TOO MUCH MONKEY BUSINESS: The Elvis Forum

PHOTO SESSION ONE


Page 1.


Page 2.

PHOTO SESSION TWO



Page 3.


Page 4.


Page 5.


Page 6.


Page 7.


Page 8.


Page 9.


Page 10.


Page 11.


Page 12.



Page 13.



Page 14.



Page 15.


Page 16.


Page 17.


Page 18.


Page 19.


Page 20.

PHOTO SESSION THREE


Page 20.


Page 21.


Page 22.


Page 23.


Page 24.



Page 24a


Page 25.


Page 26.


Page 27.


Page 28.


Page 29.


Page 30.


Page 31.


Page 32.


Page 33.


Page 34.


Ok, so it's probably not complete, but I would like to achieve a near complete collection of publicity still's taken at the time of MGM's production of 'Jailhouse Rock'. I have tried to find the best quality images, and in full frame where ever possible.

My thoughts at this time, are, that there were three separate photo session's used for publicity use by both MGM and RCA Victor.

Session One (Page 1 and 2) These images were used in the picture 'Jailhouse Rock' and seen in the background poster's and mock single 45 cover's for Laurel Records during the Montage Record Processing scene and the record store scene number 83 - 'record store'
The date is unknown, but confirmation that they were taken before the date of 5th of June 1957,which is the date when scene number 83 was filmed. The top row centre portrait on Page 1. is a well known Presley image, my conclusion after some research is that this image was taken at the same session as the other stills used for the Laurel Records prop cover's. Elvis' hair and clothes match the other images. I have tried to use as many full frame photo's on this section which have the brick wall background. The Photographer at MGM Portrait Studio at this time was Virgill Apger.


Session Two and Three - can be identified by the fact, that Elvis' hair is cut fairly short in Session Two compared to Session three, and his jewellery is different between the two dates. It has been recorded that after the completion of filming of 'Jailhouse Rock' Elvis attended the MGM Portrait Studio on Monday 17th, and possibly the 18th, and 19th of June 1957 for the usual publicity photographs to be taken. My guess is that section three photographs were taken on these dates looking at Elvis' hair at the end of filming. Session 2 photographs are difficult to allocate a date to, again guess work would put the images for Session 2 around the end of April/ early part of May.


In the photo above, Elvis is wearing the same clothes as in Session 2 including the red jacket. The only link is an article found here

The date is when the article was published only, and the photo of Elvis and the mailbag could then link to the article. With this in mind it is still hard to put a date on the Session 2 photo's.



An example of Elvis' appearance on May 8th, at the MGM Soundstage, Hollywood. Note Elvis is wearing the same jacket as he wore on December 4th 1956 at Sun Studios.

It would be great if there is any further information, photographs, improved images etc

Davide

Looks good, you have been searching hard..

I have a big file on J.Rock, pics from MGM various Europe countries, +GB USA etc.,

almost the first one top of my file.... you have 3, so this will be the 4th.. PAGE 24...

Your almost the only one doing these type of topics.... I guess you have all the ones in ERIKS Elvis Files Vol 2 (?)
(I haven't had time to check yet)...

Just take it out and move it into position..

page 14 ? but more a close up portrait study

My fav photo sessions ... JHR.

Well done again David,wait till yer man GER see"s this page!.


Good to see you here REX!.

A nice "thanks to Rijff & Roy" for the use of many images
featured in Echoes Of The Past, Fecc series, would have been
nice....

Sorry Ger, Yes thanks for the use of the images from 'Rijff and Roy' - 'Echoes of the Past' topic- ( I'll put those cutting's in the post for you this week) Anyone have the image from the book Solid Gold Memories' without the graphics?

Thanks Rex for the extra images, I have included the first one, the second looks the same as the one on page 22 on the left cropped. I have not seen the Elvis Files Vol 2 book to see what's included?

