#Alfred Wertheimer

[hooked-on-elvis]

Being pressed against the wall by him or pressing him against the wall? Make your choice.

Elvis and his date, Barbara Gray, in the stairwell of the Mosque Theater in Richmond, VA in 1956, by Photographer Alfred Wertheimer.

#elvis presley #elvis the king #elvis fans #elvis #elvis fandom #elvis history #50s elvis #alfred wertheimer #elvis and the birth of rock and roll #1956 #elvis smut

[federer7]

Nina Simone, Carnegie Hall, New York, 1965

Photo: Alfred Wertheimer

#alfred wertheimer #new york #1965 #nina simone #carnegie hall

[nikidontsurf]

Elvis is greeted by the young girl in white dress outside the Hudson Theatre in New York City before his apperance on "The Steve Allen Show", July 1 1956. Photos by Alfred Wertheimer.

"As Elvis, Tom Diskin, Junior and I got out of the cab in midtown Manhattan, we were greeted by a young girl in a white dress and her father. Her father had brought her into the city from Long Island. A devoted Elvis fan, she was elated when she arrived. All dressed in white as if she were going to a prom or wedding, she had waited for quite some time. Elvis took her hand in his and I took some pictures. Holding her hand tightly, Elvis looked into her eyes and listened to her story. Her father stood a few feet away. Junior was busy dragging out the guitar case and collecting the now forgotten newspaper. Somebody, not Elvis of course, took care of paying the cabbie. Those 127 people moved to the back of his mind as he told her some beautiful things that she wanted to hear. Then he said, "I've got to go now. I have rehearsal," and disappeared into the Hudson Theater. Everyone else went in but I kept my camera on her. I continued shooting as she broke down and started to cry. There was no one else outside the theater. Later on, at the end of the show, about a hundred girls showed up and had to be held back by metal gates and cops. But this was just one girl having one of the most special moments of her life." - Alfred Wertheimer

#elvis #elvis presley #alfred wertheimer #the steve allen show #1950's #50s #1956 #new york #it goes something like this

[presleypictures]

Elvis in the bathroom of the local Southern Railway train, July 4, 1956.

“Elvis allowed absolute closeness. He allowed you to get within three feet of his face and he acted no differently than if you were twenty feet away. A lot of people feel like I captured more of the essence of Elvis than anyone else. The only thing what I wanted Elvis to do was be himself. Most of the time, Elvis never knew I was taking a picture of him.” – Alfred Wertheimer.

#elvis #elvis presley #elvis history #elvis presley history #elvis photos #elvis presley photos #elvis pictures #elvis presley pictures #elvis fans #elvis presley fans #elvis fandom #elvis presley fandom #music history #the king #king of rock n roll #rock n roll #alfred wertheimer #1950s

[davidhudson]

Elvis Presley, January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977.

1956 photo by Alfred Wertheimer.

#elvis presley #alfred wertheimer #music

[theatomicpoweredsinger]

Elvis photographed by Alfred Wertheimer during a recording session at RCA Victor Studio A in New York on Monday, July 2, 1956.

#Elvis Presley #Elvis #1950s #50s #1956 #Recording Session #New York #Alfred Wertheimer

[sonimage1965]

Nina Simone

#nina simone #alfred wertheimer

[loving-elvis]

“Whether it was an accordion, guitar, or piano, he would pick up whatever musical instrument happened to be there. It was his way of calming himself down and letting people know that he was absorbed in his music.” -Alfred Wertheimer

#It always amazes me that he could play literally anything #How he does it I don't know but it's lovely to see #Elvis Presley #Alfred Wertheimer

[lisamarie-vee]

#elvis presley #alfred wertheimer #book cover #taschen #rock and roll hall of fame

[newyorkthegoldenage]

July 3, 1956: Elvis Presley talks with fans in the middle of Penn Station as he waits to catch the Memphis-bound train. He had been in New York to appear on the Steve Allen Show and record the songs Hound Dog and Don't Be Cruel.

Photo: Alfred Wertheimer via MUUS Collection via Getty Images

#New York #NYC #vintage New York #1950s #Alfred Wertheimer #July 3 #Elvis Presley #Penn Station #fans #pop idols

[hooked-on-elvis]

Elvis' perfectionism 📀

Author's note: Okay, I'm beyond excited with this post, so please take your time reading it. You won't regret a bit.

