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The Ottawa Auditorium
The Ottawa Auditorium, in Downtown Ottawa was a 10,000 person capacity located at the corner of O'Connor and Argyle Streets. It was built in 1923 by the Ottawa Auditorium Limited, a consortium controlled by T. Franklin Ahearn and the Ottawa Senators' owners Edgar Dey and Tommy Gorman to replace The Arena, built in 1907. At the time of construction, the consortium took over the ownership of the hockey club as well. The first NHL game held there was played on December 26, 1923 between the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens, before 8300 fans, in which Howie Morenz scored his first NHL goal.1
The building was state-of-the-art for its time. The shape of the ice was not quite orthogonal, it is described as being somewhat 'egg-shaped' with semi-circular end boards, rather than the straight end boards with rounded corners of today's ice rinks. This design matched the shape of the rink at The Arena. The Auditorium held the final game of the 1924 Stanley Cup Finals between Montreal and Calgary because of its then state-of-the-art artificial ice, and the Montreal Forum had not yet been built.1
In 1924, Dey sold his share of the consortium and exited the rink business ending the Dey family's ownership of ice rinks in Ottawa dating back to the 1870s. In 1925, Gorman sold his share to Ahearn and exited hockey in Ottawa, moving to New York to manage the New York Americans. The Senators won the 1927 Stanley Cup in the Auditorium, the decisive game on April 13, 1927 against the Boston Bruins in a game which would be the last Stanley Cup finals game in Ottawa in that century.1
Built primarily for ice hockey, the Auditorium was also used for sports events, assemblies and musical concerts. For performances and assemblies, the arena had a concert stage that would be assembled at one end of the rink, facing the length of the rink. On Sunday, July 3, 1927 owing to the threatening nature of the weather, the Thanksgiving Service, which was to have been held on Parliament Hill, was held in the Auditorium.
The Auditorium was the home arena of the original NHL Senators from 1923 to 1934. By 1930, the Auditorium was losing money as the Ottawa Senators losses increased. The consortium's debts to the Ahearn family would lead to the Senators NHL team suspending operations, then starting up again when capital was raised in 1932. After 1934, the Senators NHL franchise was moved to St. Louis, Missouri, becoming the St. Louis Eagles and the Senators were continued as a senior amateur hockey team playing out of the Auditorium. The franchise was still a drain on the Auditorium and was folded by the NHL in 1935. In 1936, the Auditorium went into receivership and was controlled by the Royal Securities Corporation until 1945, when Gorman returned and purchased the building and the Senators.1
Ottawa radio station CFRA's first broadcast was from the auditorium on May 3, 1947 with a concert by Percy Faith and his 40 piece Orchestra, and a 60 voice choir to an audience of more than 10,000 people. Ottawa Mayor J. E. Stanley Lewis proclaimed the station "officially on the air". From 1945 until 1954 the Senators team played in the Quebec Senior Hockey League, becoming a professional team again in 1952. After the Senators folded in 1954, attributed to the rise of televised ice hockey matches, the professional Hull-Ottawa Canadiens played in the Auditorium.1 On April 3, 1957, Elvis, Scotty, Bill and DJ performed at the Ottawa Auditorium on their second of only three appearances outside of the US. It was the second last stop of their first tour of 1957, a 10 day, 8 city tour that had begun on March 28 at the International Amphitheater in Chicago, and included shows in St. Louis, Fort Wayne, Detroit and Buffalo. They had performed the evening before in Toronto.
While the Colonel had felt on this tour that the crowds were getting larger and just too hard to control, his fear especially from the hordes of young women, the "establishment's" fear's were for the women. On April 3rd, the day of the show the The Ottawa Evening Journal reported:
On the morning of April 3rd, Elvis and his entourage arrived in Ottawa by train from Toronto, while the band drove.
