"The Steve Allen Show" aired on July 1, 1956 beween 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm on NBC-TV and was seen by 20.2% of the audience.

Production

"The Steve Allen Show" was aired from 1956 to 1959 every Sunday on NBC as a direct competitor to "The Ed Sullivan Show". From 1957 onwards the show was presented in color, which was quite unusal at the time. Just for the record: In Germany nationwide color tv was introduced in 1967! At the start of season 1959/60 the show was renamed to "The Steve Allen Plymouth Show" (hail to the sponsor) and rescheduled to Monday, 10:00 pm. From September to December 1961 the programe was aired on ABC, this time on Wednesday at 7:30 pm, in black and white only and under the name of "The Steve Allen Show". From 1962 to 1964 it was aired by the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company. After the season 1963/64 the show was buried.

To promote the new show and to set something against Ed Sullivan NBC booked the newly crowned King Of Rock'n'Roll. To their favor Sullivan had just announced that he would never invite Elvis in his show because he was dangerous for the morals of the youth. But the joy was short-lived because the singer's performance of "Hound Dog" in the final edition of "The Milton Berle Show" (also produced and aired by NBC) had caused an uproar amongst the audience. On the one hand "The Steve Allen Show" desperately needed publicity, on the other hand a huge target group was needed and another scandal would jeopardize it.

The solution was humor. Elvis, who was often criticized for his clothing, appeared in a formal tailcoat and (note the joke) blue suede shoes. His first performance was "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You", which was not just his latest RCA single, but also a conventional ballad without any potential to shock anybody. To avoid controversy with "Hound Dog", the song was turned into a joke by having Elvis performing it to a sad-looking basset hound. Of course the singer also did a skit with Steve Allen. This also turned the scandalous guest into a normal one and was another oppertunity to display some humor.

Elvis was furious and felt embarrassed about all this, but when the ideas were discussed between him and the production team he remained silent and approved everything. In fact Steve Allen is said to have been surprised when he later learned how bad the singer felt about the show. Finally the ratings of "The Steve Allen Show" made Ed Sullivan not only change his mind, but also offering $50,000 for three appearances in his show.

July 01, 1956

Gene Rayburn, the announcer of the show, introduces the sponsors and announces the host. Steve Allen makes some jokes and imitates Ed Sullivan, who is his direct competitor and offers an impressive list of guests. At this point Allen doesn't even dare to dream that Elvis Presley is such a draw, that his show will surpass Sullivan's by 5.4%. The first guest of the evening is Milton Berle, he is followed by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme' who sing a song called "Picnic", which was written by Steve Allen himself. A talk with Andy Griffith is followed by his spoof of "Hamlet". After some skits and comedy the host finally announces the main attraction of the evening. Allen explains that his guest had caused quite some stir with his performance on "The Milton Berle Show", but because his program is supposed to be for the whole family he now is able to present the first comeback of Elvis Presley. The singer appears in a tailcoat, there are some jokes and Elvis sings "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You". Steve Allen now introduces the dog, says a few friendly words about the king's forthcoming RCA single "Hound Dog" and has him perform the song for the dog. It works fine, Elvis interacts with the animal and there is no reason for anybody to be upset. The show closes off with a skit that makes fun of the by then popular western genre and also spoofs tv commercials. The protaganists are "Big Steve" Allen, "Tumbleweed" Presley and "Rattlesnake" Griffith.

Elvis performing "Hound Dog"