So, things just got more interesting for me.

If you read my content for a while now, you must be familiar with the fact that I'm a huge fan of "Elvis On Tour" documentary. There's this scene in the middle of the movie where they play instrumental of "Don't Be Cruel" while some 50s pictures of Elvis are "randomly" shown onscreen... well, not as random as one may think.

"Elvis On Tour" is mainly a live concert documentary but it tells Elvis' history as well. His history as a musician is delivered through his own accounts (Elvis talking about his music preferences, his love for gospel music, etc) and by family members' accounts too, such as an interview with Vernon Presley, his father, that is also featured on the film, when Mr. Presley talks about how Elvis' tours in the 50s were wild with all the fans going extremely hysterical over his son.

One of the pictures in particular, displayed during the "throwback scene" in the movie, is immensely significant to the story that documentary meant to tell the viewers. This one right here:

July 3, 1956: On The Train back to Memphis, Tennessee. Photograph by Alfred Wertheimer. Below, other pictures from the same moment. Note the little record player on Elvis' lap, it is important.

The day before those pictures on the train were taken, Elvis had cut some new songs, soon to be released, "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" are among them, but also "Any Way You Want Me".

Elvis during Studio Sessions for RCA July 2, 1956, at RCA Studios in New York. Photograph by Alfred Wertheimer.

About that recording session, on the precise moment EP was recording "Hound Dog", below is an excerpt from "Elvis Presley: A Life in Music" by Ernst Jorgensen and Peter Guralnick:

This was the session where Elvis’s perfectionist streak first became apparent. From [Steve] Sholes’s point of view several of the earlier takes would have been just fine, and he tried to get the singer to listen to the playbacks, but it was obvious that the singer was marching to his own beat; he wouldn’t rest until he had recorded the song to his own — not anyone else’s — satisfaction. Finally, with thirty-one, Elvis declared himself satisfied, and the room breathed a sigh of relief.

Side note: Before recording the song on studio, Elvis performed "Hound Dog" on the Steve Allen Show, on July 1, 1956. They were all worried about how to turn the live performance into a record, and Elvis was the one who was intensely dedicated to make it work. That's why he took 31 takes to finish working on particular track. It really paid off in the end.

Back to the train pictures on July 3, 1956, the photographer, Alfred Wertheimer, shared his accounts on the moment. He said:

"Elvis in on the train. He had just recorded these three songs but two of them became his third and fourth gold records: "(You Ain't Nothing But A) Hound Dog" was the third and "Don't Be Cruel" was the forth. Here he's listening to it over and over again on the way down to his home [Memphis, Tennessee], and he's listening it on this inexpensive little record player and here, I mean, while the other musicians are horsing around, while Colonel Parker is somewhere else, Elvis keeps listening and listening and listening. He's a serious guy! I asked him 'Why are you listening to it on this tiny little machine with a terrible speaker and you just heard it yesterday on a fourteen inch speaker in a studio, beautiful reproduction?' He says: 'Al...'

"'...This is the way my fans listen to my music. That's the way I wanna hear it.'"

— Elvis Presley, July 1956

On more train picture (Elvis going to Memphis, Tennessee on July 3, 1956):

On that photograph, Alfred Wertheimer said on 'Elvis '56' book:

"Listening to the previous day's work one more time before going to sleep, his teddy bear keeping him company. The record player is sitting on a ledge to the right of his berth."

ABOVE: "Elvis On Tour" (1972) snippet with "Throwback scene". Instrumental of "Don't Be Cruel" is playing on the background while pictures from Elvis' early tours are displayed onscreen. The first picture, that one from July 3, 1956, that Mr. Wertheimer shared his memories about.

The footage on that scene from the documentary is from September 9, 1956 on The Ed Sullivan Show. If you'd like to watch the full performance, here it is:

Well, I don't know about you but I will never see the throwback scene the same way.

