Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

All the Elvis you can take

User avatar

Topic author
Suspicious Minds
Posts: 3844
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:08 am
Location: Heartburn Motel, Promised Land
Has thanked: 3045 times
Been thanked: 1151 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby Suspicious Minds » Sat Dec 09, 2017 2:19 pm

These photos will be familiar to you all, but I'd like to add them here.

EP on stage

image.jpeg


Same, bigger, but a bit cropped

image.jpeg


image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Don't take yourself too seriously ;-)


User avatar

Topic author
Suspicious Minds
Posts: 3844
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:08 am
Location: Heartburn Motel, Promised Land
Has thanked: 3045 times
Been thanked: 1151 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby Suspicious Minds » Sat Dec 09, 2017 2:44 pm

From the press conference

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Don't take yourself too seriously ;-)


User avatar

Topic author
Suspicious Minds
Posts: 3844
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:08 am
Location: Heartburn Motel, Promised Land
Has thanked: 3045 times
Been thanked: 1151 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby Suspicious Minds » Sat Dec 09, 2017 3:08 pm

Hawaii House of Representatives Resolution 105, March 30, 1961

image.jpeg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Don't take yourself too seriously ;-)



cadillac-elvis
Posts: 4278
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2017 1:16 am
Has thanked: 87 times
Been thanked: 1358 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby cadillac-elvis » Mon Dec 11, 2017 6:30 am

Mojo Filter wrote:Nice Topic. Thanks, Suspicious Minds .

So glad a live recording as survived of this magnificent concert - imo, it's probably his best ever live concert. The set list is amazing and so is his performance.

Such a shame he omitted the wonderful Doin' The Best I Can from the set list.

At least we got a live rocking I Need Your Love Tonight and probably the only time we will ever hear it live.

The only thing that puzzles me to this day, considering the massive superstar he was at the time, why the hell wasn't this event filmed professionally or taped???

Thank God someone in the audience had the brains to tape this!!


I read in some book that this show would have essentially been his first every TV special, and they were negotiating and it fell thru, because
NBC wouldn't finance the special.


User avatar

John
Posts: 23515
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2015 6:36 pm
Has thanked: 5138 times
Been thanked: 6801 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby John » Mon Dec 11, 2017 7:39 am

cadillac-elvis wrote:
Mojo Filter wrote:Nice Topic. Thanks, Suspicious Minds .

So glad a live recording as survived of this magnificent concert - imo, it's probably his best ever live concert. The set list is amazing and so is his performance.

Such a shame he omitted the wonderful Doin' The Best I Can from the set list.

At least we got a live rocking I Need Your Love Tonight and probably the only time we will ever hear it live.

The only thing that puzzles me to this day, considering the massive superstar he was at the time, why the hell wasn't this event filmed professionally or taped???

Thank God someone in the audience had the brains to tape this!!


I read in some book that this show would have essentially been his first every TV special, and they were negotiating and it fell thru, because
NBC wouldn't finance the special.

Can you remember which book?


User avatar

Mojo Filter
Posts: 3268
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 4:03 am
Has thanked: 879 times
Been thanked: 814 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby Mojo Filter » Mon Dec 11, 2017 8:10 am

cadillac-elvis wrote:
Mojo Filter wrote:Nice Topic. Thanks, Suspicious Minds .

So glad a live recording as survived of this magnificent concert - imo, it's probably his best ever live concert. The set list is amazing and so is his performance.

Such a shame he omitted the wonderful Doin' The Best I Can from the set list.

At least we got a live rocking I Need Your Love Tonight and probably the only time we will ever hear it live.

The only thing that puzzles me to this day, considering the massive superstar he was at the time, why the hell wasn't this event filmed professionally or taped???

Thank God someone in the audience had the brains to tape this!!


I read in some book that this show would have essentially been his first every TV special, and they were negotiating and it fell thru, because
NBC wouldn't finance the special.

I'm sure the media, reporters/film crew were on hand to film snippets for news reports.....but nothing as turned up, yet.
she's well acquainted with a touch of the velvet hand, like a lizard on a window pane



cadillac-elvis
Posts: 4278
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2017 1:16 am
Has thanked: 87 times
Been thanked: 1358 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby cadillac-elvis » Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:36 pm

John wrote:
cadillac-elvis wrote:
Mojo Filter wrote:Nice Topic. Thanks, Suspicious Minds .

So glad a live recording as survived of this magnificent concert - imo, it's probably his best ever live concert. The set list is amazing and so is his performance.

Such a shame he omitted the wonderful Doin' The Best I Can from the set list.

