Interview
Alan
Hanson talks to EIN
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Elvis'
tours in 1957 were his last before entering the
Army. Alan Hanson, author of Elvis '57: The
Final Fifties Tours recently sat down to talk
with EIN about this incredible year in the Elvis
story.
In his
stimulating and highly informative interview, Alan
discusses what is in his critically acclaimed book,
the height of Presley mania and the controversy
around it, the Nudie Gold Suit designed for Elvis,
why the Montreal concert was cancelled, the little
known concert Elvis did essentially for military
personnel and a lot more about Elvis on tour in
1957.
"Alan
Hanson's thorough research results in an excellent,
detailed review of the 28 concerts that Elvis
performed during three tours in 1957. Written with
style, full of information, both of the shows
themselves and of the events surrounding them. These
were Elvis's final concerts of the 1950s.
Accompanied by 18 black-and-white photos, few of
which have been previously published in book form.
Not a book to be missed!"
(David
Neale,
Elvis In Print)
EIN:
Alan,
who is Alan Hanson and where does he call home?
AH:
I�m 58 years old. Three years ago I retired after 30
years as a high school history and journalism
teacher so that I could start a second career doing
what I�ve always wanted to do�write. I live in
Spokane, Washington, as I have for most of my life.
My wife, Christine, and I have two daughters, Katie,
age 23, and Beth, age 20.
EIN:
How and when did you become an Elvis fan?
AH: Well, I know when it
was, but I can�t remember how it happened. It was in
1962; I was 13 years old at the time. �Return to
Sender� was Elvis�s big song then, and �Girls,
Girls, Girls!� was both the first Elvis movie I saw
and the first Elvis LP I bought. But just what
turned me on to Elvis at that time, I can�t
remember. My older brother had Elvis records, so I
was certainly exposed to his music before then.
Something about Elvis just clicked inside of me in
1962, and I�ve been a fan of his music ever since.
EIN:
What gave you the inspiration for a book focusing on
Elvis� last live shows prior to entering the Army?
AH: In 2002 I knew I was
going to retire from teaching in three years and
wanted to try freelance writing after that. At the
time, though, I had never been paid for anything I�d
written. To test my ability to make money at
writing, I decided to write an article about Elvis�s
1957 appearance in Spokane, something I knew nothing
about at the time. I checked out the Spokane
newspaper archives about the concert, found and
interviewed a few people who had been there, wrote
the article, and sold it to The Spokesman-Review
for $150. All of a sudden I was a professional
writer! Writing the article was so interesting, I
soon found myself researching Elvis�s other
appearances in the Pacific Northwest in 1957, and
then his appearances elsewhere that year. I didn�t
set out to write a book about Elvis�s last live
shows of the 1950s; it just sort of evolved that
way.
EIN:
What can fans expect in Elvis �57: The Final
Fifties Tours?
AH: First of all, they can
expect to learn a lot about a year in Elvis�s life
that has definitely been unreported. Also, the book
is not just about Elvis; it�s about the whole Elvis
phenomenon in 1957. There is lots of info about
Elvis, of course, but there are also many anecdotes
about his fans, his critics, and all the controversy
surrounding him wherever he went. There�s also a
special chapter on Colonel Parker, who, in my
opinion, managed Elvis brilliantly in 1957.
EIN:
How did you go about the research process?
AH: The newspaper archives for
the eighteen cities in which he appeared that year
were my main source of information. That�s where I
found the basic information�the dates, the numbers,
the press conference info, the hotels, the venues,
and so on. The newspaper reviews of Elvis�s concerts
were written by people who had actually seen him
perform within the past 24 hours, and, while I had
to make allowances for the biases of the writers, I
trusted the accuracy of their reporting. Also, the
newspaper archives gave a sense of how Elvis was
viewed in 1957, of how some people hated him, while
others loved him. Variety was another good
source of information on Elvis�s appearances back
then.
