Little Richard "sent" teenagers
Wollongong's Crown theatre shuddered last night under applause (of the modern kind) when Little Richard, star of Lee Gordon's first Wollongong presentation of the Big Show stepped on to the stage.
Girls screamed and men yelled when the "King of Rock'n' Roll" appeared in his robe. The show opened with a twang of electric guitars and a clash of cymbals of a Sydney band headed by Johnny O'Keefe.
"Shocker"
The Australian group, with its wailing saxophones, provided the "shocker" of the night, sung by Johnny O'Keefe. O'Keefe swaying in all directions sung a number "Flip Flop & Fly", which is a current hit in America. He finished on his knees, wrestling with the microphone.The audience screamed and stamped their feet, while O'Keefe sang.
Next on the bill was young American singer Eddie Cochrane,who will be 19 tomorrow. He has a mature voice and put the audience into full swing.
Another young American singer, Alis Lesley, hailed as the "Female Elvis Presley" lived up to her reputation, and it is doubtful whether Elvis himself could have rotated as much. Most of her songs were numbers recorded by Presley, and she sang most of her numbers in his style. She squealed instead of grunting, as Presley does, after each line.
The "King of Rock 'n' Roll" Little Richard, provided the climax to the show. Little Richard "sent" the audience. His versions of "Tutti Frutti" and "Lucille" were met with tremendous applause, and he could be barely heard above the screaming and stamping of feet.
Gymnast
Besides being an expert showman, Little Richard also appeared to be an expert gymnast. After the performance Little Richard threw copies of a religious booklet into the audience. Later in his room he said that his desire was to be a minister. "Rock 'n' Roll is a living. Everybody has to have a living." he said, "But my real ambition is to become a minister." He said that this was his first show in Australia, but he had appeared "just about everywhere except Russia." "I don't want to go to Russia",he said.
When asked why she sang in "Elvis Presley style", Alis Lesley said that Rock 'n' Roll was a release for her. "I love it, so I just do it." she said.
Eddie Cochrane, when asked the same question, said Rock 'n' Roll was the only music left which had feeling "I can put all of my heart into it. When I'm singing I'm feeling it all the time," he said.
The whole show was a tremendous success, Lee Gordon should seriously think about presenting each of his Big Show presentationsat Wollongong. T.A.M.
This article appeared in the Illawarra Mercury newspaper on
Wednesday the 2nd of October 1957.
Under the article was this piece:
Pray that the divine presence may still guide and bless our
chief magistrate, those associated with his executive trust, and our
national judiciary; give our congress wisdom, and uphold our nation
with the right arm of His righteousness. - Mary Baker Eddy.
Maybe its a reference to judge Judy.
ad for show crown theatre, illawarra mercury
Notice the way they spelt Cochran, to my knowledge there wasn't anymore Big Show presentations at the Crown. It was pulled down in the early seventies, and stayed as a fenced block of grass until the mid eighties. It was a 1200 seater.
I've actually talked to someone who was there. A man who was 16 at the time. I asked him about Alis Lesley, not knowing much about her. He said she wasn't much, he remembers her kicking off her shoes.
On Eddie Cochran, he said he was good, he still thinks its one of the best shows he has seen.
The show had two sessions, one at 6 p.m. and 8.45 p.m. Prices were 19/6 and 29/6, (being 19 shillings and six pence).
On the 4 th of October 1957, England explodes its 12th atomic
blast, and most powerful at Maralinga Sth Australia.
On the 7 th of October 1957, Russia launchs its first satelite
Sputnik.
Here's a bit on the Rock 'n Roll subject;
Originally, says O'Keefe, I wasn't booked to do that show but Gene Vincent and his band, the Blue Caps, somehow got offloaded at Honolulu - people were always getting offloaded at Honolulu - and couldn't get out to Australia in time for the first night of the tour, which was down at the Crown Theatre, Wollongong. At the time I had about the only Rock 'n Roll band in Australia, and we were rehearsing one night down in Valentine's restaurant, below my father's furniture store, when Lee Gordon and Alan Heffernan came to see me. They said they wanted a band to back Eddie Cochran and Alis Lesley, just for one night. Would I do it? So I said I'd do it on the understanding I was allowed to sing three songs. They agreed and I really killed them on that first show in Wollongong. I sang, "You hit the wrong note, billy goat", "Whole Lotta Shaking going on", and "Ooh Boopa Do"... I really killed them. And Lee booked me for the rest of the tour.
