A Special Encounter with Elvis Presley: How One Fan Rediscovered the King After His ’68 Comeback
Ann Moses was that fan, and in 1968 she found Elvis 'the most charismatic person I'd seen in my life'
When you’re talking about the mid to late 1960s, Ann Moses’ days as an editor at Tiger Beat magazine were filled with teen idols that were sending young (and not-so-young) girls around the country into joy-filled hysterics, whether the cause was The Monkees, the Dave Clark Five, Paul Revere and the Raiders or countless others. As far as she was concerned, there simply wasn’t time or interest for someone like Elvis Presley, who by that point seemed to be of a different era.
“In my mind, Elvis was not Tiger Beat material,” says Ann, who would know, given that she would eventually become the editor of that particular publication, one of the primary sources of information on teen idols for young readers. “In 1966 and ’67, he was still making those cheesy movies, and even though his voice was gorgeous, the songs were just written to go with the movies, so they were pretty insipid, too.”
Which, it should be noted, was not the way she always felt, having instantly become a fan when the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. “After that,” she reflects with a smile, “we got a single of ‘Hound Dog’ and that Christmas I asked for an Elvis Presley skirt and even though my parents thought it was really stupid, they did get me an Elvis Presley scarf. So during that time, of course, like everybody else in America, unless your parents were burning his records or something, mine were supportive. And they didn’t have to listen to any of it — I listened in my bedroom. Of course, by ’63 or ’64, it was the time of The Beatles and I hadn’t even thought of Elvis from when he went in the Army in 1958.”
That being said, given that she also wrote for England’s New Musical Express magazine, when she was offered the chance to visit Elvis’ office at MGM Studios, she accepted. “NME would be happy to have anything on Elvis, because he never appeared there in his lifetime,” she says, “and so he had these devoted fans that were eager to get more information. I went out there and it was really something else: his office had a high ceiling and 100% of every space — walls, floor, ceiling … everything … was Elvis pictures. I was really impressed, even though I still didn’t think Elvis was right for Tiger Beat.”
Or, really, for her. Yet.
Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special
Every time an Elvis movie would open, Ann received free tickets from the RCA Records publicist, which she usually gave away to friends who were fans. The exception came when when she was told tickets were for “something special” at NBC Studios in 1968 that she “needed” to attend, so she went with pal Tony.
“We ended up in the very second to last row of bleachers they had set up in the studio, with a stage below us,” explains Ann, who has written the memoir Meow! My Groovy Life with Tiger Beat’s Teen Idols, (autographed copies at her website). “I would say there were maybe a hundred people in those bleachers; it wasn’t some huge auditorium at all. It was intimate. And while we’re sitting there, just before they’re getting ready to introduce Elvis, who comes walking up the aisle, but Priscilla Presley and she, like Elvis, had changed in ’68, especially her hair style. He had a much hipper look, much more of the times. He had his big sideburns, which totally started a trend. Anyway, she sat right behind Tony and her knees were pressing into his back — I thought he died and went to heaven.
“Then,” she continues, “one of the stage hands came out and was kind of prepping us for Elvis and he says, ‘We’d like some of you to come down and sit around the little stage.’ That stage had to be, I don’t know, 10-feet by 10-feet. It was small. And I was one of the ones they chose to go down and sit on the stage. And next thing you know, Elvis comes out and it’s those moments you’ve seen of him standing in the black leather outfit and I’m literally two feet from him at certain moments.”
It was then that Ann Moses’ feelings regarding Elvis Presley went through something of a transformation: “I was just so overwhelmed! He was remarkable. The most charismatic person I had ever seen in my life. I was close enough to look in his eyes and see that he knew the effect he was having. It was just such an amazing revelation to me that he was in command, and that he knew exactly what he was doing.”
It’s pointed out, given the expression on her face, that Ann is currently reliving that moment, which she doesn’t deny at all. “Oh, gosh, yes,” she laughs. “I mean, his lip curling … the way he’d smile and kind of chuckle about something. He’d tell a joke and laugh. I was in amazement the whole time.”
As if all of that wasn’t enough, she got quite the shock (we can’t say the shock of her life given all that she’s experienced) when the Elvis Comeback Special aired in November of 1968.
“In the final scene of the original performance,” says Ann, “he’s on the stage singing ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love,’ and in the final cut they superimposed me with Elvis on the film — there I am looking up and singing along with him, because that’s my favorite Elvis song. I mean, wow, it was the greatest surprise. But then it would get even better.”
How? A story for another time.
Elvis: The ‘68 Comeback Special Quick Facts
- There were many creative conflicts between Elvis Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker (who arranged the deal with NBC for the concert film/TV special) and its director, Steve Binder
- The soundtrack album was issued by RCA Victor and peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200.
- Backup musicians included regular guitarist Scotty Moore among others (bassist Bill Black had died three years earlier)
- The Rolling Stone Album Guide gave the soundtrack five stars
- And for the record, Elvis Aaron Presley was born January 8, 1935 Tupelo, Mississippi, in the United States (though his family would relocate to Memphis, Tennessee). There would eventually be a move to the West Coast
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