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Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America: When America Was Rocked. Dir. by Bruce Sinofsky. History Channel, 2006. 60 mins. (A&E Home Video, P.O. Box 2284, South Burlington, VT 05407; 888-423-1212; http:// www.store.aetv.com/)
On September 9, 1956, a controversial rhythm and blues-shouting country singer from Memphis, Tennessee, playfully engaged viewers watching the Ed Sullivan Show. The effortlessness of his performance betrayed that this was not the former truck driver's introduction to network television. Indeed, the Hillbilly Cat, as he was known below the Mason-Dixon line, already had turned up nine times on the relatively new medium. Immediately preceding the Sullivan telecast, on the Milton Berle and Steve Allen shows, the hip-swiveling rockabilly had detonated a national firestorm. Undoubtedly, many of the over 60 million Americans who tuned in (85 percent of the television-owning public) were familiar with the uproar. Their resultant curiosity made the occasion the highest-rated program...