Offered is an incredibly rare ticket for Elvis Presley's FIRST APPEARANCE on The Ed Sullivan Show, on September 9, 1956, with its original ticket envelope. The "CBS Television Network" ticket is for Elvis' performance at "Television City" studios in Hollywood, California--he was in Hollywood filming Love Me Tender, his first film, at the time, and couldn't go to New York for the show. His first self-titled debut album was already out and Heartbreak Hotel' was a hit single, but he wasn't quite "ELVIS" just yet--but this appearance would change that forever! With 60 million viewers—or 82.6 percent of TV viewers at the time—tuning in, the appearance garnered the show’s best ratings in two years and became the most-watched TV broadcast of the 1950s. After earning big ratings for “The Steve Allen Show,” the Dorsey Brothers “Stage Show” and “The Milton Berle Show,” Sullivan finally reneged on his Presley ban, signing the controversial singing star to an unprecedented $50,000 contract for three appearances.
The offered ticket reads in part "The Lincoln-Mercury Dealers present (A Partial Origination from Hollywood) of The Ed Sullivan Show with Special Guest Elvis Presley." While tickets to the New York studio for The Ed Sullivan Show simply listed the name of the show and no star names, the CBS Television City Hollywood studio tickets almost always listed the sponsor, the show AND the featured performers names. The fact that it actually SAYS "Elvis Presley" make this such a special piece.
Tickets and ephemera from Elvis' first appearance on Ed Sullivan are exceedingly rare, but we have never offered a ticket from this show, not here at Rockhurst and not at any of the Graceland Auctions. And to our knowledge, there is not even a copy in the Graceland Archives. The ticket measures 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches and presents in very clean condition, with just some small staple holes in the upper left and the faintest stain on the reverse from tape that was professionally removed. The envelope is also clean on the front with similar tape distress on the reverse. All that said, the printing on both is very bold and the paper is still supple. Excellent condition overall.