{"id":2083,"date":"2017-08-12T14:47:48","date_gmt":"2017-08-12T14:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/?p=2083"},"modified":"2021-12-18T23:36:20","modified_gmt":"2021-12-18T23:36:20","slug":"1955-the-local-elvis-in-missouri-cut-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/?p=2083","title":{"rendered":"1955: The Local Elvis in Missouri, Cut 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seventh in A Series<\/em><\/p>\n

By Matt Chaney, for ChaneysBlog.com<\/p>\n

Posted Saturday, August 12, 2017<\/p>\n

Copyright\u00a0\u00a92017 for historical arrangement by Matthew L. Chaney<\/p>\n

A version of this passage posted previously in Chaney’s article ‘The Local Elvis: From Good Kid to Garbo in Rock Legend’<\/em><\/p>\n

Memphis, Tenn., wasn\u2019t so big a city in the mid-1950s; many locals knew or encountered Elvis Presley on everyday terms. The kid was a regular downtown and on the riverfront since relocating to Memphis with his parents, Vernon and Gladys, in 1948. The family had left behind a hardscrabble existence at Tupelo, Miss., when Elvis was 13. He was the surviving child, after a twin brother was stillborn, and the little family stayed tight-knit while hovering above poverty. As Elvis completed high school the Presleys dwelled in North Memphis, \u201cThe Courts,\u201d an urban complex of subsidized, segregated housing.<\/p>\n

Music stardom beckoned Presley at outset of 1955, when he turned 20, already a singing sensation on the Louisiana Hayride circuit. Around Memphis he remained known as a mannered youth enamored with song. As a schoolboy he\u2019d been shy and often solitary, but a good kid, a church-goer, always working a part-time job. Many people called Elvis a Mama\u2019s Boy, too attached to Gladys, but he was no pushover at physical maturity, standing six-feet tall and solidly built.<\/p>\n

Presley hadn\u2019t yet blown apart American pop culture, refitted the model, and for a final period he would live and work in relatively common fashion. The local Elvis character remained personable on the street, liked by others, even if flashy and a bit nervous, according to his profile drawn from numerous accounts.<\/p>\n

Presley was fond of extended family like cousins, aunts and uncles, and he surely felt at ease in driving across the bridge from Memphis and keeping north on Highway 61. The river road carried Presley through Arkansas and Missouri, delta countryside and communities familiar to him since a boy on visits to relatives.<\/p>\n

During 1955 Presley would travel Federal 61 north for gaining work and building audience, popularity, for his song hits with Sun Records and live performances. At least nine Elvis shows were scheduled in the delta corridor from West Memphis to Cape Girardeau, a 170-mile belt of flatland through Arkansas and Missouri. His trio, now promoted as the \u201cBlue Moon Boys\u201d\u2014Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black\u2014would appear at roadhouses, dance halls, schools, armories and fairgrounds.<\/p>\n

Small venues largely booked the Blue Moon Boys, among some 280 shows across 14 states in ’55. The act opened January on a tour of Texas, finding enthusiastic audiences in a string of towns. An excited deejay, mispronouncing, declared \u201ca kid named Parsley played to 800 folks at Boston, Texas, and they went plumb crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In mid-January, northeast Arkansas, school kids from Leachville burst into a newspaper office. The giddy teens promoted their fundraiser with Elvis Presley at the high school, fabulous rockabilly heard afternoons and nights on radio from Blytheville and Memphis. \u201cHe\u2019s great! He\u2019s going to be a star!\u201d the students gushed to editors. The paper published a notice complete with publicity photo of Presley\u2019s trio: Elvis smiled radiantly at center, darkly handsome in sporty tie and jacket, draping his arms around Moore and Black, who beamed in cowboy shirts. The three had become good friends, together since summer, however long they\u2019d last under mounting showbiz pressure.<\/p>\n

Soon America\u2019s hottest new band reached Sikeston, Mo., a bustling agri-center of 17,000 at intersection of U.S. Highways 61 and 60. For the history of Presley appearances in small-town Missouri, the Sikeston event on Friday, Jan. 21, 1955, left a cache of documented fact and recollection. The evidence portrayed a friendly Elvis in Sikeston, mixing freely, endearing himself to locals. Presley charmed and impressed people, winning fans on a night he apparently enjoyed.<\/p>\n

The Sikeston area felt homey to the young entertainer, for ancestral ties and a cluster of his relatives. Calhoun Presley, a great uncle and family patriarch, was a local fixture in farming, and cousins of Elvis were becoming established in business. Jesse Presley, Elvis\u2019s grandfather and a brother of Calhoun, had share-cropped in southeast Missouri. Additionally in Sikeston, Elvis appreciated meeting recording artist Onie Wheeler, area resident and a Nashville performer with the Grand Ole Opry. Presley admired the classy Wheeler, a soft-spoken music talent and war veteran who offered encouragement and advice. Elvis returned his best compliment, remarking that Wheeler reminded him of mother Gladys.<\/p>\n

Newspaper and radio coverage preceded the band in Sikeston yet most folks were clueless about the act, publicized as cowboy guitarists and yodelers. Then the Blue Moon Boys came out on the armory stage and broke into song. Presley was billed as a \u201ccountry music star,\u201d but he strutted a pink suit bought on Beale Street. He\u2019d bust loose in a circle, strumming guitar, swinging hips and knees, dancing on toes in white shoes. At the microphone he wailed familiar lyrics but to beats faster, louder. Moore banged out rock riffs on electric guitar and amplifier, while Black hit bass notes and slapped wood. And now the sidemen dressed snazzy themselves, in black shirts and pants with pink vests, white ties.<\/p>\n

