elvis facts, horace logan

Horace Logan of "The Louisiana Hayride"

Horace Logan was ten years old when he and his mother moved to Shreveport, Louisiana. His first job was working at a root beer stand. He had to drop out of high school for a while during The Great Depression and get a job delivering ice to help his family survive. Eventually he was able to return to school and still worked part time on the ice truck.

At sixteen he accompanied a friend to an announcer contest held at KWKH radio station. His friend was in the contest and Logan was just there to watch. When one of the other contestants dropped out due to stage fright, Logan was grabbed by the station's management to fill in. Logan, who had become his high school's band drum major and was somewhat used to performing, said his lines not thinking much about it. The listeners chose him and he won the prize of a job as a 5:00 AM radio announcer.

He was drafted during World War II and was discharged in 1945 as a first lieutenant. Upon his return home he wanted to try something different so he opened a gun repair shop. Then, when a job as program director was offered to him by KWKH, he closed his shop and went back into the entertainment field. Prior to his being drafted the station had put together a program called "Saturday Night Roundup" and Logan had been the emcee. This time they put together "The Louisiana Hayride." One of their first featured performers was Hank Williams, Sr.

Logan and a local talent manager, Tillman Franks, became aware of a new young singer from Memphis. They decided to give him a chance to perform on the "Hayride." Elvis Presley soon was signed to a contract to appear on the "Hayride" as well as to tour with other regular performers.

Horace "Hoss" Logan would dress in a black western costume and wear a pair of six-shooters as he hosted the show. This colorful personality helped to launch many stars of the day including Hank Williams, Jim Reeves, Johnny Horton and Johnny Cash.

In his memoir "Elvis, Hank and Me" he tells stories of what it was like in those early days being on stage with Elvis. It was on December 15, 1956 at the Hirsh Coliseum in Shreveport that Logan coined a well-known Elvis phrase. They had a number of problems that day controlling crowds around the coliseum as well as at Elvis's hotel prior to the show. Once Elvis's portion of the show was over the crowd became uncontrollable. In his book he said, "I tried repeatedly to calm them down a little, and finally, in sheer desperation, I said something into the microphone that's been repeated so many times in the years since that it's became an inseparable part of the Elvis phenomenon. 'Ladies and gentlemen, please,' I implored. 'Elvis has left the building. Now if you'll just return to your seats, we'll go on with the show.'"

Horace Logan retired from the "Hayride" in 1958 and moved to Texas in 1995, where he died in October 2002 at the age of 86. The EPE staff had the pleasure of spending time with Horace in 1984 when he came to Graceland to film an interview for a 1985 TV special we had in production, "Elvis Presley's Graceland, Hosted By Priscilla Beaulieu Presley."


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