• LIFE

LIFE With Elvis: Early Photos of the King

3 minute read

It often surprises people who know even a little bit about LIFE to learn that the magazine didn’t cover Elvis Presley all that much. One might think that a publication so devoted to keeping its millions of weekly readers in the know would frequently feature, celebrate, analyze and dissect a phenomenon as stirring as the career of The King.

And yet . . . LIFE didn’t.

It’s not that the magazine completely ignored the man who quickly became — and, in some very fundamental ways, has remained — the biggest rock and roll star of the 20th century; but one gets the sense that the magazine was sometimes more fascinated by what might be called the ancillary impact of Elvis, rather than by the performer, or by his music. Little kids getting Elvis haircuts? Teens trying to dance like their idol? That sort of thing can be found in the pages of the magazine — while Elvis himself appears somewhat rarely.

In 1956, though, LIFE did publish a feature on the young Mississippi native whose voice, looks and live performances were causing girls to scream and swoon; armies of boys to pick up guitars of their own; and legions of commentators, guardians of public morals and pop-culture critics to predict the end of civilization as they knew it if Elvis’ ungodly onstage gyrations were allowed to continue unchecked.

For its part, LIFE reported rather drily on the uproar, choosing to remain above the fray — perhaps in hopes that Elvis would, eventually, just go away:

Up to a point [LIFE wrote in August 1956] the country can withstand the impact of Elvis Presley as a familiar and acceptable phenomenon. Wherever the lean, 21-year-old Tennessean goes to howl out his combination of hillbilly and rock and roll, he is beset by teenage girls yelling for him. They dote on his sideburns and pegged pants, cherish cups of water dipped from his swimming pool, covet strands of his hair, boycott disc jockeys who dislike his records (they have sold some six million copies). All this the country has seen before — with Ray, Sinatra and all the way back to Rudy Vallee.

But with Elvis Presley the daffiness has been deeply disturbing to civic leaders, clergymen, some parents. He does not just bounce to accent his heavy beat. He uses a bump and grind routine usually seen only in burlesque. His young audiences , unexposed to such goings-on, do not just shout their approval. They get set off by shock waves of hysteria, going into frenzies of screeching and wailing, ending up in tears.

In Miami, one newspaper columnist called Presley’s performance “obscene.” In Jacksonville, he was threatened with jail. His impact had brought Presley a welcome taste of wealth and fame. But now it was bringing him some unwelcome attention.

Here, LIFE.com presents photos of Elvis — several of which never ran in LIFE magazine — when he was a young, reckless, charming, thrilling and, for some, downright frightening rocker.

We all know his gruesome, terribly sad fate: dead on a bathroom floor at the age of 42: utterly alone, yet surrounded by sycophants; addicted to drugs; a bloated caricature of his early self. That is how one American legend came to a close. Here, we choose to remember how the legend itself began. . . .

Elvis Presley in Florida, 1956.
Elvis Presley in Florida, 1956.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley fans in Florida 1956
Caption from LIFE. Happy screechers at Jacksonville hold their heads and yell as loud as they can as Presley yowls.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley critic in Florida 1956
Caption from LIFE. Pulpit comparison of a Presley poster and Bible is drawn by a Baptist preacher, Robert Gray.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley fans in Florida 1956
Caption from LIFE. Water-warped records played in Jacksonville added new twists to Elvis' wobbling song style.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley fans in Florida 1956
Caption from LIFE. Presley's motions are demonstrated by a 13-year-old, Steve Shad, in a Jacksonville record shop. High school boys have mastered Presley's gestures, but show little interest in his singing style.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley promoter in Jacksonville is the side-burned drummer and disk jockey Scotty Ferguson.
Caption from LIFE. Presley promoter in Jacksonville is the side-burned drummer and disk jockey Scotty Ferguson.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley-style haircut in Florida 1956
Caption from LIFE. Barber Joe Governale in Jacksonville gives Ronny Turner, 16, the duck-tail cut Elvis favors, leaving a rich overhang of hair in back of head. Ronny is too young for Elvis-style-sideburns.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley in Florida 1956
Caption from LIFE. Antidote to Elvis was church social at Murray Hill Methodist church two nights after Presley left. Before dance, group heard Presley denounced in sermon on 'Hot Rods, Reefers and Rock 'n Roll.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Civic leaders meet with a Jacksonville, Fla. judge to discuss ways of "curbing" Elvis Presley's influence on local teens, 1956.
Civic leaders meet with a Jacksonville, Fla. judge to discuss ways of "curbing" Elvis Presley's influence on local teens, 1956.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Praying for Elvis Presley in Florida 1956
Caption from LIFE. Prayer for Presley in Trinity Baptist church came after the Reverend Gray said the singer had 'achieved a new low in spiritual degeneracy. If he were offered his salvation tonight, he would probably say. 'No thanks, I'm on the top.' Then teenagers in front rows led in prayer that salvation be granted to him.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley fans in Florida 1956
Crowd outside a Florida theater before an Elvis concert, 1956.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley in Florida 1956
Elvis Presley in Florida, 1956.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley in Florida 1956
Caption from LIFE. Packed crowd for Presley, 2,200 Jacksonville teenagers turned up at every one of the six shows he gave in two days at the Florida Theatre. Line of uniformed cops and shore patrol seated in the orchestra pit were there to keep audience from storming over the footlights when Elvis sang his 'Hound Dog' finale.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley in Florida 1956
Caption from LIFE. Backstage kisses are bestowed on pretty admirers. Pictured: Andrea June Stephens, who came to Jacksonville from Atlanta, Ga., after writing prizewinning letter on why she would like to meet Elvis. Promised a dinner date with Elvis, she got instead a cheeseburger in a Jacksonville diner.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley in Florida 1956
Elvis Presley in Florida, 1956.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley in Florida 1956
Elvis Presley kisses a "Jacksonville girl" in Florida, 1956.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley in Florida 1956
Elvis Presley in Florida, 1956.Robert W. Kelley—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Elvis Presley Life Magazine August 27, 1956
LIFE magazine, August 27, 1956.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, August 27, 1956.
LIFE magazine, August 27, 1956.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, August 27, 1956.
LIFE magazine, August 27, 1956.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, August 27, 1956.
LIFE magazine, August 27, 1956.LIFE Magazine
LIFE magazine, August 27, 1956.
LIFE magazine, August 27, 1956.LIFE Magazine

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