Unpublished Images - Indianapolis Airport

[elvisjock]

My eyes got wide when I happened upon this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1977-Vintage-Contact-Sheet-photograph-ELVIS-PRESLEY-/112458913459?hash=item1a2f12d6b3:g:y-sAAOSw~XpZUrao

We've seen a few of these shots. One was published in the July 9, 1977 issue of Billboard. But, there's a couple that I have never seen.

[drjohncarpenter]

My eyes got wide when I happened upon this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1977-Vintage-Contact-Sheet-photograph-ELVIS-PRESLEY-/112458913459

We've seen a few of these shots. One was published in the July 9, 1977 issue of Billboard. But, there's a couple that I have never seen.

Nice find. Interesting the seller offers no details on the contact sheet, but I assume it was a press or RCA photographer who took the photos.

770626_Indianapolis airport_01.jpg

770626_Indianapolis airport_02.jpg

It's kind of weird Parker is seen in a director's chair with "THE COL" emblazoned on the back, sitting at the bottom of the plane's steps. Maybe it was a present, as it was his 68th birthday.

[elvisjock]

Perhaps the chair was a gift from the Hemion/Smith team?

Elvis must have arrived fairly late for the start of his concert that night. In June, the Indianapolis sunset is close to 9:30. These photos (and the corresponding video) appear to have been shot in darkness. Elvis has yet to wriggle into his costume.

[rlj4ep]

Thanks for the post of those pics. Always good to see unseen pics.

In the pics in the second column which drjohncarpenter posted, who is the man and what is he presenting to Elvis?

rlj

[Mister Moon]

Thanks for the post of those pics. Always good to see unseen pics.

In the pics in the second column which drjohncarpenter posted, who is the man and what is he presenting to Elvis?

rlj

That's Todd Slaughter, from the OEPFC of Great Britain. I can't recall what he was presenting to Elvis.

[drjohncarpenter]

Thanks for the post of those pics. Always good to see unseen pics.

In the pics in the second column which drjohncarpenter posted, who is the man and what is he presenting to Elvis?

rlj

Todd Slaughter, president of the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of Great Britain:


..

Elvis was apparently presenting Todd with an award for being the U.K. Fan Club president for 10 years running.


http://www.elvispresleyfanclub.co.uk/

[sundial77]

Thanks for the post of those pics. Always good to see unseen pics.

In the pics in the second column which drjohncarpenter posted, who is the man and what is he presenting to Elvis?

rlj

Todd Slaughter, president of the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of Great Britain:


..

Elvis was apparently presenting Todd with an award for being the U.K. Fan Club president for 10 years running.


http://www.elvispresleyfanclub.co.uk/

I remember Slaughter writing in an 'Elvis Monthly' many years ago, in which he tells of becoming UK fan club president on... August 16th 1967. I wonder if he gave this anniversary much thought on the morning and afternoon of Tuesday, August 16th 1977, before the earth-shattering news reached us here in the UK at approximately 10:30pm that evening...

[paulsweeney]

My eyes got wide when I happened upon this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1977-Vintage-Contact-Sheet-photograph-ELVIS-PRESLEY-/112458913459?hash=item1a2f12d6b3:g:y-sAAOSw~XpZUrao

We've seen a few of these shots. One was published in the July 9, 1977 issue of Billboard. But, there's a couple that I have never seen.

Thanks Elvisjock! Unseen photos are always welcome to my eyes.

[elvisjock]

That track suit...

He knows the book is coming out. He's made occasional, vague references to it, and his health, on stage. He knows he will be under the microscope. And then, he dons his brand new "DEA STAFF" track suit and displays it for the CBS cameras and the world to see.

Elvis, The Narc.

Interesting thing about these photos - he looks much better from his left side. He shows a bit of a belly, but his legs seem thin, and his hair and face actually look great, to me. From his right side he presents as much larger, all over. He's not wearing the Sundial belt under the suit, as he did earlier on the tour. That helped.

