SWITCH: Mobile | ePaper | Subscribe

Homes Rentals Jobs Autos Contests

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley's Vegas years on display

Michael Lollar The Associated Press Scripps Howard News Service

Last updated Saturday, March 23, 2013 - 11:12pm

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Elvis Presley was only 21 when he first opened in Las Vegas in 1956. It was at the New Frontier Hotel, where a 30-foot marquee of the entertainer invited guests to hear “The Atomic Powered Singer.”

The two-week engagement turned out to be a mismatch. “Elvis wasn’t ready for Vegas, and Vegas wasn’t ready for Elvis,” says Graceland archivist Angie Marchese. One of his records, “Heartbreak Hotel,” became his first No. 1 hit during the 1956 appearance, but the audience of older Vegas gamblers gave the hip-swiveling newcomer only a “lukewarm welcome.”

It would take 13 more years before the singer returned to the Vegas stage in 1969. By then he was one of the biggest legends in show business. His sold-out concerts broke all attendance records, and his stage costumes were a big part of the attraction.

Those costumes are a major part of a new exhibit, “Elvis: Live from Vegas,” in the Sincerely Elvis Museum in Graceland Plaza.

Features, Elvis Presley, Travel Read more Comments

Herriman High recasts musical with sexy Elvis songs

Paul Foy The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, January 3, 2013 - 6:08pm

WEST JORDAN — A parent who was “All Shook Up” about Elvis Presley songs in a high-school drama prompted educators to cancel the musical, deeming it too sexual. But, the decision was reversed Thursday by administrators at Herriman High School.

Features, Elvis Presley, High school, Musical, Utah Read more Comments

John Rich (right), is pictured with Norman Lear in 1973 when they won an Emmy for outstanding series for "All in the Family." (Los Angeles Times)

John Rich, award-winner director of landmark sitcoms, dies at 86

Dennis McLellan Los Angeles Times

Last updated Monday, January 30, 2012 - 12:44am

LOS ANGELES — As a top television comedy director who won an Emmy directing “The Dick Van Dyke Show” in the early 1960s, John Rich was faced with a tough choice in 1970.

On the same day he received a phone call from Mary Tyler Moore wanting to set up a meeting to discuss his directing the initial episode of her new TV series, he got a call from Norman Lear who wanted to send him a script for a pilot he was about to produce.

Comedy, Dick Van Dyke, Director, Elvis Presley, Emmy Awards, Film, Mary Tyler Moore, Sitcoms, television, Westerns, Deaths, History, Military, Movies Read more Comments

There were some suspicious minds about Bachmann's Elvis remarks

Wayne Washington The State (Columbia, S.C.)

Last updated Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - 1:32pm

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Elvis blared from loudspeakers as Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann emerged from her campaign bus here Tuesday.

So much in politics is theater and, in theater, music matters. But how can any musical choice that involves The King go wrong?

It only can if -- as Bachmann did -- you play an Elvis song as a birthday tribute. "Before we get started," Bachmann told her audience, at the Beacon, a local eatery, "let's say 'happy birthday' to him."

One teeny-tiny problem: Tuesday was the 34th anniversary of Elvis' death.

Elvis Presley, Michele Bachmann, Politics, National Read more Comments

SKIP BOLEN/TNT
Jason Lee stars as Dwight Hendricks, a police detective who moonlights as a rock and blues singer, on “Memphis Beat.”

Jason Lee looks to more authentic 'Memphis Beat'

John Beifuss, Scripps Howard News Service

Last updated Sunday, June 12, 2011 - 9:24am

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The police mystery series "Memphis Beat" -- which returns at 7 p.m. Tuesday for a second season on TNT -- is set in the home of blues and barbecue and shot primarily in LaPlace, La., a zydeco and Cajun music center that is the self-described "Andouille Capital of the World," in recognition of a popular spicy sausage.

Features, Elvis Presley, TV, Music Read more Comments

Word War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument/The Associated Press
In this photo taken March 25, 1961 and provided by the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, Elvis Presley performs at the Bloch Arena on the Pearl Harbor Navel base in Honolulu, Hawaii. Fifty years ago, Elvis Presley helped raise money and bring attention to help build the USS Arizona Memorial. The King is being asked to deliver one more time.

Elvis Presley's 1961 benefit concert remembered

Jaymes Song, The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, March 24, 2011 - 12:40pm

HONOLULU -- Fifty years ago, Elvis Presley helped raised money and directed much-needed attention to the stalled efforts to build the USS Arizona Memorial. The King is now being remembered for his contributions as the historic sites at Pearl Harbor enters a new era.

Pacific Historic Parks, in partnership with Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc., will start selling T-shirts on Friday for $24.95 to commemorate the iconic crooner's historic benefit concert at Pearl Harbor's Bloch Arena on March 25, 1961. Proceeds will support the educational programs at the USS Arizona Memorial and the new $56 million Pearl Harbor Visitor Center.

The black T-shirt features an image of the original concert billboard with Presley standing in his gold lame suit and a hangtag replica of the concert ticket. The shirts will be available at the visitor center's bookstore or online at www.PacificHistoricParks.org through the end of the year.

Elvis Presley, National Read more Comments

KRISTIN HEINICHEN/Standard-Examiner
Tyler Wood plays Elvis as Julia Schraedel (left) plays a fan during “On The Radio!” at Knowlton Elementary in the school’s auditorium on Thursday.

'On the Radio!': Kids explore music from the past

Ruth Malan Standard-Examiner correspondent

Last updated Friday, March 11, 2011 - 12:18am

FARMINGTON -- Many students at Knowlton Elementary School love listening to the radio as well as learning about singers and performers from the past.

On Thursday, they showed their love of radio with their original performance "On the Radio!"

Education, Beatles, Davis School District, Elvis Presley, Utah, Featured, History, Music Read more Comments

National Portrait Gallery/MCT
"Elvis Reading Fan Mail" inside the Warrick Hotel in New York City on March 17, 1956 is featured in the exhibition "Elvis at 21: Photographs by Arthur Wertheimer" at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., through January 23.

Photos capture 'The King' before he had a court in 'Elvis at 21'

Chuck Myers, McClatchy News Service

Last updated Friday, January 14, 2011 - 4:33pm

WASHINGTON -- Before the renowned swiveling hips and the moniker "The King," Elvis Presley maintained a hectic schedule as he navigated his way to music stardom.

And photographer Alfred Wertheimer was there to keep pace with Presley's every move.

In 1956, RCA Victor hired Wertheimer, then 26, to follow and photograph promotional images of the music phenom, himself only 21, as he toured and made public appearances.

What Wertheimer eventually recorded, however, went well beyond the realm of mere publicity stills.

Today, a selection of Wertheimer's photographs offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at this phase of Presley's career at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition, "Elvis at 21; Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer," features 56 photographs that focus on a short but seminal timeframe in the rock icon's life.

Features, Elvis Presley, Music Read more Comments