On January 14, 1973 "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" is aired live at 00:30 am (local time) from the Honolulu International Center on the island O'ahu. As the name suggests the show is transmitted live by satellite, in this case Intelsat IV. The concert is beamed to the Asian-Oceanic region, the rest of the world has to wait for a recorded and edited version. In total "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" is aired in 21 countries, the audience in the US gets to see the show on April 4th. Obviously the people are looking forward to see Elvis in a televised concert, Nielsen calculates a rating of 33.8%.

Production

Sometime in the summer of 1972 Colonel Parker developed the idea of a Presley concert beamed around the world via satellite. The project, once again in cooperation with NBC, was to be realized in the fall of the year when Elvis was back on the road. Three concerts were to be held in Honolulu, the last one was to be filmed, recorded and transmitted live to Asia and Australia.

When MGM got wind of the plan, they heavily opposed and complained to Parker and NBC. Just a few months earlier they had paid Elvis a solid million USD to accompany him on tour and the resulting movie was to hit the cinemas in November. And now Presley, Parker and NBC had nothing better to do than jeopardizing the ticket sales by showing something similar on television for free. To avoid a legal dispute the project had to be postponed to early 1973. This lead to massive scheduling conflicts, because the star refused to work between Christmas and his birthday on January 8th. On the other hand Elvis was booked at the Las Vegas Hilton from January 26th to February 23rd and NBC didn't want to wait until early March to finalize a project that was already in pre-production. So the only solution was to do it somewhere between January 9th and 25th.

The set list was another challenge, because most of the recent live repertoire had just been released on "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden". RCA didn't want too much duplication and the time frame to rehearse new material was tight. The solution was to use all the new songs the king had introduced during the "Elvis Summer Festival 1972" in Vegas, plus some songs that had not been played during the evening show on June 10, 1972 and two well known country classics by Hank Williams that were easy to learn. Elvis didn't bother himself too much with the problem, he simply delegated the selection of songs to his stage manager Charlie Hodge.

His appearance was obviously more important to the star. Producer Marty Pasetta had told him straight away that he looked too fat and had to loose a few pounds before setting a foot in front of a tv camera. Elvis went on a strict diet and also reduced his use of medication. He also ordered Bill Belew to design a patriotic jumpsuit with a stylized representation of the American Eagle. However, the full length cape turned out to be so heavy, that the singer almost fell backwards on the floor when it was attached to the suit. It was too long and had too many rivets and rhinestones. So another cape of the usual length was made.

The production was budgeted with 2.5 million USD and was considered to be the most expensive and technical demanding television special so far. In November 1972 it was decided to turn the extravaganza into a charity event and give the admission fees to the Kui Lee Cancer Fund. The fund had just been founded by the newspaper columnist Eddie Sherman and its purpose was to support the cancer research at the University Of Hawaii. Therefore the tickets had no prices, so it was up to everyone which amount to donate. Colonel Parker gave out a target revenue of $25,000, which was ridiculously low on purpose. With a capacity of 8,800 seats every visitor not even had to pay $3 to meet the mark. The manager knew exactly that most people would pay more or less the regular ticket fee and therefore was sure that the could announce another major archivement.

Two days before the live transmission a dress rehearsal was held in front of an audience. The simple goal was troubleshooting, the elimination of mistakes in the timing or change of planned camera angles. The show was filmed by NBC and recorded by RCA, so everyone knew what to do during the "real" show. It turned out that the show was a tad too short, so "Johnny B. Goode" and a medley of "Long Tall Sally" and "Whole Lotta' Shakin' Goin' On" were added. Elvis also thought his hairstyle wasn't right and had it changed. The recording of the dress rehearsal was released in 1988 under the name of "The Alternate Aloha", a video followed in the early 1990s.

When the audience had left after the main performance Elvis, his band and The Stamps Quartet performed a few more songs. They were meant to be cut between the live material to bring the show to a length that allowed NBC to include another commercial break when airing it in the US.

Urban Legends

Unfortunately many urban legends have found their way into the "elvis literature" and are regarded as facts by a lot of fans. These fairytales were put into the world on September 4, 1972 by Rocco Laginestra (president of RCA Records) during a press conference at the Las Vegas Hilton. The humbug had been made up by Colonel Parker and the fact that these things are now taken for real proves the genius of this man.

As written before, the show was beamed live to the Asian and Oceanic region. Back then a global transmission in real time was technically impossible and it also would have been downright stupid, because in most areas the show would have been aired at times nobody was watching tv. Besides that "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" was shown in 21 countries, which could not be regarded as global at all. It wasn't even the first entertainment show to be transmitted via satellite, because this honor belongs to "Our World" which already had been presented back in 1967.

