Elvis '57: The Final Fifties Tours

by Alan Hanson
Publisher: iUniverse, Trade Paperback (6" x 9")
329 pages, 19 photos

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Elvis in 1957 always opened his concerts with “Heartbreak Hotel” and closed with a raucous version of “Hound Dog.” The excitement generated by Elvis Presley reached its fervent peak in 1957. Whenever he started his unique stage gyrations, swarms of shrieking and weeping teenage girls reached out to their golden-clad idol.

It was a year of change for Elvis Presley. While he pursued his dream of becoming a Hollywood actor, the military draft threatened to shatter it along with his breathtaking rock ’n’ roll career. While his touring had been cut back, Elvis still couldn’t resist the excitement he found only on stage before a wild audience. So, in that final year before the army took him away, Elvis went back out on the road for a series of three short personal appearance tours.

In Chicago, where he first wore his new gold suit, thirteen girls fainted in an effort to reach him. In Vancouver, B.C., he had to leave early after thousands left their seats and moved toward the stage. After warning Elvis about his lewd behavior on stage, the Los Angeles police filmed his show. Everywhere he went controversy and pandemonium accompanied Elvis in 1957.

Elvis in 1957 took his stage show to eighteen cities in the U.S. and Canada, and Elvis ’57 follows the King of Rock ’n’ roll through all of them—Chicago, St. Louis, Fort Wayne, Detroit, Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Spokane, Vancouver B.C., Tacoma, Seattle, Portland, Tupelo, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Honolulu. They were Elvis’s last tours of the 1950s. Early in 1958 the army snatched him away, and the phenomenon that was “Elvis the Pelvis” passed into legend.

“Elvis ’57 by Alan Hanson is the only written documentary I know of which follows Elvis' first major tour of North America. Alan has done an exhaustive job in researching the topic and the book is a good read. If you truly are interested in the 20th Century's most incredible entertainer you must read this account of his greatest days as a rock and roller and of his fantastic journey.” — Red Robinson, Hall of Fame Disc Jockey

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