Bell Auditorium, Augusta - June 27, 1956

[Mister Moon]

I have seen this photo (and an alternate) posted here in an older thread, but it was worse quality. Also, this one looks a little less cropped on the sides.

This is June 27, 1956, backstage at the Bell Auditorium, in Augusta, Georgia.

Accompanying Elvis are local singers Mercia Carr (left) and Margie Walker :

560627 Augusta.jpg

[Erik van den Berg]

OMG Elvis was so cool... if I only have 10%

[drjohncarpenter]

I have seen this photo (and an alternate) posted here in an older thread, but it was worse quality. Also, this one looks a little less cropped on the sides.

This is June 27, 1956, backstage at the Bell Auditorium, in Augusta, Georgia.

Accompanying Elvis are local singers Mercia Carr (left) and Margie Walker :

Neat shot!

It looks like this popped up as part of an online tribute to the legendary Augusta Chronicle photographer Robert Symms, who passed away in May:

Robert Symms, Augusta photographer, dies
Bill Kirby, Augusta Chronicle
Thursday, May 8, 2014

990000_Robert Symms.jpg

Robert Symms, a longtime photographer who captured the portraits of thousands of Augustans, and the images of visitors such as President Eisenhower and Elvis Presley, died Thursday. He was 83.

“A true Augustan,” said Kirk Baxley, the current owner of Fitz-Symms Photography, who worked with Symms for decades and called him a mentor. “He was an ARC graduate and always proud of that,” Baxley said.

Symms was under contract for The Augusta Chronicle and Augusta Herald from 1951-1961, what he once called the “boom town” days as the Savannah River Plant grew and Fort Gordon expanded.

Over the years his sharp eye and friendly persistence gave Augusta many of its most remembered news images, particularly of frequent visits of Eisenhower and his family.

A favorite, he said in a 2012 Chronicle interview, showed the golf-loving president and his wife shortly after Augusta National Golf Club members had built a residence for them near the course .

“I sent them a number of the prints and they had it matted, then autographed it and returned it to me framed just like this,” Symms said. “I was very proud to have that and the fact they were able to do that and return it to me.”

Some of Symms’ most popular images came from a newspaper assignment covering the June 1956 performance of a young Elvis Presley before 6,000 screaming fans jammed into Bell Auditorium. When Presley arrived, he found Symms in an alley awaiting him with a 4X5 Crown Graphic camera.

Most remember hearing Presley sing several hits including Hound Dog, which he would record a month later. However, Symms’ photos preserved their memories of the performance and continued to sell reprints over the next half-century. In 1977, when Presley died, The Chronicle republished them with Symms’ credit line prominently displayed.

Much of his work, and that of longtime partner Morgan Fitz, will be donated to the Augusta Museum of History.

“We were honored and thrilled to accept the donation,” said Nancy Glaser, the museum’s director. “The wealth of such images of Augusta and the CSRA is truly remarkable.”

“What a wonderful man,” Harley Drew of radio station WGAC-AM (580) wrote in an e-mail. “He will surely be missed.”

Symms won many awards for his photographs over the years and also served as a judge in numerous competitions. He received the degree of photographic craftsman in 1972 and the degree of master of photography in 1975 from the Professional Photographers of America Association.

He was also very active in the community, serving as past president of the Augusta Chapter of American Business Clubs and the Augusta Amateur Organist Association. He has served on the boards of Better Business Bureau of Augusta, Imperial Theater, The Community Outreach for the Handicapped and Bethlehem Community Center.

Along with his wife Helen, he served as co-president and presiding officer of the Adult Couples and Singles Class at Trinity on the Hill United Methodist Church since 1987, where he was also a past chairman of the administrative board.

A memorial service will be 5 p.m. Monday at Trinity on the Hill United Methodist Church. Thomas Poteet & Son Funeral Directors, 214 Davis Road is in charge of arrangements.


http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2014-05-08/robert-symms-augusta-photographer-dies
http://chronicle.augusta.com/slideshow/2014-05-08/remembering-photographer-robert-symms

Symms took some nice photos that day, and perhaps there are many more in his archive.

Here's another look at the 1956 Augusta gigs:

Ring My Bell --> Remembering Augusta '56!
http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=84332

[Mister Moon]

Thanks for the post, Doc. Very nice article about Robert Symms.

I have searched for the source of my photo, and it was also the "Augusta Chronicle" website, but a different article. If you look closely, the picture of Elvis with the two local singers is a little less cropped in this one.

This item was published exactly seven years ago. It's not really an article, but a request to the readers to tell their stories about Elvis in Augusta. A few people answered, and there are a couple of interesting stories :

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2007/08/16/met_139812.shtml

[drjohncarpenter]

Thanks for the post, Doc. Very nice article about Robert Symms.

I have searched for the source of my photo, and it was also the "Augusta Chronicle" website, but a different article. If you look closely, the picture of Elvis with the two local singers is a little less cropped in this one.

This item was published exactly seven years ago. It's not really an article, but a request to the readers to tell their stories about Elvis in Augusta. A few people answered, and there are a couple of interesting stories :

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2007/08/16/met_139812.shtml

It would be interesting to see if the Robert Symms archive has more from this day.