Also, when possible, I tried to visit as many of
venues, hotels, and train stations associated with
Elvis�s 1957 appearances as possible. In Vancouver,
B.C., I stood on the spot where Elvis�s stage stood
in Empire Stadium (now a park); in Tupelo I strolled
the former site of the fairgrounds where the
Mississippi-Alabama State Fair and Dairy Show was
held; and in Portland I visited the Multnomah Hotel,
which had a couple of pages about Elvis�s stay there
in their history book. Those on-site visits gave me
a visual sense of how Elvis and his fans interacted
back in 1957.
EIN:
How
difficult was it to source material?
AH: The newspaper archives are
kept on microfilm by public libraries in the 18
cities Elvis played in 1957. I was able to visit the
libraries in Spokane, Seattle, Vancouver, Tacoma,
Portland, San Francisco, Oakland, Chicago,
Philadelphia, and Tupelo. For the other eight
cities, my local library was able to obtain their
newspaper microfilm for 1957 on loan so that I could
view it in Spokane. The inter-library loan program
is an amazing resource for a writer. Elvis �57
could never have been written without it. I wound up
with a dozen binders full of photocopied newspaper
articles about Elvis�s 1957 concerts.
EIN:
How
long did it take you to write Elvis �57: The Final
Fifties Tours?
AH: I wrote the newspaper
article about Elvis�s 1957 Spokane appearance in
2002. So, from the initial idea to completed book
took five years. The bulk of the research and
writing, however, was done over a two-year period
from 2005-2007.
EIN:
What were some of the highlights and discoveries for
you in producing the book?
AH: As far as discoveries
are concerned, I found information that debunked
some myths that surround Elvis in 1957, in
particular the false reporting of riots and the
gross over-estimates of crowd sizes. I�m an Elvis
fan, but I�m also a historian by training, so I
think historical honesty is important. The
highlights of the process for me were locating and
then hearing the stories of people who actually saw
Elvis perform in 1957.
Interviewing Gordon Stoker and Hugh Jarrett, of
course, was special, and it was great to sit in Red
Robinson�s office in Vancouver, B.C., and hear him
talk passionately about his day with Elvis in 1957.
The biggest highlight for me, however, was being
able to run down and talk with Bob Blackburn and
Nancy Welty. Bob was a Portland DJ in 1957, and
Nancy won a contest he ran on his radio program.
Together they attended Elvis�s press conference and
concert in Portland. I loved talking to them about
their memories of that event fifty years ago. The
picture they had taken with Elvis is in my book.
EIN:
What can fans expect regarding photos in the book?
AH: There are 19 photos in
the book. From the start, I wanted to find and use
as many previously unpublished pictures as possible.
I wound up with maybe eight or nine photos that will
probably be new to the eyes of most Elvis fans.
The
photos are spread throughout the book, one at the
beginning of most chapters. I have to say, though,
that when the book was published, I was very
disappointed with the quality of the photo
reproduction. The publisher said it was the best
they could do with the printing process they use,
which is basically photocopying instead of
traditional book printing.
EIN:
How did you source the photos?
AH:
It
was quite a scavenger hunt. I started by contacting
the newspapers that had printed photos of Elvis when
he played their cities in 1957. I got the cover
photo from the Toronto Star that way but
not much more directly from newspaper archives. (The
News Tribune had some great photos from
Elvis�s appearance in Tacoma, but they absolutely
refused to let me use them in my book at any price!)
Most of the newspapers had either discarded all
their negatives from so long ago or donated them to
a library, museum, or city archives. So I had to
contact those institutions and deal with them
individually. I wound up getting photos from the
Museum of History and Industry in Seattle, the Urban
Archives in Philadelphia, the Walter P. Reuther
Library at Wayne State University, the Ottawa City
Archives, and the Tropic Lightning Museum in Hawaii.
I also used three privately owned photos.
EIN:
1957 was a huge year for Elvis before he entered the
Army. How many shows and fans did he perform before?
AH:
In
1957 Elvis performed 28 live stage shows in 18
cities and on one military post. It broke down like
this: one show each in Chicago, St. Louis, Fort
Wayne, Buffalo, Spokane, Vancouver B.C., Tacoma,
Seattle, Portland, Tupelo, Oakland, and Schofield
Barracks (Hawaii); two shows each in Detroit,
Toronto, Ottawa, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and
Honolulu; and four shows in Philadelphia. The
biggest crowd he played to that year was in
Vancouver, B.C., (16,500) and the smallest was in
Philadelphia (3,200). The combined paid attendance
for the 28 concerts was a little over 260,000.
