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Vacation Elvis Style - Part 4 / 13
Throughout the summer months of 2005 we have a new series of
articles on planning a vacation "Elvis style." We will explore
the places Elvis played, performed and lived. Places you too
might want to visit.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
This
week, moving up the East Coast we stop at the U.S. capital,
Washington, D.C. On 3/23/56 Elvis went to Washington,
D.C. to perform as part of the "Country Music Cruise" on the SS
Mount Vernon. On the way to this show he was interviewed on
singer Jimmy Dean's show "Town and Country Time" on WMAL-TV.
It
was very hard to say no to Elvis Presley when he wanted something.
With security measures what they are today, it is doubtful that any
of us could just show up at the White House and expect a personal
visit in the Oval Office with current president. However,
Elvis was able to do just that on December 21, 1970 when he visited
then President Richard Nixon. He returned to Washington on
Dec. 30, 1970 and visited the headquarters of the National Sheriffs
Association and on the 31st he had a special tour of FBI
headquarters. Tours of the White House today are very
restricted and you must request access months in advance through
your Congressional representative. However, you easily can
visit the grand Hotel Washington where Elvis stayed during his trips
to the capital city.
MARYLAND
Elvis performed in Landover, Maryland at the Capital Center Arena on
6/27/76 and 5/22/77. Elton John, along with his mother and
step-father, visited Elvis backstage between shows in 1976 and Elton
requested the song
"Heartbreak Hotel." Elvis fulfilled that request. Elvis
performed at
the University of Maryland's Cole Fieldhouse in College Park on
9/27-28/74.
In
Baltimore he performed at the Civic Center on 11/9/71 and 5/29/77.
PENNSYLVANIA
When in Philadelphia Elvis performed at the Sports Arena which was later
replaced by the Spectrum. His shows were on 4/5-6/57, 11/8/71,
6/23/74, 6/28/76 and 5/28/77. At the 1977 show
a young Bruce Springsteen was in the audience at the Spectrum.
Elvis stayed at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel and the Hilton Hotel.
In Pittsburgh Elvis performed at the Civic Arena on 6/25-26/73 and
12/31/76. At the special New Year's Eve concert, Elvis told
the audience, "I would like to wish you a happy and prosperous new
year.
And health and happiness throughout 1977."
NEW YORK
Elvis's first plane ride was to New York City on 3/23/55 to audition
for the TV program "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts."
Unfortunately, they weren't impressed with Elvis. Nearly a
year later
on 1/25/56, he was back in New York for the first of six appearances on
the Dorsey Brothers' "Stage Show" (1/28/56, 2/4/56, 2/11/56,
2/18/56, 3/17/56, 3/24/56). On this and subsequent trips
to New York he stayed at the Warwick Hotel. On the night of
his first "Stage Show" appearance he had dinner at the nearby
Hickory House restaurant. And after his second appearance on
the show they invited him to the famous Roseland Dance Club in
Manhattan.
His rehearsals for the "Stage Show" were held at Nola Studios which were
between 51st and 52nd Streets. The show was broadcast from CBS
Studio 50, now known as The Ed Sullivan Theater and today home to
"Late Show with David Letterman." It was also the site for
Elvis's third and last appearance on the "The Ed Sullivan Show"
(1/6/57).
The second of Elvis's three Ed Sullivan show bookings (10/28/56) was on
39th Street at the Maxine Elliot Theater, which is no longer there.
Elvis's appearance on "The Steve Allen Show" on 7/1/56 took place at
the Hudson Theater, which was granted landmark satusin 1987 and is
now a part of the Millennium Broadway Hotel complex. After the
show Elvis was interviewed via telephone in his Warwick Hotel room
on the "Hy Gardner Calling" TV show.
Elvis recorded "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" on 7/1/56 at RCA's New
York Studios on East 24tht Street. Today, that building is a
part of Baruch College. The next day on his way out of town
Elvis ran into singer Gene Vincent at Penn Station and congratulated
him on the success of "Be Bop A Lula."
