Editing Elvis Presley (section)

==== ''Milton Berle Show'' and "Hound Dog" ====
[[File:Elvis signs autographs in Minneapolis 1956.jpg|thumb|left|Presley signing autographs in [[Minneapolis]] in 1956]]
On April 3, Presley made the first of two appearances on [[NBC]]'s ''[[The Milton Berle Show]]''. His performance, on the deck of the [[USS Hancock (CV-19)|USS ''Hancock'']] in [[San Diego]], California, prompted cheers and screams from an audience of sailors and their dates.{{sfn|Guralnick|1994|pp=262–263}} A few days later, Presley and his band were flying to [[Nashville, Tennessee]], for a recording session when an engine died and the plane almost went down over [[Arkansas]].{{sfn|Guralnick|1994|p=267}} Twelve weeks after its original release, "Heartbreak Hotel" became Presley's first number-one pop hit. In late April, Presley began a two-week [[concert residency|residency]] at the [[New Frontier Hotel and Casino]] on the [[Las Vegas Strip]].{{sfn|Koch |Manning |Toplikar |2008}} The shows were poorly received by the conservative, middle-aged hotel guests, "like a jug of corn liquor at a champagne party", a ''[[Newsweek]]'' critic wrote.{{sfn|Guralnick|1994|p=274}} Amid his Vegas tenure, Presley, who had acting ambitions, signed a seven-year contract with [[Paramount Pictures]].{{sfn|Victor|2008|p=315}} He began a tour of the [[American Midwest|Midwest]] in mid-May, covering 15 cities in as many days.{{sfn|Guralnick|Jorgensen|1999|pp=72–73}} He had attended several shows by [[Freddie Bell and the Bellboys]] in Vegas and was struck by their cover of "[[Hound Dog (song)|Hound Dog]]", a hit in 1953 for blues singer [[Big Mama Thornton]] by songwriters [[Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller]]. It became his new closing number.{{sfn|Guralnick|1994|pp=273, 284}}

After a show in [[La Crosse, Wisconsin|La Crosse]], Wisconsin, an urgent message on the letterhead of the local Catholic diocese's newspaper was sent to [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] director [[J. Edgar Hoover]]. It warned that <blockquote>Presley is a definite danger to the security of the United States.&nbsp;... [His] actions and motions were such as to rouse the sexual passions of teenaged youth.&nbsp;... After the show, more than 1,000 teenagers tried to gang into Presley's room at the auditorium.&nbsp;... Indications of the harm Presley did just in La Crosse were the two high school girls&nbsp;... whose abdomen and thigh had Presley's autograph.{{sfn|Fensch|2001|pp=14–18}}</blockquote>

Presley's second ''Milton Berle Show'' appearance came on June 5 at [[NBC]]'s Hollywood studio, amid another hectic tour. [[Milton Berle]] persuaded Presley to leave his guitar backstage.{{sfn|Burke|Griffin|2006|p=52}} During the performance, Presley abruptly halted an up-tempo rendition of "Hound Dog" and launched into a slow, grinding version accentuated with exaggerated body movements.{{sfn|Burke|Griffin|2006|p=52}} His gyrations created a storm of controversy.{{sfn|Jorgensen|1998|p=49}} [[Jack Gould]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote, <blockquote>Mr. Presley has no discernible singing ability.&nbsp;... His phrasing, if it can be called that, consists of the stereotyped variations that go with a beginner's aria in a bathtub.&nbsp;... His one specialty is an accented movement of the body&nbsp;... primarily identified with the repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway.{{sfn|Gould|1956}}</blockquote> Ben Gross of the ''[[New York Daily News]]'' opined that popular music "has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of one Elvis Presley.&nbsp;... Elvis, who rotates his pelvis&nbsp;... gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and [[bordello]]s".{{sfn|Guralnick|Jorgensen|1999|p=73}} [[Ed Sullivan]], whose [[The Ed Sullivan Show|variety show]] was the nation's most popular, declared Presley "unfit for family viewing".{{sfn|Marcus|2006}} To Presley's displeasure, he soon found himself being referred to as "Elvis the Pelvis", which he called "childish".{{sfn|Marsh|1982|p=100}}