Jesse Garon and Elvis Aron Presley were born in a house without electricity or plumbing in East Tupelo, Mississippi, on this date in 1935. Jesse, the older twin, was stillborn. The parents were Vernon Elvis Presley and Gladys Smith Presley.
Elvis Presley is the undisputed King of Rock and Roll. He rose from humble circumstances to launch the rock and roll revolution with his commanding voice and charismatic stage presence. In the words of the historical marker that stands outside the house where he was born: “Presley’s career as a singer and entertainer redefined popular music.”
Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935, and grew up surrounded by gospel music of the Pentecostal church. In 1948 the family moved to Memphis, where he was exposed to blues and jazz on Beale Street. After graduating from high school in 1953, an 18-year-old Presley visited the Memphis Recording Service – also the home of Sun Records – to record his voice. Owner/producer Sam Phillips was struck by the plaintive emotion in Presley’s vocals and subsequently teamed him with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. In July 1954 the trio worked up “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky” – blues and country songs, respectively – in a crackling, uptempo style that stands as the blueprint for rock and roll.
After five groundbreaking singles, Presley’s contract was sold to RCA Records and his career quickly took off. …
Presley died in 1977, age 42.
Milton Supman was born in Franklinton, North Carolina, on this date in 1926. On TV he became the comedian Soupy Sales, beginning in Detroit on WXYZ-TV in 1953 with Lunch with Soupy Sales. The show was mostly just silliness with puppets White Fang and Black Tooth, Pookie and, of course, Willie the Worm. Supman, or Sales, also hosted an 11PM show in the 1950s, Soups On — the show always featured a musician, often a jazz musician. Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and Stan Getz appeared on the show. In 1959 Soupy’s daytime show went on ABC; in the mid-1960s it was syndicated nationwide from New York.
On January 1, 1965, miffed at having to work on the holiday, Sales ended his live broadcast by encouraging his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents’ bedrooms and remove those “funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents” from their pants and pocketbooks. “Put them in an envelope and mail them to me”, Soupy instructed the children. “And I’ll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico!” He was then hit with a pie. Several days later, a chagrined Soupy announced that money (mostly Monopoly money) was unexpectedly being received in the mail. He explained that he had been joking and announced that the contributions would be donated to charity. As parents’ complaints increased, WNEW’s management felt compelled to suspend Sales for two weeks. Young viewers picketed Channel 5. The uproar surrounding Sales’ suspension increased his popularity. Sales described the incident in his 2001 autobiography Soupy Sez! My Life and Zany Times.
Soupy Sales died in 2009. He and his guests had been hit with an estimated 20,000 pies by then.
Today is also the birthday
… of Larry Storch of F Troop. He’s 89.
… of newscasters Sander Vanocur (84) and Charles Osgood (79).
… of Dame Shirley Bassey. The singer of “Goldfinger” is 75.
… of Bob Eubanks. “The Newlywed Game” emcee is 74.
… of Stephen Hawking. The physicist and author is 70.
… of Yvette Mimieux. The actress is 70.
Born to a French father and Mexican mother, actress Yvette Mimieux grew up within shouting distance of Hollywood Boulevard. The blonde, well-proportioned Mimieux was a beauty contest winner and model when signed to an MGM contract in 1959. With her second film appearance as ethereal 800th century girl Weena in The Time Machine (1960), Mimieux achieved stardom; with her next film, Where the Boys Are (1960), she proved capable of heavy dramatics via a discreetly handled “gang rape” sequence. An appearance as a terminally ill girl on the 1964 Dr. Kildare episode “Tyger Tyger” drew a great deal of press attention for Mimieux, principally because she spent most of her early scenes in a bikini.
… of David Bowie. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is 65.
David Bowie is rock’s foremost futurist and a genre-bending pioneer, chameleon, and transformer. Throughout his solo career and in his alliances with other artists – including Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Brian Eno and Nine Inch Nails – Bowie has positioned himself on the cutting edge of rock and roll. His innovations have created or furthered several major trends in rock and roll, including glam-rock, art-rock and the very notion of the self-mythologized, larger-than-life rock star.
Hall of Fame pitcher Bruce Sutter is 59 today.
Bruce Sutter was on the fringes of professional baseball, a struggling Minor League pitcher with an injured arm, until he received a gift that changed his life forever. A wise, old man of the game taught him a new pitch — a split-fingered fastball — and in a matter of years, Sutter took this new weapon and blazed a trail as one of the game’s top relief pitchers. A six-time All-Star, Sutter was the 1979 National League Cy Young Award-winner and was on the mound for the last six outs of the Cardinals’ 1982 World Series championship. He saved at least 20 games in nine consecutive seasons and set an NL mark with 45 saves in 1984. The right-hander retired following an arm injury with 300 saves and a 2.84 ERA to his credit.
R. Kelly is 45. Sean Paul’s Temperature is 39 today.
Kim Jong-un is 28 or 29 today.
Rose Louise Hovick was born 101 years ago today. As Gypsy Rose Lee she was a burlesque star. Her memoir was made into the stage musical and film Gypsy.
Albert Bierstadt was born in Solingen, Germany, in 1830 but came to American in 1833. His landscape paintings of the American west are among the best of their kind.
