the videos with your friends!!

[@williampotter2098]

Just recently found you. Your research and story-telling are terrific. You have a great, presence with true gravitas. I'll be back !

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Welcome aboard! Thanks A MILLION for watching and for the kind words! I hope that you subscribed with notifications turned on!

[@nick_vee]

Hi, Trooper. I was just recommended this video by KZbin and immediately subscribed to the channel. Great stuff! Gonna go and watch some more. Also loved you in that Pixar “UP” movie you did with the kid and the dog. Take care!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Welcome aboard! And THANKS for taking the time and trouble to watch! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the video!!

[@michaelcolllett9082]

Enjoyed history lesson,as like collect music for vintage music collection, my parents got married in 1957 and I born in 1958,looking for next video

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hey - Thanks a MILLION for the view and the comments! Please help me spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel and the videos!

[@99RiverSt]

Well done presentation, thank you. The 'shock' value of the performance was, as the Colnel predicted, the trigger to EP's national launching. As has proven since, in so many ways, the theory works. This 'is' Rock Roll.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

No matter what one may think of the Colonel, it is almost impossible to ignore his instincts for show biz. Thanks for the view!!! And PLEASE share this video and the channel for me!!!

[@99RiverSt]

@@the_guitar_trooper True about the Colnel. Would never have worked with the conservative Hank Snow, or the reticant Eddy Arnold, Ya see the shot, ya take it.

[@MartysPopParty]

Nice detail. It’s great you are preserving these detailed stories for future generations. Hope they’ll still be interested in years to come because this is where all the rebellious rock started to become mainstream. With “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana well surpassing a billion plays on YT, from one “old guy” to another, these stories deserve plenty of recognition regardless of how old they are due to their historical significance in the big picture of Rock and Roll.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks for watching, Marty!

[@jimlong20]

AN ENTERTAINING AND INFORMATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE....... THANX

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you enjoyed it, Jim! THANKS SO VERY MUCH for the view and kind words! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel and videos with your friends!!

[@fredfox3851]

Those suits in charge were squaresville, daddio. It certainly was a more reserved (stifled) time back then.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Completely different. And popular American TV shows also showed the strong Dad/weak Mom family model (The Nelson’s, Father Knows Best, Donna Reed Show, etc. etc. )

[@humboldthammer]

No kidding. My divorcee' mother -- an RN -- was corruption incarnate for the girls still in the pews. Not only was she a Career Woman, but she was adultery waiting to happen. "Not with our men and boys. Not in our church." At least one church elder suggested that since the marriage was void -- then the children are bastards, and must be excluded from the congregation for ten generations, as the sins of the Father are revisited upon them. I was only 4 in 1956. I had to ask a lot of questions before I realized how Ignorant those church elders were. So MANY so Horribly taught.

[@davidb2206]

@@the_guitar_trooper In other words, the two-parent traditional family model that had worked for 500,000 years. Not the "new" marxist model designed to destroy the American and Western families, which it has DONE. Feminism was promoted by Stalin and the Soviet Union since the 1920's, and then was heavily promoted in the 1960's by Steinem, Friedan, Abzug -- all Jewish.

[@robertloerwald3]

@@davidb2206 People haven’t even been around for 500,000 years, chief

[@davidb2206]

@@robertloerwald3 My people have. Yours haven't, bozobo.

[@appledoreman]

If music "hit its lowest depths" in 1956, where does that leave 2024's Eurovision Song Contest, that's what I want to know...

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ha! Good point.

[@alanattfield7174]

Another great video I enjoy listening to the stories about songs and artists and how things came to be. Have you thought about doing the Rolling Stones. Fleetwood Mac. Gerry Rafferty. Just a thought.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi again Alan! All of those are on the research list, and some are in production list but not scheduled. My biggest challenge is finding a tangential story without creating a dialog of dry facts. Thanks as always for your support!

[@raphaellasne3609]

You are an amazing story-teller, indeed.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Wow, Thank you, Raphael! Please share the channel and videos with your friends!!

