Hy Gardner Calling!

Elvis’ appearance on Hy Gardner Calling!, a locally televised New York interview program, is not generally regarded as one of his most important television appearances, yet it is significant.  Elvis was interviewed on the air by Gardner only hours after his controversial appearance on The Steve Allen Show, where he had been formally attired in white tie and tails and sang “Hound Dog” to a live basset hound.  Although he never expressed misgivings about the staging to Steve Allen, Elvis was uncomfortable with it and privately complained about it.  During the Gardner interview he also put on a brave face and claimed to have enjoyed himself on the Allen show. 

The following excerpt from Channeling Elvis: How Television Saved the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll describes how Elvis’ appearance was arranged through the unlikely intermediary of comedian Milton Berle.  Elvis had appeared on Berle’s show a month earlier and created a storm of controversy with an unbridled performance of “Hound Dog” that many critics found tasteless and even offensive.  Allen’s staging of Elvis was seen as a way to prevent him from busting loose on camera again.  Unlike Allen, Berle genuinely warmed to Elvis and the rocker liked Uncle Miltie too, so it was Mr. Television who acted as midwife between Gardner and Colonel Parker to arrange Elvis’ appearance.  Gardner’s wife, Marilyn, who also appeared on the show, relates her impressions of Elvis when he was at a moment of some vulnerability, caught up in the whirlwind of press attention and public adoration, trying to maintain a punishing schedule, and finding few opportunities like this to reflect on his career, including his obvious ambition to succeed in Hollywood.  The excerpt is followed by a clip of the original TV interview.

“Having suffered what he regarded as a public flogging on Steve Allen’s show, Elvis Presley would have been happy to call it a night and return to his suite at New York’s Warwick Hotel. However, Colonel Parker had agreed to allow newspaper columnist Hy Gardner to interview Presley on his TV show, Hy Gardner Calling!, at 11:15 p.m. Ironically, the interview had been arranged by Milton Berle, who retained his warm feeling for Elvis, and who also had appeared on Allen’s show earlier in the evening.

“’We were always looking for newsmakers and top celebrities,’ Gardner’s widow, Marilyn, recalls, ‘and we knew that Elvis was around and making a lot of noise. There were articles in the papers rapping him, saying things like rock and roll is responsible for juvenile delinquency. Some mayors were saying “we will not allow him in our town; he is creating all of this trouble.” There were all kinds of silly rumors about him, and some rumors that weren’t so silly. All of that was sort of lurking in the background. Then one night Hy had Milton Berle on the show. Afterwards Milton was saying goodbye and, very casually, he asked “How would you like to interview Elvis on the show?” And Hy, just as casually, said “Yes, that would be nice.” That was how it came about.’

“Berle’s overture came at a crucial juncture, when criticism of the singer had turned increasingly sharp and Colonel Parker’s concern about Elvis’ image was growing. Berle was well liked in the Presley camp, and he was able to persuade Parker that Gardner was not out to get Elvis. In fact, the interview would allow Presley to respond to the harsh press criticism that had been swirling around him. Perhaps the Colonel thought that Elvis would charm the New York critics, who had treated him more harshly than most, and win over more adults by appearing on a late-night show that was aimed at them, rather than teens. Whatever his thinking, Elvis’ appearance on Hy Gardner Calling! was the only televised personal interview he ever gave.

“Hy Gardner was a well-known New York Herald-Tribune columnist who also appeared on a number of television panel shows, most notably To Tell the Truth, which debuted in December 1956. He also appeared regularly on Tonight! and America After Dark, a short-term substitute for Tonight! after Steve Allen abandoned it early in 1957. Gardner specialized in profiling show business celebrities and other newsmakers, and he hosted a nightly ten-minute TV interview program in New York called Face to Face. His weekly Sunday-night show, Hy Gardner Calling!, also aired only in the New York area and consisted of interviews conducted by telephone, with the subject seemingly at home, but actually seated in one studio, while Gardner sat at his desk in another. The telephone hook-up was real, and there was no physical proximity between host and guest. The show premiered in 1954 on New York City’s NBC affiliate station WRCA-TV, Channel 4, and ran until 1965. After that it was broadcast by WCIX-TV, Channel 6, in Miami, Florida, until the early 1980s, making Gardner one of television’s most durable personalities.

