1956 Publicity Photo!

[thefunkyangel]

Brian, this is hot off the pages from eBay and I was wondering/ hoping/ praying if you knew it's background/ origin! Looks like a '55 image, but I am sure you know! Cheers!

[drjohncarpenter]

This is from the David B. Hecht photo sessions. One image was chosen for the second LP cover. Others were used for EP and 45 sleeves. IIRC, Brian has the exact date, but I believe they were taken in July 1956.

According to Hecht, Parker took the negatives and never paid the man for his work. What a surprise.

DJC

[Tallhair AKA Ger Rijff]

... Hot damn! A new Heght shot! Great find!

[elvispresleyfan1935]

Awesome picture, man he looks awesome ther

[bripet56]

Funky, as I don't have any date for this session I was always under the impression that the photo-shoot took place out in Hollywood while Elvis was out there filming "Love Me Tender"

Doc? Ger? What´s your thoughts on this??

Here are what I have from this session. Don't know if Elvis was photographed in other clothes at same session.


















courtesy tcbphotos.com



Sincerely
Brian

http://www.brian56.dk

http://www.fly.to/brian56

[drjohncarpenter]

... I was always under the impression that the photo-shoot took place out in Hollywood while Elvis was out there filming "Love Me Tender" ...

The hair and sideburns don't look quite as they did in August/September when he was filming the movie. My guess is July, perhaps while he was in New York for the Allen appearance and RCA session. Do we know where Hecht kept his studio?

DJC

[bripet56]

Tried to find something on the internat about Hecht but came up with nothing as to where he worked from.

I don't believe the pix are from around Steve Allen in New York. Elvis looks more like the Elvis from the Knickerbocker photo-session on August 18 as well as the Sep 1 studio session. It would also be more likely that the photos were shot in connection with recording the songs for the new album and not 1-2 months prior to that.

Sincerely
Brian

http://www.brian56.dk

http://www.fly.to/brian56

[ColinB]

.... It would also be more likely that the photos were shot in connection with recording the songs for the new album and not 1-2 months prior to that.

Since when have album sleeves had photos relevant to the contents ?

[bripet56]

Well Colin, at least on most of the sound-tracks as well as NBC-special, On Stage, TTWII, Madison Square Garden as well as probably a lot more that doesn't come to mind right now.

Mine was only a guess, just as Doc's, as we don't know when the photos were taken. What is your guess?

Sincerely
Brian

http://www.brian56.dk

http://www.fly.to/brian56

[ColinB]

What is your guess?

I read something about them somewhere [might have been on here].

The photographer gave all the negatives to Parker.

Parker selected the one for the 2nd album and paid for it.

But he kept all the others and used some of them later.

The photographer didn't receive any further payments, though !

[bripet56]

Colin, are you sure that was the Hecht photos? I tried to search on "Hecht" here and only this thread turned up.
But maybe somewhere else you read about it.
Do you remember if any plce was mentioned for where those pics were taken??

Sincerely
Brian

http://www.brian56.dk

http://www.fly.to/brian56

[ColinB]

Colin, are you sure that was the Hecht photos?

Well, the ones shown on this thread, including that one from the 2nd album, but the photographer's name may not have been mentioned.

[drjohncarpenter]

Brian -

Colin's Hecht story amplifies what I wrote in my first reply. It may have been an interview with Hecht in TMAHM where I first learned of Parker's thievery.

Elvis' sideburns don't seem long enough for late August / early September. Also, it appears he sports that unique diamond "horseshoe" ring on his left hand, which might help to better date the images.

DJC

[dovey]

Sure is a great pic of Elvis in his "younger" days...

[Tallhair AKA Ger Rijff]

... How fast memory fades...!

Not too long ago, I started a topic on the photo session done fore the

2nd album, by David B. Heght [ with a G ] , run for quite a long time,

here! I talked to him on the phone, in NY, back in 89.

It all took place in NY, around the time of The Steve Allen Show!

I also did a story on this photo shoot in The Man And His Music,

years ago... Doc and Colin had their facts right. OOOhhh Brian!

[Tallhair AKA Ger Rijff]

... Found the topic "That 2nd Album Cover.

Go to previous page 5 of picture section.

Its only 2 months old!....

[ColinB]

... How fast memory fades...! ... Doc and Colin had their facts right. OOOhhh Brian!

Thanks, Ger !

I did say I might have read it on here !

[bripet56]

Da--! Here I sit for more than two hours finding all the proof, checking lots of pix and Hayride days and then I press the submit-button and I've been logged out and everything I wrote is gone.

I'll try and sum up what I wrote.

You guys don't have me convinced that the Hecht-photos are from around the Steve Allen show.

Wertheimer covered that period pretty extensively and NEVER did we see Elvis in ANY of the Hecht-clothes. Not even the shoes.

Let's take a closer look at the Hecht-photos.
The shirt is only seen once before and after (as far as I know). On a Hayride show where Johnny Cash appeared, meaning Dec 31, 1955 through March 31, 1956.