[@richardwhitfield9901]

Thanks GT, never knew any of this.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi Richard! Thanks as always for the view! Please share this for me!

[@susancartright9657]

Excellent story!!❤

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thank you. SO MUCH, Susan! 🙂 Please share it for me!!

[@sandybruce9092]

I don’t know why but I’ve despised Milton Burke since I was a very little girl seeing him on TV in the 50s - never understood ( even to this day) why people laughed at him - but I do give him credit for realizing how great Elvis would be! Elvis was and will always be The King!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Berle was from the first generation of TV entertainers and physical comedy was his schtick. We got many entertainers from Vaudeville - Fanny Brice, The Three Stooges, Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, and many others. They were a product of their time.

[@sandybruce9092]

@@the_guitar_trooper I love all the comics you mentioned so,it isn’t the age thing - but there was something about Berle I didn’t like - his face, his mouth, don’t really know - I still don’t like him!!! I listen to Radio Classics on SXM radio and love the comedy shows of all kinds - I’m laughing out loud while I drive!!!

[@CHOPRJOHN]

Milton Berle was as funny as a Mother's Day parade at an orphanage!

[@CazClocker52]

I just found your channel a couple of days ago. You talk about all the great music I grew up with! Possible suggestion for a topic - what about all the hit songs put out by the English music producer Joe Meek? As I recall, he was known for having a natural knack for producing despite his inability to play any instrument or read music notation. The songs he produced were unique in that he knew how to use his recording desk, slightly overdriving the preamp just below the distortion threshold - listen to "Telstar" by The Tornados. There was even a recording preamp marketed to the home recordists called the "Joemeek" that had Joe's sound kind of pre-programmed into it. Anyway, it might make an interesting topic - you can probably dig up far more than I remember about him. Thanks for your channel! I'm subscribed!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thank YOU for the view, sub, and great comment! I hadn’t put up Meek, or other producers, as a headline subject, so this is really a great suggestion! Please share the channel and videos for me!!

[@sandybruce9092]

Wish there could be a real video for this show! Wonder if it is available - somewhere!!!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi Sandy! Search KZbin for Elvis Milton Berle

[@sandybruce9092]

@@the_guitar_trooper I did just that and found the show with more than just Elvis and Hound Dog! It was great to watch and with everything that came after his part - Elvis was the rest of the show!

[@rayc4244]

According to D.J & Scotty, they had never done Hound Dog with the 1/2 tempo ending. They just followed what Elvis did - and the rest is history.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hi Ray! The half-speed was Elvis’ live version. Check out source Guillermo F. Perez-Argüello: “Whatever Presley got from hearing Freddy Bell's version, which was sometime in April of 1956, lasted a couple of months only. In fact he sang it 21 times, live, at concerts and on television, using Bell's vocal arrangement but which also included his own blues version, at half speed, and only at the end,…”

[@1908Rick]

I really liked your performance in the movie "UP".

[@the_guitar_trooper]

My original audition was for the part of a blimp.

[@NondescriptMammal]

Milton Berle was no dummy, he knew that this was a shining example of when "bad" publicity is probably the best publicity of all, and he was irreverent enough to not care very much what the prudish whiners thought about it.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yeah. He knew the business, and recognized Elvis’ potential immediately.

[@NondescriptMammal]

@@the_guitar_trooper Thanks for this interesting tidbit of history, I'm glad I found your channel. I appreciate the concise no nonsense manner of your delivery, I look forward to watching more.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

@@NondescriptMammal Thanks for watching!! I'm SO glad that you enjoyed the video! Please help spread the LOVE and SHARE the video!!

[@LouisAlbino]

Good job, fellow rock lover! Keep on, keeping on! CLICK.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hey, thanks for watching! And please do share this video and the channel with your friends!

[@FayeKramer-rl9xz]

Elvis was dubbed "Elvis the Pelvis" and "Wiggle Hips."

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yep

[@mrnosaj71]

Fantastic video, the more I hear about Milton Berle, the more I respect him.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Glad you enjoyed it! Please help me spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel and the videos!!

