The Night Elvis Shook Television

The host wasn't there. The singer wasn't in the studio. And 60 million people watched anyway.

On September 9, 1956, Elvis Presley — 21 years old, sideburns and all — made his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, the biggest variety program on American television. It became the most-watched TV broadcast of the 1950s: an estimated 60 million viewers, or 82.6 percent of everyone watching television that night, tuned in.

Getting Elvis on the show had taken a change of heart. Ed Sullivan had initially refused to book the young singer, whose hip-shaking performances were already scandalizing parents, preachers, and newspaper columnists. But Elvis kept delivering enormous ratings for rival programs — and after his July 1, 1956, appearance helped Steve Allen beat Sullivan head-to-head, Sullivan relented. He signed Presley to an unprecedented $50,000 contract for three appearances, a staggering sum for a TV guest spot at the time.

Then fate threw a curveball. About a month before the broadcast, Sullivan was seriously injured in a car crash and was still recovering, so the legendary host wasn't there on the big night. British actor Charles Laughton filled in, hosting from the show's New York studio — while Elvis performed from 3,000 miles away.

Presley was in Hollywood filming his first movie, Love Me Tender, so his segment came live from CBS Television City in Los Angeles. Laughton tossed to the coast with the words, "And now, away to Hollywood to meet Elvis Presley!"

Elvis opened with "Don't Be Cruel" and then did something clever: he previewed "Love Me Tender," the title song from his upcoming film, which hadn't been released yet. Millions of teenagers heard it for the first time that night. He returned later in the show for "Ready Teddy" and a sliver of "Hound Dog," wished Sullivan a speedy recovery, and was gone.

One myth is worth clearing up: despite all the outrage over his gyrating hips, Elvis was shown head-to-toe that night. The famous waist-up-only censorship didn't happen until his third and final Sullivan appearance, on January 6, 1957.

The broadcast gave The Ed Sullivan Show its best ratings in two years and turned a regional sensation into a national phenomenon. Within months, his records were inescapable, Love Me Tender was in theaters, and Elvis was on his way to becoming the King of Rock 'n' Roll — all because, on a September night in 1956, America decided it couldn't look away.

No verified landscape photograph of Elvis from the 1956 Sullivan appearance could be found, so this story is published without a photo.