The red jacket was worn in Wichita Falls in January 1956.

The guitar is NOT the one he used during June-July. It is however similar to the one used during the spring of 1956. I'm NOT saying it's the same as I don't see that thing in the center-hole in other pix. What is that, anyway???

The watch in the Hecht-photos is the same square one as in the Dec 1, 1955 photo-shoot and NOT the round one used in June-July 1956.

As for the hair and sideburns. Seems to me his hair in the back is NOT like the Steve-Allen hair but I would never take that as a proof as it can easily look different on the same day depending on how well-combed and well-greased it was.

If the photos are really from N.Y then they are from around one of the Dorsey-shows and NOT from Steve Allen.

I will, however, admit, that the Hecht-photos are most likely NOT from around Love Me Tender. So for now I've moved them to the spring of 1956 until I know if it should be January, February or March 1956.

So come on guys, bring out the heavy artillery and proove me wrong. I'd love you to

Sincerely
Brian

http://www.brian56.dk

http://www.fly.to/brian56

[KHoots]

I don't know if this pic helps or not, but it's from Elvis Day By Day. The picture in the book has a caption reading, "saved by Gladys March 1956." Elvis does look very similar (hair and sideburns) to the picture in funky's initial post, which might suggest the shots were taken in the spring, as Brian said.

http://www.frogcountry.com/index.php?module=Photoshare&func=showimages&fid=6&template=slideshow&iid=712

[Tallhair AKA Ger Rijff]

... H E G H T.

The photographer remembers it as during the summer time.

Wertheimer wasnt around ALL the time, and definetly would not

follow Elvis to a photo session, done by somebody else!

To me it looks VERY Steve Allen Show. The clothes could have

been brought in by Junior Smith, and stayed at the Hotel room,

till they were needed, for the photo session? Did E never carried

an extra guitar with him, just in case?

[drjohncarpenter]

... H E G H T. The photographer remembers it as during the summer time. Wertheimer wasnt around ALL the time, and definetly would not follow Elvis to a photo session, done by somebody else!

Ger, it's Hecht on the 1956 album cover credit. Also, Wertheimer ended up dueling shots at least once with another shutterbug, with PoPsie at the July 2, 1956 NY recording session.

Brian - hope you didn't miss my observation about Elvis' sideburns being too short for Aug/Sep '56. You've made no commentso far about the horseshoe ring I can see in a couple of those Hecht portraits.

Maybe the key to dating these images is knowing when Elvis wore that ring -- he bought it in NY in March, didn't he?

DJC

[drjohncarpenter]

The guitar is NOT the one he used during June-July. It is however similar to the one used during the spring of 1956. I'm NOT saying it's the same as I don't see that thing in the center-hole in other pix. What is that, anyway???

The guitar looks a GREAT deal like the one Elvis plays in the famous PoPsie photos which adorn the back cover of his debut LP, right down to the angled pickup resting in the sound hole. A pickup allows acoustic guitar sound to be plugged into an amplifier.

The PoPsie session was in NY on December 1, 1955. A guess is that this guitar was a spare of Elvis', which is why it would be in NY on each occasion.

So a clue to location of the Hecht photo session -- the guitar (NY). Clue to the date -- the diamond horseshoe ring (March?).

Brian, comments?

DJC

[Tallhair AKA Ger Rijff]

... Ive stored away the original US pressing, together with other

Hecht photos, somewhere??? Sorry for misspelling his name, here.

Now, if I could only find my shorts, so I can get dressed!

[bripet56]

Ger, just you forget about them shorts and find those pics. We won't be looking while you find them

Doc, my pics are not the best quality and I'm not quite certain that it really is the horseshoe ring on the Hecht photos. It looks more like the one Elvis wore at the Feb 4, 1956 Dorsey show.

As for the sideburns I agree that they are shorter than the Love Me Tender sideburns.

I think the hardest evidence is the watch and the shirt which Elvis wore in the spring of 56.

Ger, I don't think Elvis had another guitar with him on tour. It is a fact that he often borrowed a guitar from some of the other stars in the show and in N.Y. Elvis and the guys sometimes hired instruments so they didn't have to bring them on the plane.

Doc, you're so right about the Popsie-guitar being the same as the Hecht-guitar. Great of you to see that. I didn't.

As the Popsie-photos were shot in the N.Y. RCA-studio this could be a studio-guitar that Elvis used on both photo-shoots. Could it be that the Hecht-photos were shot at the RCA-studio as well?? The background seems to have been tampered with after the photos were processed.

Well, this has turned out to being a real great discussion and I hope we'll get some more evidence as soon as Ger has put on his shorts and found them photos so he can get us some real great scans where we can see the ring and watch.

Sincerely
Brian

http://www.brian56.dk

http://www.fly.to/brian56

[Joe Car]

... Ive stored away the original US pressing, together with other

Hecht photos, somewhere??? Sorry for misspelling his name, here.

Now, if I could only find my shorts, so I can get dressed!

Hurry up already!