Mouths had to hang open in the audience. This wasn\u2019t country music. Armory guardsman Barney Cardwell hardly knew what to think. Later at home, his wife asked about the show. \u201cWell, he was a man named Elvis Presley and I\u2019ve never heard of him, but I\u2019ll say one thing, he\u2019s different,\u201d Cardwell said. \u201cWe\u2019re transitioning into something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others applauded Presley led by Wheeler, who had interviewed the budding showman on radio. After the Sikeston show the Opry performer raved over Presley as \u201cabsolutely the most talented and different entertainer I had ever seen,” Wheeler later recalled. “And I think I was one of the first to tell him so.\u201d The performance was a qualified success and Elvis stuck around afterward, following people to Wheeler\u2019s show at Lakeview Inn in Sikeston. Presley joined his new friend on stage at the nightspot, even playing drums as Wheeler sang.<\/p>\n

The rocker\u2019s departure from town was emblematic of the local Elvis among everyday folk, a persona on short time. Presley had a new car at home but still drove beaters on road trips, logging thousands of miles. He was prone to leave a broken-down heap where it sat\u2014and Sikeston almost inherited a souvenir.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was here in an older car that didn\u2019t run good and he parked it behind the armory,\u201d Caldwell later told The Daily Standard<\/em>. \u201cWhen he left, some of the fellows had to push him to get him started, and I remember him turning back and waving to us as he drove out of town.\u201d<\/p>\n

Select References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Appear at Leachville. (1955, Jan. 19).\u00a0Blytheville Courier News<\/em>\u00a0AR, p. 14.<\/p>\n

Blackwell, B. (2008, Sept. 11). Memories of Elvis\u2019 show in Cape remain strong as Tribute to the King takes grandstand at SEMO District Fair.\u00a0Southeast Missourian<\/em>, Cape Girardeau MO [online].<\/p>\n

Cp. Onie D. Wheeler. (1944, Oct. 12).\u00a0Sikeston Herald<\/em>\u00a0MO, p. 6.<\/p>\n

Elvis Presley Gang Of Western Entertainers To Perform at Armory. (1955, Jan. 20).\u00a0Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em>\u00a0MO, see www.elvisconcerts.com.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note. (1977, Aug. 18).\u00a0Blytheville Courier News<\/em>\u00a0AR, p. 6.<\/p>\n

Fans Mourn Elvis. (1977, Aug. 17). Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em> MO, pp. 1, 16.<\/p>\n

Guralnick, P. (1977, Aug. 20). Lonely days in high school left their mark on the man who changed history of rock.\u00a0Ottawa Journal<\/em>Canada, p.34.<\/p>\n

Guralnick, P. (1977, Aug. 28). A prisoner of rock & roll.\u00a0Mansfield News-Journal<\/em>\u00a0OH, p.2.<\/p>\n

Guralnick, P. (1977, Aug. 30). \u2018Rocker\u2019 launched skyrocket career.\u00a0Mansfield News-Journal<\/em>\u00a0OH, p.7.<\/p>\n

Guralnick, P. (1977, Sept. 1). Saga ends with \u2018perfect deline.\u2019\u00a0Mansfield News-Journal<\/em>\u00a0OH, p.39.<\/p>\n

Guralnick, P. (1994).\u00a0Last train to Memphis: The rise of Elvis Presley<\/em>. Little, Brown and Company: New York.<\/p>\n

Heuring, L. (2005, Jan. 21). Elvis visited Sikeston in 1955.\u00a0Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em>\u00a0MO [online].<\/p>\n

Jennings, C.R. (1968, Feb. 18). Elvis Lives! Los Angeles Times<\/em>, p. M28.<\/p>\n

Morrison, C.R. (1984, June). Rockabilly Music and Musicians<\/em> [MA thesis]. York University: Toronto, Ontario, Canada.<\/p>\n

Onie Wheeler to appear on Grand Ole Opry. (1954, Jan. 11).\u00a0Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em>\u00a0MO, p. 6.<\/p>\n

Payne, S.E. (1977, Oct. 5). Country Music Star Remembers King of Rock as \u2018Greatest.\u2019 Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em> MO, p. 1.<\/p>\n

Presley’s Record Sales Jump Here. (1977, Aug. 17). Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em> MO, pp. 1, 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cRun \u2019Em Off\u201d Wheeler Attends Convention. (1954, Nov. 29).\u00a0Sikeston Daily Standard<\/em>\u00a0MO, p. 3.<\/p>\n

Matt Chaney is compiling companion books on Southern music, tentatively titled\u00a0<\/em>River Shows, Jazz, Blues and Country Music\u00a0and, the sequel,\u00a0<\/em>Rockabillies in the Missouri Delta. See the page\u00a0<\/em>Stories from River Music to Rock in the Northern Delta<\/a>. For more information, including\u00a0<\/em>Chaney\u2019s previous books, visit\u00a0<\/em>www.fourwallspublishing.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Email:<\/em>\u00a0mattchaney@fourwallspublishing.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seventh in A Series By Matt Chaney, for ChaneysBlog.com Posted Saturday, August 12, 2017 Copyright\u00a0\u00a92017 for historical arrangement by Matthew L. Chaney A version of this passage posted previously in Chaney’s article ‘The Local Elvis: From Good Kid to Garbo in Rock Legend’ Memphis, Tenn., wasn\u2019t so big a city in the mid-1950s; many locals … Continue reading 1955: The Local Elvis in Missouri, Cut 2<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[283,374],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ywFp-xB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2083"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4121,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions\/4121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourwallspublishing.com\/BlogMChaney\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}