Look what we found on eBay… for 950 $US, or best offer. After playing a show in Norfolk, VA on March 21, 1956, the Perkins Brothers Band headed for New York City and their appearance on the nationally broadcast Perry Como Show. Shortly before sunrise near Dover, Delaware Stuart Pinkham (aka Dick Stuart, and Poor Richard) assumed the duties as driver. After running head on into the back of a pickup truck, their car ended up in a ditch of water about a foot deep, and Carl was lying face down in the water. Drummer W.C. Holland rolled Carl over, saving him from drowning. Carl had suffered 3 fractured vertebrae in his neck, a severe concussion, a broken collar bone, and lacerations all over his body in the crash. Carl remained unconscious for an entire day. The driver of the pickup, Thomas Phillips, a forty year old farmer, died when he was thrown into the steering wheel of his pickupCarl's brother Jay had a fractured neck along with severe internal injuries. On March 23 Bill Black, Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana visited Carl on their way to New York to appear with Elvis the next day. Bill Black told Carl, "Hey, man, Elvis sends his love", and lit a cigarette for him, in spite of the fact that the patient in the next bed was in an oxygen tent. A week later, Carl was given a telegram, which had actually arrvied on the 23rd, from Elvis wishing him a speedy recovery. Sam Philips had planned to surprise Perkins with a gold record during the Perry Como show. "Shoes" had already sold more than 500,000 copies by March 22. Now, while Carl recuperated from the accident, "Blue Suede Shoes" rose to number one on most pop, R&B, and country regional charts. It also held the number two positon on the Billboard Hot 100 and country charts. Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" held the number one position on the pop and country charts, while "Shoes" did better than "Heartbreak" on the R&B charts. By Mid-April, more than one million copies of "Shoes" had been sold. On April 3, while still out of commission, but back in Jackson, Perkins would see his friend Elvis Presley perform "Blue Suede Shoes" on his first Milton Berle Show appearance. Presley performed the song on national television 3 times that year, and made references to it twice during an appearance on The Steve Allen Show. Although his version became more famous than Perkins', it only reached #20 on Billboard's pop chart.

Here’s the description

UNIQUE 'GET WELL' TELEGRAM FROM ELVIS TO CARL PERKINS

THIS IS A SINGULARLY UNIQUE PIECE OF EARLY ROCK & ROLL HISTORY IN THE FORM OF A 'GET WELL' TELEGRAM FROM ELVIS PRESLEY TO CARL PERKINS AFTER PERKINS' ALMOST FATAL CAR ACCIDENT. IT IS A WESTERN U. (SEEMS EBAY HAS AN AVERSION TO THIS WORDING BUT I'M SURE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPH YOU'LL KNOW WHAT I MEAN) TELEGRAM OBVIOUSLY WRITTEN BY ELVIS AND READS :

'WE WERE ALL SHOCKED AND VERY SORRY TO HEAR OF THE ACCIDENT I KNOW WHAT IT IS FOR I HAD A FEW BAD ONES MYSELF IF I CAN HELP YOU IN ANY WAY PLEASE CALL ME I'LL BE AT THE WARWICK HOTEL IN NEW YORK CITY OUR WISHES FOR A SPEEDY RECOVERY FOR YOU AND THE OTHER BOYS SINCERELY=

ALVIS PRESLEY BILL BLACK, SCOTTY MOO AND J D FONTANA=' (SIC)

I KNOW IN CASES LIKE THIS PROVENENCE IS ALL BUT IF YOU SAW ITS CONDITION, MISPELLING, WEAR, STAINS, EVEN PAPER (I'VE BEEN TOLD YOU CAN'T FAKE TELEGRAM PAPER) etc - SEE PHOTOGRAPH, I THINK YOU WOULD AGREE IT IS IT IS DEFINATELY THE ORIGINAL. IN FACT ITS CONDITION IS SO DELICATE I'M WEARY OF TAKING IT OUT OF ITS PLASTIC SLEEVE IT REALLY DOES NEED FRAMING. I WAS DOING SOME RESEARCH ON IT AND CAME ACROSS THE EXTRACT BELOW WHICH, IN FACT, MENTIONS THIS TELEGRAM WHICH I FOUND VERY INTERESTING AS DATES BAND MEMBERS (ALBEIT POORLY SPELT) etc ALL MATCH UP.

IT MEASURES 6 1/2" x 5" APPROX; AND FOR ONCE I'M NOT APOLOGISING FOR ITS CONDITION WHICH IS DESCRIBED ABOVE.

THIS IS AN AMAZING PIECE OF VERY EARLY ROCK & ROLL HISTORY WHICH IS A ONE OFF AND RELATES TO EVENTS THAT FORMED THE BASIS OF MODERN MUSIC AND AS SUCH THINK IT WOULD APPEAL TO ANY COLLECTOR OF MUSIC HISTORY. I'M JUST GLAD TO HAVE OWNED IT - EVEN FOR A SHORT TIME.




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Published: november 28th 2008 07:11 AM.
Source: eBay / Published by: ElvisMatters - Peter Verbruggen