Truly amazing, we were graced with Elvis. Elvis Presley came into my life through Ed Sullivan. The Sunday evening custom in our home was chocolate cupcakes with white icing while we watched Ed Sullivan.

My older brothers and I could not sit still on the old wood floor – while my mother and father wondered what was happening. (I sat on that same wood floor a few years later and watched the Beatles on Sullivan). The television editors of the late 1950’s found Elvis’s hip and leg movements to be too risky for family television so they broadcast Elvis from the waist up.

Elvis’ career was managed in direction that he did not relish. Elvis made a number of movies in the 1960’s. They were all formulaic: – He drives something fast- cars, motorcycles, or boats – there are plenty of pretty girls and our hero always wins the heart of the most beautiful and virtuous. Elvis had hopes of being a true movie star but his managers went for the buck. Here is a medly of songs from the Elvis movies:

The following is a montage of Elvis pictures set to the song “Amazing Grace.”

In 1968 Elvis’ star had diminished. The movies had reduced him to a carnival entertainer – but Elvis was to demonstrate his true power in a 1968 televised comeback special. The small intimate audience was ‘in the round.’ Elvis showed the world that his music and career were a force to be taken seriously.

I think you get the idea