Red-eyed and rumpled with sleep, Elvis Presley skipped lightly from the Toronto train at 8 a.m. today and was whisked off by taxi to a secret Ottawa hideaway. He was accompanied by a mommy teddy bear, a cuddly blue baby teddy bear and a human entourage of about 15. For a handful of curious bystanders, he said ‘Hi, Yah' and ‘OK’ before breaking into a curious girlish skipping gait on the last few steps to his taxicab. He looked like any Canadian boy who needs a haircut, dressed carelessly in a dark suit, velvet shirt, crumpled rosy beige raincoat and smudgy white buckskin shoes.2
Traces of makeup and what looked like mascara failed to hide tired
lines around the wobble-singer's Grecian nose. He said ‘Hi` to a pretty young lunch bar attendant who had reached forward to touch him. She fell back in confusion and was supported by willing hands. Men in the crowd, mostly commuters waiting for their own trains, seemed barely affected by the sudden rush to the station exit. They went along with the others, looked and turned away again.2
Presley attendants formed a small tight ring around the idol, probably from habit, and hustled him toward the taxi. The performance was noted with raised eyebrows by a few unmoved gentlemen who looked like senior civil servants. Nobody was irritated or moved to emotional display. It could have been any minor diplomat or foreign dignitary arriving. Union station, arrival point for legions of world-famous personalities, was no different to any other day. Elvis passed through and the business of train arrivals and departures continued without disruption.2
A small group of idle railway policemen, called out in ease of trouble, looked slightly embarrassed as they dispersed to resume normal duties. Meanwhile, only the press photographers were struggling with a minor Presley official to get the taxi door open for a picture. Elvis settled the issue personally by ordering the door opened for one quick photograph. After a night on the train, Presley was headed for several hours of sleep before appearing for the first of two performances in the Auditorium at 4.30 p.m.2 RCA also pressed records in Canada. They pressed records in Montreal, Toronto and another main record-pressing plant in Northern Manitoba. Ken Middleton was a vice-president of RCA in Canada during that time and remembers flying in to Ottawa for Elvis' visit. A few RCA executives including Ken and the President were on hand to present Elvis with some Gold Records in a conference room at the Beacon Arms Hotel where Elvis stayed. Ken recalled that Elvis was very, very nice, surprisingly so ... dressed very flashy ..... extremely well mannered, even calling him sir, although there are only a few years difference in their ages. Elvis asked about everyone's families and such and about how his records were doing in Canada.3
On his first day assigned to the record division of RCA (in Montreal where the main headquarters for Canada was), he was standing in the office when the president burst into the room, filled with about 100 desks, slamming the doors open waving an Elvis single in the air (... around the early summer of '56) and yelled for all to hear, even the prim and proper secretary pool, that the single just went gold in Canada ... the fastest single to ever do so, and that "This guy could SHIT on a record and it would sell." 3 Though the city of Montreal may have cancelled any appearances of Elvis there, many kids there made it to the Ottawa shows. A local ticket agency created a package deal with the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Ottawa Transit Commission to provide round trip train service between Montreal and Toronto, busses to and from the Auditorium and tickets to the show.
Bill E. Burk, in "Elvis in Canada" wrote that in addition to Montreal, chartered buses also came in from as far as upstate New York, the state of Maine as well as surrounding towns all around Ottawa. Some kids though relied on more spontaneous (if not unwise) resources to attend, as the Journal reported:
Prior to both performances there was the usual press conference and meet and greets backstage consisting of the press, local celebrities, fan club presidents and contest winners. While Ottawa deejay Gord Atkinson had been asked to introduce Elvis at one of the shows (probably the night), Bill E. Burk wrote that Keith Sterling, program and production manager of Ottawa's CKOY had been invited invited to be master of ceremonies of the other.4 "I just showed up at the Auditorium on the appointed day and time and went backstage. This (the Auditorium) was basically a hockey rink. They had a room set up with one of those collapsible tables and a whole bunch of benches for the photographers and such to sit down.," Sterling recalled. “After about ten, fifteen minutes, somebody came to the door and said, ‘Gentlemen, Mister Presley will be here in about five minutes,' And about five minutes later, he showed up.4
“He came in and climbed up on that table and just sat right on top of it, pulling his left knee up and holding it with his hand, and he looked at the crowd (the press corps). The photographers shot pictures and when they were through, he put his left knee down and pulled the right knee up and held it. Then he leaned over and put his elbow on his knee, his hand alongside his face. 4
He went from one pose to another, all the time answering questions.4
"The Colonel really had him groomed how to pose so he wouldn’t be interrupted by photographers asking him, ‘Would you do this? Would you do that?` They didn’t have to say a thing. He gave ‘em every pose they wanted and they never had to ask for it.4 James Purdie, a writer in attendance for the Ottawa Journal wrote, Elvis Presley, 22, feels that his big money-making days are coming to a close. During a press conference Wednesday he admitted that wobbly knees may not draw the screams of teenagers for many more months. "But ah won't cry ovah spilt milk", he said. "If ah could become as good an actor as Frank Sinatra, ah'd go into films seriously." 5
Asked if he thought his popularity would last more than a few years, he replied, "It's a very uncertain business. The end may come in a lot less time than a few years." He considers the rock and roll craze the chance of a lifetime to pile up a bank balance for early middle age and a late marriage. "Ah know ah gotta accept it when they stop asking for autographs, but ah'll keep singing as long as they like it." 5
Elvis found teenagers here no different from anywhere else.