“Gardner pioneered the TV talk show and the device of live telephone interviews, as well as use of the split-screen technique, which enabled viewers to see both the guest and Gardner, even though they were in different places. He conducted the only television interview ever granted by Montgomery Clift, and he numbered among his guests countless top names from Hollywood, including Groucho Marx, Maria Callas, Jayne Mansfield, Ginger Rogers, Cary Grant, Jack Benny, and many others.

“Elvis was one of the program’s few guests who did not undergo a pre-interview prior to his appearance, and Parker granted Gardner full latitude in questioning Presley. ‘Elvis had no problem answering anything that Hy asked him,’ Marilyn says. ‘We weren’t given any instructions in advance that “you cannot say this” or “you cannot mention that.”  I think he respected Hy and he knew that Hy was going to ask questions about rumors that had been printed about him and so forth. He knew he wasn’t going to embarrass him.’ It also may have been the only time, outside of charity gigs, that Parker permitted Elvis to appear without a fee. Because Gardner’s show was classified as a news program, guests were not even paid the usual minimums dictated by union rules.

“Presley arrived at WRCA-TV’s studio in Rockefeller Center for his live appearance with Gardner shortly after finishing Steve Allen’s show. After briefly greeting Gardner and his wife, who also served as his secretary and on-air telephone operator, Elvis was ushered to a studio on a different floor, while the Gardners took up their positions at adjoining desks.

“By the time Elvis picked up the phone to answer Gardner’s questions, he was clearly tired, unhappy about his appearance on Allen’s show, and somewhat fed up with repetitious questions about the ‘evil’ impact of his music. It was as if he would forever be required to explain himself. Marilyn Gardner recalls that Presley was ‘very shy and had a lock of hair falling over the middle of his forehead. He was extremely polite. It was “Yes sir” and “Yes Ma’am.” He was just a sweet, nice boy who seemed a little embarrassed and a little confused.’”

Paste the following URL into your web browser to view the entire Hy Gardner show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=z1f_V32Ojb0

Channeling Elvis: How Television Saved the King of Rock 'n' Roll:

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The Missing 1955 Elvis Presley Film

                                                                Bill Haley & Elvis Presley - October 20, 1955


Perhaps the most eagerly sought after rock ‘n’ roll artifact is a short concert film that was shot at a high school auditorium in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, on October 20, 1955.  Not only is the whereabouts of this film unknown, but it has never been publicly screened.  Most of the interest in it stems from its inclusion of a five-song set performed by Elvis Presley, which almost didn’t get filmed at all. 

Cleveland disc jockey Bill Randle had established himself as the nation’s leading D.J. at the time and had been written up as such in Time magazine, no less.  In addition to his six-days-a-week radio show on Cleveland’s WERE Radio, Randle also hosted a Saturday afternoon show out of New York.  Like his contemporary Cleveland D.J. Alan Freed, Randle was in the vanguard of disc jockeys who played the new hybrid music that was quickly becoming known as rock ‘n’ roll.  Indeed, Freed laid claim to coining the very phrase “rock ‘n’ roll” and was so successful that he had moved from Cleveland to New York, where he was a leading radio voice and concert promoter, always cultivating both white and black performers while championing the new music. 

