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Those are from Roanoke, August 2. The girl in the photo is 16-year old Teresa Ames, whose panda costume was made by her mother.
Is her mother Nana Ames, a well known Elvis fan?
The report gives her mother's name as Rita Ames, so it's not Sandra (Nana). Of Teresa's father it was said that he stood in line for 17 hours to secure front row tickets.
Photo by Pat Matheny
Message to Elvis
Teresa Amos, 16, confronts her "King" at the Roanoke Civic Center. Other stories and pictures from the Elvis Presley concert, which drew a capacity crowd last night, on Pages 11 and 15.
Roanoke World-News - Tuesday, August 3, 1976
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/916406758/
Photos by Pat Matheny
How sweet it is
Mrs. Judy DeLauney of Salem tried for a long time to get Elvis' attention before she succeeded. Mrs. DeLauney managed to get a kiss from "The King" with a little bribery -- a cake. She presented the cake, with the words "I've Been Trying Get To You For 22 Years, Love Judy" written into the frosting, to Presley last night at the Roanoke Civic Center.
Roanoke World-News - Tuesday, August 3, 1976
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/916406811/
Fans go to any length to get close to Elvis
By PAT MATHENY
Staff Writer
When it concerns The King, the sky's the limit.
"He's like wine and cheese. He gets better every day," said one 30 year old woman who came with three co-worshippers from Lynchburg to Roanoke yesterday. They staked themselves out in the parking lot of the Sheraton Motor Inn in Salem.
Their eyes were glued to the second story where their Elvis was remaining incognito among his troupe and a corps of police officers. They, and others sitting longingly in their cars before last night's happening at the Roanoke Civic Center, were praying that by some act of heaven their man would merely pass by an open window.
The closest they got to him was meeting his girl friend face to face and taking home the autograph of Linda Thompson, whom they considered in green-eyed adulation "the luckiest girl in the world."
The jeans-clad 25-year-old beauty, exhilarated over Lakeside Amusement Park's roller coaster, soothed anxiety a bit when she assured the small gathering in the motel lobby that there's "nothing definite" about her future with the magnetic entertainer with whom she travels.
She is by no means the only admirer who traipses the country to be near the 41-year-old idol whose charm, like wine and cheese, seems to grow with age.
Dale and Edward Allan, for example, came from Baltimore, Md., for the Roanoke appearance -- the third time they had seen him in as many days. They said they went to his Saturday and Sunday shows at the Hampton coliseum and will zip off to New York or just about anywhere The King is scheduled to appear.
The late 20s couple remembers the performer extraordinaire from their preschool days and say they don't mind seeing the same show time and time again. "It's like playing his records over and over" -- a thrill every time said Allan.
Their albums could produce eternal sound. "We probably have one of the largest collections in the country," said the husband. "About 300 LP's."
Among all of those emotion-ridden songs, "Laudy Miss Clawdy" is Dale's favorite. She didn't have the thrill of hearing it last night.
But there were thrills aplenty for the fans who have packed the house three times for the singer who can stirs as much distress and controversy over ticket sales as he stirs emotion in his all-white audiences of all ages. His image as a teen-age idol is dead.
Yet 16 year old Teresa Amos, whose father got front row tickets by standing in line 17 hours, appeared in a black and white teddy bear suit she and her mother Rita made for the occasion.
Teresa sitting within scarf-catching distance of the hearthrob of millions further drew his attention with her poster that pleaded "Let me be your teddy bear" which has double significance. It's the title of one of his songs and symbolic of his penchant for the stuffed toys he collects and donates to charities.
A group of young girls combined their patriotic spirit and love of Elvis for public display. As hundreds of cars were milling into the civic center parking lot, they stood under its sign with a gigantic red-white-and-blue poster that declared, "Elvis -- the greatest thing to happen to America in 200 years."
Why he is so great leaves some people nearly speechless. The most sublime way Vivian Davis, one of the Lynchburg foursome, could put it, was "when he comes on stage the air is different." Then she grasped for other words . . . "animal magnetism, charisma, sex appeal."
It's for those traits that she and her friends follow him. They have had intimate moments with the man who makes their heart flutter. One, like Mrs. Judy DeLauney of Salem, whose presentation of a guitar-shaped cake won her a kiss last night, has been also been kissed. Another said "he has called me 'honey' twice", and two were still ecstatic from a previous concert when they managed to touch his leg as they caught scarves they wouldn't sell for a million dollars.
Of course such die-hard fans wear "I love Elvis" shirts and sequinned outfits declaring their feelings for the The King.
And if he ran for president you could bet a thousand tickets to his show to one that these worshipers would be there when the polls opened to cast their vote.
In fact, there could be political action afoot. In the first part of the Elvis Presley Show, a rather risque comedian aroused the audience with, "There are enough people here for a political convention. I want to nominate Elvis Presley for President."
The fans cheered long and but not with as much volume and emotion as when "The second part of the show" plunged through the curtains and turned the sizzle from moderately warm up to super high.
Roanoke World-News - Tuesday, August 3, 1976
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/916406830/
Why did I think it was Ames?drjohncarpenter wrote: ↑Thu Jul 06, 2023 3:59 amFor those who wonder, Teresa Amos, the gal in the teddy bear costume, made the next day's local paper front page.
Sorry for the slight confusion.