"Ah got no beefs about the kids-they made me."
He thought the ban on Presley shows in the Montreal area was a "political deal". "Or maybe they just don't like me", he said grinning. Elvis sat cross-legged on a table throughout the press interviews. He showed considerable sentiment when asked about his home. "One of the greatest things about making money is that it gives you some of the finer things in life", he said. "Mah family has a nice home now and ah aim to keep it." Elvis will definitely join the Army when he's drafted, he said.5
But the authorities have advised him that the draft is "slowing up" and he may not be called for a year or longer. Until that time, the U.S. government will continue to take 85 cents in income tax out of every dollar he makes. That means his Ottawa performances would net Elvis little more than $3,000.5
Ottawa is the capital of Canada in in it resides its parliamentary institutions, the Senate and the House of Commons. The day after the show The Journal reported that the were only 37 in attendance in Commons during the show. Elvis Presley played here last night and CCF Whip Stanley Knowles said he wondered why the Commons was practically vacant. John B. Hamilton, Conservative, York West, complained during debate on tax resolutions that Finance Minister Harris' tax concessions only went as far as removing the 10 percent sales tax on such things as bubble gum.6 "It's a zoot-suit or Elvis Presley budget", he said. At the mention of Presley, Mr. Knowles asked: "By the way, where is everyone tonight?" Presley was playing at the time before a packed audience at the Auditorium. There were only 37 members present in the 259 member house, including two Cabinet ministers.6
Like Miami in 1956, and many other cities, Union rules in Ottawa required that local musicians be hired for local performances. They weren't necessarily required to be used but had to be hired. In Ottawa, the 16 piece big band, Arni May Orchestra was hired to support the opening acts for the shows. Arni, a jazz musician at 20, had been playing drums for 6 years and leading his own orchestra. While the band members got paid $20 each for the two Elvis concerts, as the bandleader May received $30.7
"I wasn't a big Elvis fan," said May. "I really only knew him from TV, from the Tommy Dorsey Show and the Ed Sullivan Show." He remembers spending the day of the concerts with Elvis in his dressing room and described the young singer as down to earth and religious. "Elvis was an exceptional family person and he took a lot of time talking to me and asking me questions about jazz music and who my musical influences were," said May. "He told me he loved gospel music and the blues. He knew I liked jazz and Latin jazz, so he asked about me, and you don't expect those things, you know what I mean?" 7
Of the conference backstage before the first show, Keith Sterling further said Elvis "was in there, I guess, fifteen minutes or so, answering questions, then someone at the door just plain interrupted and said, ‘Mr. Presley has to leave. He's on stage in fifteen minutes.' So he departed." 4
"I stayed backstage. They told me how to introduce him. 'Make it a simple introduction. We don't need anything fancy or longwinded or anything else.' It wouldn’t have done any good anyway. . . . cause I walked out on that stage and introduced myself and said, 'It's a great pleasure to be here and introduce the star of our show. Ladies and gentlemen . . . ' That’s as far as I got. You couldn’t hear a word after that. I finished the introduction, but no one ever heard it. I went out front and watched." 4
Of all the reviews in the Ottawa papers of the show, Rickard Jackson's,
of the Journal was probably the least flattering.
Elvis should hear the girls from the department shriek when Johnnie , the cute little red-headed office boy from Central Registry and that handsome Mr. Jones, the young executive assistant to the Deputy Minister come humping along, neck and neck in the potatoe sack race at the annual August outing at Lac Philippe. The two are comparable, potatoe sack racing and Elvis Presley's swivel hipped singing, for both are athletic endeavors of a sort.8
Actually, all Elvis does is an old-fashioned bump and grind from burlesque to a hopped-up hill-billy beat. He's a male cooch dancer with a guitar instead of a G-string, carrying on where Little Egypt left off. The former Mississippi truck driver who, in two years has parlayed sideburns, a ducktail hair-do and a muscular vibrato into several million dollars, and a string of eight pink and purple Cadillacs, oscillated yesterday through two Auditorium performances. It was real dorcas.8
Better than 16,000 agitated Rock 'n' Rollers paid more than $45,000 to
ogle him in his $4000 gold lame jacket.