Although that represented unparalleled drawing power
for those days, it didn�t satisfy Colonel Parker,
who repeatedly exaggerated the crowd sizes in each
city. His phony numbers are still being quoted
today, but I tried to set the record straight in my
book.
EIN:
How were Elvis� performances in 1957? Do you think
he put something extra into his live shows knowing
they would be his last for several years?
AH:
For his 1957 concerts, Elvis had obviously matured
considerably as an entertainer since the year
before. All of the performances were basically the
same. He was on stage for 40-45 minutes and sang 15
or 16 songs, always opening with �Heartbreak Hotel�
and always closing with �Hound Dog.� By 1957 he had
become a master at controlling a crowd�s emotions.
He calmed them down, got them on the edges of their
seats, and then made them explode in a frenzy. Then
he would slow it down and start the process all over
again. I think those waves of emotion he took them
through is why so many people talk about being
�drained� after attending a Presley show back then.
EIN:
What
were some of Elvis� stand-out concerts in 1957 and
why?
AH:
I
think three shows really stood out because of
unusual things that happened during them. First, in
Chicago on March 28, 13 girls fainted when a group
of fans pressed up against an iron railing around
the stage. It scared the hell out of Colonel Parker,
who knew the death of a girl at an Elvis concert
would be disastrous for his boy�s career. Parker
worked very hard the rest of the year to make sure
security was strong enough to keep fans from
reaching the stage.
The
one security lapse was in Vancouver, B.C., on August
31. There Elvis played Empire Stadium, an outdoor
football arena. With the stage placed at one end of
the field, he was barely visible to some fans as
much as a hundred yards away. To get a better view,
thousands of fans poured out of the stands onto the
playing surface and advanced up close to the stage.
The Colonel got scared and pulled the plug on the
show. Elvis left after just 22 minutes on stage. It
was the only concert of the year that ended early.
The
third stand-out show was in Los Angeles on October
28. Elvis ended the show by rolling around on stage
with Nipper, the plaster RCA trademark dog that
usually sat quietly on one side of the stage. The
next day, a columnist for the Mirror-News
accused Elvis of lewd behaviour on stage. As a
result, the next night the police, after warning
Elvis to tone it down, filmed his performance as
evidence should he violate the city�s public decency
law.
EIN:
1957 was also a very controversial year for Elvis.
In researching Elvis �57: The Final Fifties Tours
what views and insight did you form about the
controversy?
AH:
It was quite interesting, the whole controversy that
surrounded Elvis and rock �n� roll back then. Some
people, particularly religious groups, very strongly
believed that Elvis needed to be stopped because
they felt he was corrupting the morals of young
people.
There
were some adult journalists, parents, and government
officials who actually liked him. But the majority
of adults were simply in denial. They truly
believed, and I came across this sentiment quite
often, that the whole Elvis thing would eventually
fade away on its own. They were certain that Elvis
was a fad that would soon disappear, and that he
would have to go back to driving a truck. Then their
children would turn back to the music of Frank
Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, and the newest
crooner, Pat Boone. They had no idea rock �n� roll
was there to stay. If they had, the adult backlash
against Elvis would probably have been much stronger
than it was at the time.
EIN:
Also, in 1957 Elvis performed outside the USA for
the first and only time in his career. Please tell
us about the Canadian shows?
AH: Elvis appeared in
Toronto and Ottawa toward the end of his spring tour
in 1957, and then played Vancouver, B.C., during his
Labor Day weekend Pacific Northwest tour. The crowds
in the Canadian cities were among the largest crowds
for Presley�s concerts that year. Elvis originally
had planned a single show in Toronto on April 2, but
when it sold out quickly, a second show was added.
After the Montreal show was cancelled, a second show
was also added in Ottawa to handle the crowd that
was expected to make the trip from Montreal to see
Elvis in Ottawa. Another thing is that the
newspapers in all three Canadian cities gave amazing
coverage to Elvis�s appearances in their cities.