Randle was introduced to Elvis by fellow WERE D.J. Tommy Edwards during Elvis’ first sojourn north, which had taken him to Cleveland in February 1955.  There, Elvis created a sensation at the Circle Theater and was interviewed on the air by Randle, who also played some of his Sun Records recordings.  When Elvis returned to Cleveland the following October, Randle had set up a film shoot at Brooklyn High School that included Bill Haley and His Comets, who had scored rock's first mega-hit with "Rock Around the Clock," Pat Boone, who had already scored his first number one hit, the Four Lads, a Canadian quartet whose records also had scaled the charts, and Patricia Wright, also from Canada, who had scored a hit record with the somewhat unsettling title "Man in a Raincoat."  Elvis was the only act on the bill without a national hit, nor was he well known outside the south.

The film short, perhaps the first rock ‘n’ roll concert film, was shot by a crew from Universal International Pictures and directed by Arthur Cohen, who had seen Elvis perform the previous evening, again the Circle Theater, and was decidedly unimpressed.  He was even less sanguine about Elvis during rehearsals the following day and ultimately refused to film Presley, considering him unworthy of the expense.  Randle stepped in and offered to pay those costs himself and also arranged to pay cameraman Jack Barnett out of his own pocket.  Thus, one of Elvis’ earliest live performances was preserved on film, months before his first national television appearance and even longer before his first hit record climbed the charts.  It was also Randle who introduced Elvis to the nation on his first TV appearance in January, 1956, on Stage Show, hosted by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey.   

In the Brooklyn auditorium, Elvis reportedly performed five songs: “That’s All Right,” “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” “Mystery Train,” and “I Forgot to Remember to Forget.”  Pat Boone, who waited, with increasing trepidation, in the wings before following Elvis on stage, later recalled his surprise at how powerfully Elvis electrified the audience, only losing them when he attempted to engage them in patter that Boone described as hopelessly “hillbilly.”  Boone also recalled how difficult it was for him to win over the audience after they’d seen Elvis.  A second performance was filmed that night at St. Michael’s Hall, where there were no teachers present to restrain girls from screaming, rushing the stage, and generally going mad.  Randle reported that Elvis broke his guitar strings, smashed the instrument on the floor, which resulted in complete pandemonium.  Randle called it “mass hysteria.”

                                                     Bill Randle, Scotty Moore, Elvis, & Bill Black

Filming was to have continued the following month in New York, with big band and jazz artists like Benny Goodman and Stan Kenton.  However, a strike by the electricians union shut down production and the film was never completed.  Its subsequent fate remains a mystery with few clues.  Although shot by Universal, no trace of the film or any records relating to it have ever been found in the studio’s archive.  No copyright for the film has ever been registered under any of the film’s reported tentative titles, which include The Pied Piper of Cleveland, A Day in the Life of a Famous Disc Jockey (sometimes cited merely the film’s subtitle), and Top Jock, a title Randle himself used in a newspaper column he wrote shortly after the Cleveland concert had been filmed.  Reportedly, some 48 minutes of footage was shot and was either edited to around 15 minutes, or was planned to run no longer than that. The short running time and two of the prospective titles suggest that the film may have focused on Randle, rather than the performers. 

In January 1993, People magazine reported that Randle had sold the rights to the movie short for a reported $1.9 million to a British production company, which later sold it to Polygram for $2.2 million.  Randle reportedly retained a copy of the film, or at least some of the footage, or at least implied as much in later interviews. An October 29, 2005, NPR radio broadcast included an excerpt from a 1978 Randle telephone interview with Pat Boone, which included the following exchange:

Boone: “I refer to Cleveland as the cradle of my career because it was there, you were there, certainly you were the midwife. There’s a film, what, in the Universal vaults?”

Randle: “That’s right, MCA. Somewhere, somebody’s going to go through that untouched film and they’re going to find 14-and-a-half minutes of yourself, Bill Haley and the Comets, and Elvis Presley and (chuckling) it’s going to be worth around a quarter of a million dollars.”

Randle is also heard in an unidentified, undated interview clip from a “local TV station”, likely from early 1993, following the People magazine story, which is mentioned:

Interviewer: “Now, you’ve just most recently sold it to a British combine?”

Randle: “Very deep pocket British . . . .”

