Frank Sinatra’s career began at the Lyric Theatre in Indianapolis on February 2, 1940 with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Sinatra stuck with Dorsey for a couple years before he went solo. Allegedly, Dorsey only let go of Frankie at the gentle urging of Ole Blue eyes’ Mafia Godfather, who was holding a gun to Dorsey’s head. Dorsey and Sinatra, who had once been very close, never patched up their differences. Ironically, Dorsey had a hand in the Lyric Theatre’s second step towards immortality for the next bobby-soxer generation.
On January 28, 1956 another pop culture icon burst onto the American scene via The Dorsey Brother’s TV Show. Tommy Dorsey introduced Cleveland disc jockey Bill Randle, who then introduced Elvis Presley to his first national audience by saying: “We’d like at this time to introduce to you a young fellow who…came out of nowhere to be an overnight big star…We think tonight that he’s going to make television history for you. We’d like you to meet him now — Elvis Presley.” That night the show aired from CBS Studio 50 — the same studio that launched the careers of the Beatles, who would themselves eventually dethrone Elvis eight years later. Years later, Indianapolis native David Letterman would broadcast his Late Nite show from the same studio — yet another Hoosier pop culture connection.
A little more than a month before that national television debut, Elvis Presley played the Lyric Theatre for four days: Sunday, December 4th through Wednesday December 7th. Elvis was paid $1,000 for four shows. 20-year-old Presley was part of Hank Snow’s tour that played the Lyric, once located in the 100 block of North Illinois Street. Presley, who never received formal music training or learned to read music, studied and played by ear. He also frequented record stores with jukeboxes and listening booths, where he memorized all of Hank Snow’s songs.
Hank Snow was the headliner and his name appeared on the Lyric Theatre marquee in giant letters. Snow, a regular at the Grand Ole Opry, persuaded the Opry to allow a young Elvis Presley to appear on stage in 1954. Snow used Presley as his opening act and introduced him to the infamous Colonel Tom Parker. The Opry believed Elvis’ style didn’t fit with their image so they suggested he go the the Louisiana Hayride radio show instead. By the time Elvis came to the Lyric, he was a hayride regular. Seems Elvis’ performance at the Lyric, although one of his first, may have been one of his last without controversy.
In August 1955, Colonel Tom Parker joined the Hank Snow Attractions management team just as Presley signed his first contract with Snow’s company. Elvis, still a minor, had to have his parents sign the contract on his behalf. Before long, Snow was out and Parker had total control over the rock singer’s career. When Snow asked Parker about the status of their contract with Elvis, Parker told him, “You don’t have any contract with Elvis Presley. Elvis is signed exclusively to the Colonel.” Forty years later, Snow (who died in 1999) stated, “I have worked with several managers over the years and have had respect for them all except one. Tom Parker (he refused to call him the Colonel) was the most egotistical, obnoxious human being I’ve ever had dealings with.”
When Elvis breezed through Indianapolis just before Christmas of 1955, he was young, he was raw, he was pure and he was blonde. Yes, Elvis Presley was a natural blonde. Elvis’s signature jet black raven hair was actually a dye job courtesy Miss Clairol 51D and Black Velvet & Mink Brown by Paramount. The future King of Rock ‘n Roll thought that dying his hair black gave him an edgier look. Elvis once confessed to dying his hair with black shoe polish in his earliest days, so who knows? Maybe he was traveling through the Circle City with a can or two of Shinola in his ditty bag back in ‘55.
Elvis was accompanied at the Lyric by guitarist Scotty Moore, bass player Bill Black and drummer D.J. Fontana. The Lyric bill included headliner Hank Snow, Mother Maybelle and the Carters, and comic Rod Brasfield, for a four day gig. Black, Moore and Fontana toured extensively during Presley’s early career. Bill Black played a stand-up bass, and his on-stage “clown” persona fueled memorable comedy routines with Presley. Black often performed as an exaggerated hillbilly with blacked-out teeth, straw hat and overalls. Black’s on-stage personality was a sharp contrast to the introverted, consummate professionalism of veterans Moore and Fontana. The balance fit the group’s Lyric performances perfectly.