I mean, if I'm being honest here, I used to often skip that scene just because I've seen the pictures over and over again and the footage from Ed Sullivan Show as well, so when I watch the film I used to be much more interested on the 1972 live performances, the backstage scenes and so on, but now I know the story of that picture, the scene is a lot more meaningful. That 1972 documentary, friends, is not only about Elvis' performances or the lasting love and adoration from his fans. It has a lot more to do with who Elvis Presley was, specially how he felt about music and how he gave all of him to please us. The film shows Elvis talking about how, in the 70s, after many, many years of experience onstage he still felt anxious before performing... and that picture from the 50s that is shown on the film tell us his dedication to his music was to the extent of listening his records on home record players just to make sure it would sound as flawless as it could be... all for us. After hearing the picture story from Mr. Wertheimer, I just fell in love with that 1972 documentary, and with El, even more. ♥

#elvis presley #elvis on tour #alfred wertheimer #1956 #1972 #elvis #elvis the king #elvis fans #elvis fandom #elvis history #50s elvis #70s elvis #elvis music #Youtube

[jhsharman]

ladies man

Archie and Reggie compete to see who is the hottest chick...

Well. Elvis enjoyed it.

#Archie Comics #Archie Andrews #Reggie Mantle #Veronica Lodge #Betty Cooper #Cat calls #Drag Competition #Samm Schwartz #1954 #Elvis Presley #Alfred Wertheimer #1956

[nikidontsurf]

Elvis in his bathroom at the Warwick Hotel in New York City, March 17, 1956. He stayed at the hotel when he appeared on the Dorsey Brothers "Stage Show" program on CBS. Photos by Alfred Wertheimer.

"Elvis is in the bathroom, shaving. I asked him, not knowing any better, if I could come in and continue our photo session. He's combing his hair, looking in this little ladies' mirror. He's using Vaseline hair tonic, not "bear grease." He's bare-chested. He had pimples on his back and a boil on his left shoulder, and you would think he would be very conscious of that. But he was totally unselfconscious.

The wonderful thing about Elvis was that he permitted closeness. Later on, I found out he also made the girls cry. Those were the two qualities that made him different from other performers I had met. Others would let you to come within six or eight feet, but that was it. They'd get nervous, or they'd start to ham it up. Not Elvis. He was always just himself." - Alfred Wertheimer.

#elvis #elvis presley #alfred wertheimer #1950's #50s #new york #that perfect ducktail haircut though #it goes something like this

[presleypictures]

Elvis photographed with Barbara Gray (and cousin Junior Smith) in Richmond, VA – June 30, 1956.

In June of 1956, Barbara's friends convinced her to call Elvis in his hotel room at the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston where Elvis had just performed in South Carolina for 4,000 screaming fans.

“I didn't really know him or what he was about. The operator answered and I just asked for Elvis Presley's room,” said Barbara.

Barbara said the 21 year old singer chatted with her for at least an hour. Being curious, Elvis invited Barbara to his next concert in Virginia.

Two days later the pair met at the diner at the Hotel Jefferson. “He just reached out and hugged me; I didn't know what to say, it was like I was numb,”

Barbara and Elvis flirted over lunch hours before his two shows at The Mosque. At the Mosque Theater Barbara said Elvis took her out to the hallway just a few feet from the stage where thousands of his fans were waiting.

Elvis was quick to move into canoodle as Barbara playfully rejected him. “Right off the bat, he started to embrace me and hug me and said “Kiss me”. I said no but he was just quick enough to lean forward and stick his tongue out and that's how quick the moment happened,” said Barbara. “At least he got a kiss of some kind,”

The moment was captured by Alfred Wertheimer and critics call it one of the most iconic and erotic photographs in American history.

#what a queen 💅🏻 #my fave pics #i want to write about this aaaaah #elvis #elvis presley #elvis history #elvis presley history #elvis photos #elvis presley photos #elvis in the 50s #50s!elvis #50s elvis #alfred wertheimer #music history #king of rock n roll #the king #elvis aaron presley #1950s #1956

[joeinct]

Elvis, Photo by Alfred Wertheimer, 1956

#alfred wertheimer #elvis

[frenchcurious]

Alfred Wertheimer (German/American, 1929-2014). Elvis Presley Cadillac, 1956. - source Heritage Auctions.

#elvis presley #alfred wertheimer