Much more coverage than any of the U.S. newspapers
gave Elvis�s shows.
EIN:
Why was the Montreal show cancelled?
AH: Montreal didn�t directly
ban Elvis from appearing in the city. Instead, the
city council voted to withdraw permission for
Elvis�s show to use the city�s large indoor arena.
Since there was no other venue in the area large
enough to accommodate the show, the promoters had to
cancel it. Why the Montreal officials blocked
Elvis�s appearance is not completely clear. The most
likely reason was that there was an election
approaching, and the politicians were concerned
their chances for re-election would be hurt if a
riot occurred during Elvis�s show in the city arena.
EIN:
�The Presley Special��please tell us about that?
AH: A travel agency and the
Canadian National Railroad put together a package
deal for Montreal citizens who wanted to go to
Ottawa to see Elvis perform on April 3. Riders got
rail transportation and a ticket to the 8:00 p.m.
show in Ottawa. It must have been a great
experience. There was a band on the train so the
teenagers could dance in the aisles during the
two-hour trip to Ottawa. There was more dancing at
the station in Ottawa as the teenagers waited to
board the train for its 11:00 p.m. return trip to
Montreal.
EIN:
Rioting at Elvis concerts in 1957. How prevalent
were these?
AH: There were none. Period.
There were no fire hoses, no rubber bullets, no
paddy wagons at any Elvis concert in 1957. The only
arrests I read about were four college boys who
threw eggs at the stage in Philadelphia and a
drunken sailor in Vancouver.
There
was screaming and jumping around at every concert,
but nothing that approached a riot. Elvis was able
to complete his entire show in every city except for
Vancouver, and that was because about 4,000 kids
moved onto the field and up close to the stage to
get a better view. It could be described as
pandemonium, but it was far from a riot. Ask Scotty
Moore. Ask Red Robinson. They were there and they
say there was no riot.
The
Elvis myth-makers love to think that Elvis caused
riots everywhere he went. It bothers the Elvis fan
in me when I read that word �riot� attached to
Elvis�s concerts. It makes Elvis seem like some
freak, who caused violence and vandalism, instead of
the dynamic performer that he actually was.
EIN:
What extra security precautions had to be taken for
Elvis� 1957 live shows?
AH: As mentioned earlier,
the mob of girls around the stage in Chicago scared
the Colonel. At every Elvis show after that Parker
insisted that even more security forces be on hand
than were called for in the original contract with
promoters. There were anywhere from 50-100 police
officers on site when Elvis performed. Parker was
determined that, after Chicago, fans would not be
able to reach the stage. In the indoor arenas, he
made sure security forces blocked every aisle and
pushed kids back to their seats. The Colonel even
used his own body as the last line of defense. He
stood in front of the stage, and if any girl made it
past the police, he rushed forward and forced them
back himself. At the outdoor stadiums in the Pacific
Northwest, Parker had a row of wooden sawhorses set
up a short distance in front of the stage. He called
the area between the barrier and the stage �No
Woman�s Land,� and as far as I could discover, no
woman ever made it across that area while Elvis was
performing. The only big collapse in security
happened in Vancouver, but even there no one crossed
the barrier until after Elvis left.
EIN:
1957 was also the year of Elvis� famous �Gold Suit�
designed by Nudie. What did you discover about the
suit?
AH: Colonel Parker paid
$2,500 for the gold tuxedo that he wanted Elvis to
wear for all of his 1957 stage shows. The suit
included jacket, slacks, belt, tie, and shoes.
However, Elvis only wore the complete suit three
times. He wore it for his first two concerts of the
year in Chicago and St. Louis, and then several days
later he wore it for the last time during his first
show in Toronto. Elvis stopped wearing the gold
pants because gold was flaking off when he went down
on his knees on stage during �Hound Dog� at the end
of each concert. Elvis eventually abandoned the gold
tie and shoes, as well, so that by the time he went
to the Pacific Northwest in late August, he was only
wearing the gold jacket and belt.
EIN:
Rock historians have written extensively about
�Beatlemania� with the magnitude of �Presleymania�
being overshadowed. What is your view on the issue?
