The concert had lasted all of 22 minutes. Frightened by the surging fans, Parker told Elvis to cut the show short. When Elvis abruptly left the stage Scotty and the others were left onstage to face the fans alone. Unknown to the audience, Elvis had gone into an alcove aside the stairs behind the curtain, gave his Gold jacket to one of his entourage (possibly Gene Smith) who then ran to the car to be whisked away pursued by the fans. Vancouver Sun photographer Ralph Bower said, 'they knocked the fence over and chased him, and that's when he got away. They came like a herd of cattle. I was standing there and they run right over the top of me'. Elvis walked across the field to the dressing rooms unnoticed in his black shirt.
Elvis Presley was very controversial when he appeared in Vancouver on Aug. 30, 1957. Sun writer Mac Reynolds took this to illogical extremes when he wrote a story after he saw Elvis perform in Spokane the night before the Sun show.
The Vancouver Sun story on Elvis Presley’s Empire Stadium show on Aug. 31, 1957 ran with the headline “Presley Fans Demented.” It was written by John Kirkwood, who didn’t like the show. The editors ran a photo of PNE prize winner Mary Michiel with the story rather than run a pic of Elvis.
Vancouver’s first rock-and-roll show had taken place barely a year before, when Bill Haley and the Comets drew 6,000 people to the Kerrisdale Arena. Now Elvis had drawn a crowd over four times larger. This was his biggest show of that tour, but to hear Elvis himself say that it was is the icing on the cake.
Elvis Presley was very controversial when he appeared in Vancouver on Aug. 30, 1957. Sun writer Mac Reynolds took this to illogical extremes when he wrote a story after he saw Elvis perform in Spokane the night before the Sun show.
I guess the daughter would still go and see Elvis with bloody teeth!!
Thanks for sharing the photos and scans of articles.
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