 | | |
| | Elvis Presley - Ed Sullivan Shows | | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Image Entertainment | | Release Date : | | 2006-11-21 | | Store Price : | | $29.99 | | Artistopia's Price: $16.49 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
|
 Pieces of Rock and Roll History!
Submitted on: 2009-08-31 |
|
| These appearances were legendary and solidified Elvis' hold on American popular culture. Ed Sullivan originally wanted nothing to do with Elvis, considering him to be too vulgar for TV audiences. However, all that changed when Steve Allen booked Elvis on his show and handily beat Sullivan in the ratings. Then Sullivan booked for three appearances, and the rest was history as the saying goes. This DVD includes all three of Elvis' appearances on Sullivan's show, which set records for ratings at the time. During his last appearance, Elvis was shot only from the waste up due to complaints about the suggestive nature of his dancing during the first two performances (my how things have changed). Elvis is at his creative peak for these performances and it is easy to see why he took the nation (and world) by storm in 1956. Performances like these firmly established him as the King of Rock and Roll. This DVD is a must for fans of Elvis and students of pop culture. |
|
|
|
 Very Interesting and Revealing
Submitted on: 2009-04-11 |
|
As a fan of the early Elvis and also an amateur student of pop culture history I really enjoyed watching these DVDs. It's funny, though, that I enjoyed seeing the other entertainers more than I did Elvis. I'm 53 now and I can imagine that if I was that age when the shows were first broadcast, I would probably have dismissed Presley as some hammy goof. He performs practically every number as if it was a silly joke. The only time he actually seems to be truly involved with what he is doing is when he sings "Peace In The Valley" on the final show. The other acts like Ballantine the Magician and Carol Burnette seem much more respectful and sincere in trying to entertain their audience. With Elvis and his band, even the sound plays rather thin. And The Jordanaires, sheesh, they look so incongruous standing behind Presley.
For a better image of Presley and the power of his early performances, I would direct one to his appearances on The Milton Berle Show or Stage Show. But for those just wanting to know what entertainment was like in the "old days", I heartily recommend this set. Frankly, I wish someone would bring back the "vaudeville" idea to television. |
|
|
|
The "Really Big" Elvis Shows
Submitted on: 2008-09-13 |
|
| Elvis Presley's 1956-57 appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" remain legendary in the annals of television and cultural history. After wading through home-video excerpts, we finally have a DVD set with all three Elvis programs shown in their proper context. This includes Ed's vaudevillian potpourri (ranging from impressionist Will Jordan to a young Carol Burnett) and vintage Lincoln Mercury commercials. Nevertheless, it is Elvis who rocks the house whenever he takes the stage. By the final show, Presley assumes full command in his "waist up" performances of "Don't Be Cruel," "Too Much" and a stirring "Peace in the Valley." However, pay close attention to the September 1956 broadcast, with Charles Laughton admirably substituting for the injured Sullivan. The British actor proved a better host than "Old Stone Face" and treated Elvis with more respect: "It has been many a year since any young performer has captured such a wide and, as we heard tonight, devoted audience." |
|
|
|
Earth shaking
Submitted on: 2007-08-13 |
|
Elvis Presley made no less than nine network television appearances before performing on "The Ed Sullivan Show" the evening of September 9, 1956, but most of America first saw him then. Despite a stiff demeanor and tendency to pronounce show as "shoe," Sullivan was the ringmaster of American entertainment. His Sunday night variety program was an institution in the days when television was still a three channel proposition. Appearing on his show was an important break for any entertainer. It was tantamount to receiving the show business seal of approval.
But Sullivan originally did not approve of Presley and vowed he wouldn't touch the singer with a ten foot pole. Despite selling more records faster than any recording artist in history, Presley was more than hot. He was scorching. The swivel hips that earned him the nickname "Elvis the Pelvis" (which he despised, calling it "childish") and his expressive singing style made him a lightning rod of controversy. One journalist compared his stage act to that of a stripper. However, when Presley appeared on "The Steve Allen Show" which was scheduled opposite Sullivan on Sunday nights, the ratings went through the roof. Sullivan reversed himself and offered Presley a then record $50,000 to make three appearances on his show.
Just how shocking Presley was in 1956 was never apparent in the frequently recycled clips of his performances. Now, thanks to Image Entertainment's 3 disc DVD set, "Elvis: The Ed Sullivan Show," his performances can be seen in their proper context.
Ironically, a car accident prevented Sullivan from being present that first night. Charles Laughton, the brilliant British stage and screen actor (and husband of Elsa Lanchester, "The Bride of Frankenstein"), was the guest host that night, kicking off the proceedings by reading some poetry followed by limericks. The Brothers Amin, an acrobatic act, came next, then Dorothy Sarnoff performed a song from Broadway's "The King and I." After a commercial, Laughton, standing before a wall of Presley's gold records, introduced the man whom a record 55 million viewers tuned in to see.
Wearing a plaid jacket and a guitar slung over his chest like a machine gun, Presley blasts his way into "Don't Be Cruel" and it's a little like Moses parting the Red Sea. Prior to Elvis, entertainment didn't have to be rated with letters signifying what age group should be permitted to watch. Families watched TV and listened to music the same way they went to the movies: together. Now Elvis came to drive them apart.
Teenagers love him, of course, especially the girls, and what was there not to like? Handsome, but in a way men had not been before; threatening, yet still somehow tame, as if his mask of menace was only meant to conceal a wounded heart. He is, after all, very well-mannered, saying "Yes, sir" and thanking "Mr." Laughton. What was one to make of this guy with the unusual name, the pompadour, and the long sideburns?
"He just does this," Ed Sullivan would say while shaking his body on the October 28 show, "and everybody yells." Presley looked a little more sinister this time in his dark suit, and he offers reprises of "Don't Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender," and "Hound Dog" while also introducing one of his sultriest numbers, "Love Me."
What did Dorothy Sarnoff think? And Senor Wences, who was on the bill the same night Presley appeared a second time?
Clearly, show business had been rocked into a new dimension.
His third and final appearance for Sullivan came on January 6, 1957 on a show that also featured Carol Burnett, one of the few stars whose wattage would increase in future years. By now, the country was clearly divided into two camps: those who championed the King of Rock and Roll, and those who condemned him. Sullivan was now in the former, surprising audiences and Elvis himself by proclaiming him a "good,decent boy."
But there was no turning back. Soon, people would be talking about the "generation gap" and, later, "youth culture." The gap would widen in the `60s with even Presley taking his place among the old guard, but the gap started here. With the release of Elvis-The Ed Sullivan Show on DVD, it's now possible to properly assess the earth shaking impact Presley had in the more innocent era of the 1950's.
Brian W. Fairbanks
|
|
|
|
Music and TV collide as the greatest entertainer of all time rocks out!
Submitted on: 2007-05-18 |
|
| Now the legendary peformances of Elvis on The Ed Sullivan Show are now together in one boxset, all 3 episodes just as they aired on TVs over America with people waiting to see the King of Rock 'N' Roll, a must have for an Elvis fan who has loved him for years or who just discovered the treasury of the legend. |
|
|
|