[drjohncarpenter]

That track suit...

He knows the book is coming out. He's made occasional, vague references to it, and his health, on stage. He knows he will be under the microscope. And then, he dons his brand new "DEA STAFF" track suit and displays it for the CBS cameras and the world to see.

Elvis, The Narc.

Interesting thing about these photos - he looks much better from his left side. He shows a bit of a belly, but his legs seem thin, and his hair and face actually look great, to me. From his right side he presents as much larger, all over. He's not wearing the Sundial belt under the suit, as he did earlier on the tour. That helped.

Elvis made not have been making a conscious choice to wear that DEA track suit. It's seen at other stops as well. He was probably proud to have been given one, to complement his official BNDD badge and status. I agree he generally looks OK in these photos, although Todd claimed he was concerned for the singer after that tarmac meet and greet.

[elvisjock]

That track suit...

He knows the book is coming out. He's made occasional, vague references to it, and his health, on stage. He knows he will be under the microscope. And then, he dons his brand new "DEA STAFF" track suit and displays it for the CBS cameras and the world to see.

Elvis, The Narc.

Interesting thing about these photos - he looks much better from his left side. He shows a bit of a belly, but his legs seem thin, and his hair and face actually look great, to me. From his right side he presents as much larger, all over. He's not wearing the Sundial belt under the suit, as he did earlier on the tour. That helped.

Elvis made not have been making a conscious choice to wear that DEA track suit. It's seen at other stops as well. He was probably proud to have been given one, to complement his official BNDD badge and status. I agree he generally looks OK in these photos, although Todd claimed he was concerned for the singer after that tarmac meet and greet.

It may not have been a conscious choice, but it is the only item of street wardrobe we see him wear on that last tour. It calls to mind his display of the citations from the International Narcotics Enforcement Officer's Association in 1974 (when he was clearly ripped and denying that he was..."strung out").

[drjohncarpenter]

Elvis made not have been making a conscious choice to wear that DEA track suit. It's seen at other stops as well. He was probably proud to have been given one, to complement his official BNDD badge and status. I agree he generally looks OK in these photos, although Todd claimed he was concerned for the singer after that tarmac meet and greet.

It may not have been a conscious choice, but it is the only item of street wardrobe we see him wear on that last tour. It calls to mind his display of the citations from the International Narcotics Enforcement Officer's Association in 1974 (when he was clearly ripped and denying that he was..."strung out").

Hmm. Maybe he was a bit less agitated in June 1977.

[YDKM]

i (think) after a night @ home Elvis was basically having a good day on 26th June
In Todd's report apparently Elvis rested for 1 hour at Stoufers (or something like that) b4 his stage appearance that night- i don't remember if he appeared on time or not , but i believe so...
nice to see the photos

[paulsweeney]

It went for $179.50 US

[promiseland]

It went for $179.50 US

Did you buy them Paul?

[paulsweeney]

I tried but gave up at $177.00 and went to bed.

[elvisjock]

I was watching it, and was surprised to see that it didn't pop higher at the end. Pretty good deal for a few unseen, historical shots. They are likely the last, posed photos of Elvis Presley.

[Delboy]

Thanks for posting. I wonder how the seller got a hold of them?

[Juan Luis]

That was a contact sheet. 8X10's should be floating around somewhere now or in the future.

[MikeFromHolland]

I remember Slaughter writing in an 'Elvis Monthly' many years ago, in which he tells of becoming UK fan club president on... August 16th 1967. I wonder if he gave this anniversary much thought on the morning and afternoon of Tuesday, August 16th 1977, before the earth-shattering news reached us here in the UK at approximately 10:30pm that evening...

Here are his thoughts in his own words:

(..)

It later transpired that third of our passengers were brave enough to ask Colonel Parker if they could meet Elvis and most who did got all their dreams to come true. Some of our group were from Holland, and Colonel Parker spoke to them in Dutch – his native tongue, not ashamed to reveal his true heritage. And it goes without saying that I with my first wife Vicky got to meet the King, along with Ian Bailye and his wife and Tony Prince who was not only the first European DJ to interview Presley for his radio station, but the first ever to introduce him on stage.



