The King Is Back!

The making of the TV specialOn December 3, 1968

NBC broadcast one of the most famous television pro-grams in the history of American entertainment. In the process Elvis Presley, whose career had become close to a laughing stock, was resurrected as the King of rock and roll and put on the path to a fresh and vital phase in his career. In one of the greatest revivals the music world has ever seen, Elvis escaped from the seemingly inevitable downward spiral of increasingly awful movies and banal soundtrack albums that he had produced for the better part of 8 years. For just about the only time since 1955 Elvis briefly escaped from Colonel Parker's dead hand, and was put to work with people with fresh ideas and the ability to carry them out. Elvis's return to the real world of music was awaited with fascination by millions. The result was a revelation for Elvis himself, for the music business, for RCA, his fans and for the rest of the world.

The Singer Special was one of a series sponsored by the sewing machine company and made by NBC. The show's young production team were so inexperi-enced that they didn't put it up for any broadcasting awards - though it's likely it would have swept the board. The show was re-broadcast in 1969 and a longer 90-minute version was shown after Elvis's death.