Interviewer: “And, according to the People magazine, they paid you $1.9 million . . . .”

Randle: “Oh, that’s tabloid, you know.”

Interviewer: “When will we ever see that? They now have it and they’ll probably work it into some kind of a project along the way.”

Randle: “They’re working on the definitive Elvis Presley.”

Randle gave similar accounts up until his death in 2004 at the age of 81 and most of what we think we know about the film comes from Randle, whose stories varied with the years and were sometimes contradictory.  The Pied Piper of Cleveland remains missing and may no longer exist.  At least on report claims that its soundtrack was destroyed somewhere along the way.  Nonetheless, even a brief glimpse of the unbridled Elvis Presley late in 1955, before he had been absorbed into the mainstream, would be among the most important images we might have of the man.  A few early clips of him have survived, but this footage truly remains the holy grail of rock ‘n’ roll.  The search goes on. 

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Elvis' 1969 Memphis Renaissance

Elvis Presley’s 1968 landmark television special, Elvis, more commonly known as the “Comeback” special, was not only one of the most memorable high points in his career, but it also marked the start of an all-too-brief renaissance for the King.  Frustrated by his stifling film career, Presley was raring to break out of Tinseltown and bound back onto the live concert stage.  He would do just that one year after shooting the “Comeback” special and his 1969 Las Vegas debut brought rave reviews from critics and standing ovations from audiences. 

The seed for that onstage comeback also was planted in the 1968 TV special, when director Steve Binder boldly decided to put Elvis onto a small stage and have him improvise a couple of performances before live audiences.  Those live “pit” segments formed the heart of that special and provided its most electric moments.  Although Elvis was as nervous as one of Colonel Parker’s dancing chickens before taking the stage, he was exhilarated by the time he left it.  Binder’s daring experiment fired the King up and he determined to go back on stage before his leather suit, soaked with sweat, was literally cut off of him by designer Bill Belew. 

But Elvis was just as eager to resuscitate his flagging recording career after years of forcing down weak songs that were written for his movies.  He went at that effort with all the energy he had brought to Sam Phillips' Memphis Sun Records in 1954.  He returned to Memphis for this phase of his comeback, but this time chose Chips Moman’s American Sound Studios, a perfect place for Elvis to make a fresh start.  Just as he had done under Steve Binder’s guiding hand, Elvis worked new magic with Moman, produced his last great recording sessions, and enjoyed his last burst of chart success.

The sessions yielded 32 songs which resulted in two gold albums, From Elvis in Memphis, which reached number 13 on Billboard’s album chart, and From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis, a double album that included Elvis’ live LP from his return to Vegas, which peaked at number 12.  Elvis reached such heights only a few more times, notably with his live albums from Madison Square Garden in 1972 and Aloha from Hawaii, from his 1973 television special. 

Elvis also scored six top 10 singles, including his last number one, “Suspicious Minds,” and “In the Ghetto,” which reached number three, earning three platinum and three gold singles in all from his American Sound sessions.

It was a definite uptick for Elvis, giving him his first number one single in seven years and his first top 10 hit in four years, since “Crying in the Chapel” reached number three in 1965, a song he had actually recorded five years earlier.  “Suspicious Minds” would also be his final number one single.

Thus, it was a fleeting return to the top for Elvis, who soon lapsed into the same sort of routine rut on stage that he had found in Hollywood.  Still, the period was one of the most exciting and productive of his career and preserved some of the King’s greatest studio moments.  

This excerpt from Channeling Elvis: How Television Saved the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll describes those last memorable sessions.

“While Colonel Parker arranged his Vegas resurrection, Elvis went back into the recording studio determined to again produce quality records and catapult himself out of both his banal movies and the bland music that had stifled him for years. And he turned away from RCA’s Nashville studio and toward his home town, Memphis, where he had broken musical barriers at Sun Records fifteen years earlier. He cast his eye on the small American Sound Studio run by producer Chips Moman, which had been turning out hits for various labels and had access to top musicians and songwriters. It was all too alluring for Elvis to pass up and offered just what he wanted—a break from his past and a return to his roots. Elvis began a ten-day session with Moman at American on January 13, 1969, with the buzz over what was quickly being called the ‘Comeback’ TV special still very much in the air. Elvis was determined to make good his vow to Steve Binder to take the reins of his career.

