February 1961 Charity Shows -> Mysterious!

[Harty]

who named the orchestra / bandmates "The Kings men" ? Guess Elvis didn't liked to be named "the king" ?

[Crotona62]

Looking for some stuff on some of my old magazines, I found this nice article about the Memphis Charity Shows from 1961 that appeared on 16 Magazine, the pictures are quite nice, I had never seen before the one of Elvis with The Browns of "the three bells" fame. Hope someone will find this of interest.

Juan

[drjohncarpenter]

Looking for some stuff on some of my old magazines, I found this nice article about the Memphis Charity Shows from 1961 that appeared on 16 Magazine, the pictures are quite nice, I had never seen before the one of Elvis with The Browns of "the three bells" fame. Hope someone will find this of interest.

Juan

Thank you so much for the upload. Elvis toured with the Browns in 1954-55.

What issue is this from? April 1961?

Would you scan the cover, too?

[drjohncarpenter]

Here are three culled from the 16 Magazine upload, all new to my eyes. Thanks again, Juan!

610225_Memphis AS_01.JPG

Afternoon Show

610225_Memphis AS_02.JPG

Afternoon Show

610225_w Browns_Claridge Hotel_Memphis.JPG

With Browns at Claridge Hotel, Memphis - Saturday, February 25, 1961
L-R: Maxine Brown, Elvis, Bonnie Brown, Jim Ed Brown.

[Crotona62]

Hi, it is the July 1961 issue of 16 magazine.
Here's the cover. I will look other issues that I have to see if there's something of interest on Elvis.

Juan

[drjohncarpenter]

Thanks again, Juan. It's amazing how many photos were made this day.

[Tony..]

Oh, why didn't they record these gigs?

I previously gave detailed information on where, when ,with who and how it came about.This does mean that there is still a chance that a tape is laying around somewhere although in terrible quality. Before anybody else says it . No I was not mistaken in what I heard all those years ago.

Would you care to re-post this detailed information.

Copied from a previous post in 2007

Yes it was a live version , and it was very bad quality. I never thought too much about it until RCA released the Hawaii concert and while listening to it I realised Doin The Best I can was not included, as I presumed at first that this was the concert I had heard on the tape. At this point I thought that RCA had left off DTBAC but further research led me to the fact that this song was actually performed in Memphis and not in Hawaii, hence the tape I heard was one of the Memphis shows.

In my previous posts on this I have never fully explained where and how , although I did send details to various members by PM, however as I have decided to post again what I heard I think it is only fair to fill in a bit of detail and background.

I heard the tape in a house in Birchfield Road , Northampton and the guy who lived there I knew very well at that time, his name was Giorgio Serra.(I lived in the next street Cedar Road). We met when Lings Forum (small local cinema) showed Elvis On Tour for several nights. He did at one time put out a couple of interview discs on Tiger Records. He had hundreds of concert tapes and various other material, and one day he played me this , I remember commenting that hopefully one day RCA would bring out a decent copy !!! At this time I heard and saw a lot of unreleased stuff (for then that is). Me and this guy and a couple more friends used to go every Wednesday to visit a bloke called Mick Heyward in Leicester to see and hear stuff from his collection. I only mention the visits to Mick to back up my claim that at this time I knew people who did have access to rarer stuff. The guy who had the tape was fairly secretive where it had come from and stated that he had promised not to copy or play it to anyone. In the end I lost touch with the bloke in question as he just sort of fell off the map.

The only thing I really want to get over is that at one time it did exist all be it in terrible quality. Hopefully it is still out there somewhere.

End of copied post.

I have absolutely nothing to gain in saying this and giving people false hopes that one day something will surface however I think it is important to know that at some point a recording was made. Whenever I post on this topic I always promise myself that it will be the last time I bother to do it , but when I see certain posters always stating that no recording was made I have to step in and say that they are mistaken in their belief and that there is still some hope.

Nick.

This is a terrific post. On the subject of Giorgio Serra, he used to run an Elvis mail order business called "Elvis international" (in the mid 1980's(?)). I seem to remember it ran for about 2 years or so. He then sent a mail out to all his members advertising a forthcoming LP called "King of the Las Vegas strip" and in the flyer he asked people to send a large deposit and the record would be sent in due course. The record never materialised and Mr Serra disappeared!!! Anyone know what happened to him? Did he return to his country of birth perhaps? Has he still got the '61 tape???

[drjohncarpenter]

Unsubstantiated is what it is, unfortunately.

Meanwhile, I just found another new photo from this fabled day!

