Berlin Information Album
Trinidad Baltzell
Unfortunately when I got the box set and imported the additional CDs into iTunes, there was no information about them on the central music database, so I had to input the track names, album name, etc. myself and use my own photos for the album art. A bit of a hassle, but not the end of the world (and something I assume will get fixed at some point).
Second, the box set has arrived just as I am finishing off my third novel, FOUR. I mention this as I won a Berlin T-shirt signed by Terri a few years ago as I was completing my first novel, Hijacking Japan (I wonder whether Terri ever did get the copy that I sent her).
So, yes, the waters are still muddy. However, the facts are that Priddy was back on air at the station within a month, and confirmed in the Boule interview in 1987 that he had received full pay during all the weeks he was off-air, thus making it even more unlikely that the firing was real.
About a year ago, something that was said on an Elvis forum suddenly made me question it. So, I went back to those archives (which thankfully I have access to) and started looking for how the story was reported back in 1957. What I found surprised me.
Some fans have suggested that this could have been an apology of some sort due to the possible idea that Irving Berlin had complained to radio stations disliking Elvis' version and asking for it to be banned.
EIN however suggest that it actually seems to support Shane Brown's viewpoint - as why would Elvis write a nice signed autograph to Berlin if he was trying to get his record stopped from being played on the radio?
It's interesting that the Irving Berlin story is NOT in the Jerry Hopkins 1971 biography, and that a book such as the Elvis A to Z from the early 1980s comments on the negative publicity regarding the album and the song, but no mention of Berlin's participation (the same is true for other books from the era).
What was reported in 1957 (and elsewhere afterwards) was the issue of certain radio stations banning the Elvis album from the airwaves, but these were reported at the time in newspapers and trade journals anyway, as I stated in the piece. The Berlin element was not reported. Perhaps, once upon a time, there was a story in an Elvis Monthly (or similar) that might have mentioned something, and if that's the case then we have to re-evaluate my findings, of course - providing the sources there seem legit rather than based on rumour. But going by the substantial archives we have access to, that wasn't the case.
From: T Anderson.
I read the article by Shane Brown discounting the story about Irving Berlin hating Elvis's version of "White Christmas" to the extent he attempted to get it banned.
As much as I respect Shane Brown's investigation, I think his conclusion is incorrect.
I know I read or heard about this much earlier than 1990, I believe in 1977 shortly after Elvis's death but it may have even been the late 1960's or early 1970's. I still have several magazine tribute issues that were issued around that time. It could have been reported in Country Music Magazine, Rolling Stone, or many other publications or books. Maybe even The National Enquirer, which makes up stories all the time, so just reading the story in a magazine doesn't make it so....but I read about it much earlier than 1990, someplace. I still have some of these old magazines buried away in my "archives" / box collection and when I come across them at some point in time will look for information about his matter in them.
Meanwhile, I want to point out a couple things:
1. Elvis would not have just decided to arbitrarily send a signed picture with that inscription on it to Irving Berlin out of the blue. He never met Berlin and had no relationship with him, and never recorded any other Berlin songs after "White Christmas", to my recollection. The photo and inscription were certainly sent at the direction of Col. Tom Parker and/or RCA Victor Records, and while not an "apology" to Berlin, this has all the marks of being written and sent in response to a controversy, and it is definitely worded to praise Berlin and lessen hostility. There would have been no other reason to send it. Just based on the fact it was sent gives credence to the story about Berlin's anger over Elvis's recording.
2. You have to remember that rock and roll music was despised by many pop, and country performers (not to mention classical recording artists) who ridiculed the music and the rock performers. It was considered "bad music" and "evil" which incited juvenile delinquency. I grew up in a conservative area of the United States and condemnation of rock music continued into the 1970's here. Entertainers like Frank Sinatra condemned the music and hated it. I don't think Sinatra ever changed his view of rock music although he eventually recorded and performed some songs written by rock performers. And, there was heavy-handed pressure by many of these established performers to quash rock and roll music and continue forward with their standards of pop and country music. Part of this was that sales of rock and roll music records cut into their popularity. Elvis's Christmas Album was definitely controversial in 1957 as some people considered it sacrilegious, and I'm sure Berlin although himself Jewish/non-Christian jumped on these sentiments because he didn't like the performance by Elvis.
3. Again regarding the signed picture of Elvis sent to Berlin, no, I do not believe Berlin would have torn it up when he got it "if" he despised Elvis. I have saved letters, photographs, documents etc. I have received from people and organizations through the years which I needed to remember as part of the situation later. The inscription on Elvis's photo was not offensive and Berlin probably filed it away. Good thing it was saved.
4. If this story was included in a biography of Irving Berlin by a writer who collected information about Berlin, conducted interviews, and had access to Berlin's materials, I don't understand why there would be qualified doubt the story is true.
5. Lack of reporting of this story in the New York Times or other newspapers or even music trade magazines like Billboard at the time means nothing. This was at a time when powerful people could stop stories from being published. Berlin certainly had a lot of power.
6. The disc jockey who was reportedly fired for playing the album itself on the air - I personally have never been fired, but I worked in personnel for some years, and there were many situations where people are told they are "fired" but the person closes out their shift. This happens with some employees who are paid hourly. Depending on the work atmosphere, there are some bosses who reconsider the "firing" and keep the person on, the "firing" have actually been a "suspension".
"Reconsider Baby: Elvis: A Listener's Guide" 2017- Shane Brown Interview : Since Elvis's Since Elvis' death in 1977, thousands of books have been written about Presley, but very few concentrate on the most important thing: the music.
Shane Brown's 2014 'Elvis Presley: A Listener's Guide' was a first in its very detailed look into the remarkable and yet often frustrating musical legacy that Elvis left behind.
Now in 2017 Shane Brown has revisited his original Elvis guide expanding it to include even more detailed insights - as well as including a large number of recently unearthed contemporary reviews from the time.
EIN was fascinated by the idea of an even bigger examination of Elvis' musical legacy and Shane Brown kindly agreed to be tell us all about his new expanded look at Elvis' music -
Questions we ask include..
- What expanded insights does this new edition provide?
- Why do a second edition?
- How many contemporary reviews from the time have you unearthed?
- Do you think that the Media understood Elvis' musical ambitions?
Since 1882, twenty Indian albums dating to the second half of the eighteenth century have been kept in the Berlin State museums. The selection and arrangement of the calligraphies and images within these albums seem to link to courtly Indo-Persianate traditions, while also reflecting the specific preferences of European patrons and collectors.
Ten albums belonged to the Swiss engineer-architect Antoine Louis Henri Polier (1741-1795) and eight to the Scottish surgeon and interpreter Archibald Swinton (1731-1804). Both were British East India Company officers who until their return to Europe very much participated in Indo-Islamic elite culture. At that time, the British rose to significant power in India, but the shift from British Orientalist to Anglicist policies had not yet taken place.
This project explores the circulation and transformation of motifs, as well as aspects of exoticisation and proto-ethnography, in the assemblage of these albums, within the context of networks between Europeans, Indian rulers, local elites and artists.
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This piece should be approached as a short amateur punk album, where we will co-sing futile systemic grievances, try to flirt and observe the idea of deconstructing ballet, whilst decorating a Christmas tree that will decent to nothingness. Bound by informality this piece will try to knit short personal and collective commentaries around patterned embodiment of social defeat in four chroreographic songs.
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