Shot in the arm

Before we get into today's shenanigans, a treat from me to you, sort of like a little mint after dinner or a slug of Old Grandpa on the way home. Please watch this video of Elvis Presley singing "Hound Dog" on the Ed Sullivan Show on October 28, 1956. 

History was made that night. The Ed Sullivan Show was on CBS every Sunday evening for years, and the great part of it was, there was something for everyone in the family. Corny comedians, plate spinners, circus acts, impressionists, rock and roll for the kids, classics for the adults. And Ed made sure that the big names were on his show...Elvis, The Beatles, the best of Motown, Dino, Desi, and Billy...

(Parenthetically, might I add that it would be a good idea for some of today's performers to see how Elvis captivated the crowd at the theater - which is now the site of the Stephen Colbert show - with little more than a raised eyebrow when he wanted to. He had fun with the music, which is what music is supposed to be. Please tell the members of U2 that.)

By the way, the next time E was on the Sullivan Show, the following January, the producers were forced to show him only from the waist up. The outcry over his pelvic gyrations had so enraged mid-Century America that they thought that not seeing The King do his thing would be the only thing to keep the teenagers pure and chaste. And that worked out just fine.

Anyhow, back to the October '56 show...EAP was just hitting his stride that year, and was the biggest thing to hit American culture in a long, long time. I am not skilled enough with words to describe for those yet unborn what it felt like in the country when Elvis came along, and then, not ten years later, the Beatles. Cultural earthquake doesn't begin to tell you how it was. Think of your favorite book, movie, dinner, any sort of experience, and then try to imagine living without it and not even dreaming of it until it burst into your life like a runaway Chevrolet crashing into your garage. Boom.

Stop me if this seems familiar. A virus had been sweeping the nation for some time in 1956. It was called polio (short for poliomyelitis) and it had first shown up on our shores in the 1940s, while World War II still raged. Thousands of children were killed by polio. Tens of thousands of people were paralyzed.

In an effort to stop the spread of the dread disease, quarantines were put in place, children were told to stay home, and travel between cities was discouraged highly. 

Under the leadership of President Harry Truman, the government and the world of health science got to work, and a vaccine was developed, thanks to the work of Dr. Jonas Salk. 

And many people who should have been vaccinated refused to get the shot!

They thought they weren't at risk, they didn't trust the scientists...sound familiar?

Then as now, the only way to beat back the virus is for enough people to take appropriate action, and enough people were not doing so in the 1950s.

Until October 28, that is. You see, in those days, you were lucky if you got three tv channels, so all of America was pretty much the Sullivan audience. And before he sang that night, Elvis Aron Presley, late of Tupelo MS and currently of Memphis TN rolled up his fancy sleeve and took that needle and the audience said, "Hey, if it's good enough for Elvis..."

Now, as we await the Covid-19 vaccine, there are people among us who stand to stop the progress of all those men and women of science by refusing to get vaccinated. Their skepticism would allow the scourge to continue, because that's how epidemic control works, no matter what you heard from the guy down the street whose brother used to date a woman whose sister had a friend who was a nurse.  

We call Elvis the King because he put rock and roll on our plates. He stepped up and encouraged vaccination.  And since we don't have a real king, how about three respected former presidents who have agreed to roll up their sleeves to expose their upper arms for a couple of shots once science gives the thumbs-up sign?

I can't help but point out that all three of these gentlemen served two full terms in office. That sort of thing just doesn't happen anymore!