Elvis Presley’s final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was on January 6, 1957. CBS censors would not allow his entire body to be shown on live TV, he was seen only from the waist up.
22 years-old Elvis sang seven songs in three segments. Most memorable was his rendition of Peace in the Valley, the famous gospel song as a tribute to the Hungarian Revolution. Sullivan solicited the audience to donate to Hungarian relief efforts and raised about 25 million Swiss francs.
We honor the 60th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution with the soundtrack of the show.
Enjoy!
György Lázár
He was a decent, proud citizen; the Hungarian revolution was a disaster, Elvis, mad a slit difference with his music and donations by caring for a country without friends. During that time, America was too busy with the Suez canal and didn’t care must about Hungary, who didn’t have the resources to their benefits. The Russians invasion was a disaster and the people suffered until the Gorbachev administration. I visited the country a lot of time during the Communist regime and had to register to the police station in Budapest every time. One good thing, security was impeccable, no crimes of any kind. People knew the punishment, and frankly, it was a good thing. Today’s liberalism is not the answer.
For decades, the matter of Presley’s fans and the viewing public’s tremendous contribution after the January 6 request, namely US$6 million or in today’s dollars the equivalent of US$49.5 million, which were duly received in the next 11 months were, for reasons I have yet to discover, kept away from the public to the point that the US Army itself, which flew over 100 sorties to deliver the perishabes like Army food rations and non perishables to Vienna and London, where the refugees settled for life, was unaware of the SOURCE of the funds. The Army thought they were delivering aid from the US Government, until I send them an email six years ago, which coincided with the Mayor of Budapest dedicating a Park after Presley, as a gesture of gratitude, as well as making him an honorary citizen of that beautiful city.
Just for the record. Our friends pointed out that the original Ed Sullivan Show video is also available on the internet. Here is what US TV viewers saw on January 6, 1957. https://vk.com/video-52653953_165340431
Hi Mr. Lazar!! That was wonderful, to make available, for those that had not seen it, the actual broadcast of January 6, 1957. When I was in Budapest, in 2013, I went to the Margret Bridge,the oldest crossing uniting the old Buda and Pest sectors, and found the Park with Elvis name on it. Of course, I have had the 3 disc set, so I knew about everything that went on, in fact snce the 80’s as a fried of mone from the Internatioan Red Cross allowed me to see the files, containing all the info as thoer distribution of the 26 million Swiss Francs, then US$6 million, at the 4.31 excgange, or what would be today US$49.5 million in emergency assistance.
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We as Americans have lost a great deal of our humanity since those days. There is no Elvis or George Harrison at present. Barbaric acts, genocide, ethnic cleansing is occurring in our time and our political leaders are obsessed with their legacy. Consequently, they use their capital on climate change while ignoring the reality of our world in turmoil! They respond with in-take of refugees because of election year politics and because it lets them off the tougher task of actually solving the root cause.