"On February 26, 1955, a Cleveland deejay named Tommy Edwards became the first music promoter to book a Southern singing sensation named Elvis Presley north of the Mason-Dixon line. The event was the Hillbilly Jamboree at Cleveland’s Circle Theater. That fall, Edwards brought Presley back to the Cleveland area for several more shows, including one on October 20, 1955, at Brooklyn High School. On that date, Pat Boone was the headliner (“Ain’t That a Shame” was his big hit), with Elvis, Priscilla Wright, the Four Lads, and Bill Haley’s Comets rounding out the bill."
"At some point during the proceedings, Edwards snapped a now iconic color photo of Haley and Presley shaking hands (above). Haley’s 1954 cover of “Rock Around the Clock” was one of the genre’s first monster hits. He was the established star while Presley was still the young upstart, but in Edwards’s photo, the bow-tied Haley resembles someone’s doughy uncle compared to Presley, who looks like the sort of boy you’d definitely want to keep your daughter away from."
"By 1956, Edwards was showing this and his other color Ektachrome slides at the dances he promoted around town. While a slideshow may sound dull to 2011 ears, in 1956 there was no Facebook, television was black and white, and the exposure given to pop music by the mainstream press was downright stingy. For some of the kids dancing the night away in their local high-school gymnasium, a 12-foot-high blowup of Elvis Presley was as close as they would ever get to the future King". via www.collectorsweekly.com
Buy 1950s Radio in Color: The Lost Photographs of Deejay Tommy Edwards
A few short years ago, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland revised the show you mentioned, and since Priscilla Wright is a good friend, I travelled to Cleveland to see the show. The only people missing from the reunion were Elvis and Bill Hailey. It was a wonderful concert and afterwards, I was one of the privileged few to be invited to the after show where we drank and danced and partied with the performers! A very special night indeed!!!
Leslie Milligan (From Toronto, Canada)
Posted by: Leslie Milligan | July 17, 2011 at 02:19 AM