AH:
If you�re referring to the pandemonium generated by
Elvis and The Beatles, I think the crowds reacted
with about the same intensity to both. The Beatles
did draw bigger crowds. For instance, in 1957 Elvis
drew 16,500 for his concert in Vancouver, B.C.�s
Empire Stadium. Seven years later The Beatles
appeared in the same stadium and drew a crowd of
20,500. There were a couple reasons for that.
First, in the seven years between Elvis and The
Beatles, the population of most major cities
increased. More importantly, though, Elvis was
fighting a highly conservative U.S. culture in 1957,
while The Beatles rose to popularity in a much more
liberal and permissive society in America. Who knows
how many more teenagers would have gone to see Elvis
if their parents hadn�t absolutely forbid them to do
so?
EIN:
How potent was �Presleymania� in 1957; was it at its
peak?
AH: It certainly was. There
was some doubt about Elvis�s popularity when he
started his first tour of the year in Chicago in
late March. Pat Boone and Harry Belafonte were
selling a lot of records, and many thought Elvis,
who hadn�t been on stage for months, had lost his
edge. The crowd in Chicago put an end to that
notion. They screamed throughout the entire concert,
as did the crowds at every Elvis concert that year.
He drew crowd numbers in 1957 like no entertainer,
including himself, ever had. Another important thing
about the 1957 concerts is the quarter million
people who attended them became part of a core
Presley fan base that remained loyal to him during
the army years.
EIN:
In preparing Elvis �57: The Final Tours you not only
used media reports and other archival material from
the time but also interviewed a number of people who
were actually present at the shows. How valuable
were those interviews to your final manuscript?
AH: The contemporary print
sources provided the basic information that formed
the framework for the book. The interviews added the
depth and personal touch that gives the book some
life and makes a connection across the intervening
50 years. They ranged from Jordanaires Gordon Stoker
and Hugh Jarrett, who were actually on stage with
Elvis for all of his 1957 concerts, to disc jockeys,
to police officers, to fans in the stands. Talking
to all of those people was by far the most enjoyable
part of the research.
EIN:
There has been some controversy about the date of
Elvis� last live show in 1957. Lee Cotten in his
book, All Shook Up Elvis Day By Day identified the
last concert of 1957 as being a New Year�s Eve show
in St. Louis, yet yourself and others cite it as a
November concert at the Conroy Boxing Bowl in
Hawaii. During your research did you come across any
support for Lee Cotten�s claim?
AH: I had never heard of
this claim until your question. I haven�t read
Cotten�s �All Shook Up� book, but I do have a copy
another one of his books, �Did Elvis Sing in Your
Hometown?� In that book he tries to list every Elvis
appearance in the 1950s, and he mentions no such
December 31, 1957, show in St. Louis. I certainly
found no reference to a second concert in St. Louis
that year. Elvis appeared there on March 29, 1957,
and it seems unlikely he would have returned there
just nine months later. Everything I�ve read places
Elvis at Graceland on New Year�s Eve 1957.
EIN:
The
Conroy Boxing Bowl show itself is not well known but
one of Elvis� most unusual and intriguing concerts.
Please tell us about it.
AH: I was unable to find much
information about the content of that particular
show, but I assume it was much the same as the other
concerts that year. The show was on Veterans Day and
was primarily intended for military personnel and
their families. However, the show was also open to
the public, and quite a few people made the trip up
from Honolulu into the hills of central Oahu, where
Schofield Barracks was located. All tickets were $1,
making it the cheapest ticket to see Elvis anywhere
in 1957.
EIN:
In 1957 Elvis either met or had a profound effect on
emerging and future stars. In particular EIN is
thinking of Ricky Nelson and Jimi Hendrix. What did
you uncover about their experiences?
AH: Elvis�s meeting with
Ricky Nelson after his first Los Angeles concert in
October has been well documented, and, although it�s
discussed in Elvis �57, I didn�t uncover
anything new about it. Jimi Hendrix saw Elvis�s
Seattle show from a distance. He couldn�t afford to
buy a ticket, so he stood with others on what was
known as �tightwad hill,� which overlooked the left
field fence of Sick�s Stadium. A few days later Jimi
drew a picture of Elvis in his notebook.
