(Source of image: Florida State Archives Photographic Collection)

“Girls, I’ll see you backstage,” Elvis announced.  Many of the 14,000 spectators took him seriously!  Sometimes called the first rock & roll riot in history, havoc broke out at Presley’s Jacksonville concert on Friday the 13^th in May, 1955.  Fans poured out of the stands at the new Wolfson Baseball Park and chased the King into his dressing room, tearing at his clothes and ripping off his shirt.  A few females even clamored through a ceiling vent, while Elvis clung to overhead pipes in the shower area.  The photo shows him backstage after he eventually escaped.  The singer is eating ice from a soda drink box, while a lucky admirer, Ardys Bell Clawson, makes eyes at him.

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