The newspaper ads billed Elvis (in very small print face) as “a country and bop singer.” According to a later report in the August 8, 1956 Indianapolis Times, headliner Hank Snow missed the first show (Sunday December 4th) due to a winter storm. Showing amazing resolve at a very young age, Elvis stood in for his childhood hero and carried on with the supporting acts to perform a seamless show. The original contract called for Elvis to be paid $750 for the four-day engagement, but Elvis was paid an extra $250 for saving Snow’s bacon during that first show.
Two weeks later, on December 20th, RCA released Elvis’ four earlier Sun records singles: “That’s All Right”/”Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “Good Rockin’ Tonight”/”I Don’t Care If the Sun Don’t Shine,” “Milkcow Blues Boogie”/”You’re a Heartbreaker,” and “Baby Let’s Play House”/”I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone.” Now the King was off and running.
Elvis, Scotty, Bill and D.J. would only make one other appearance together in the state of Indiana, in Fort Wayne when they performed at the Allen County Memorial Coliseum on March 30, 1957. Elvis’ Lyric Theatre band broke up a year later although Fontana, Moore and Elvis still played and recorded together regularly throughout the 1960s.
After 1958, Bassist Bill Black never played with the band again; he died of a brain tumor on October 21, 1965, at the age of 39. Moore and Fontana performed together on a 2002 recording of “That’s All Right (Mama)” with ex-Beatle Paul McCartney who performed on the recording using Black’s original stand-up “slap” bass. McCartney received the instrument as a birthday present from his wife Linda in the late 1970s. In the documentary film “In the World Tonight,” McCartney can be seen playing the bass and singing his version of “Heartbreak Hotel”.
But what about the Lyric in the years before and after Elvis burst onto the scene? Well, we know that Sinatra’s idol Bing Crosby played the Lyric way before Ole Blue Eyes or Elvis ever knew the address. We know that Chuck Berry played the Lyric on October 19, 1955 just after signing with Chess Records and recording the classic “Maybelline.” We also know that the Lyric closed briefly on May 24, 1956 for a summer remodel and reopened on August 29, 1956. With the installation of Norelco 70-35 projectors, it could now show 70mm film. Continuing the Lyric’s tradition as a pioneer in theatre sound performance (it was the first theater in the city to show a Stereophonic Sound Film, Fantasia, in 1942), it was the first in Indianapolis to feature the Todd-AO sound system. A new screen measured 50 feet by 25 feet. The opening film was Oklahoma which played for six months.
In the 60s the Lyric was a part of the Indianapolis Amusement group which also included the Circle and Indiana theaters, still standing at the time. On March 31, 1965 the Sound of Music opened at the Lyric and ran until January 17, 1967, the longest run for a motion picture at the Lyric. But the glory days of the Lyric were fading fast. Urban flight and suburban relocation led to multiplexes and the death of golden age theatres like the Lyric. The theatre that helped to introduce pop icons Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley closed in 1969. Shoes of the Fisherman and Where Eagles Dare were the last two movies shown there. The magnificent movie house, once touted as Indianapolis’ finest theater, located at 135 North Illinois Street is just a memory today, replaced by a parking garage.
Elvis returned to Indianapolis 22 years later to perform his last concert ever before 17,000 adoring fans on June 26, 1977 at Market Square Arena, which is also demolished. Reviews of the show criticized the performance as a “tacky circus sideshow at which the star was sloppy and lethargic.” Like the Lyric, Elvis became a victim of changing times and more sophisticated attitudes. The King died on August 16, 1977, 51 days after his appearance at MSA and 21 years, 8 months, and 12 days after he first strolled into the Lyric Theatre to cover for his idol Hank Snow.
As for me, I’d prefer to remember Elvis for his trip through Indy’s eastside a year after he played the Lyric. Sometime in late 1956, Presley was reported to have stopped at the Jones and Maley automotive garage, a stone’s throw from Irvington at 3421 E. Washington St., to have the two front whitewall tires on his baby blue Cadillac balanced. According to mechanics working on the vehicle, Presley’s car had girls’ names scratched into the paint. An urban legend has Elvis driving that same Cadillac on that same day just up the road to Al Green’s for a snack before heading on to a tour stop in Ohio. That, like the image of the Lyric Theatre’s marquee glowing bright on a Saturday night, is the image I choose to keep with me of the King in Indianapolis.
If you are interested in learning more about the Lyric and other legendary Circle City theatres, I highly recommend you read The Golden Age of Indianapolis Theaters (IU Press) by Howard Caldwell, former WRTV-Channel 6 anchor and friend of Irvington.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest book is “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.