Sarasota has played host to a variety of entertainers over the years. Some acts were performed in tents and others in any building that was available at the time. It was not until 1926 that Sarasota had a premiere theater.

When A.B. Edwards built the Edwards Theater in 1926, it was considered one of the best in Florida. On Pineapple Avenue, near the location of today's Selby Library, the Edwards Theater (now the Sarasota Opera House) hosted both live performances and films. At first, Edward's Theater ran silent movies and then talkies. Throughout this period of time, it also continued to host vaudeville shows. Performers like Tom Mix, W.C. Fields and Will Rogers entertained the audiences during the late 1920s and early 1930s. During the mid-1930s and into the 1940s, there were big bands on stage, and bingo and bank nights were held. The Edward's Theater became the Florida Theater in December, 1936 and continued to host shows and movies until it closed in the 1970s.

It was the winter season of 1955-56 that a live act came to Sarasota that would later change the face of modern music. Sarasota's winter season was in full swing on February 21, 1956, when an ad appeared in the Sarasota Journal announcing that a new singing sensation would be performing at the Florida Theater. The advertisement (pictured above) said that Elvis Presley, “the most talked about new personality in the last 10 years of recording music” would be performing live at the Florida Theater for one day only. It went on to say that Elvis would appear with the Blue Moon Boys, Justin Tubb, the Louvin Brothers, the Alabama Sandusters, the Carter Sisters and Benny Martin. Four stage shows ran, starting at 2:15 p.m., with the last one starting at 9:45 p.m. An added attraction during the show would be three movies, “Wondering Boy”, “Corral Cuties” and “Hillbilly Jamboree,” all for the adult matinee price of 76 cents, one dollar in the evening, and 50 cents for children anytime.

Elvis Presley was just getting started in his career early 1956. He was playing smaller venues throughout the south, usually one-day stopovers similar to the one he did in Sarasota. He had signed with RCA records, and his first album was scheduled t be released in March, 1956. With these public appearances, Elvis Presley was beginning to gain popularity, especially with the teenage crowd. Ted Garrison, who worked in the Florida Theater during the 1950s, said in an interview in 1970 that “there was quite an article on him in Life magazine about his performance in the Florida Theater in Jacksonville. In Jacksonville, teenagers grabbed and tor his shirt when he went near the edge of the state.”

When he came to Sarasota, the crowd was much calmer. The biggest commotion Elvis created here was when he broke a guitar string and a young girl was sent dashing down to Roehr's Machine Shop, then on Main Street, for an “A” string for his guitar.

Very little was reported on Elvis' Sarasota performance in the local newspapers. If anyone has information on this, the Sarasota County History Center would love to hear from you.