Editing The Ed Sullivan Show (section)

====Initial appearance====
On September 9, 1956, Presley made his first appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' (after earlier appearances on shows hosted by the [[Stage Show (TV series)|Dorsey Brothers]], [[Milton Berle]], and [[Steve Allen]]), even though Sullivan had vowed never to allow Presley on the show.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edsullivan.com/artists/elvis-presley |title=Products Page &#124; Ed Sullivan Show |website=Edsullivan.com |access-date=2016-10-28}}</ref> According to Sullivan biographer Michael David Harris, "Sullivan signed Presley when the host was having an intense Sunday-night rivalry with Steve Allen. Allen had the singer on July 1 and trounced Sullivan in the ratings. When asked to comment, [Sullivan] said that he wouldn't consider presenting Presley before a family audience. Less than two weeks later he changed his mind and signed a contract."<ref name="Harris116">{{cite book |title=Always on Sunday: Ed Sullivan, An Inside View |url=https://archive.org/details/alwaysonsundayed00harr |url-access=registration |last=Harris |first=Michael David |year=1968 |publisher=Meredith Press|location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/alwaysonsundayed00harr/page/116 116]}}</ref>

At the time, Presley was filming ''[[Love Me Tender (film)|Love Me Tender]]'', so Sullivan's producer, [[Marlo Lewis]], flew to Los Angeles to supervise the two segments telecast that night from [[CBS Television City]] in Hollywood. Sullivan, however, was not able to host his show in New York City because he was recovering from a near fatal automobile accident. [[Charles Laughton]] guest-hosted in Sullivan's place, and opened the show.<ref name="Elvis Presley - Ed Sullivan Shows">{{cite video |people=Paul Mavis (Director) |title=Elvis Presley – Ed Sullivan Shows |medium=DVD |publisher=Image Entertainment |date=2006}}</ref> Music journalist [[Greil Marcus]] wrote that Sullivan's choice to have Elvis appear after Laughton's introduction was an attempt to make Elvis less prominent in the show.<ref name="Marcus100606">{{cite web |title=Official Press Release – Elvis Presley: The Ed Sullivan Shows |url=http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/dvd/dvd_ed_sullivan_shows_set.shtml |publisher=Elvis Australia |date=October 6, 2006}} References DVD liner notes by [[Greil Marcus]].</ref>

[[File:Sullivan Elvis Ready Expression.JPG|thumb|right|Elvis Presley performing "Ready Teddy"]]For his first set, Elvis played "[[Don't Be Cruel]]" and "[[Love Me Tender (song)|Love Me Tender]]".<ref name="Elvis Presley - Ed Sullivan Shows" /> According to writer [[Elaine Dundy]], Presley sang "Love Me Tender" "straight, subdued and tender ... {{snd}}a very different Elvis from the one on ''The Steve Allen Show'' three months before".<ref>Dundy, Elaine, ''Elvis and Gladys'' (University Press of Mississippi, 2004), p. 259.</ref> Elvis's second set consisted of "[[Ready Teddy]]" and a shortened version of "[[Hound Dog (song)|Hound Dog]]".<ref name="Elvis Presley - Ed Sullivan Shows"/> Popular mythology states that Sullivan censored Presley by shooting him only from the waist up, but in fact, Presley's whole body was shown in the first and second shows.<ref name="Altschuler">{{cite book|last1=Altschuler|first1=Glenn C.|title=All Shook Up: How Rock 'n' Roll Changed America|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-19-517749-7|page=91|author-link1=Glenn C. Altschuler}}</ref><ref name="American Idol 2005. page 16">''TV A-Go-Go: Rock on TV from American Bandstand to American Idol''. Jake Austen. 2005. Chicago Review Press, Inc. {{ISBN|1-55652-572-9}}. p. 16</ref>

Although Laughton was the main star and there were seven other acts on the show, Elvis was on camera for more than a quarter of the time allotted to all acts.<ref>[http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/dvd/dvd_ed_sullivan_shows_content.shtml Content Elvis Episodes Of 'The Ed Sullivan Show' DVD Box]
By: Elvis Australia – Aug 9, 2006 Source: EPE. Retrieved October 18, 2007</ref> The show had a 43.7 rating, and was viewed by a record 60,710,000 people which at the time represented an 82.6% share of the television audience, and the largest single audience in television history. The latter percentage share, remains, to this date, [[List of most watched television broadcasts in the United States#Most watched series episode of the decade|the largest in the history of American television]].<ref>Altschuler, p. 91.</ref>