At least we got a live rocking I Need Your Love Tonight and probably the only time we will ever hear it live.

The only thing that puzzles me to this day, considering the massive superstar he was at the time, why the hell wasn't this event filmed professionally or taped???

Thank God someone in the audience had the brains to tape this!!


I read in some book that this show would have essentially been his first every TV special, and they were negotiating and it fell thru, because
NBC wouldn't finance the special.

Can you remember which book?


I think it was Jerry Hopkins book, Elvis in Hawaii.

I no longer own it. or I would scan the page.


User avatar

Topic author
Suspicious Minds
Posts: 3844
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:08 am
Location: Heartburn Motel, Promised Land
Has thanked: 3045 times
Been thanked: 1151 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby Suspicious Minds » Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:50 pm

cadillac-elvis wrote:
John wrote:
cadillac-elvis wrote:
Mojo Filter wrote:Nice Topic. Thanks, Suspicious Minds .

So glad a live recording as survived of this magnificent concert - imo, it's probably his best ever live concert. The set list is amazing and so is his performance.

Such a shame he omitted the wonderful Doin' The Best I Can from the set list.

At least we got a live rocking I Need Your Love Tonight and probably the only time we will ever hear it live.

The only thing that puzzles me to this day, considering the massive superstar he was at the time, why the hell wasn't this event filmed professionally or taped???

Thank God someone in the audience had the brains to tape this!!


I read in some book that this show would have essentially been his first every TV special, and they were negotiating and it fell thru, because
NBC wouldn't finance the special.

Can you remember which book?


I think it was Jerry Hopkins book, Elvis in Hawaii.

I no longer own it. or I would scan the page.


You're right.

Jerry Hopkins, Elvis in Hawaii, 2002, p. 20. There were plans for a TV special, but it didn't go through.

I don't have the book either, but page 20 is a free sample page on google books

https://books.google.be/books?id=3ixnhU ... ns&f=false
Don't take yourself too seriously ;-)



Jukebox
Inactive - Lurker
Inactive - Lurker
Posts: 1910
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 5:03 pm
Has thanked: 740 times
Been thanked: 544 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby Jukebox » Mon Dec 11, 2017 7:17 pm

Suspicious Minds wrote:Announcement of Elvis' benefit in The Cash Box, vol. XXII, nr. 27, March 18, 1961.

The full photo caption reads:

As 'Surrender' steps into the Number 1 spot on the charts, it might be interesting to note that Elvis Presley, to date, has sold in excess of 876,000,000 worth of RCA Victor recordings. Need more be said? On March 25th, the Pres will do a benefit in Pearl Harbor to aid in the construction of a giant memorial for the Battleship Arizona. Colonel Tom Parker has announced that all proceeds from this rare Presley p.a. will go for this cause. A tremendous success in films as well as records, Presley begins shooting his next movie 'Blue Hawaii' the end of March.

image.jpeg

I'm pretty sure that is... "$76,000,000 (76 million dollars) worth of RCA Victor recordings", not 876,000,000

Suspicious Minds, you might want to go back to your August 28, 2017 post on page 1 and edit/correct that.
I'm happy to be an Elvis fan! 8-)


User avatar

Topic author
Suspicious Minds
Posts: 3844
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:08 am
Location: Heartburn Motel, Promised Land
Has thanked: 3045 times
Been thanked: 1151 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby Suspicious Minds » Mon Dec 11, 2017 7:33 pm

Jukebox wrote:
Suspicious Minds wrote:Announcement of Elvis' benefit in The Cash Box, vol. XXII, nr. 27, March 18, 1961.

The full photo caption reads:

As 'Surrender' steps into the Number 1 spot on the charts, it might be interesting to note that Elvis Presley, to date, has sold in excess of 876,000,000 worth of RCA Victor recordings. Need more be said? On March 25th, the Pres will do a benefit in Pearl Harbor to aid in the construction of a giant memorial for the Battleship Arizona. Colonel Tom Parker has announced that all proceeds from this rare Presley p.a. will go for this cause. A tremendous success in films as well as records, Presley begins shooting his next movie 'Blue Hawaii' the end of March.

image.jpeg

I'm pretty sure that is... "$76,000,000 (76 million dollars) worth of RCA Victor recordings", not 876,000,000

Suspicious Minds, you might want to go back to your August 28, 2017 post on page 1 and edit/correct that.