EIN:
In 1957 Elvis performed a number of songs in concert
which it appears were not recorded either live or in
the studio. What can you tell us about these?
AH: During my research I
came across three such songs. A woman who attended
Elvis�s concert in Spokane claims that he sang �Searchin�,�
a Coasters hit in 1957. I didn�t report this in my
book because I couldn�t confirm it, and I didn�t
feel the fifty-year memory of one person was enough
to say it really happened. I�m also leery of a
newspaper reporter�s claim that Elvis sang Charlie
Gracie�s �Butterfly� in Toronto on April 2.
Again,
there�s no other report of this, and I�m not
confident a reporter, who was not an Elvis fan to
begin with, could recognize what Elvis was singing
amidst all the screaming. There is no doubt,
however, about Elvis singing �Fool�s Hall of Fame�
in both Vancouver on August 31 and Seattle on
September 1. Multiple people have testified to this,
including D.J. Fontana.
EIN:
Getting a book about Elvis published these days is a
challenging task. Many fans don�t realise that most
publishers are only interested in Elvis related
manuscripts which have a �sensational� hook. Did you
explore the possibility of publishing through well
known publishing houses before settling on doing it
yourself?
AH:
I don�t know that publishers are looking for
�sensational� books about Elvis. It seems to me
they�re more likely to publish books written by
people who actually knew Elvis, performed with him,
worked for him, and so on. My experience was that
since there are so many Elvis books being published
these days (an average of two a month), publishers
are unwilling to take a chance on an unknown author
in the saturated Elvis book market. The big
publishers will only consider books presented to
them by agents they trust, and since I didn�t have
an agent, I had no shot with the big houses.
Another
thing is that I was impatient. I felt my book needed
to be published during 2007 to take advantage of the
�50 years later� angle. Looking back, I don�t think
it would have hurt my book to have waited one year
more. Early on I did submit a book proposal to two
regional publishers, both of whom gave it an honest
look before sending rejection letters. In the end,
iUniverse promised a quick turnaround, so I went
with them. And I think they did a good job.
EIN:
Alan, do you have any plans for another book or
other project about Elvis, for instance one looking
at his live shows in the 1954 to 1956 period?
AH:
It all depends on how
successful Elvis �57 is. If it sells well,
and if the Elvis community accepts it as a
worthwhile contribution to the Presley legacy, then
I might consider doing another book. You have to
understand, though, that doing a similar study about
just the 1956 period would take a phenomenal amount
of research. It took me over a year to research the
Elvis concerts in 18 cities in 1957. In 1956 Elvis
played 79 cities! That�s a ton of microfilm to look
through.
EIN:
Alan, it must be very
satisfying to have produced a critically acclaimed
and much needed examination of a very important
period in the Elvis story.
AH:
Yes, the positive reviews and the many kind comments
I�ve received from Elvis fans have been quite
gratifying. Now, if I could just convince Graceland
to carry Elvis �57 in their stores, then
the effort involved in writing the book would be
both personally and commercially satisfying.
EIN:
What is next for Alan Hanson?
AH:
I enjoy writing about Elvis, and I still have a lot
of information and analysis about him that I�d like
to share with other Elvis fans. One thing I�m
considering is starting an Elvis blog on the net. If
I do that, like with Elvis �57, I�d focus
on historical information about Elvis, not just from
the 1950s, but from all parts of his career.
EIN:
Where can fans buy Elvis �57: The Final Fifties
Tours?
AH:
It�s available a lot of places online, and it can be
purchased through any major U.S. bookstore. For
those outside the U.S., I think that Amazon.com is
the least expensive way to get it. Anyone who would
like a signed and/or personalized copy can order one
directly from me. Also, with books ordered from me,
I provide Elvis �57 bookmarks and postcards
that aren�t available anywhere else. Those
interested can contact me at
alanh111@comcast.net
and I�ll provide
ordering details.
Contact Alan Hanson to buy "Elvis �57: The Final
Fifties Tours"
Source: EIN
Posted: 11th. December 2007
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