So up until Elvis’ death on 16th August 1977 we took fans to see him both in Las Vegas and on tour. We had a group in the United States in June 1977, and we saw the last two concerts that Elvis performed, one in Cincinnati and the last show on June 26th in Indianapolis. I met with Elvis at the airport for my third and last time after he arrived in his plane the Lisa Marie. My meeting was recorded by CBS and sadly it was the last footage filmed of Elvis before his death. From a base of no physical members when I took over the club in 1967, by August 1977 we have an active membership approaching 12,000. All this and more happened, during the first ten years that I was president of the World’s most famous fan club embraced by a wonderful group of fans.

At 10.25pm on 16th August, newscaster Reggie Bosanquet was first to reveal that news was coming out of Memphis Tennessee fearing that Elvis had died, though at that time there was still doubt. In time for the 11.00 o’clock news from the London Daily Mirror millions of people from all over Europe and beyond had turned their radio dial to 208. Mark Wesley announced the singer’s death, and programme controller and our honorary president Tony Prince shelved all the normal programmes, and axed all commercials. For five hours he played non-stop Elvis through the night and spoke to grieving fans (many he knew or had met at various fan club functions or on club holidays) and to those celebrities who contacted the broadcaster to share their condolences. There was no way of calculating the Radio Luxembourg pan-European audience that night, but with at least 15,000,000 from the UK the actual total must have been approaching 150 million – a global all time record for any am frequency broadcaster.

For my part it seemed that I was asked to comment to every news gatherer across the world from as far afield as South Africa and South America. With a dozen domestic TV appearances over the space of a week, almost immediately I was recognised and pointed at by people who previously didn’t know me from a bar of soap. Quite an unnerving experience and something everyone in the public eye must have to hanker for otherwise life must be hell.
Three days after Elvis’s death the Fan Club was staging its annual pre-arranged convention at the Nottingham Palais. It was media mobbed by broadcasters from all over the world. Like Jesus who threw the money changers out of the temple, I had to evict a plethora of preachers who thought now was the time to convert the unworthy.
Elvis death put into doubt the future of our organisation, but those fears were quickly averted when the soon to be closed RCA record pressing plant in Washington Country Durham was reprieved for a further two years of almost total non-stop Presley platter production. Demand for memorial trips to the States were phenomenal and for many years thereafter we were taking more fans to Memphis and beyond than we ever took to see Elvis in concert.

(..)

Source: http://www.elvispresleyfanclub.co.uk/news.php



Until Slaughter took over in 1967, Albert Hand was president of the fanclub. Some may remember him:





Perhaps nice to know for them is that his grandson - under the name Andy Quinn - uploaded a tribute to his grandad on YouTube recently (May 2017). Here it is:

..

"Andy Quinn sings Elvis Presley's 'You were always on my mind' a tribute to my late grandfather who was the founder of the original Elvis Presley fan club. A wonderful and respected man who sadly passed away before I was born."
Twitter - https://twitter.com/AndyQuinn_Fire
.

[sundial77]

I remember Slaughter writing in an 'Elvis Monthly' many years ago, in which he tells of becoming UK fan club president on... August 16th 1967. I wonder if he gave this anniversary much thought on the morning and afternoon of Tuesday, August 16th 1977, before the earth-shattering news reached us here in the UK at approximately 10:30pm that evening...

Here are his thoughts in his own words:

(..)

It later transpired that third of our passengers were brave enough to ask Colonel Parker if they could meet Elvis and most who did got all their dreams to come true. Some of our group were from Holland, and Colonel Parker spoke to them in Dutch – his native tongue, not ashamed to reveal his true heritage. And it goes without saying that I with my first wife Vicky got to meet the King, along with Ian Bailye and his wife and Tony Prince who was not only the first European DJ to interview Presley for his radio station, but the first ever to introduce him on stage.