610225_Claridge Hotel press conference.JPG

At Press Conference, Claridge Hotel, Memphis - February 25, 1961

[The fool]

Looking for some stuff on some of my old magazines, I found this nice article about the Memphis Charity Shows from 1961 that appeared on 16 Magazine, the pictures are quite nice, I had never seen before the one of Elvis with The Browns of "the three bells" fame. Hope someone will find this of interest.

Juan

Great photos in this article. Thank you for sharing this, Crotona62!

[Chris Roberts]

I can never get enough of these 3 historic shows from 1961, as has been said what a shame that no live footage appears to excist. They stand out, of course, as they were so isolated with no other live shows, apart from the Sinatra appearance, between November 1957 and June 1968. What a wast of talent those baren, apart from Movies, years were.

[karlos]

Brilliant And Interesting Thread - Good Reading material
- Ty all who shared on this post - Lovn It -

[drjohncarpenter]

Brilliant And Interesting Thread ...

Thank you, karlos. Some of the information I put up here is not found in any book on Elvis. At least, not yet.

[karlos]

Brilliant And Interesting Thread ...

Thank you, karlos. Some of the information I put up here is not found in any book on Elvis. At least, not yet.

Yvw Dr .John Carpenter - Enjoy ya weeks and hols John

[dancan]

hope you will like them

[drjohncarpenter]

Thanks, dancan, those are nice portraits.

[Greg1995]

Oh, why didn't they record these gigs?

I previously gave detailed information on where, when ,with who and how it came about.This does mean that there is still a chance that a tape is laying around somewhere although in terrible quality. Before anybody else says it . No I was not mistaken in what I heard all those years ago.

Would you care to re-post this detailed information.

Copied from a previous post in 2007

Yes it was a live version , and it was very bad quality. I never thought too much about it until RCA released the Hawaii concert and while listening to it I realised Doin The Best I can was not included, as I presumed at first that this was the concert I had heard on the tape. At this point I thought that RCA had left off DTBAC but further research led me to the fact that this song was actually performed in Memphis and not in Hawaii, hence the tape I heard was one of the Memphis shows.

In my previous posts on this I have never fully explained where and how , although I did send details to various members by PM, however as I have decided to post again what I heard I think it is only fair to fill in a bit of detail and background.

I heard the tape in a house in Birchfield Road , Northampton and the guy who lived there I knew very well at that time, his name was Giorgio Serra.(I lived in the next street Cedar Road). We met when Lings Forum (small local cinema) showed Elvis On Tour for several nights. He did at one time put out a couple of interview discs on Tiger Records. He had hundreds of concert tapes and various other material, and one day he played me this , I remember commenting that hopefully one day RCA would bring out a decent copy !!! At this time I heard and saw a lot of unreleased stuff (for then that is). Me and this guy and a couple more friends used to go every Wednesday to visit a bloke called Mick Heyward in Leicester to see and hear stuff from his collection. I only mention the visits to Mick to back up my claim that at this time I knew people who did have access to rarer stuff. The guy who had the tape was fairly secretive where it had come from and stated that he had promised not to copy or play it to anyone. In the end I lost touch with the bloke in question as he just sort of fell off the map.

The only thing I really want to get over is that at one time it did exist all be it in terrible quality. Hopefully it is still out there somewhere.

End of copied post.

I have absolutely nothing to gain in saying this and giving people false hopes that one day something will surface however I think it is important to know that at some point a recording was made. Whenever I post on this topic I always promise myself that it will be the last time I bother to do it , but when I see certain posters always stating that no recording was made I have to step in and say that they are mistaken in their belief and that there is still some hope.

Nick.

This is a terrific post. On the subject of Giorgio Serra, he used to run an Elvis mail order business called "Elvis international" (in the mid 1980's(?)). I seem to remember it ran for about 2 years or so. He then sent a mail out to all his members advertising a forthcoming LP called "King of the Las Vegas strip" and in the flyer he asked people to send a large deposit and the record would be sent in due course. The record never materialised and Mr Serra disappeared!!! Anyone know what happened to him? Did he return to his country of birth perhaps? Has he still got the '61 tape???

Maybe Ernst should follow the hint and try to contact the guy.

[Brian Quinn]

Never seen this one before:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/photos/2013/jan/20/373464/

Brian

[Chris Roberts]

Never seen this one before:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/photos/2013/jan/20/373464/

Brian

New to me too! A great find.

[drjohncarpenter]

Never seen this one before:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/photos/2013/jan/20/373464/

Brian

Nice photo, but it is not from February 25, 1961, the subject of this topic.

See also -->
Elvis --> at a G.I. Blues screening with Dick Lightman !
http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=74679

[JamesVRoy]

had this one been added yet?

