September 9 1956

Elvis Presley, 21, makes his first of three appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” (pictured). Sullivan vowed never to have Elvis on his variety show and refused an offer to hire him for $5,000. It cost him dearly when his ratings were crippled by Elvis’s appearance on (his rival) “The Steve Allen Show”. He ended up shelling out an unprecedented $50,000 for three shows. Actor Charles Laughton serves as presenter on the night of Elvis’s first appearance, with Sullivan recovering from injuries suffered in a near-fatal head-on collision. Elvis performs “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Love Me Tender” . . . and 60-million people tune in to watch, a staggering 82.6% of the evening’s TV viewers. Allen’s network, knowing it can’t compete, chooses to show a movie. By his third appearance on the show, due to “censorship” (by any one of a number of people, depending on the source), Elvis is shown from the waist up at the first signs of his “suggestive” gyrating. The decision cements these appearances in rock-music history