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Early Elvis
in
Cleveland
Elvis and The Pied Piper of Cleveland
"Shake Rattle and Roll" - Electric Elvis and Bill Randle (eBook)
Bill Randle: Unsung Elvis Promoter
Recommended Early Elvis Recordings
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Documentary about early years of Elvis Presley in Tupelo and Memphis and including interviews with authors Elaine Dundy and Alanna Nash, DJs George Klein and Wink Martindale, Historian Roy Turner, several Elvis friends from his youth. Also excerpts from early Elvis songs.
This fascinating DVD is highly recommended for your collection...
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Elvis and The Pied Piper of Cleveland
Most fans know about the first SUN recordings and his travels through the South to promote his records.
At that time he was known as "The Hillybilly Cat" or "The Memphis Flash," and was traveling with his combo of guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. Later came D.J. Fontana on drums.
But what may not be known to many was the first city outside of the South that Elvis conquered was Cleveland, Ohio.
Elvis made several important appearances in that Ohio city in 1955.
This seems appropriate for Elvis to make a success there since it is considered the birthplace of rock n'roll. It was disc jockey Alan Freed who made his first success on radio in Cleveland, now the home of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.
But it wasn't Freed who first championed Elvis. In fact, Freed didn't seem to have much interest in the young rockabilly singer from Memphis.
Instead it was two other Cleveland disc jockeys: Tommy Edwards and Bill Randle.
The Pied Piper of Cleveland (1955)
October 20: One of the landmarks in the early career of Elvis. Thist was the first time he was filmed for a commercial movie (still unreleased). Here is the description as told in Patricia Jobe Pierce's book:
Elvis, Pat Boone (whose "Ain't That a Shame" just hit the charts), Bill Haley (who had seven Top 20 hits), and The Four Lads (who had released "Moments to Remember") sang at the Brooklyn High School and St. Michael's Hall in Cleveland. Elvis performed by request in front of a camera for the well-known Cleveland disc jockey Bill Randle, who produced a forty-eight minute documentary with a $4,000 budget titled, The Pied Piper of Cleveland: A Day in the Life of a Famous Disc Jockey.
Tom Edwards photographed Elvis and Bill Haley shaking hands at Cleveland's Brooklyn High School Auditorium. At the evening performance at St. Michael's Hall, Elvis sang "That's All Right, Mama," "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Good Rockin' Tonight," "Mystery Train," and "I Forgot to Remember to Forget." Randle's documentary was shown at Euclid Shore Junior High School and in WEWS-TV, Channel 5, in Cleveland.
There has been much speculation and disbelief that the October 20, 1955 footage with Elvis still exists.
According to reliable sources it was sold by Bill Randle to a British company in 1992. It has yet to be released, probably due to publishing and copyright difficulties. Will it ever be released? Hopefully some day it will be available.
Bill and Elvis
It's unfortunate that no airchecks are known to exist of the lvis Presley interview on Randle's radio show from 1955.
But there is an air check from 1955 when Bill Randle talked about Elvis on his WERE radio show and read mail from young listeners.
It is available on the new eBook:
"Shake, Rattle and Roll" - Electric Elvis and Bill Randle [see info below]
In early 1955, Elvis had traveled outside of the South for the first time and by doing so he spread his popularity even wider. Elvis first came to Cleveland as just another country singer.
Within less than a year Elvis had conquered Cleveland's young music fans.
All of this happened months before the famous national TV debut. And who was the disc jockey who introduced Elvis on The Dorsey Brothers "Stage Show" on CBS TV that historic night of January 28, 1956?
It was Cleveland's own famous disc jockey, Bill Randle. By then he knew Elvis was an "electric" performer and would make it big.
He was so right!
-- Roger Lee Hall, January 2009
Sources
The Ultimate Elvis: Elivis Presley Day By Day by Patricia Jobe Pierce (Simon & Schuster, 1994).
Elvis - Day By Day by Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen (Ballantine Books, 1999).
The Elvis Encylopedia by Adam Victor (Overlook Duckworth, 2008).
NEW!
75th Anniversary Commemorative eBook
Elvis in Cleveland, 1955
[this picture not to be reproduced without permission]
In celebration of the 75th anniversary of the birth of Elvis Presley (born: Tupelo, Mississippi, 8 January 1935) now you can receive this new Commemorative eBook with 75 files in 10 folders:
Bill Randle and Electric Elvis (audio - 14 files)
Bill Randle
Tribute (audio - 16 files)
Bill Randle Information (2 files)
Bill Randle Picture Gallery (10 files)
Bill Randle Show 1956 (1
file)
Shake, Rattle and Roll article (3 files)
Elvis Presley On Television (1 file)
Elvis Presley Information (6 files)
Elvis Presley Picture Gallery (20 files)
Pied Piper Of Cleveland 1955 (2 files)
The author, Roger Lee Hall, worked for Cleveland disc jockey Bill Randle,
and provides information about the famous still unreleased film short with Elvis performing titled, The Pied Piper of Cleveland: A Day in the Life of a Famous Disc Jockey.