Courtesy of Michael Donahue
From left: Howard Nicholson, Elvis Presley, Tom Donahue, Travis Carr and Col. Tom Parker are shown in a photo taken in 1961 at the old Hotel Claridge.

source Go Memphis.com

[drjohncarpenter]

had this one been added yet?

610225_w Howard Nicholson_Tom Donahue_Travis Carr_Parker.JPG

Courtesy of Michael Donahue
From left: Howard Nicholson, Elvis Presley, Tom Donahue, Travis Carr and Col. Tom Parker are shown in a photo taken in 1961 at the old Hotel Claridge.

source Go Memphis.com

New to my eyes. Who are those guys? Media? RCA executives? Publishers? Government?

[JamesVRoy]

At least one, Donohue, was a salesman for Paramount. The others are said to have been associates of his.
I found this story about his son:

Courtesy of Michael Donahue
From left: Howard Nicholson, Elvis Presley, Tom Donahue, Travis Carr and Col. Tom Parker are shown in a photo taken in 1961 at the old Hotel Claridge.

"The picture of Daddy with Elvis" is what my family calls the 1961 photograph of the King and my father, the late Tom Donahue. In the photo, Elvis has slicked hair and that slightly sneering smile of his. He's wearing a dark suit and a tie. My father is standing next to him.

Also, in the photo, which was taken at the old Hotel Claridge, are Col. Tom Parker and a couple of my dad's business associates at Paramount, where my dad was a salesman at the time. I've never seen the photo published anywhere, so I thought the 35th anniversary of Elvis' death was a good time to share the picture and some memories of growing up an Elvis fan.



Courtesy of Michael Donahue
With a little dab of Brylcreem, young Michael Donahue tried to style his hair like Elvis in this family photo from the early 1960s.

The picture was taken on Feb. 25, 1961, which Tennessee Gov. Buford Ellington and Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb had declared "Elvis Presley Day." Elvis performed two charity shows at the old Ellis Auditorium.

The event shown in the photo was a special $100-a-plate luncheon at the Claridge. Elvis was given a plaque and a diamond-studded watch, which honored his record sales of more than 75 million.

My dad was at the luncheon because Elvis was a Paramount star at the time. Before he became branch manager, my father was an "exhibitor" or salesman for Paramount, which meant he traveled around the Mid-South selling Paramount movies to the theaters. All the major movie companies, including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox, had offices in Memphis.

The exhibitors tried to push their movies to the theaters in small and big towns. "Blue Hawaii" was the big Elvis movie that year, but we saw them all. My family used to get into the movies for free.

I don't remember my dad saying much about meeting Elvis at the Claridge. He did tell us about sitting next to Elvis' father, Vernon Presley, at some event where food was served. They were eating fried chicken. Presley turned to my dad and said, "I love grease."

My brother Tom and I were Elvis fans. We had a lot of those early singles with the young Elvis sounding a little nasal in "Love Me Tender" and echo-y on "Heartbreak Hotel." My favorite Elvis songs to this day are "Old Shep," a tune about a boy and his dead dog, and the rousing "Let Me" from the movie "Love Me Tender."

We watched Elvis on "The Ed Sullivan Show," but we actually got to see him in person on stage in 1957 at the old Russwood Park. My dad loaded us all, including my mother, brother and baby sister, into the company car, which usually was a Chevy, and we went to see the King. My memory is Elvis wearing a baggy green suit. The actress Susan Hayward also was on the bill, but I don't remember seeing her.

I do remember the year we got a Christmas card from Elvis. I'm sure it was a mass mailing to his business associates, but nobody I've asked, including his buddy George Klein, remembers this card. It was a regular Christmas card, but inside was a perforated record that you punched out. It was a recording of Elvis wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas." We put it on the record player. When my father got home from work, we told him Elvis was at our house. We turned on the record player and Elvis began to talk. It was like he was hiding in the living room.

I finally thought I was going to meet Elvis when my dad took us to one of the King's private movie showings at the old Memphian theater. I had a pack of peppermint Life Savers in my pocket, so I rehearsed what I was going to say when I was introduced: "Elvis, want a mint?" But Elvis never showed up.

The King is dead, but he still resonates with my family. The picture of Elvis in his Army uniform that my brother painted for the cover of the 1977 Liberty Bowl program is the best portrait of Elvis I've ever seen. My sister, Kathy McLallen, conducts Elvis tours. And just about every year I cover the Elvis tribute artist contests, which have grown from one competition to several.

Still, I've never heard an Elvis tribute artist perform "Old Shep" or "Let Me" on stage.

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2012/aug/09/photo-of-dad-with-king-spark-rock-and-roll/

[drjohncarpenter]

At least one, Donohue, was a salesman for Paramount. The others are said to have been associates of his.
I found this story about his son:

Courtesy of Michael Donahue
From left: Howard Nicholson, Elvis Presley, Tom Donahue, Travis Carr and Col. Tom Parker are shown in a photo taken in 1961 at the old Hotel Claridge.