But the first time we appeared in Sydney, when it was announced, "And here he is from Australia - Australia's rock king: Johnny O'Keefe!" - all the kids booed. They booed like nothing on earth. All that did to me was give me a charge and to make me think, "Well I'll Show you kid's what its all about". So I stood there and said, "You can boo me and you can make fun of me, but you all paid your money to come and see me because you all love me". And they cheered, and I went into my songs and did my act. Then I went back to the piano and we accompanied Eddie Cochran and Alis Lesley. Both Little Richard and Gene Vincent, who'd arrived by that time, had their own bands.
I had a great time on that tour, but it was a rather ill-fated affair. Originally it was a 22-day tour, but was cut short when Little Richard flew back. He was a strange fella. Effeminate and very religious. I remember we'd played Newcastle and he was becoming very morose. We were coming across in the Stockton Ferry and the blokes in his band were ribbing him.
They said he was thinking of quitting show business and serving the Lord. And his bass player said, "if you want to serve the Lord you should throw away all your diamonds and all your rings". He always wore a lot of very expensive jewellery. Well, that's what he did: opened the window of the bus and threw his jewellery into the Hunter River. I believe people are still finding bits and pieces of it up there.
Then we went to Broken Hill where we were booked to do a concert. Lee chartered a plane and flew the whole lot of us up there; probably something like 40 or 50 people. And we drew a crowd of only about 100. When we arrived we discovered that someone had upset the Barrier Industrial Council, which runs the place, and there was a boycott on the show. I remember Lee standing up the back saying, "Don't tell anyone I've got anything to do with this". It was a disaster.
And then on to Melbourne where the tour really fell apart. Little Richard was very worried about the first Sputnik that was going over on the night we opened. About half past eight at night, between the first and second shows, we were all standing in a lane outside the Melbourne Stadium looking up into the sky to see Sputnik. And there it was, this bloody white thing going across, and Richard says, thats it. The end of the world is coming. I'm going home. I'm going to die in America. I'm not going to sin anymore". We really didn't know whether he was going to quit that moment, or do the second show.
As well as appearing on the show I was compare on a backstage mike. The time came for Richard's bit, and I said - "Now here he is, the king himself - Little Richard!"- and out comes Richard in his robes. He'd got himself a beautiful Bible and he said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm not going to sing for you tonight, I'm gonna tell you about the Lord". And he opened the Bible and read to them for 20 minutes. They copped it sweet. He went off stage, cancelled his tour, got on a plane the next day and went back to America, thinking the end of the world was coming. For about four or five years he went all around the southern parts of America, knockin on people's doors saying "I'm Little Richard come to tell you about the Lord".
Eventually he did return to show business and he did another tour of Australia, but he wasn't very successful. I don't know why. In his day he really was king. He was unbelieveable! He used to take all his clothes off and throw them to the audience. I'd never seen excitement such as he created.
Of course in those days to be a rock 'n roll singer you had to roll on the floor and kick your legs up in the air. You couldn't much hear of what was going on. It didn't matter how you sang the song; it mattered what you did. If you moved the microphone between your legs and tried to root it, the kids would scream. And you'd know you'd get the same reaction whatever side of the audience you worked.
This sort of abandoned exhibitionism appealed as much to the performer in the hearts of hundreds as it did as a frenzied emotional experience to rock 'n roll's young public.
With Elvis Presley symbolizing the attainable heights of show business and Johnny O'Keefe localizing the reality of the opportunities, Australia was about to be hit by a rock-fall of raw and eager rock 'n roll performers.
Taken from some book about rock 'n roll in Australia I photocopied a
few pages a few years ago I don't know the title.
Researched and compiled by R.L.S. of Wollongong, Oct 2005. For the
future interested in the past.
this has been posted on myspace around 2007-8 or something for a couple of years, til i deleted my account.
sydney paper maybe telegragh