Elvis's first movie was "Love Me Tender." After filming was
completed, it was decided that a new ending would be added to the
film. Elvis was in New York for an Ed Sullivan Show appearance
when the new ending was filmed on 10/29/56 at Junco Studio on East
69th Street. The movie premiered at the Times Square Paramount
Theater on 11/15/56, however, Elvis did not attend the
event.On 9/22/58 Elvis's troop train arrived in Brooklyn,
where he boarded the USS Randall and sailed for Army duty in Germany.
In June of 1972 Elvis returned to New York for a series of four sold
out shows at Madison Square Garden. Among those in the
audience were John Lennon, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, David Bowie
and Art Garfunkel.
It was the first time an entertainer had sold out the Garden for four
shows in a row.
Binghampton, New York's Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena was
the site of concerts on 5/26-27/77 with Elvis staying at the
Treadway Inn. In Buffalo Elvis performed at the Memorial Auditorium
on 4/1/57, 4/5/72 and 6/25/76, each time staying at the Statler
Hotel. The 1972 show was filmed for the MGM documentary "Elvis
On Tour."
Elvis performed in Niagara Falls at the International Convention Center on
6/24/74 and 7/13/75.
He stayed at the Parkway-Ramada Inn.
The Community War Memorial Auditorium in Rochester, NY was the venue for
concerts on<
7/26/76 and 5/25/77. After the 1976 show local reporter Jack
Matthew's wrote, "There are a few traumatic events in life during
which civilized men and women can be expected to lose their
poise...a theater fire, a gambling raid,
a fall from an airplane and an Elvis Presley concert."
On 7/25 & 27/76 Elvis was in Syracuse at the Onondaga War Memorial
Auditorium. A bad review in the local paper after the show on
the 25th prompted thousands of letters and phone calls of protest by
irate fans. This prompted the newspaper to send a different
reporter to cover the show on the 27th.
In Uniondale's Nassau County Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Elvis
performed on 6/22-24/73 and 7/19/75.
NEW JERSEY
On 3/3/60, after serving in the U.S. Army in Germany, Elvis returned to
the United States when his plane arrived at McGuire Air Force Base
near Fort Dix, New Jersey. A press conference was held after
he went through customs and he was greeted by his manager Colonel
Tom Parker, singer Nancy Sinatra and a number of RCA executives.
His discharge from active duty was processed at Fort Dix and then on
3/5/60 he went to a hotel in Trenton,
New Jersey to rest. Later that night he left for Memphis by train.
CONNECTICUT
Elvis erformed in Hartford on 7/28/76 at the Civic Center.
On 7/16-17/75 and 7/30/76 Elvis performed at the Coliseum in New
Haven.
He stayed at the Hilton Hotel in 1975 and in 1976 he stayed in Hartford
and traveled to New Haven by chartered bus.
RHODE ISLAND
Providence's Civic Center Auditorium was the site of concerts on
6/22/74, 6/26/76 and 5/23/77
MASSACHUSETTS
Elvis performed in Boston Garden on 11/10/71. It was the home of the
Boston Celtics and was torn down in 1998. The Civic Center in
Springfield was the venue for Elvis concerts on 7/14-15/75 and
7/29/76. Both times Elvis stayed in Hartford and took a
chartered bus to the show.
MAINE
On 5/24/77 Elvis performed at the Augusta Civic Center. During
the show he substituted Maine for Spain the the song "I've Never
Been To Spain." Elvis was scheduled to begin his next tour in
Portland, Maine at the Cumberland County Civic Center on 8/17-18/77.
His manager Colonel Tom Parker was already in town making
preparations for the show when word came that Elvis had died on
8/16/77 at Graceland, his home in Memphis.
CANADA
Elvis's only performances outside the United States were five shows
in three Canadian cities in 1957. Elvis performed two shows on
4/2/57 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. He wore the full gold
lame´ suit on stage for the third and last time that night. He
was in Ottawa for two shows on 4/3/57 at Ottawa Auditorium and
wore the gold jacket from the gold lame' suit, but substituted black
slacks for the gold ones. He stayed at the Beacon Arms
Apartment Hotel. On 8/31/57 Elvis performed a concert at
Empire Stadium in Vancouver. |
