Elvis Presley's first Mirror interview 70 years ago covered Cadillacs, lipstick and diamonds

It’s exactly 70 years since Elvis Presley appeared for the very first time in the Mirror . And it was an incredible snapshot of Rock and Roll history. Our reporter who reviewed his gig was then invited into Presley’s dressing room afterwards for an extraordinary interview which covered lipstick, diamonds and Cadillacs! The head of the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of the United Kingdom said it is “fantastic” Presley is still so popular 70 years later. In the 1956 piece Mirrorman Lionel Crane wrote: “Elvis showed me a gold horseshoe ring studded with 11 big diamonds he was wearing. ‘Look at all these things I got?’ he said. ‘I got three Cadillacs. I got 40 suits and 27 pairs of shoes.’ “I asked him how he knew it was exactly 27 pairs? and he said: ‘When you ain’t had nothing, like me, you keep count when you get things.’” Our headline was: “Rock Age Idol: That’s Elvis. He’s riding the crest of a teenage tidal wave.” Crane’s piece started: “I have just escaped from a hurricane called Elvis Presley. A few hints of what this tall, rangy singer is doing to young America with his rock n roll rhythm had already reached me. In Jacksonville, Florida he had to be rescued from a crowd in a police wagon. “In Wichita Falls, Texas the fans broke every window in his car. In San Diego, California a pack of teenage girls had covered his windscreen with phone numbers written in lipstick … “ Adrian Tedeschi 58, and his partner Candace Rose, 56, from Ipswich, Suffolk, run the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of the United Kingdom. It has 10,000 members and is growing every year with members joining online from all over the world . He said: “1956 was Elvis’s breakthrough year and this Mirror article is particularly fascinating. “The interview is very interesting, as Elvis faced a lot of backlash about his appearance and performances at that time but your report really gives a sense of the excitement and raw energy of an Elvis show in that period. “Elvis really came from a dirt poor background. The fact he talks about his success and what he has begun to accumulate at that time shows how much he appreciated what he had achieved to that point.” “It really does capture a moment in time as Elvis became a worldwide superstar. In 1956 he released Heartbreak Hotel and he appeared on national TV for the first time. Incredibly Adrian has actually chatted with the drummer who played at that very same gig in Albuquerque in April 1956. He said: “By coincidence I actually met the drummer DJ Fontana from that 1956 tour. He would have played at that gig the Mirror reporter attended. “I met him in 1991 and asked him what it was like back in the 50’s? He said: “It was just crazy. We didn’t really know what we were creating. We did a gig and then just drove to the next town for the next one. “Often they had to get Elvis off the stage before the end because all the girls were trying to rip his clothes off.” Adrian, who works in logistics, gave more context on the importance of the year of 1956 in Presley’s career. He said: “Famously in 1956 shortly after Elvis appeared in Las Vegas Ed Sullivan refused to have Elvis on his show - which was one of the biggest on TV at the time. “But eventually Ed buckled and had Elvis on three times. He even interrupted his last performance to praise him and called him a ‘real decent, fine boy.’” Adrian was just nine when Presley died but can recall how he heard the news. He said: “I vividly remember the day Elvis died - 16th August 1977. The ITN news was on and Reggie Bosanquet was reading it. “He announced that Elvis had died then a few minutes later he said that Elvis was alive and had been taken to hospital and then by the end of the news he announced he had died. “I called to my mum who was in the kitchen. She was devastated and started crying - it was a like a member of our own family had died. My mum had his records and he was always part of my musical upbringing and being a fan and attending lots of events is how I met Candace.” He added: “Elvis would be astonished that we are still buying his records and talking about him all these years later.”