Fact #54188

Elvis Presley plays the first of two nights at the Florida Theatre, Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Before he had even hit town, Judge Marion Gooding had prepared an arrest warrant for Presley charging him with impairing the morals of minors - just in case Elvis swivelled his hips. On the day itself, young people at the Murray Hill Methodist Church heard Elvis denounced in a sermon entitled, "Hotrods, Reefers, and Rock and Roll." Elsewhere in Jacksonville, the Rev. Robert Gray, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, prayed for Presley's salvation after declaring that the singer had "achieved a new low in spiritual degeneracy."