Thanks very much, Jukebox, for spotting that foolish typo. Much appreciated.
Don't take yourself too seriously ;-)


User avatar

galaxie
Posts: 1982
Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2018 4:45 am
Location: The Netherlands
Has thanked: 158 times
Been thanked: 368 times
Contact:

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby galaxie » Tue May 26, 2020 8:23 am

The Queen of Country comedy on the King of Rock and Roll

The Honolulu Advertiser. Friday, March 24, 1961..jpg


An interview with Minnie Pearl ─ Bloch Arena, March 25, 1961, Hawaii.

By Shelly Ritter. (First published: Graceland Express, October-December edition, 1990)

Wilma Lee Cooper - second from left - backstage in 1961 with other Opry stars including - from left - Minnie Pearl, Jan Howard, June Carter and Kitty Wells.....jpg


"I didn't know him well" she confided. Yet, from their brief encounters she formed some very keen and insightful impressions of Elvis . . . It struck me as fascinating that she, a major figure in country music history, was affected by Elvis, a major figure in rock and roll. The link between the two appears to have stemmed from her longtime friendship with the Colonel and the nature of her husband 's profession. A portion of our conversation follows.

Minnie had met Elvis before they worked together in Hawaii. She vividly remembers her first introduction: "My husband (Henry Cannon) was a pilot. He flew Elvis when Elvis first started making appearances around the country. One afternoon he (Henry) called me and said, 'I'm coming to Memphis with Elvis ─ and I want you to meet him. He's going to show there tonight. Take an American, or some flight, and come down there and meet me.'

So, I knew about Elvis. Of course, everybody knew about him then. He was very big at that time; but I never had met him really. When I got to be with him was when Colonel Parker called me and said that they were going to Hawaii to finish raising the money to build the USS Arizona and would I go?? Well, of course . . . I went.

The plane that we all went to Hawaii on was supposed to leave at nine o'clock. We all met in the VIP room at 8:30. We had coffee in the VIP room and then we went out and got on the plane. I was just thrilled to death to be going. I had not been to Hawaii. Henry was with me and the Jordanaires, who backed Elvis at that point and at a lot of times.

Elvis' troop filled up the entire first class of that plane. I don't know how many people were along, with press and his entourage of people that he carried with him.

Bloch Arena March, 25 1961. Honolulu HI..jpg


We all got down and were ready to go ─ and nothing happened. I was sitting in the aisle. We saw two empty seats up front. Nobody came. They held the plane and they held the plane . . . and finally General James Stewart and his wife got on and took the seats. We took off. We got out about an hour and Elvis came up and touched me and said, 'Miss Minnie, do you think it would be out of order if I go up and speak to General Stewart? I've always been such a fan of his.'

I said, 'Well, I think he would love it.' So Elvis went up to speak to the Stewarts. He knelt down in the aisle by General Jimmy Stewart and they had a little conversation. Then he came back.

Now, the reason I brought up that story about General Stewart is that this was typical of Elvis as I knew him. He would feel a hesitancy in bothering anybody. He was not aware, very obviously, of the fact that at that point he was probably the biggest thing in the nation.

Of course General Stewart was big too. This was some time after WWII; but General Stewart was still a big movie star and a big general in our service. It was so typical of Elvis to say, 'Do you think it would be out of order?' He was very polite.

Before we got off the plane, Colonel Parker came to me and he said, 'Now when we get off the plane, you stay with Elvis. I want you in all the pictures.'

Now, I didn't know what staying with Elvis involved. If I had known then what I know now, I wouldn't have stayed with Elvis. so, we taxied up at the gate. They didn't have jetways then. You got off and went down the steps. Well . . . I never saw as many women in my life! There is no way to describe the pandemonium. They were screaming. They were yelling. They (Colonel Parker and the security) told Elvis for us to be the last to leave the plane. They (the women and the press) were taking pictures and everything. So when we got down off the plane, the minute Elvis made his appearance at the door of the plane, the screaming got even worse.

We got off the plane and the girls were still screaming. He was kind enough . . . I remember distinctly . . . He walked over and he signed a few autographs over the fence. They were screaming. I had never seen this.

Elvis with Minnie Pearl Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii March 25, 1961..jpg

A shitty photo, sorry . . .
Elvis and Minnie make their way through the crowd at their hotel.

We have boys now, and men, in the business ─ in our business and in the rock and roll business and all the show business forms ─ young men who have this reaction on women. They (the women) scream. They yell. They do all sorts of wild things. But this (the time in Hawaii) was the first that I'd ever seen and I was just horrified. I thought they were going to kill him. They would have if they could have gotten loose, I'm afraid.