“These sessions brought new life and long dormant enthusiasm to Elvis’ work. He again drifted deeply into the music, often oblivious to his surroundings, lost in what he was doing. He spent hours in the studio, often simply jamming on songs he felt like singing, like Bobby Darin’s ‘I’ll Be There,’ and Moman seems to have had the good sense to let him follow his instincts and wait for the good stuff. His patience paid off. Elvis injected the sessions with the same energy he brought to his earliest recordings, turning out twenty-three sharp takes of Mac Davis’s ‘In the Ghetto’ and twenty-nine of ‘Only the Strong Survive,’ written by Jerry Butler, Kenny Gamble, and Leon Huff and recorded by Butler.  Moman accurately pegged Mark James’ ‘Suspicious Minds’ as a sure-fire hit, a song to which he also owned publishing rights. The combination of a new producer, new musicians, and a new location seemed to ignite Elvis’ creativity the way Sam Phillips once had, and Elvis lent these recordings all of the passion he always brought to his best work.

“The sessions yielded two albums that nearly reached the top ten and several top-ten singles, including a number one for ‘Suspicious Minds,’ while ‘In the Ghetto’ climbed to number three, ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’ to number six, and ‘The Wonder of You’ (a live track actually recorded later) to number nine, a success rate Elvis had not scored since the early 1960s, and which he would never achieve again. ‘Kentucky Rain,’ written by Eddie Rabbitt and Dick Heard, peaked at number 16, but Elvis’ urgent delivery of the song deserved a better fate. The two albums blended most of Elvis’ strongest musical influences, showing off his rock, country, R&B, blues, and even gospel chops. The sessions were among Elvis’ best studio work and Moman’s minimalist, sparse production complemented him perfectly. Like his encounters with Sam Phillips and Steve Binder, it was another instance of Elvis meeting up with the right partner at the right time.*

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* Joel Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 7^th edition, 503–504; Ernst Jorgensen, Elvis Presley: A Life in Music, 264–79. Also see Peter Guralnick’s liner notes to CD Suspicious Minds: The Memphis 1969 Anthology, and Robert Gordon and Tara McAdams, The Spirit of Home, liner notes to CD From Elvis in Memphis.

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Elvis’ Last Great Moment

By 1977 Elvis Presley had little of the fire that he brought to the world when he burst onto the national music scene in 1956 with his first national television appearance.  Then, he was a ball of unbridled energy and sexuality that frightened a good many adult Americans, but fired up most of their kids.  Pop music and culture were never the same after that and would-be rock stars continue to follow Elvis’ path, trying ever new ways to shock the public and draw attention to themselves.

But by 1977, years of drug abuse, boredom, and self-destructive behavior had left Elvis little more than a shadow of that early fireball.  Many of his concerts had become embarrassments as he forgot lyrics, slurred words, stumbled around the stage, lapsed into long, sometimes confusing monologues, and only sporadically called up a trace of his once great vocal powers.  His health was poor, he looked pale, was noticeably overweight and often listless.  Still, fans continued to pack arenas just to share an hour with their idol and see him in the flesh, much as Babe Ruth still drew crowds long after his playing ability had waned. 

It would seem the least propitious time to produce an Elvis television special, but that’s exactly what his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, did.  By then, Parker knew his star was fading and he was anxious to derive all the income he could from him while Presley was still able to take the stage.  By then, the only way to produce an Elvis TV special was to tape him during one of his concerts, because the King refused to take on anything more than that.  Nothing remotely resembling his landmark 1968 “Comeback” special, which incorporated powerful, impromptu live performances with well staged musical production numbers, and featured Elvis at the peak of his powers, was possible because Elvis had neither the energy nor the will to do it.  Instead, TV crews would be reduced to hoping that they could cull enough decent footage of Elvis on stage to manufacture a one-hour special. 

