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What was Elvis'
biggest failure as a performer?
Was it his appearance at the Grand
Ole Opry in 1955?.....No
Was it Las Vegas in 1956?.....No
Most fans are aware that Elvis' first season in Las Vegas in 1956
didn't go well. The older Vegas audience couldn't relate to Elvis'
new sound and performing style and as a result his booking was cut
short. Similarly, Elvis bombed when he appeared at the Grand Ole
Opry in Nashville and there is the often published, but erroneous,
story that Elvis was told to go back to driving a truck.
Few fans are aware however of Elvis' other big failure, a failure
arguably bigger than his appearances in Nashville and Las Vegas.
The performance in question was Elvis' audition in March 1955 for
the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts television program. The program was
one of the most influential shows broadcast during the 1950s and was
the launching pad for many future stars as success on it guaranteed
exposure to a national audience and spin-off contracts.
Elvis' unsuccessful audition was the biggest failure of his career
for two reasons, firstly, a lack of professionalism from Elvis and
his management and secondly, the Las Vegas audience and Grand Ole
Opry management were pleasant to Elvis, if not fully appreciative of
his talent and groundbreaking performance style.
Elvis' audition for Arthur Godfrey show was arranged by prominent
and influential disc jockey, Bill Randle through his association
with Max Kendrick in New York where the show was based.
It was reported at the time that as a result of his rejection by the
Arthur Godfrey people Elvis was depressed on the plane trip back
home.
Interestingly, few Elvis biographies devote much space to the
audition. There are only passing references to it in Jerry Hopkins'
'Elvis: A Biography', Peter Guralnick & Ernst Jorgensen's 'Elvis
Day-By Day' and Guralnick's seminal work 'Last Train To Memphis: The
Rise of Elvis Presley'.
Frank Coffey in his solid release 'The Idiot's Guide to Elvis'
devotes a page to the audition, including: 'Then the country's most
important amateur and young professionals talent showcase, the
weekly primetime Talent Scouts had given stars like Pat Boone, The
Mcuire Sisters and Shari Lewis their first national exposure.'
Coffey goes on to state: 'But Elvis wasn't quite "talented" enough
at least not by the standards of Godfrey's people.Was it that Elvis
wasn't good enough in their minds? Or was it that he was just too
controversial?"
Peter Brown and Pat Boeske in 'Down
At The End Of Lonely Street: The Life And Death of Elvis Presley'
suggest: "Not photogenic enough" ruled Arthur Godfrey and too
"greasy".
The truth is actually very
interesting and appears to have nothing to do with Elvis being
controversial. It had to do with a lack of professionalism on the
part of both Elvis and his management (at the time Bob Neal although
Colonel Parker was loosely involved on the periphery). Quite simply
they hadn't thought through what was required to be accepted and
successful on Talent Scouts, a program broadcast from a major urban
(not rural) city to a national audience.
As noted in Ger Rijff and Jan van Gestel's excellent photo-journal,
Memphis Lonesome: 'Presley bombs. He bombs so bad that Kendrick
refuses to do anything for Randle in New York for months on end.
Says Randle: "Presley forgot the words, picked his nose, and was the
antithesis of what Arthur Godfrey looked for in talent. He had a
dirty red suit on, food all over it, and his clothing was rumpled.
He had terrible acne, he just looked like a bum and he couldn't
perform for them, and it was just a disaster, a real disaster."'
(This article originally appeared on
the EIN website several years ago but disappeared when they switched
server providers. Many thanks to Debra Palmer and Charmaine Voisine
for finding a copy of it)
 
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