ELVIS FOREVER

More secrets from the triumphant '68 comeback special that turned Presley into the King

- ILEANE RUDOLPH

IT’S HARD TO believe there was a time when anyone doubted that Elvis Presley was the King. After exploding onto the national music scene in 1956 with his hip-swiveling performance of “Hound Dog” on The Milton Berle Show,

Elvis racked up hit after hit. But his famously controlling manager, Colonel Tom Parker, signed him up to make movies and soundtrack albums during much of the ’60s, when the Beatles and other newer stars were stealing his pop culture thunder. Elvis went seven years without performing live, until 1968, when he got back onstage for a TV special then simply called Elvis. It was a concert so successful and career-redefining that we now call it the ’68 Comeback Special. His stunning performance helped him regain his throne as the King of Rock ’n’ Roll.

The new documentary Reinventing Elvis: The ’68 Comeback recounts how that consequential show wasn’t supposed to happen at all. Parker had made a deal with NBC for a comfy holiday concert starring his client. Believing that concept settled, Parker handed the director Steve Binder an audiotape with Elvis singing 20 Christmas songs. Binder, however, knew that younger fans wouldn’t be interested in the charismatic entertainer in a cozy sweater crooning carols like Andy Williams. He had another idea in mind—if Elvis agreed.