The task proved challenging and the team of Gary Smith and Dwight Hemion would have only two opportunities to tape Elvis on stage in June 1977, first in Omaha, Nebraska, and second in Rapid City, South Dakota.  The first concert was a near disaster and found Elvis in particularly poor form, but the crew was able to use a few numbers from the show in what was ultimately aired by CBS as Elvis in Concert after Presley's death.  Fortunately for all concerned, Elvis performed much better in Rapid City, although he was still far below the high standards he had set in past years.  Yet, there were moments during the Rapid City show when Elvis called up what remained of his vocal ability.  The following excerpt from Channeling Elvis: How Television Saved the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll recreates some of that show.

“He did better than in Omaha, but that wasn’t a very high bar to reach. As with most Elvis performances by then, the question was not so much how well he sang, but how much better he sang than he did on his worst nights. As always, some numbers were throwaways used as a backdrop for him to toss scarves to the crowd, including ‘Love Me.’ The women nearest the stage were far more excited and animated over this gesture than most of Presley’s singing and Elvis also was more mobile at times during these interludes, even managing to bend over and kiss a girl near the stage.

“He introduced ‘Trying to Get to You’ as a song his father and girlfriend liked, explained that he did it 18 years earlier, and noted that ‘My voice was a lot higher back then, and you gotta have it built in the right place,’ thus excusing his inability to hit the high notes. But he sang it very well, and it remained a song that never failed him.

“ ‘Hawaiian Wedding Song’ seemed an odd concert choice, and Elvis reminisced about doing it long ago in the film Blue Hawaii. His voice was low, slurred, and weak. He strolled over to Kathy Westmoreland, who was doing the high counterpoint part and sang the song directly to her, making a comical face at the end, as if relieved or surprised that he completed it. He carefully placed a scarf around her neck and planted a kiss on her cheek, then returned to flinging scarves to the masses while phoning in ‘(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear’ and ‘Don’t Be Cruel.’

“Someone in the audience shouted for ‘Moody Blue’ and Elvis promised to do it, but said there was something else he must do first. Making his way to the piano, he said, ‘This is . . . an old song called “Unchained Melody.”  I don’t know all the chords, so if you hear me get my fingers caught in the keys back here you’ll know what it is. “Unchained Melody,” from an album called Unchained Melody. Makes a lot of sense.’ After a long pause, another swig of water, and a brief silence, he quipped, ‘How do you like it so far?’ which elicited enthusiastic applause. Despite the lagging, comic introduction, Elvis turned in one of the most memorable moments of his later career. ‘Unchained Melody’ was not a great performance, and Elvis strained for breath at times, sweated profusely, struggled to hit some notes, and had to employ every ounce of strength he had to bring it to a powerful ending. It was late in the evening, and he was clearly tired, but he poured everything he had left into the song, showing the degree of effort that had once made him great, even though the result was a far cry from that greatness. The camera fixed tightly on his face, bathed in sweat, then cut to several women watching him intently from the audience. When he finished, the place erupted into the loudest and most sustained applause of the evening. He rose from the piano smiling, clearly delighted to have brought it off.  It was not the Elvis of old, but it was all that Elvis had left.”

The number, however, was inexplicably cut from the television special, but was released later on the video compilation Elvis: The Great Performances.

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Christmastime with Elvis

Sony/Legacy's Follow That Dream collectors label will issue a new CD edition of Elvis' Christmas Album next month, just in time for the holidays.  Featuring the original album, first released in 1957, the CD adds several bonus tracks, three of which may seem out of place to most listeners as they are totally unrelated to Christmas: “My Wish Came True,” “Treat Me Nice,” and “Don't.”  The remaining nine bonuses are various alternate takes of two gospel numbers that also appeared on the album: "Peace in the Valley" and "It Is No Secret."

