Back on this post, I featured an ad for Elvis and his movie documentary That’s the Way It Was, which was playing at the Lorain Drive-in on September 3, 1971.
The post generated some great comments from Elvis fans about what an amazing showman he was.
Well, that’s the theme of the article below, which appeared in the Journal on November 16, 1971. As one commenter had pointed out, Elvis was in the process of getting back to live performances again after his movie career.
The article does a great job of describing what it was like to see Elvis in a large arena. Mary Campbell, the author of the piece, contrasts his November 1971 Philadelphia arena appearance (which had many families in the audience) with one he did in a Las Vegas nightclub in August 1969. It shows how much Elvis cared about his fans that he toned down his onstage gyrations in Philadelphia because he knew it was a family crowd.
Dan, I always get excited when I see that you have written about my all-time favorite entertainer, Elvis. Being born in Memphis, but growing up in Vermilion I have a somewhat unique perspective on Elvis. People of our generation who have lived their entire lives in Memphis, such as my wife, sometimes don't realize what Elvis meant to the rest of the country and the world. When Mary Campbell writes about how fantastic Elvis' version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was that night in Philadelphia, I understand. When Paul Simon, who was a huge Elvis fan, heard him sing that song he said "how can I compete with that?" She also mentioned "How Great Thou Art". Elvis only won three (3) Grammy Awards, all three were for gospel music, two of which were for "How Great Thou Art". The live version recorded on stage in Memphis in 1974 was one of those Grammy Awards. If you listen to that version, it serves to to confirm that Elvis was the greatest singer of all-time.
ReplyDeleteSo please continue to remember and to write about Elvis.