"The picture of Daddy with Elvis" is what my family calls the 1961 photograph of the King and my father, the late Tom Donahue. In the photo, Elvis has slicked hair and that slightly sneering smile of his. He's wearing a dark suit and a tie. My father is standing next to him.

Also, in the photo, which was taken at the old Hotel Claridge, are Col. Tom Parker and a couple of my dad's business associates at Paramount, where my dad was a salesman at the time. I've never seen the photo published anywhere, so I thought the 35th anniversary of Elvis' death was a good time to share the picture and some memories of growing up an Elvis fan.



Courtesy of Michael Donahue
With a little dab of Brylcreem, young Michael Donahue tried to style his hair like Elvis in this family photo from the early 1960s.

The picture was taken on Feb. 25, 1961, which Tennessee Gov. Buford Ellington and Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb had declared "Elvis Presley Day." Elvis performed two charity shows at the old Ellis Auditorium.

The event shown in the photo was a special $100-a-plate luncheon at the Claridge. Elvis was given a plaque and a diamond-studded watch, which honored his record sales of more than 75 million.

My dad was at the luncheon because Elvis was a Paramount star at the time. Before he became branch manager, my father was an "exhibitor" or salesman for Paramount, which meant he traveled around the Mid-South selling Paramount movies to the theaters. All the major movie companies, including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox, had offices in Memphis.

The exhibitors tried to push their movies to the theaters in small and big towns. "Blue Hawaii" was the big Elvis movie that year, but we saw them all. My family used to get into the movies for free.

I don't remember my dad saying much about meeting Elvis at the Claridge. He did tell us about sitting next to Elvis' father, Vernon Presley, at some event where food was served. They were eating fried chicken. Presley turned to my dad and said, "I love grease."

My brother Tom and I were Elvis fans. We had a lot of those early singles with the young Elvis sounding a little nasal in "Love Me Tender" and echo-y on "Heartbreak Hotel." My favorite Elvis songs to this day are "Old Shep," a tune about a boy and his dead dog, and the rousing "Let Me" from the movie "Love Me Tender."

We watched Elvis on "The Ed Sullivan Show," but we actually got to see him in person on stage in 1957 at the old Russwood Park. My dad loaded us all, including my mother, brother and baby sister, into the company car, which usually was a Chevy, and we went to see the King. My memory is Elvis wearing a baggy green suit. The actress Susan Hayward also was on the bill, but I don't remember seeing her.

I do remember the year we got a Christmas card from Elvis. I'm sure it was a mass mailing to his business associates, but nobody I've asked, including his buddy George Klein, remembers this card. It was a regular Christmas card, but inside was a perforated record that you punched out. It was a recording of Elvis wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas." We put it on the record player. When my father got home from work, we told him Elvis was at our house. We turned on the record player and Elvis began to talk. It was like he was hiding in the living room.

I finally thought I was going to meet Elvis when my dad took us to one of the King's private movie showings at the old Memphian theater. I had a pack of peppermint Life Savers in my pocket, so I rehearsed what I was going to say when I was introduced: "Elvis, want a mint?" But Elvis never showed up.

The King is dead, but he still resonates with my family. The picture of Elvis in his Army uniform that my brother painted for the cover of the 1977 Liberty Bowl program is the best portrait of Elvis I've ever seen. My sister, Kathy McLallen, conducts Elvis tours. And just about every year I cover the Elvis tribute artist contests, which have grown from one competition to several.

Still, I've never heard an Elvis tribute artist perform "Old Shep" or "Let Me" on stage.

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2012/aug/09/photo-of-dad-with-king-spark-rock-and-roll/

Thanks. They may have all had Paramount connections then.

Note in Michael's recollection he states seeing him on stage in 1957:
We watched Elvis on "The Ed Sullivan Show," but we actually got to see him in person on stage in 1957 at the old Russwood Park. My dad loaded us all, including my mother, brother and baby sister, into the company car, which usually was a Chevy, and we went to see the King. My memory is Elvis wearing a baggy green suit. The actress Susan Hayward also was on the bill, but I don't remember seeing her.

This, of course, is Elvis' visit to Russwood Park on Friday, June 28, 1957, when he made an non-singing appearance at Danny Thomas' fundraiser to build St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis. So, the suit was green? Not in the photos I've seen.

[elvisa]

Fantastic thread.....thanks for sharing it all

[drjohncarpenter]

Fantastic thread.....thanks for sharing it all

You're welcome.

My secret wish is a tape will surface of one or both shows, and all due to the owner reading this topic ...