When we got to the hotel, there were 500 screaming women there. We stayed at the Hawaiian Village. The police were standing there trying to keep the crowd back. They didn't have the fence there like they did at the airport so it was very dangerous. The police had this cordon of arms together holding the crowd back, but the crowd burst through when Elvis stepped out of the limo. These women, screaming women - all ages, they burst through the police and started grabbing at Elvis. Of course, that scared Colonel Tom Parker to death. They weren't after me. They didn't care anything about me, but they were after him. We finally escaped them and got inside.

We started up in the elevator and I said to Elvis, 'How do you stand that?' He had it everywhere he went. I knew that.

'I just got used to it,' he said. I said, 'You know those women could kill you.' 'They're not gonna hurt me,' he said. WeIl, what he didn't know was they probably would have hurt him if they had been able to get him. They called in more policemen of course.

He stayed in his room the whole time. We did the show that night. I never will forget that night. It was so exciting. The Jordanaires opened the show and then I worked. When it got time for Elvis to come out everyone was so excited. All the men and women were screaming. I watched him from the wings. He was at his peak. He was handsome and alive and exciting and just great. I guess Elvis must have sung over an hour, maybe more. Then we all went back to the hotel.

The next morning Colonel Parker called and asked Henry and me to come up to Elvis' suite and have some breakfast. When we came up to his suite there were at least five policemen stationed up there. They even had them stationed at the elevator all up and down the hall. He was so busy talking on the telephone with different people. Oh, it was so exciting to me! I had never been around a star that big. I had been in the business for twenty-some-odd years, but I had never been around a star that big. He couldn't leave the hotel except under heavy guard. I remember they told us about one woman who got in and was going to grab him. It was . . . it was incredible how they went wild over him.

I think he would be alive today, probably, if he had been allowed to mix and mingle with his fans. I think it was a great cross for him to bear that he couldn't get out and be with his fans. I think he loved his fans. I think that's why they loved him and still love him. I think fans are very conscious and sensitive to the tact that performers love them. I don't think that he was able, really, to perform a lot of times when he did. I worried about that - same way I did with Hank Williams, Sr. He (Williams) was one of my very best friends. I think there just comes a point where you are just too sick to perform and you should not be forced to do that. When people pay their money, they want to see you. That's the way it was with him. I like to remember him the way he was in Hawaii.

I can always remember that experience in Hawaii pleasantly on account of him (Elvis). I've been with certain stars; and I've been with the current stars. Some are caring and pay attention to their fans and to their fellow performers and some are too busy. Elvis never seemed too busy.' ,

Editors note:
Sarah Ophelia Cannon (Minnie Pearl) born on October 25, 1912
died on March 4, 1996 at the age of 83.

Minnie Pearl & Loretta Lynn.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.



GuyLambert
Posts: 59
Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2017 2:39 pm
Location: Upstate NY
Has thanked: 55 times
Been thanked: 68 times
Contact:

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby GuyLambert » Fri May 29, 2020 5:55 pm

This is a cool thread and the letter to Gary was beautiful. I've always wondered about the lack of audience taken photos from this show. If I remember correctly, I was told by an audience member that cameras were not allowed in the arena. Strange.


User avatar

Mister Moon
Posts: 11188
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:35 pm
Has thanked: 3142 times
Been thanked: 5627 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby Mister Moon » Fri May 29, 2020 6:48 pm

GuyLambert wrote:This is a cool thread and the letter to Gary was beautiful. I've always wondered about the lack of audience taken photos from this show. If I remember correctly, I was told by an audience member that cameras were not allowed in the arena. Strange.


It could be related to military restrictions. Just guessing.

Just the thought of some commie merging with the audience and taking photos was frightening.


User avatar

colonel snow
Posts: 5707
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:04 am
Location: antarctica
Has thanked: 899 times
Been thanked: 2335 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby colonel snow » Sat May 30, 2020 1:11 pm

Deleted - information meanwhile to be found elsewhere on the forum

colonel snow
Last edited by colonel snow on Tue Nov 03, 2020 3:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.


User avatar

colonel snow
Posts: 5707
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:04 am
Location: antarctica
Has thanked: 899 times
Been thanked: 2335 times

Re: Bloch Arena, Pearl Harbor, 1961

Postby colonel snow » Sat May 30, 2020 1:11 pm

Deleted - information meanwhile to be found elsewhere on the forum


colonel snow
Last edited by colonel snow on Tue Nov 03, 2020 3:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.


Return to “Everything Elvis”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: cadillac-elvis, clausdk, MartyMcFly and 47 guests