Vintage Photographs of Teenage Fan Girls at Elvis Presley Concerts in the 1950s » Design You Trust

In the mid-1950s, Elvis Presley’s concerts have been marked by an unprecedented phenomenon: intensive, loud screaming from woman supporters. This screaming was so frustrating that it usually drowned out Elvis’ singing, even creating it challenging for his band to perform. Scotty Moore, Elvis’ guitarist, humorously famous that they experienced to stick to Elvis’ movements for cues given that they couldn’t listen to him. In 1957, Elvis experienced to protect his ears to listen to his very own voice.

h/t: vintag.es

This form of lover actions was novel and rather alarming to grownups at the time. Whilst Frank Sinatra’s followers had demonstrated exhilaration, the amount of hysteria at Elvis’ exhibits was unmatched.

A 1956 New York Everyday Mirror posting by Norman Miller and James McGlincy consulted industry experts to evaluate this trend. Psychiatrists and psychologists recommended that Elvis represented a sexual fantasy for youthful gals, a secure outlet for their desires. They observed the ecstatic, almost trance-like reactions of his female viewers. This was not just confined to teenage women adult women, sensation constrained by a male-dominated society, discovered in Elvis a temporary escape to their ‘natural femaleness’.

One particular psychiatrist explained this as a harmless, vicarious working experience, cost-free from the complications of serious intimate interactions. A psychologist additional that Elvis’ attractiveness lay in his embodiment of ‘primitive man’, suggesting his design and songs tapped into primary instincts. They thought that with no his distinct visual appearance and dynamic effectiveness, Elvis would be just an additional entertainer.