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ELVIS in Ottawa Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, the greatest entertainment icon of the 20th century, made only three visits to Canada, all in 1957 at the height of his pre-army fame, and one of those cities visited was Ottawa on Wednesday, April 3rd, 1957. Presley, who was 22 at the time, was already the hip-swiveling, sneering, duck-tailed, side-burned No. 1 rock and roll idol of millions of teenagers around the world. He was especially idolized by girls who shrieked, swooned and fainted over his wild and rebellious good looks, his moves, his frenzied songs and voice. He changed the way teenage boys and young men wore their hair, their shirt collars, their pants, the way they walked and the way they talked. For days before his coming to Canada, newspapers, radio and television stations across the country ran story after story building up his arrival, and, on April 2, 1957 he crossed the border at Buffalo for his first appearance that night at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto which was a sold-out show.
In Toronto (shown above) Elvis wore his full Gold-Lame suit for the last time on stage. Even though he was coming to Ottawa the next day, hundreds of people from Ottawa had tickets to his Toronto show, and made the trip by car, bus and train to Toronto to watch the phenomenon perform. One such person was Ottawa record store proprietor Alex Sherman who managed to get his picture taken with Elvis backstage, and then displayed copies of the photo in his record bars around Ottawa. After his show at the Maple Leaf Gardens, Elvis and his 15-man entourage caught the overnight train to Ottawa's Union Station, which in 1957 was across from Confederation Square. They arrived in the capital at 8 in the morning and although his means and time of arrival were to have been a secret, some dozen teenagers got wind of it and were at the station waiting for him. The morning of April 3rd, 1957, was sunny, the temperature 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and Elvis got off the train wearing a black suit, burgundy velvet open-necked shirt, rose-coloured raincoat and smudgy white bucks. Beneath his shiny pompadour, his face looked pale and drawn. He carried a stuffed yellow and brown teddy bear. The girls in the small crowd screamed when they saw him walking their way across the station floor to a waiting taxi outside. Elvis smiled his crooked smile, gave them a wave, and a quick wiggle of his right leg. Surrounded by Ottawa Police and his entourage, he stopped to sign two autographs before stepping into the back of the taxi which took him to nearby Beacon Arms Hotel to rest up before his two shows that day at the Auditorium. One show which was at 4:30 pm, the other at 8:30 pm. Tickets for both shows were $3.50 each and the shows were sold out. Although he came to Canada by train from the States, two of his Cadillacs - one pink, one yellow - were driven to Canada for him and parked in the basement of the hotel. The word soon leaked out, and an Ottawa teenager was chased away after he had managed to sneak up to one of the cars, almost taking off with the front license plate. The vast majority of Ottawa Presley fans were unaware of his whereabouts in the city, and all day swarms of teenagers roamed the corridors and lobbies of the city's hotels searching for him. Also, throughout the day, Presley fans invaded the city by bus, car and train from all parts of Ontario, Quebec and upper New York State. A 10-coach "Presley Special" train carrying 800 fans who paid $11.00 for the round trip arrived from Montreal where Elvis was to have performed that night instead of Ottawa. Montreal City Council banned him from appearing, fearing he would cause a riot, in addition to the moral indignation that his bodily moves and music would generate. It was not just teenagers who caught the Elvis fever. In a night session of the House of Commons that day only 37 of the 259 members were present, and CCF Whip Stanley Knowles said the missing had all gone to see Elvis. It was different at Notre Dame Convent school; the Mother Superior told the students they were not allowed to attend Presley's concerts, and students were to write their names on the blackboards promising to obey the edict. Many did. Many also disobeyed. Many went to see Elvis with their parents and eight girls from the school were caught and suspended. The parents who had taken their children to see Elvis and the parents of the suspended girls were outraged. Elvis, at this point, was not called The King or 'The King of Rock and Roll', but was referred to as "the teen-age idol" or "the teen-age singing sensation".
He wore his famous $4,000 gold lame jacket with a black shirt, black pants and white bucks for his two shows. Each show was only 40 minutes long with nine songs, including Don't Be Cruel, Hound Dog, Heartbreak Hotel and Love Me Tender. The brevity of the performances was true to the philosophy of his manager Colonel Tom Parker, who roamed back and forth in front of the stage: "Just give 'em a taste; leave 'em begging for more."
More than 100 policemen, specially assigned to the Auditorium, guarded the stage and were placed throughout the crowd. Fans were warned that anyone attacking Elvis would be thrown out. It was sheer bedlam with non-stop screaming. Elvis sang but no one could hear him. When he snapped a hip, fell to his knees, or flashed his lop-sided smile, it was mass hysteria. During Elvis' bucking, wailing rendition of Hound Dog, three cops ran down the centre aisle tossing fans back into their seats.
Reporter Richard Jackson of The Ottawa Journal: "Most of the mob were teenagers. Girls had their thick, white bobby sox and flat-heeled white bucks, full skirts, and loose sweaters. And boys in their jeans, jackets and jack-boots." Jackson continued: "With each shimmy, the idol's knees further beckoned the floor. The closer they came, the louder the screams, and when he finally rested on the stage floor - thunder!" Many in the shrieking crowd wore 75-cent "I Like Elvis" buttons and carried $1.00 programs. Under the double byline of Greg Connolley and Gerry Mulligan of The Citizen: "The screams and squeals were so devastating that it was virtually impossible to hear anything that Presley was allegedly singing."
