TODAY IN HISTORY: Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show 69 years ago - on September 9, 1956. Records show that the broadcast set records with 60 million viewers, which was a whopping 82.6% of television viewers in 1956. I wonder if those statistics track people who actually watched the whole broadcast, or if it counted the ones who tuned in and immediately tuned out? My aunt said that all the kids at school were talking about watching. She loved Elvis and could not wait to see him on TV. She turned on the family television, sat down in front of it, and watched the black and white performance as Elvis started to sing "Hound Dog." He also started to dance - the moves for which he would become known as "Elvis the Pelvis." My grandfather stepped over to the television, snapped it off, and said, "We are not watching that garbage in this house!" And that was the end of that. I wonder how many other households across America had a similar reaction that night!
