Source: Times Online

"Greatest sea rescue in history"

In an amazing story, one half of the legendary Leiber-Stoller team, Mike Stoller (opposite) recounts his terrifying ordeal aboard the luxury liner, Andrea Doria, after it collided with another vessel and sank in July 1956. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were responsible for writing some of Elvis' biggest hits including: Jailhouse Rock King Creole Loving You Love Me Treat Me Nice Hound Dog The story...

A LEGENDARY American songwriter recalled yesterday how he almost went down with a ship half a century ago today — without ever learning that the young Elvis Presley had taken his Hound Dog to No 1.

Mike Stoller felt certain he would die when the transatlantic liner Andrea Doria and the Swedish Stockholm collided in fog off the Massachusetts coast at 11.10pm on July 25, 1956, and sank 11 hours later, on July 26.

Saved by a freighter in what was called “the greatest sea rescue in history”, Mr Stoller arrived ashore in New York to discover from his songwriting partner, Jerry Leiber, that a new singer called Elvis had taken Hound Dog to the top of the charts. “Jerry was at the dock in New York harbour. He was carrying a suit in case I had no clothes,” Mr Stoller recalled yesterday. “He ran down the gangplank and said, ‘Mike, you’re OK.’ I said, ‘We’re all right.’ He said, ‘We have a smash hit! Hound Dog.’ I said, ‘Big Mama Thornton?’ He said, ‘No, some white kid named Elvis Presley.’ “When Jerry told me that, I did not even register because I was just happy to be on terra firma and to be alive,” he told The Times. “A few days later, I realised that — at least for Jerry and me — it was quite momentous and Elvis Presley was this amazing phenomenon.”

Elvis went on to record almost two dozen songs by Leiber and Stoller, including King Creole and Jailhouse Rock. For a time, he even demanded that the duo sit in on recording sessions as his “lucky charm”.

In all, the two are credited with more than a dozen No 1 hits, including the classic Stand by Me. Smokey Joe’s Cafe, a 1995 Broadway musical based on their work, ran for more than 2,000 performances. But Mr Stoller almost never lived to enjoy that success. He says he knows that the Andrea Doria marked him profoundly. “It’s one of the couple of times in my life I thought I was going to die.”

The 700ft flagship of the Italian Line was making the crossing from Genoa to New York when disaster struck about 45 miles off Nantucket Island. Mr Stoller, then 23, was returning from a three-month trip to Europe with his first wife, Meryl, paid for by a royalty cheque for a recording of Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots.

After dancing in the ballroom, he ordered a glass of champagne and went to see if there was a poker game in the card room. Then he felt the collision and the ship pitched at a steep angle. “Many people thought it was an iceberg, even though it was the middle of July and we were supposed to dock the next morning in New York,” he recalled. “I did not know what was happening. I just knew the ship was sinking.

“Unfortunately, communications on the ship were very poor, so we could feel the boat shifting and listing farther, and we had no word as to the possibility of getting off or if there were any other ships around. We did not even know we had been hit by another ship.” A total of 1,660 passengers and crew were eventually saved from the stricken liner. Only 51 people, including five in a cabin in the bow of the Stockholm, were killed in the disaster. Opposite: the Andrea Doria before sinking

Pierette Domenica Simpson, who survived the collision at the age of 9, blames the Stockholm for the collision in her new book Alive on the Andrea Doria! The Swedish ship, she says, was sailing into an oncoming shipping lane 20 miles north of its assigned course.

The officer at the Stockholm’s helm misread his radar and thought the Andrea Doria was farther away and to his port side. His vessel’s reinforced ice-breaking bow rammed the Andrea Doria and ripped a 30ft hole in her side. Fortunately, at least 15 ships were close enough to respond to the SOS. Mr Stoller was taken ashore by the freighter Cape Ann.

Quote:

"Elvis Presley is the supreme socio-cultural icon in the history of pop culture"

(Dr. Gary Enders)

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"Elvis is the 'glue' which holds our society together....which subconciously gives our world meaning"

(Anonymous)

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"Eventually everybody has to die, except Elvis"

(humorist Dave Barry)

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"He is the "Big Bang", and the universe he detonated is still expanding, the pieces are still flying"

(Greil Marcus, "Dead Elvis")

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"I think Elvis Presley will never be solved"

(Nick Tosches)

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"He was the most popular man that ever walked on this planet since Christ himself was here"

(Carl Perkins)

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"When I first heard Elvis' voice I just knew I wasn't going to work for anybody...hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail"

(Bob Dylan)

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"When we were kids growing up in Liverpool, all we ever wanted was to be Elvis Presley"

(Sir Paul McCartney)

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"You can't say enough good things about Elvis. He was one of a kind"

(Johnny Cash)

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"And don't think for one moment he's just a passing fancy....he's got enough of it to keep him on top for a long time"

(R. Fred Arnold, Fury magazine, Aug 1957)

Quote:

"It isn't enough to say that Elvis is kind to his parents, sends money home, and is the same unspoiled kid he was before all the commotion began. That still isn't a free ticket to behave like a sex maniac in public"

(Eddie Condon, Cosmopolitan)

Elvis records reaching #2 & #3 on the Cashbox Pop Singles chart:

#2: A Fool Such As I (1959)

#2: A Big Hunk Of Love (1959)

#3: Hard Headed Woman (1958)

#3: One Night (1958)

#3: (You're The Devil) In Disguise (1963)

Elvis Facts:

Tickets for Elvis' show on March 29, 1957 in St. Louis cost $2.00 to $2.50

While in Germany Elvis was hospitalised with tonsillitis in October 1959

Despite being an illegal immigrant, photographic evidence shows Colonel Tom Parker traveled to Canada with Elvis in 1957

Elvis strongly believed there weren't enough good songs in King Creole to justify releasing a soundtrack album. RCA initially agreed, releasing two very successful EPs from the movie. A soundtrack LP eventually followed

During the 1960s Elvis had his own football team, Elvis Presley Enterprises, which played in the Memphis touch football league. In the 1962 final, EPE narrowly lost to Delta Automatic Transmission, 6-13

In Clambake, (Elvis) Scott Hayward's driving licence shows February 23, 1940...taking 5 years off Elvis' real age

In the 1970s Elvis was offered $5m to stage a concert in front of the Pyramids in Egypt. When the Colonel declined the offer, Saudi billionaires raised the offer to $10m