Today it may be impossible to imagine, but in 1973 no more than 3.9 billion people lived on our planet. Whoever believes that 1.5 billion of them watched "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" may also believe that pigs can fly. This gigantic figure was first mentioned during the press conference on September 4, 1972 and therefore a solid four months before the concert was held. Colonel Parker had simply made a list of all countries he liked to sell the show to and they had a combined population of 1.5 billion. And even if this stunt had worked, each and everyone would have had to watch "Aloha". The world stands still because Mr. Presley is performing on tv. The actual broadcast area had approximately 850 million inhabitants. With a similar rating like in the US 280 to 300 million people might have watched the show.

Today this is a common procedure. The labels provide the streaming platforms with data and the tracks are made available on a certain date. Back in the old days pysical discs had to be sent to thousands of local record shops all over the world. They stored the records and put them on the shelves when they were allowed to do so. The whole reason for this procedure was to generate an event, to have something to talk about.

The whole project was meant to look global. At the beginning of the show there is a satellite, that beams the signals all over the world. Above the stage Elvis' name is shown in different characters and the cover of the double album displays a world map with the slogan "We Love Elvis" written in different languages and pointing at the accordant countries. One could really believe it was a worldwide event. But it was pure marketing. The stage design showed characters nobody in the transmission area used and the arrows on the record cover pointed to regions the show was never seen in.

April 04, 1973

Elvis arrives by helicopter, greets the waiting fans and enters a red Jeep. In-between we get to see nice impressions of the landscape, in the background the song "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" is played. Now the audience enters the building, the lights are dimmed and the show begins.

The presentation is elaborate and obviously expensive. A ramp gives the king an oppertunity to walk through the audience, above the stage a silhouette of a guitarist and the word "Elvis" try to outshine each other and there are lots of multicolored lights and mirrors. The use of a split screen enables the viewer to see everything from different angles at the same time. The staging leaves no doubt, that this is the mega event, the show of all shows.

Elvis himself looks impeccable. Lean, tanned, perfectly coiffed and dressed in a tight jumpsuit with a patriotic eagle motive. When he enters the stage, one could think he just stepped out of an icon. But in his voice is a strange, nasal undertone and his singing lacks energy. His movements are also reduced, he appears much tamer than in the movie "Elvis On Tour". To me Elvis gives the impression of an old man, trapped in the beautiful body of a superstar aged 38.

The somewhat stiff camera work strengthenes this effect, just like the many long shots that are used to present the extravagant stage design. The re-cuts from 2004 (DeLuxe Edition) and 2013 (40th Anniversary Edition) convey a better feel, here Elvis appears to be livelier and happier than in the original version.

But nevertheless it's a fact, that Elvis is more or less walking rhythmically from right to left during "Suspicious Minds" instead of delivering full blooded body action as seen in "That's The Way It Is". And every retirement home surely accommodates several men who are able to present more vibrant versions of "Long Tall Sally" and "Whole Lotta' Shakin' Goin' On" than Mr. Presley does here. But all that doesn't mean that "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" has no highlights to offer. Quite the contrary, "An American Trilogy", "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "I'll Remember You" are nothing but great. Big ballads like "It's Over" and "What Now My Love" are executed very well and when performing "Fever" Elvis toys with the audience and obviously has fun. Most of the performances are good or even great, but there are too many moments the singer doesn't seem to care all that much.

The US version includes some performances filmed after the main event without the orchestra and without an audience. Here Elvis is shown just in a small section of the split screen while the others present Hawaiian landscape and scenery. For whatever reason the singer is not coiffed the same way as in the live footage and he obviously is very tired and/or bored. As written before, the additonal songs were filmed to get the tv concert to a length that allowed NBC to include another commercial break.

Soundtrack

A month after the live transmission RCA released the double album "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite". It sold ten million units and belongs to the best sellers of the Presley catalogue. In March the label issued "Steamroller Blues" on a single to promote the forthcoming airing of the special in the USA. However, the 45 just sold 2 million copies. Just tap on the covers to get to the reviews.

Home Entertainment

For the 50th anniversary in 2023 a boxed set was released. It includes newly mixed and mastered audio recordings of the dress rehearsal, the actual concert and the bonus songs, which Elvis taped right after the show. Besides that the set features a blu ray with newly remastered 4k scans of both concerts and the session for the insert songs. There is also an interesting re-cut, which originally was shown in early 2013 on a vast screen at the HIC, were the original event had taken place four decades earlier. For reviews of the releases tap on the covers.

Elvis performing "What Now My Love"