City Police Chief Duncan MacDonell told the Journal there were some 30 policemen on duty at the Auditorium. They were paid by the Police department. Most of the mob were teenagers. Girls in their thick white bobby socks and flat heeled white bucks, full skirts and loose white sweaters. And boys in their jeans, jackets and jack-boots. Great conformists, the teenagers all dress so alike they might as well be wearing uniforms. But there were a surprising number of middle-aged women scattered through them.8
Elvis played on the crowd and his guitar with equal facility. He shimmied through "Don't Be Cruel", "You Is Nothing But a Hound dog", Heartbreak Hotel" and other Presley specialties including "Love Me Tender", his travesty of that old Civil war love song, "Aura Lee".8
And the girls screamed just about as they do when the three-legged race
is in the stretch drive at the civil service picnic.
There is, however, just a slightly different shading to the tone of the
shrieks.
For while Elvis is only a few years out of stove pipe pants, he has
become the knowing master of leer and lurch.
He makes it personal.
Not hearing him perhaps really doesn't matter so much.
For he's that kind of artist to be seen rather than heard.
The warning that anyone caught out of their seats jazzing around in the
aisles or trying to swarm hungrily over Elvis would be tossed out forth
with, contributed to the comparative calm.
A lone sentry stood patrol at Elvis' dressing room door.
He identified himself as the personal security guard for the Crown
Prince of Rock and Roll. Helen Parmelee of the Journal attempted to give a woman's perspective on the show: Some wept; some moaned, some clutched their heads in ecstasy; everybody screamed; stamped: clapped hands; flailed arms; one person got down on all fours and pounded the floor. Elvis 'sent’ them.9
Elvis ‘sent` me too—home with a bursting headache! This is supposed to be a 'woman’s eye view' of Elvis Aron Presley. His fans will consider it a 'worm`s eye view'. I'm still bewildered. Last night’s contortionist exhibition at the Auditorium was the closest to the jungle I'll ever get. But it isn’t the Memphis wiggler who's the ‘missing link`. It’s his audiences—in Ottawa and elsewhere. I don’t know if his gyrations excite them, or if he merely gives the teenagers a chance to let off steam. But, let off steam they did, and I have my headache to vouch for it. Perhaps he hypnotized them.9
For more than an hour and a half the seething mob sounded like 50 jet planes taking off at once. The crowd was a mixture of teenagers, a fair sprinkling of adults and policemen, and the odd diplomat and socialite. One foreign embassy official (who begged to remain anonymous) claimed he was merely studying 'Canadian culture'. The lad with the permanent sneer certainly gave them their money’s worth. In spangled gold lame he slithered and reeled until the sweat poured from his brow and his lank hair covered his eyes.9 By the time 'Houn' Dog' arrived for the third time around he had his audience in his hand, but not in his lap—the entourage of policemen saw to that. Then in a last pop of flashlight bulbs he was gone. The lights switched on and that was all there was to it. They hadn’t heard his voice, but they were happy. As they had shrieked their adulation, they drowned out his every word, But his hips had kept the beat for them.9
Perhaps the words of one 15-year-old Hull High School student sum up the intensity of the girls’ emotions. 'I love him', she sobbed, long after he had departed. In the words of a cynical cop; 'Every time he took a dive, they hollered. They're crazy.' As for me, I'm still bewildered. I’d just like to own as much as that boy pays in taxes. Anybody know how to get rid of a headache? 9 Harold Lewis, a high school reporter writing for the Journal attempted to give a report from a teen's perspective. "Oh, Elvis. I love you", screamed a pert brunette as the teenage idol appeared on the stage. She was only one of a multitude of loud, but orderly teenagers who filled the auditorium last night to welcome the wiggly one to Ottawa. And welcome him they did! Did I say teenagers? For the most part it was we teenagers who orally applauded Elvis, but it was no uncommon sight to see "adults" wearing gigantic "I love Elvis" buttons, and making themselves heard above the youngsters.10
The first part of the show was highly entertaining - which is the polite way of saying that we tolerated it. The kids wanted "Elvis", and before they had a chance to holler for him, they were warned what would happen if they stood in the aisles, jumped up and down, ran up to the stage, etc. . . . The warning was a stern one and the number of police present indicated that it was meant.10
