Often overshadowed or blinded by the sheer and incomparable brilliance associated with his own legendary and meteoric explosion on the music scene just years earlier in 1956, Elvis Presley remains the only entertainer in history to this day that experienced successes so big, and so far beyond the TV ratings generated by any other individual recording artist to have ever appeared through the medium, creating an unheard of phenomenon in which those performances which rank the lowest in Presley's appearance history ( though still considered as major successes by anyone's standards )would be, by far, the most gigantic ratings never ever even considered possible in the realm of possibilities and wildest dreams of any other performer. With appearances on The Ed Sullivan show so gigantic in the scales of success and influence that he would from that point forward forever be remembered in the perceptions and memories of those many millions his performances inspired as a performer with talents bordering on the supernatural and possibilities in terms of popularity and success which knew no bounds. It was with such expectations of granduer and air of anticipation that Elvis strode nervously on stage on a warm May evening in 1960 in Miami Beach and once again channelled those waves of nervous energy into his famed charisma like no other that seemed to embody the ferocity of a caged tiger combined with the sleekness of a panther and the masculine beauty of a modern Adonnis wrapped up in a mysteriously dangerous magnetism only he and he alone could gewnerate. With his hair piled luxuriously into a radiant and shimmering pompidore, his physique never trimmer or more masculine and in shape just out of the army and only 25, he looked every bit the most idolized male sex symbol of all time, and in a modernly fashioned tuxedo exquisitely tailored to fit his lanky build and ultra-hip, sexy signals of virility: the man who would be king never looked better. After easing into the show with a simple, yet stylish intro which included the principles: With the lovely daughter of The Chairman of the Board, Nancy, looking genuinely star-struck and heartsick for the mega-star she was escorting arm in arm through the short lines of Rat pack memebers Joey Bishop and Sammy Davis, Sinatra and Presley professionally felt their way through the opening number with ease, welcoming the hero home from his years away in service of Uncle Sam. After commercial, the king burst into his just cut Stuck on You, wiggling and jiggling with no signs of rust, eliciting those same shrieks and screams just the same as before, only now responding with a self effacing smile symbolic of a man now matured beyond those Memphis years filled with charm and sass, a more cultured, yet still supremely confident and assured superstar. Afeter a duet with Sinatra, Presley offered up his tribute especially arranged in honor of his host, the melodically beautiful and perfect ballad Fame and Fortune. Always seemingly at his most charming with this type of song, Presley eased through the surefire hit in one of his finest treatments in the history of his recorded performances. Had it been any other young talent not saturating the top 10 on a regular basis, Fame and Fortune might have been a #1 smash for weeks,...the signature song of some pretender to the throne. All in all, a magnificent return, one often overlooked and forgotten in the wake of more flamboyant TV triumphs to come in 1968 and in '73 from Hawaii.
Frank Sinatra's Welcome Home Party for Elvis Presley
(1960 TV Special)
1960 Sinatra TV Special ultimate call for King's reign atop throne
30 December 2007