TOO MUCH MONKEY BUSINESS: The Elvis Forum

PART 1...
The long wait backstage at the Shrine Auditorium...

To be continued in Part 2

PART 2

In Part 3: the story where and when the first batch of Elvis at The Shrine photos
were discovered...

Amazing pictures Ger. Excellent work.
When all was cool...........(that would make a good title for a book).
Jim

That last set of photos are fantastic. Somehow they convey the excitement of the occasion.

Awesome stuff, love the photos and a couple I have never seen before . I feel a book on the shrine appearance might be a nice little project for someone?

Those LA action shots !

Oh - to have been there !

Thanks, Ger !

PART 3: Where do the Photos come from?

When the sixties ended, I landed a job for a Dutch Pop monthly. Living with my parents,
the money I made- in part- was used to buy 1950s Elvis publications. Photographs found in
these magazines were for the most part all new to me. Back then, I didn't have a clue
about where and when these photographs had originated from. Except, ofcourse, the ones
from his first 4 films.
The ones that had really caught my attention were those where he was dressed all in black,
with the exception of his tie and socks... He looked dangerous in some of the photos.
The images never had photo-captions giving out information where they had come
from...? I kept finding more and more of these photos of him dressed up in black in various
vintage magazines. But they would remain a mystery to me for many more years.

Circa 1978, while in Glendale, California, visiting my friend Sam Theaker, aka Vic Colonna,
He showed me his new Lp title Rockin' Rebel volume 2. It sported a mouth watering action
shot of Elvis on stage, dressed in Black ! What a great cover shot!
"It was taken at a local concert, here in LA, back in 1956..." Sam explained. "There's a
whole lot of them from that concert...recently found by a guy in Hollywood, who runs a
shop for photo collectors of stars from Hollywood's golden years".
"He's got large prints, directly from the original negatives for sale", Sam continued.
He went to his little office, and returned a few minutes later, with a stack of these large
photo prints. I was rocked out of my socks, seeing these amazing images...several I
recognized from the vintage mags at home.
That afternoon, Sam and I went for a visit to the shop. I bought every image available!

Years would pass...I had started up my boot bizniz, where Sam & his partner Paul had left
off... Made some pocket money, that I would use for buying photos and Elvis memorabilia.
Meanwhile I had started research for a possible book on Elvis in the early years I had wanted
to do for years. 'Long Lonely Highway' was ready for release in 1985. When putting together
the lp sized bonus booklet for 'Shock, Rattle & Roll' I made use of several of the Shrine
concert photos... These would inspire Ernst, years later, for the Essential Masters front of
the 5 cd box... I was asked to sort out the images- from my collection- for inclusion in the
bonus booklet. Ernst knew I had the best collection early stuff, back then. I was honoured,
and best of all: it paid well.

Thru the years, the first batch of about 30 plus Shrine concert photos, 'discovered' back
in '78, have found their way into numerous publications... And the original photo-prints have
been copied to no end by many. In recent years a 2nd batch of Shrine photos have surfaced.
This time, including the ones of him backstage in his silver-grey suit...
I 'borrowed' them for this topic, from the internet, for I have long ago stopped collecting.

All good things come to an end. I've done my share. And I did good.

I always thought that too.

What a creepy guy, that Eddie Granz in the first pic of your post... Brrrrr....

Other pics are just great Ger! Great story on how it all came about and you really did good: a lot of good for all of us fans. Still enjoying your books and releases on the shiny, silver discs ;-) I recently completed my Ger Rijff Collection by adding: 'Long Lonely Highway', 'Echoes Of The Past' and 'The Voice Of Rock 'n' Roll'. Still think there should be a book with the best pics out of your books and the best of your stories, just like the one about the Shrine pics. ;-) (I just long for a new Ger Rijff book).

The next day, June 9, Elvis and some of his entourage, left for Phoenix by plane.
More concerts and more devoted fans were awaiting him in the days to follow...

Wonderful pics.

Great topic Ger.
A lot of these pictures I have never seen before.

yet another one from the Shrine in LA...and 3 from Tucson, Arizona,
2 days later, on June 10...

Some more excellent material from May & June 1956.

It was a nice surprise to find the actual Charlotte Newspaper article from
June '56: "Elvis defends low-down style"
I only had poor photo copies at the time, while working on my book 'Long
Lonely Highway' back in the early 80s. It's in this interview Elvis makes
mention of Arthur Crudup banging his box... A quote that would be used
in countless books, after it had premiered in mine...
Enjoy!

Some more great additions Ger.
Keep 'em coming.
Jim

Love the newspaper headline: 'Poolplayer at 5 P.M., Rock 'n' Roll Idol At 9' ... Sounds like a good title for a book and/or cd release.

This has put me in a right good mood. Good work, Ger.

With compliments from Jans. Thanks, mate!

Superb - Is there any plan around to have these printed in a book : have you for instance been invited to provide these for the Elvis Files?

Many already have seen print in different books over the years, including my own.
Why would I ever consider sharing material with the people of the Elvis Files?
I have respect for the sometimes rare photos they've found, but not for the books
themself. Ive done it years ago before they did, with actual writers, and we did it
a whole lot better.

To Ger

Fantastic - superb, thanks for taking the time to put this together, really enjoyed it!

Davide

Thanks for taking the time to post here, David. What I do these days , and have been doing
for some years now, is presenting little time-frames with material that fits together nicely.
And while you present your stories in high quality cuisine tradition, I stick to fast food
presentation. I no longer have the patience to dig deep into the various subjects. I'm
okay with the way they look: lots of illustrations, with a bit of info on the side. It keeps me
bussy and awake during the daytime. Without my daily shot of 50s Elvis, I would have no
reason to hang around here, or on any other Elvis forum. This keeps me going.

This thread is I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E. !


These actions shots are really out of this world.
"He doesn't just look good. He looks dangerous." (forgot whom I'm quoting here)