[@philbrown9764]

Is that Prezley with a Z? I thought it was Presley with an S. Asking for a friend.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ha! Pardon my highly honed accent please! Lol

[@leftylou6070]

Thanks Gramps!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ubetcha! Thanks for the view!!

[@Mick_Ts_Chick]

My mom is a huge Elvis fan. I'm a child of the 60s but grew up listening to his music, along with Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, etc. I think it's funny what a big ruckus this caused. They acted like females had never lusted over male stars before this.🤣

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yeah. I think that TV saturation had a lot to do with it.

[@handyandy8671]

COOL!!!!!! Thanks

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks YOU for the view!! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel link and the videos with your friends!!

[@kevinthetruckdriver353]

Howdy Guitar Trooper. Really love that story. I really love Uncle Milty. *"MAKEUP!!* 💥. Really cool Milton gave that kid. His name was Presley?? Yeah. That's it. Presley. Well anyway. Glad Milton gave that kid a shot. Too bad Milton was wrong about him. Whatever happened to that kid Presley?? Oh Guitar Trooper. What crazy scheme was Bilko up to that night?? Maybe I saw it. Since Phil Silver's Bilko show didn't do well either. Lasted like a season or two.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ha! Hi, Kevin! All I really recall about Bilko was the opening of the show and Slivers’ bombastic delivery. I know that I actually watched at least a few of them. It did actually last 4 seasons and went into syndication afterwards. Phil and Milton were showbiz buddies with pretty much the same backgrounds.

[@peterbogdan9249]

Suggestion: tell the story of the Paul Anka song recorded by Buddy Holly but only released after his death. It Doesn't Matter Any More. Thanks, I enjoy your show.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hey, Peter! Great idea! THANKS! And thanks for the view! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel and the videos!!

[@warringtonfaust1088]

I can just barely remember Berle on TV, it seems to me that he was always in drag wearing women's clothes.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Dressing in drag was one of his biggest schticks, but he had few limits in any physical comedy. This was a vaudeville- trained entertainer, in the likes of The Three Stooges. Thanks for watching! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel link and videos!

[@DeidreL9]

I wonder what those folk would make of a “song” like “WAP”! Wow. Elvis was sublime, as Tom Jones is and he had a few similar reactions. I remember a very conservative Australian politician calling Abba “soft porn”, for heavens sake, because they wore mini skirts onstage. (He learned the hard way how seriously us Aussies love Abba) Elvis was honest, I think the audience weren’t quite ready for that.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Hello to Australia! The over 30 generation had seen enough of Jerry Lee Lewis and his news stories to have a prefabricated opinion anyway, and when Elvis fed into it, they pounced! Thanks for the view! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the videos and the channel!

[@davidb2206]

There were plenty of examples in the 50's, especially from black songwriters. How about "sure likes to ball"? -- Little Richard

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks for the view, David! Please share the channel and videos for me!!

[@steveneardley7541]

The song I remember that seemed the most vulgar was Be-Bop-a-Lula. Nothing explicit, but it just oozes sex. Then there's Mustang Sally--both great songs. One vulgar song that actually did offend me was Touch Me Babe by the Doors. That was such an embarrassment; Morrison sounded like a lounge singer.

[@garycooper6299]

Have you ever had occasion to do a spot on "The Raspberries" and their song "Let's Go All the Way?" I always liked that song and the performance of it although the song could have been on the banned list for suggestive nature.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

“Go All The Way” is on my research list, but not yet investigated.

[@philipliethen519]

I’m shocked. The very moment western civilization began decline caught on TV film forever.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yes…We all knew that it would happen eventually. And then, a sharp-eyed professional tracked down the event. LOL

[@sandybruce9092]

You are truly wrong!

[@philipliethen519]

@@sandybruce9092 Do enlighten us us with your higher wisdom! Do not leave in mystery to wonder in the darkness!

[@timnotbrianmay]

This should be called something that is More about Elvis and Colonel Tom Parker in milty!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

I was seeking something less leading.

