Check Out This Old School Interview with Elvis Presley in Wichita Falls
Never know what you will find on the internet. Including an interview with Elvis hanging out in our city.
Whenever I can't find anything to talk about, I just type Wichita Falls into YouTube to see what people are saying about our city. I am still in shock over this guy that flushed toilets all across our city and all of Texas. Today though, something a little more normal. How about an interview with the King from 1956?
This apparently aired on KSTB on a program called "Hillbilly Hit Parade". KSTB did not ring any bells for me. I looked it up and according to Wikipedia the station is out of Crystal Beach, Texas? That says it started in 1993, which can't be right because this interview is from 1956.
If anyone could clear this up for me, I would appreciate it. This interview is apparently before Elvis' final show in Wichita Falls. He actually played several venues in our city throughout the years. According to Elvis Concerts website, who I would trust with all information concerning Elvis concerts. Elvis first played in our city on April 25, 1955 at a venue called the MB Corral.
You probably now know this location as Stick's Place. Elvis would return to our city over the summer to play at Spudder's Park, which was home to our former minor league baseball team of the same name. Once again, I am taking this information off of Wikipedia, but it looks like this was in the time that the Spudders left our town and became the Sweetwater Spudders. The team would move back to Wichita Falls in 1956 and disband in 1957 halfway through the season.
The Elvis concert at Spudder's Park took place on August 22, 1955. Elvis and the Louisiana Hayride stars performed on the back of a flatbed pickup truck for fans that day. The final shows for Elvis in Wichita Falls happened in 1956 at Memorial Auditorium. One on January 19th and the other on April 9th. Apparently the venue was called the Municipal Auditorium back in the day.
The YouTube video had a link to another site that goes into more detail on Elvis' tour throughout Texas. It says in there some kid stole Elvis' hood ornament off his Cadillac right here in Wichita Falls. Don't know if that is true or not, but if you have that. Holy crap is that probably worth some money.