Tomorrow marks 69 years since Elvis Presley first stepped onto a Hawaii stage. On Sunday, November 10, 1957, the young singer played two shows at Honolulu Stadium, his very first concerts in the islands.
Workers had pulled the stadium’s boxing ring out to make room for a simple stage. Two local radio disc jockeys, Tom Moffatt and Ron Jacobs, each got to introduce one of the shows. Jacobs later called it “one of the most exciting experiences of my life.”
The whole trip almost didn’t happen. Elvis had an open date on his calendar, and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, remembered how much fan mail had come from Hawaii kids. As Moffatt told it years later, “Elvis had an open time period, and I think Colonel Parker remembered all the fan mail that kids wrote from Hawaii.”
He was clearly happy to be there. Before he arrived he wired the local paper a short note that read, “I know that I will enjoy your islands, I like to surf and swim.”
Then came the press conference.
After the afternoon show, Elvis sat down with Honolulu reporters in a room at the Hawaiian Village hotel, where he was staying. The questions were friendly enough, until one reporter decided to ask the thing a lot of people were thinking. Plenty of older folks in 1957 did not care for Elvis or the way he moved, and the reporter put it right to his face.
You can see Elvis on that Honolulu stage the same afternoon in this film.
Elvis on stage at Honolulu Stadium, November 10, 1957
Here’s how a 22-year-old handled it.
The reporter asked, “What’s your reaction to those older people who don’t like you?”
Elvis didn’t get defensive. He smiled and said, “I can’t please everybody. Maybe they’re Pat Boone fans.”
Now, Pat Boone was the other big young singer of that time, a clean-cut star many parents liked far better than Elvis. So the line landed as a gentle joke, not a jab at anyone.
What came next is the part fans love. Instead of stewing about the people who didn’t like him, Elvis went easy on them. He said, “People have preconceived ideas about me… it’s natural.” Then he admitted he’d done the very same thing himself. “I’ve often said I won’t like that person, and then found out he’s a nice guy,” he told the room.
That warm streak ran through the whole visit. He kept a few friends close the whole time, saying it gave him “a little touch of home.” The next day he played one more show for soldiers at an Army post on Oahu, his last concert of the 1950s.
The clip above is real film of Elvis on that Honolulu stage the same day he faced that question. Give it a watch and you’ll see the kid the whole island turned out for.