ELVIS PRESLEY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 930, 7 June 1957, Page 11

ELVIS PRESLEY

Sir,-I have read with interest M.H. Smith’s eloquent championship of Elvia Presley in a recent issue of The Listeners, Perhaps my _ eldets might welcome a teenager’s own impressions of this controversial singer. I have listened to programmes of "Rock and Roll"; to whole sessions devoted to Elvis Presley; and have entered freely into all discussions concerning him and his kind. I even wear the badge of the "Rock and Roll" addicts, a pony-tail; yet somehow I just don’t seem to get the urge to dance madly, scream hysterically, or to wear baggy sweaters-which are shapeless-or stovepipe trousers-which afe not. One or two people at school quite like "Rock and Roll," but mention Elvis Presley and you get: "That character? Ooh, he’s. ‘soppy’. You don’t like him, do you?" from even the most enthusiastic. The only people who discuss his records with any animation are a few of the boys, interested in the technical distortion used in some of his songs.

Looking at his photograph, my unfeeling friends usually comment disparagingly on his pimply skin and sulky; unhealthy expression. Personally I think he would look much better in the ring than on the stage. 3 Several of my classmates went to see the film Love Me Tender. (What awful grammar; it reminds me of steak-I love that tender.) They told me afterwards that it wasn’t anything special at all. Some of the acting was quite good but the plot was weak and Presley's acting very poor. "Babyish" they called it. So, M.H. Smith, please use a little more caution when you speak of ". .. the instantaneous verdict of teenagers everywhere,"’

SEVENTEEN

(Maungaturoto).