This eBook is available exclusively on CD-ROM disc.
It does not contain
any video clips but does include rare and
fascinating material including audio files not available elsewhere.
The eBook is titled:
"Shake, Rattle and Roll" - Electric Elvis and Bill Randle
(PineTree Press, 2010)
To receive this Special Commemorative eBook (postage included),
make a donation to PineTree Productions of $25
with your credit card through safe and securePayPal,
by clicking on this button:
After you have made your donation,
send your name and mailing address to this email:
Read more about the still unreleased first commercial film short
with Elvis performing at
Bill Randle:
Unsung Elvis Promoter
Bill Randle (1923-2004) was a key person in the emerging popularity of Elvis Presley in the 1950s.
He was an influential Cleveland disc jockey and the first one outside of the South to write about Elvis in a newspaper in 1955.
I worked as his assistant in the 1970s at a Cleveland university and he told me some interesting stories about his days with Elvis.
For example, Randle together with his fellow disc jockey Tommy Edwards, helped promote Elvis in 1955 in a series of live appearances in Cleveland at the "Hillbilly Jamboree" show and on WERE radio.
Randle was also the producer of the first commercial film made of Elvis performing in a concert. It was to be a Universal documentary short titled, The Pied Piper of Cleveland: A Day in the Life of a Famous Disc Jockey
The filming took place at Brooklyn High School in Cleveland. The other performers included: Pat Boone ("Ain't That A Shame"), Bill Haley & His Comets ("Rock Around the Clock"), The Four Lads ("Moments to Remember") and Patricia Wright ("Man in a Rancoat").
Unfortunately, due to budget problems, this documentary was never completed and released.
According to an article in People magazine dated 11 January 1993, the existing footage was sold to a European company for nearly $2 million.
It remains a mystery why this very rare first commercial footage of Elvis has not been released.
How much of this footage still survives? It is difficult to know for sure, but the complicated copyright issues are probably the reason it has not been released yet on DVD.
I was told by Bill Randle that he was asked by Elvis to be his manager before Col. Tom Parker took over. He even said he had a contract ready to be signed.
Bill Randle was also the disc jockey who introduced Elvis on national television in 1956 on The Dorsey Brothers "Stage Show."
Randle had a wide variety of interests besides being a disc jockey and one of them was as a record producer.
Read more about him in this excellent reference book:
The Elvis Encylopedia by Adam Victor
Not only was he a popular disc jockey, who had radio programs on WERE in Cleveland and WCBS in New York during the 1950s, but he also was involved in a number of recording projects.
One of the most successful of these projects was for Columbia Records in 1959.
He suggested that a popular American patriotic song be edited down from its longer time so it would fit on a 45 RPM record. This record became a million seller and received a Grammy Award. It was performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the song was:
A much larger project involved his production of an LP set in 1961 devoted to a religious communal group.
Originally from the Manchester, England area in the 18th century, this religious sect was known as The United Society of Believers (later shortened to: The Shakers).
Bill Randle produced a 10 LP box set about Shaker culture in 1961. This LP set, titled The Shaker Heritage, has been out-of-print for many years.
All the music from this LP set has been re-issued on a CD box set on Rounder Records. It includes a 72 page illustrated booklet with all the lyrics and extensive notes by Roger Hall. This 2 CD set is titled...
Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers
For more background on this disc jockey and record producer, see
Having worked for him as his assistant in the 1970s, Roger Lee Hall prepared a special tribute CD and essay in 2004 with the passing of William (Bill) Randle.
His tribute included several rare interviews with Randle from the 1970s and 1980s.
A portion of this tribute was used in the program ceremony on " Bill Randle Day" at the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame on September 26, 2004.
A copy of this Bill Randle Tribute CD was donated to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
This tribute is now included as an audio folder on the new eBook:
"Shake, Rattle and Roll" - Electric Elvis and Bill Randle [see info above]
A Songwriter Remembers Elvis
Songwriter Roger Lee Hall was a big fan of Elvis from the time when he first became a national sensation in 1956. Roger also was a fan of the early Elvis movies, especially KING CREOLE.
Here he is holding the soundtrack LP album from that movie in this 1958 photo:
Roger has written about his fondness for the early Elvis singing style and how it inspired his early songwriting career in the chapter:
"Love Me Tender"-- Electric Elvis and Me
The remainder of the eBook tells the story of a struggling songwriter and includes over 100 pictures and music files. It is titled:
Free As The Breeze:
Confessions of a Struggling Songwriter
Also available is a CD from Roger's radio show featuring an Elvis memorial tribute:
Songs of Survival:
A Musical Scrapbook
Recommended Early Elvis Recordings
(1954-1956)
Two other CDs are recommended for the SUN Records years:
Sunrise (2 CDs) - this is the best collection available, even the alternate tracks on CD 2 are worth a listen.
The Sun Sessions - may be hard to find but worth it for the outtakes & alternate takes.
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