R.I.P Elvis! Thanks for the memories.

But, although he was gone, many Tucsonans had more than his albums to remember him by. Elvis made three appearances in Tucson and sang before sell-out crowds each time.

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_{1956 Jack Sheaffer photo}

_{Elvis Presley at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds in 1956}

His first visit here was in June 1956. This was very early in his career and to say the least, the Star reporter gave him an odd review. For example:

“He performed at the rodeo grounds. (One says performed since he can hardly be classed as just a singer … unless one is familiar with the trade term “exotic singer,” which includes writhing, twitching, squirming and exercising the entire body along with the vocal cords.)”

“He has a great deal of showmanship. (A stage presence that one assumes has tremendous appeal because of its youthful awkwardness or, to use the vernacular, its Marlon Brando-ishness or arrogant abandon.)”

The reviewer must have represented the slightly older generation who only saw trouble lurking in this new singer and his wild music. But, for two of the Star’s high school columnists, there was more interest in Elvis.

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_{1956 Jack Sheaffer photo}

_{Joan Oatman said Elvis was ‘swoony,’ while Mary Stewart was really a Pat Boone fan.}

In November of 1956, Joan Oatman, an Amphitheater senior, and Mary Stewart, a Salpointe senior, posed with a movie cut-out of Elvis at the Fox-Theater. This was prior to the opening of his movie “Love Me Tender.”

For more about Elvis’ visit to Tucson in 1956, read a story by Star columnist, Bonnie Henry.

Elvis Presley also performed in Tucson in 1972 and 1976, but those are tales for another day.