On July 1, 1956 Elvis not only performed on "The Steve Allen Show", but he was also a guest of the interview show "Hy Gardner Calling". At the time the program was shown at 11:15 pm on WRCA-TV."

Production

"Hy Gardner Calling" was aired between 1954 and 1965 in the New York area. After the Gardners had moved to Miami/Florida, they produced a similar format named "The Hy Gardner Show" which was on air until the middle of the 1980s.

Gardner was a pioneer of telephone interviews. Due to the spacial separation there was no visual or physical contact between the interviewer and his guest, which made the conversations more objective and neutral. But Gardner didn't really call his guests at home. The calls were staged at a studio and both parties met before the interviews to discuss the conversations. However, the telephone conversations and the spacial seperations were real. Both parties were located in different rooms.

July 01, 1956

The setting is a classical telephone interview. Hy Gardener sits at his office desk and the guest appears to be at home. The main attraction of the show is Elvis Presley, who looks very tired. It's late in the evening and he just performed on "The Steve Allen Show". Gardner asks questions about the many rumors surrounding Elvis and his music. He confronts him, he broaches certain subjects again, but he's always objective and fair. Besides the king of rock'n'roll Gardner also interviews Ted Lewis, Neja Ates and Leroy Street.

Elvis being interviewed by Hy Gardner