Davide

This is great David. You should seriously consider putting one of these out as a book project. There's a lot there that I've not seen before.

Is the photo on the cover of the FTD a colourised photo, or is it the original colour?

As Ger could tell you, a book presents a lot of problems !

You need permission from all the photo copyright holders for a start !

I agree with Colin, the rights would be a big problem - I would imagine the original negatives must exist in the EPE and MGM(TCM Warner) vaults.

Ben do you mean the Jailhouse Rock volume 2 FTD? If that's the one, it certainly looks strange to me?

Davide


Updated

Yes. I've never seen a colour of that shot, and he looks different in that shot than all the rest.

Here is the original colour shot/full frame and the ftd cover


Davide

Page 10... you have this picture (very small) this is scanned from a 12" x 9" image page, and is a very classy image with great contrast and colours when seen full size (almost) ~ also you see a lot more below Elvis' Arm and the chair design..

I agree the image was too small ( due to being of bad quality) I now have this image, which is full frame. What's your preference the photo you posted or this one? - and I will update.

Davide

Mumm... Its a difficuilt choice..
Yours has more space at the top and on the left, mine is very close to the edge but not cropped

The face is more dark and light contrasts on mine
Yours, is a more even light and dark,

Mine has a fraction more image at the bottom which shows the lower curve of Elvis' back into the waist.

But the thing that really stands out is the crispness of the shirt fabric and design on mine, the light almost white reflections are cleaner looking... which probably just edges it.

So mine, but its a very close thing.. Sorry David....
maybe we should ask another Photo specialist member (?)

FANTASTIC stuff as always, Davide!!



Thank you - THEMEMPHISFAN

This J.R. Photo session picture... doesn't really fit in with any of the above... although the Page 29 bottom row is a similar shirt...

BUT this also has Elvis wearing another shirt underneath with a RED Collar...also just the wrist watch, but no Bracelet..... so was it a J.Rock photo session, or some other RCA Publicity shoot. (?)

You sure that's two shirts? It looks to me to be a shirt with a red collar. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong, but I only see one shirt there.

I've lightened my picture a bit, (collar area has a lot of shadows) The Red collar has a black edging...
also I added a few pointers to another collar maybe underneath, when seen next to Davids Image from page 29.
The roll up sleeves look very similar to the 3 David posted...

Of course it could be an identical shirt, with a red collar sewn in.. so not sure...its still the only photo from the Jailhouse Rock photo sessions with a red collar... unless someone has a few more?

seems like it might be from a different time... due to the sideburns and hair over the ear looking very different.

Interesting.... thankyou RCrofts74....

Thanks Davide for posting these pictures! I really appreciate the time and effort you put into these threads.

It's always a joy to read your post and look at the pictures.

Take Care My Friend,

Mitch

you guys need to get involved in Colin's quizzes
elsewhere on Monkey... and learn.
We're looking at 2 totally different photoshoots
( above) and 2 different shirts.
The photo on the left is from 1958, no sideburns
and very different quiff. Maybe its even from
Germany in 59? Don't have books at hand, but
it's obvious the photo on the left is NOT from
the JR photo shoot!

I had that image down as being taken in Germany, May 1959?

Davide

that's very well possible David. Info on photoshoots while
in Germany are featured in the excellent German book "A
Date With Elvis". It's upstairs with my other Elvis books
stored away in boxes. I can't check, but I do not doubt the
date given by you.
Would make an interesting new topic in your series: Elvis
posing in Germanica.

Good idea - I will get onto it straight away (while finishing my book project - which I have nearly completed!)

David

glad you like the idea!
I'll have a look in weeks to come checking if I can find
anything worthwhile to add to a possible "German" topic.
And keep us up to date on your book project!
For your information: one has not to worry about
copyrights for whatever publicity photos such as
the ones in your recent JR topic. It's all so long
ago and the photos were made to be used for free
by magazines in the old days...
Good luck!