I have never seen such discipline at an Ottawa affair and yet there seemed to be little need for it. The girls couldn't have been screaming for his voice - they seldom heard it. Poor audio facilities at the auditorium didn't help any. I found this particularly disturbing in that I have become rather fond of the fellow's singing. when Elvis merely sings and does no gyrate, he indeed has a fine voice. This is easily illustrated by listening to one of his records - particularly "Love Me Tender". It was his "contortionism" which appealed to those in the auditorium. With each shimmy the idol's knees further beckoned the floor. The closer they came, the louder became the screams and when he finally rested on the stage floor - thunder! One Ottawa girl will never wash her right arm again! "I met him. I met him", she jubilantly announced as she passed my seat. She stopped long enough to tell me that she had been a winner in an Ottawa radio station contest which rewarded her with an introduction to Elvis. Her wildest dream had been to meet the fabulous Elvis. She met him - and cried! 10
Reports by the different reviews as to the number of songs Elvis performed, the number of police and even the numbers in attendance vary. Staff writers for the Ottawa Citizen, Greg Connolley and Gerry Mulligan described the pandemonium as follows: Stained by the sweat of many an honest hockey gladiator, the Auditorium last evening was transformed into a gold-spangled, juvenile paradise as 9,000 ecstatic teen-agers squealed paeans of praise for their hairy hero, Elvis Presley. The shades of such hockey notables as King Clancy, Frank Nighbor and Alex Connell were seen floating out of the "Aud" at 9:30 p.m. when Mr. Presley undulated on stage for his preliminary warm-up wriggles. Clad in a $4,000 gold jacket, Mr. Presley was the most dashing thing to come to Ottawa since Gorgeous George was wowing them on the wrestling circuit. The reception given Elvis was like nothing Ottawa has ever seen before.11
It was sheer pandemonium. The screams and squeals were so devastating that it was virtually impossible to hear anything that Presley was allegedly singing. This didn't seem to bother the teen-agers who erupted on cue on the frequent occasions when their idol went into his "bump-and-grind" routine. Despite all their enthusiasm, the boys and girls and the sprinkling of adults were very well behaved. There were no arrests and no one was thrown out of the party.11
One girls fainted, hundreds cried but generally speaking it was a peaceful Presley program. The only potential danger peaks came when Elvis turned on the steam and gyrated like a Minsky burlesque graduate. Several times the audience started to close in on the platform but prompt action by police kept the situation under control. There were some youths in black leather jackets, reportedly from Montreal, who tried to crash the gate but police dealt with them promptly and efficiently.11
A group of slickly-dressed adults who kept crowding the platform were flatly told by a constable : "Do that once more and I'll throw you out of the place." All told there were 50 policemen and five firemen headed by Chief Constable Duncan MacDonell keeping an eye on things. Some of the longest side-burns seen since Gone With The Wind was filmed were on display in front of the Auditorium as the first contingent of youngsters queued up and hour before the show was scheduled to start. Along with the sideburns were heads of heavy, matted, oily hair arranged in a variety of fantastic coiffures.11
The boys and girls stormed into the "Aud," many of them clustering around the stage entrance in the hope of getting a word with Elvis. By 8:30 p.m., the place was jammed but late arrivals kept coming in as late as 9:30 when Elvis made his appearance. The arrival of "the presence" on stage was the signal for the most horrendous din that has ever been heard in Ottawa, not excluding the occasional singing bouts in the House of Commons. Girls burst into tears. Girls covered their faces, overcome with emotion. Girls and boys shrieked, exulting in this tremendous experience.11
One girl screamed: "He looked right at me." Then she started crying. Another got Elvis to autograph her arm. She burst into tears. The promoters, not missing a bet, sold "I Like Elvis" buttons at 75 cents a throw and programs at $1.00. At the outset of the presentation, the master of ceremonies explained the particular regulations that apply to a Presley show. There were to be six build-up acts before Elvis came on. This statement was greeted by despairing groans. Then, the man said, no one could leave his or her seat. And, no smoking. Just about everybody brought along a flash camera and throughout the Presley act there was a continuing series of blinding "shots". Perhaps the height of emotionalism came when Presley lurched into "Hound Dog". Three policemen and Presley's private strong arm man sped down the center aisle to thrust enthusiasts back into their seats. Presley seemed to sense when things might get out-of-hand and would halt his wiggling, temporarily.11