So up until Elvis’ death on 16th August 1977 we took fans to see him both in Las Vegas and on tour. We had a group in the United States in June 1977, and we saw the last two concerts that Elvis performed, one in Cincinnati and the last show on June 26th in Indianapolis. I met with Elvis at the airport for my third and last time after he arrived in his plane the Lisa Marie. My meeting was recorded by CBS and sadly it was the last footage filmed of Elvis before his death. From a base of no physical members when I took over the club in 1967, by August 1977 we have an active membership approaching 12,000. All this and more happened, during the first ten years that I was president of the World’s most famous fan club embraced by a wonderful group of fans.

At 10.25pm on 16th August, newscaster Reggie Bosanquet was first to reveal that news was coming out of Memphis Tennessee fearing that Elvis had died, though at that time there was still doubt. In time for the 11.00 o’clock news from the London Daily Mirror millions of people from all over Europe and beyond had turned their radio dial to 208. Mark Wesley announced the singer’s death, and programme controller and our honorary president Tony Prince shelved all the normal programmes, and axed all commercials. For five hours he played non-stop Elvis through the night and spoke to grieving fans (many he knew or had met at various fan club functions or on club holidays) and to those celebrities who contacted the broadcaster to share their condolences. There was no way of calculating the Radio Luxembourg pan-European audience that night, but with at least 15,000,000 from the UK the actual total must have been approaching 150 million – a global all time record for any am frequency broadcaster.

For my part it seemed that I was asked to comment to every news gatherer across the world from as far afield as South Africa and South America. With a dozen domestic TV appearances over the space of a week, almost immediately I was recognised and pointed at by people who previously didn’t know me from a bar of soap. Quite an unnerving experience and something everyone in the public eye must have to hanker for otherwise life must be hell.
Three days after Elvis’s death the Fan Club was staging its annual pre-arranged convention at the Nottingham Palais. It was media mobbed by broadcasters from all over the world. Like Jesus who threw the money changers out of the temple, I had to evict a plethora of preachers who thought now was the time to convert the unworthy.
Elvis death put into doubt the future of our organisation, but those fears were quickly averted when the soon to be closed RCA record pressing plant in Washington Country Durham was reprieved for a further two years of almost total non-stop Presley platter production. Demand for memorial trips to the States were phenomenal and for many years thereafter we were taking more fans to Memphis and beyond than we ever took to see Elvis in concert.

(..)

Source: http://www.elvispresleyfanclub.co.uk/news.php



Until Slaughter took over in 1967, Albert Hand was president of the fanclub. Some may remember him:





Perhaps nice to know for them is that his grandson - under the name Andy Quinn - uploaded a tribute to his grandad on YouTube recently (May 2017). Here it is:

..

"Andy Quinn sings Elvis Presley's 'You were always on my mind' a tribute to my late grandfather who was the founder of the original Elvis Presley fan club. A wonderful and respected man who sadly passed away before I was born."
Twitter - https://twitter.com/AndyQuinn_Fire
.

Thanks, Mike,great post. Very interesting and most informative.

[rlj4ep]

Thanks very much mike for that post and the amount of information. First hand accounts are so powerful. Nice job and thanks again

rly

[MikeFromHolland]

.

Thanks, Mike,great post. Very interesting and most informative.

Thanks very much mike for that post and the amount of information. First hand accounts are so powerful. Nice job and thanks again

rly

You're welcome, guys. It's amazing all this can be found on the net nowadays. It's just a small part of a bigger post on http://www.elvispresleyfanclub.co.uk/news.php. It's interesting to read the rest as well.



.

[CONFEDERATELVIS]

It was 10:33pm the first news item here in the Uk - The news had finished and the adverts were on when Reginald Bosenquet interrupted the programme with the news flash, and then it wasn't confirmed on "Reports" coming in