[@timnotbrianmay]

@@the_guitar_trooper then.. you NAILED IT!!!!!!!

[@leifgunnarlindberg3879]

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Uhhuh

[@alanattfield7174]

Parents thought that their children would be corrupted move to the sixties and Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones 😅

[@the_guitar_trooper]

How true. It’s one reason that Ed Sullivan went out of his way to announce to his audience what a “ Fine, decent, young man “ Elvis was. Thanks for the view and the comment!! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel and the videos!!!

[@r3d5ive87]

So it was more a vulgar performance than a vulgar song.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yeah. As it turned out. But the audience didn’t see it that way. In addition, a vast majority of the audience had never heard the vernacular Hound Dog before, so they were anxious about its meaning.

[@visaman]

The Original version of the song was about a pimp, that the ladies called Hound Dog.

[@r3d5ive87]

@@visaman I’m well aware of that but that’s now what he sang and those people that wrote in weren’t aware of it either so it’s irrelevant.

[@glennso47]

The real vulgar thing was Mama Thornton. Elvis version was cleaned up. !

[@glennso47]

@@visamanPerformed by Mama Thornton.

[@rogerrendzak8055]

Pointless, in today's USA. The Christian mentality, has lost it's grip👍☺️!!! The only thing vulgar, was that mentality. On another note: Elvis; he was 'The King'!!

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks for the view and the comment, Roger! Please help me to spread the love 💕 by sharing the channel and the videos!!

[@grahampaulkendrick7845]

Phil Silvers or Elvis on Milton Berle? That's a hard call for me.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ha!

[@humboldthammer]

Did Elvis ever appear in drag? I'm pretty sure Phil Silvers and Milton Berle did.

[@humboldthammer]

@@the_guitar_trooper heh-heh same forward as backward

[@mandolinic]

Now, I can't even imagine life before the VCR (and its worthy successors).

[@alanstrong55]

Not sung by Lenny Bruce?

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Ha! Nope. Lenny wasn’t part of this gig.

[@humboldthammer]

KZbin titles have become Jeopardy answers. Fifties Music for $400: the Answer is: This Vulgar song shocked a TV audience in 1956. Be sure to frame your response in the form of a question. Quite frankly, I am beginning to hate this aspect of KZbin. But I understand. EweToo(b) success relies heavily on click-bait.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks for the view!! Sorry that you feel that way, though. I try to make these videos entertaining instead of just a stack of dry facts. There are folks that enjoy a progression of a story line from general to specific and that’s what I strive for.

[@humboldthammer]

@@the_guitar_trooper Aww -- don't take it as personal criticism. It is a very common method -- especially for nostalgia. I gave you a like.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

@@humboldthammer And I Thank You!!

[@chriskinkead9045]

Never. Liked. Milton. Berle. Thought. He. Was. Stupid. With. His. Socalled. Jokes. Other. Rubbish. He. Tried. To. Finish. Elvis. He. Thought. By. Making. Fun. Of. Him. Didnt. Workout. Parker. Was. Rotten. Too. But. Got. Elvis. Recognised. And. The. Rest. Is. Fully. Known. As. We. Well. Know. And. Love. Him. For. Always. Will. He. Showed. Those. Ones. Up. Who. Tried. To. Show. Him. Up. So. Glad. He. Kept. Going.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks for the view and the comment!

[@dianesaari3034]

Uncle Miltie😊

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Yep. And he wasn’t the most pleasant guy to be around either.

[@bobcuriston5402]

I gave up watching a 6:25. Too much talking.

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Thanks for that much. I DO have a big mouth. I love it. LOL

[@tuguybear930]

I can't follow what you're saying can you talk a little slower ???

[@the_guitar_trooper]

That’s just me

[@michaelcoleman3187]

Try shut-in yer face and playin the song

[@the_guitar_trooper]

Awww. Shucks. I’ve explained this before, but here goes again: As a KZbin revenue, sharing partner, I am prohibited from playing long clips of copyright protected content within videos that are longer than one minute in length. Sorry, but that’s a part of being a KZbin Partner.