Patricia Thomas, 43 Delaware, just cried and cried. Elvis had penned his famed signature on her arm. This was just too much. It was unbelievable. Normal, quiet youngsters turned into screaming bobby-soxers. Tears streamed down their faces. A girl near the press section alternated between biting her fingernails and clapping her hands, screaming through the complete show. After 16 numbers Elvis decided to call it a day. He had appeared before 12,000 people, 3,000 in the afternoon and 9,000 last night. His exertions must have left him fatigued, but no more than some of his ecstatic fans. Probably more busy than Presley himself was his manager, Col. tom parker, who scurried back and forth in front of the stage as his hero performed. Parker made sure nobody - but nobody - got near his prize.11
Well dressed matrons and dignified gents mingled with the kids to see this atomic age sensation. Some stared in awe, others in amusement. When Presley left the stage the atmosphere lightened considerably. There was a rush for the exits and in the process one lady banged her leg, passed out and required medical attention. She recovered minutes later, then continued rushing to catch her Montreal train. The crowd thinned out fast, but some eager admirers spilled through the halls looking for their boy. Another group outside the Auditorium flocked around the back entrance. All were doomed to disappointment, though. Elvis left the same way he had arrived earlier in the afternoon. A fast car was waiting outside and he was zipped back to his hotel minutes after the show ended.11
A gang of black-jacketed boys tried to break through the barricades to Presley's dressing room, but special policemen stymied their efforts. one policeman injured his arm when the group got out of hand, but the uprising was swiftly squelched. In attendance at the afternoon show were 25 uniformed city policemen under Deputy Chief Leonard Green, and members of the detective and morality divisions. Fifty uniformed men handled the evening show as well as 30 off duty plain clothesmen, a strong force of detectives and morality men and special policemen. They were ready for anything, but the patrons behaved themselves. It was quite a night. One female fan summed it up nicely. "It's hard to believe he was really here!" 11
Gord Atkinson
remembered Elvis unable to leave his dingy converted hockey dressing room because of the mobs outside the
building, sitting quietly, eating a plain cheese sandwich, in between
shows when he interviewed him before he introduced him onstage for the
evening performance. Gord hosted a weekly program for teenagers CFRA called the Campus
Corner where they had conducted a big rating contest to determine the most popular recording artist of the
year and
Elvis won by an overwhelming majority of votes. After the interview he presented him with a scroll on behalf of all the listeners of the old Saturday afternoon teen
program.4 Gord: Is this the first time you’ve been to Canada? Bob Blackburn of the Ottawa Citizen wrote Elvis up as "Every Bit a Pro: They say Elvis Presley was singing at the Auditorium last night. You couldn't prove it by anyone who was there though. He appeared all right, wearing a $4,000 gold jacket and a black shirt with a plunging neckline and doing some sort of tribal dance resembling as African fertility rite.12
But whether the audience came to hear him or he came to hear the audience was a matter for debate. At both afternoon and evening shows an ear splitting screech went up at his first appearance and didn't end until well after his departure. It was impossible to tell what he sang, let alone how he sang it. His physical performance, however, vulgar or not, was solidly professional.12
Presley's stage performance contained nothing new to anyone who has seen him on the TV or movie screen, but his backstage performance at two press conferences was something else. with his hair out of his eyes and the sulk wiped off his face, he undergoes a complete change of character.12
In all honesty, no one could find anything to criticize about him him backstage., except possibly to the effect that anyone who can make a million dollars in a year should be able to afford underwear or else keep his windbreaker zipped up.12
Presley handles a press conference like a veteran statesman (except perhaps that few statesmen grant interviews while perched cross-legged on a table. He answers readily and intelligently, doesn't try to weasel out of questions, doesn't get huffy, and remains honest even if its to his disadvantage. And he tops it off with a sharp sense of humor and quick wit.12
Some of his answers: On his movie, Love Me Tender: "Certainly it wasn't a great movie - just average. It would have done as well without me. I didn't do a topnotch job. I was just glad of the chance to be in it." On a recent smear in a scandal magazine: "I'm a boy. I do what other boys do." On the magazine's description of his wooing technique: "Sounds like fun." On his professional future: "I'm just taking things as they come. I'll keep on until people get tired of me. It could happen, likely as not." On the rigors of being a teenage idol: "Not having any privacy gets on your nerves, all right. But its part of the business. That's what made me. I haven't got a beef." His opinion of Ottawa: "I haven't had a chance to see it. I slept all day. The people are really friendly, but its a little cool outside." It wasn't inside.12