Two teenage girls had started off that morning from Montreal by foot before a businessman picked them up in his car. When they got to Ottawa they were thrown out of the Beacon Arms Hotel for trying to ferret out Elvis. They did not have tickets for his concerts, but they managed to talk a reporter into letting them get through the doors on his press pass. Their obsession for Elvis was topped only by the 10 fans on the Montreal train who quit their full-time jobs so that they could see Elvis. CFRA radio station disc jockey Gord Atkinson emceed Presley's shows, and later ushered backstage several girls who had won the station's contest to meet their idol. One girl, after meeting him, cried and said she would never again wash her right arm, which Elvis had kissed. Another girl could not stop crying because Elvis had autographed her arm.
Sitting cross-legged on a table in one of the hockey dressing rooms Elvis was asked by reporter James Perdue how long he thought his success would last. Elvis said he thought his moneymaking days were coming to an end, that his popularity probably would not last more than another year, two at the most. He said he wanted to capitalize fast on the rock and roll craze so he could save money for middle-age and a late marriage. When asked his opinion of the Notre Dame Convent students being banned from his shows he expressed surprise and drawled: "I'd like to invite the principal to my show. Jumpin' and shakin' and dancin' ain't indecent - it don't incite the kids to rob banks or buy a gun." A reporter asked him if he had ever thought of becoming a doctor or a psychiatrist, and Elvis said: "No sir, I haven't thought of becoming a psychiatrist, but I've often thought of going to one."
Elvis Interview at Ottawa's Memorial Auditorium I have never thought I had a good voice. I just, uh, well, I enjoy what I'm doing, y'know, and, uh, I put every part of my heart, soul and body into it. But, uh, I guess one of the reasons I've, uh, the people have liked it is because it was a little something different - Elvis Presley, Ottawa 1957 Mac Lipson of CKOY Radio interviews Elvis at Ottawa's Memorial Auditorium on April 3, 1957. I guess I was just lucky because I did manage to corral Elvis Presley in a back room of Ottawa's Auditorium. I found someone that I didn't expect. I found a twenty-two year-old boy who doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, who is better looking than most of his pictures, and who handled himself in front of a battery of reporters without show, without ostentation and with no attempt at being smart. He was a quiet sort of boy who gave straight answers.
Elvis: Eight. ML: Are they all Cadillacs? Elvis: No, sir. Four of 'ems Cadillacs, one of them is a Lincoln Continental, and I got three little sports cars. ML: Now do you mind my asking how much money you've grossed last year? Elvis: About a million, two hundred thousand dollars. ML: Have you any plans for getting married? With all that sort of money I imagine a lot of girls would be on the chase. Elvis: Well, I have no plans for getting married and, uh, and besides, uh, if the girl is on the chase for that, well, she's on a wild-goose chase because, I mean, y'know, I can ... I can usually sense whether or not that's what they're after or not. ML: And now here in Ottawa, there's a situation which you've probably experienced elsewhere in your travels across the continent. The separate school board recently ... uh ... uh ... unanimously passed a motion in which they were going to encourage the parents and teachers to stay away from your show because they thought your ... uh ... they thought your singing was vulgar. Uh, no doubt you've run across these situations before and what is your answer? Elvis: Well, uh, yes, I've run across 'em before. I just wish that people would, would stop, uh, judging a tree by its bark on something they've heard or something they've read or something. They should come out to the show and judge it for themselves. And then if they still think it, well, uh, well, uh, just let 'em think it because that's all I can do, y'know, certainly don't, uh, uh, mean to be vulgar or suggestive and I, I don't think I am. ML: That's all part of your performance, your technique? Elvis: That's just my way of expressing songs. You have to put on a show for people. You can't stand there like a statue. ML: Now, Elvis, you've, you've watched people when, you've watched teenagers when they've been pretty excited. You've seen a lot of them ... uh ... when they've been very excited. What's your opinion of teenagers in North America? Have they lost a lot of their morals or are they just the same as they've been lots of other times? Elvis: No, they, they haven't. They're, they're, uh, growing up and they're having a nice time and nobody's gonna stop that. I mean, uh, the only, the only way they're gonna stop that is for, uh, the United States to turn Communist, and I don't think that'll ever happen. But you...y-you're n-not gonna stop a group of kids and young people and everything from having a nice time because, uh, because they only grow up once and they're gonna have a ball while they're growing up. I mean, uh, and, uh, I know I don't blame them and I don't see why anybody else should.
ML: How about this question? Uh, do you really think you have got a good voice or do you put, uh, do you put your, uh, do you think you've been successful primarily because of your stage technique? Elvis: (laughing) Uh, it's a pretty tough question there. I, I have never thought I had a good voice. I just, uh, well, I enjoy what I'm doing, y'know, and, uh, I put every part of my heart, soul and body into it. But, uh, I guess one of the reasons I've, uh, the people have liked it is because it was a little something different. ML: Well thank you, Elvis. It's a pleasure to have met the real thing. Elvis: Thank you very much, sir.
Above Interview with thanks from Erik Lorentzen's 'THE ELVIS FILES Vol.2 1957-1959' - Go Here for an indepth review, rare Elvis photos - and purchase details. Back in November 2011 Janet Fulton was kind enough to let us interview her about the experience of meeting Elvis and being a young teenage fan in the fifties. See Below. Click to comment on this article & interview Spotlight by Piers Beagley - original article supplied by Janet Fulton.
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