Elvis released another Christmas album in 1971 and many holiday compilations were issued after his death, notably Memories of Christmas in 1982, which contained some alternate takes and a memorable, unedited, eight-minute version of "Merry Christmas Baby."  But the 1957 album revealed a side of Elvis that few were aware of at the time, most notably his gospel influences and instincts.  In addition to some holiday rockers and blues, like "Santa Claus Is Back in Town" and his classic "Blue Christmas," as well as a hopped up rendition of Gene Autry's "Here Comes Santa Claus," Elvis turned in moving performances of "Silent Night" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem."  The album also tacked on four gospel numbers Elvis had released earlier: "Peace In The Valley
," which he had performed on The Ed Sullivan Show earlier in the year, "I Believe," "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," and "It Is No Secret," each of which demonstrated how deeply Elvis invested himself in gospel music, a characteristic he never lost, even in his final years, when his vocal powers were fading.

According to Graceland's Elvis website, the FTD label “is a collectors record label that exists exclusively for the dedicated Elvis music collector and currently offers over 100 different Elvis CDs, books and LPs with additional titles released throughout the year.  The FTD label was created by Sony Music and launched in 1999.”  Thus, you'll have to surf the web to find FTD discs, which are not available from mainstream sources like Amazon, and can be costly (one website has advertised the Christmas CD at $40).

Since the bonus tracks are of marginal interest to most listeners, or should the search just prove too difficult, you might want to hunt down a copy of the 1994 CD If Every Day Was Like Christmas instead, which includes all of Elvis' Christmas songs, plus a few bonus tracks and a rare, all too brief, Christmas greeting from Elvis.  The CD was issued in a long, gatefold sleeve that opens into a pop-up of Elvis' Graceland mansion.  That one can readily be found on Amazon and elsewhere and makes a nice Christmas gift for any Elvis fan, including yourself.

Since the holiday season already seems well underway, why not start planning to spend part of it with Elvis?

Here is a summary of Elvis' Christmas recordings:

LP Elvis' Christmas Album (1957)

Santa Claus Is Back In Town


White Christmas


Here Comes Santa Claus 

I'll Be Home For Christmas


Blue Christmas


Santa Bring My Baby Back 

O Little Town Of Bethlehem


Silent Night 


Peace In The Valley 

I Believe


Take My Hand, Precious Lord


It Is No Secret 

LP Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas (1971)

O Come All Ye Faithful

The First Noel

On a Snowy Christmas Night

Winter Wonderland

The Wonderful World of Christmas

It Won't Seem Like Christmas 

I'll Be Home on Christmas Day

If I Get Home on Christmas Day

Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees

Merry Christmas Baby

Silver Bells

LP Memories of Christmas (1982)  

O Come All Ye Faithful (take 2)

Silver Bells

I'll Be Home on Christmas Day 

Blue Christmas

Santa Claus Is Back in Town

Merry Christmas Baby (unedited)

If Every Day Was Like Christmas (undubbed)

Christmas Message from Elvis/Silent Night 

CD If Every Day Was Like Christmas (1994)

If Every Day Was Like Christmas

Blue Christmas

Here Comes Santa Claus

White Christmas

Santa Bring My Baby Back

I'll Be Home for Christmas

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Santa Claus Is Back in Town

It Won't Seem Like Christmas

If I Get Home on Christmas Day

Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees

Merry Christmas Baby (edited version)

Silver Bells

I'll Be Home on Christmas Day (alternate version)

On a Snowy Christmas Night

Winter Wonderland

The Wonderful World of Christmas

O Come All Ye Faithful

The First Noel

It Won't Seem Like Christmas (unreleased alternate - take 6)

Silver Bells (alternate - take 1)

Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees (unreleased alternate - take 8)

I'll Be Home on Christmas Day

Christmas Message from Elvis/Silent Night

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