Gord Atkinson said, " I will never appear on a stage to a more appreciative audience than that big group in 1957. Words were quite unnecessary. I stepped on the stage and opened my mouth to introduce him and no one heard a word I said. They realized my appearance meant that Elvis was about to appear and the cheer that went up would have shattered unbreakable glass."4
After the Ottawa show they had a day's break and finished the tour with four shows in two days on the 5th and 6th in Philadelphia, where it was reported that dust which would be swept from the floor of the arena after the concerts had already been purchased and would be packaged and sold to Presley fan clubs.13 They would not tour again until the end of August, which would have them return to the third and final appearance in Canada and outside the U.S. As for the people at the Notre Dame Convent, they made good on their threats:
The Auditorium in Ottawa would later host other rock 'n roll shows with artists that included Buddy Holly, Brenda Lee, Ray Charles, Fats Domino and The Everly Brothers. In the 60's would also see such acts as the the Beach Boys (Feb 20, 1965) and the Rolling Stones (April 24, 1965). Tommy Gorman remained an owner of the Auditorium until he died in 1962.
In its
day the Auditorium also saw the likes of the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the page added July 30, 2009 For over 50 years The Ottawa Citizen had contracted with Newton Photography, a studio founded in 1940 by Bill Newton and his wife Jean. News photos supplied by them and their staff of 20 photographers, including those of Elvis' appearance in Ottawa were credited simply "Photo by Newton," while for years the photos supplied to the Ottawa Journal were supplied by another Ottawa studio, Dominion Wide Photos. In 1974 Newton's son Greg took over the business and partnered with Andy Andrews to become Andrews-Newton Photographers Ltd., until Andrew's retirement in 1994. Newton Photographic would eventually donate as many as a half-million images to the City Archives. All of the photos used here have been previously published in various sources and every attempt has been made to properly credit them where known. Special thanks to Shayna Keces and the Ottawa Public Library for their help with all Ottawa Journal and Ottawa Citizen articles and ads, and also to Peter Atkinson and the estate of Gord Atkinson for permission to reprint his article and interview. Several Ottawa Citizen articles are copyright The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Journal articles are copyright Thomson Reuters Corp and Gord Atkinson's are copyright the estate of Gord Atkinson.
1 non Elvis related
history of the Ottawa Auditorium from wikipedia
Judy Moscovitz was one of the four radio station contest winners pictured with Elvis backstage at the Auditorium in Ottawa. She was there as part of the contingent from Montreal, having won a contest on CFCF radio about "Why I want to go to Ottawa to see Elvis Presley". She won two tickets and brought a friend but only the winners were allowed to go backstage. She didn't know the other contest winners from the other radio stations having only met them that night on the train, and never saw them afterwards. She wrote the following recollection in 1977 after hearing Elvis had died and it was published in Weekend Magazine, a national Canadian publication, on the first anniversary of his death:
Judy saw the evening show that night though she since given the autographs away, one to the friend she brought with her and another to someone she felt it was more meaningful to her at the time than to me. She resides now in Victoria, BC and we want to thank her for sharing her story and pictures with us. added October 2, 2012
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All photos on this site (that we didn't borrow) unless otherwise indicated are the property of either Scotty Moore or James V. Roy and unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited. |
Elvis'
popularity in Canada was as great as it was in the States
and elsewhere and so was the feared impact on the youth by many.
They initially had also been scheduled to perform in Montreal, but the
shows there were cancelled because they felt Elvis was too
"controversial." In the weeks prior to the appearance in
Ottawa, local authorities took precautions to ensure a
smooth visit while still others took steps have people avoid it entirely.
Ask
Girls Stay Away From Elvis
THE PELVIS ARRIVES
NOISY BUT NICE
Riding The Elvis Special Was Weird And Wonderful!
ENDED UP AT ELVIS
