Photos -Elvis Presley In Concert 1969
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Summer of 1969 at Graceland
Known for a powerful stage presence in total command of every room he has ever worked. But backstage at the International Hotel on July 31, 1969, Elvis Presley was packing back and forth like a panther. In a few minutes, he would march out into what was then the largest showroom in Las Vegas, holding 2.000 people.
It had been eight years since Elvis had last done a live concert, eight years of recording sessions and movie making, eight years since he had felt the electricity of a packed house. Those of us around him had no doubt he'd be a bigger hit than ever. Deep down probably Elvis knew himself. But at the moment he was sweating through his black mohair suit.
As we started walking to the stage, Elvis became very quiet. You could see in his eyes that he was thinking about the show, going over the song list in mind. His tenseness was contagious. Soon we were all nervous. Comedian Sammy Shore finished his act and the house lights went down. The audience was hushed. The Bobby Morris Orchestra began to play and no further introduction was necessary. Nervous time had turned into Showtime. Elvis was back where he belonged. His concerns, of course, were unnecessary. He performed brilliantly for 90 minutes. He fed off people.
February 26, 1969 - Elvis signing his performance contract with The International Hotel in Las Vegas. This photo opportunity was actually staged, and the actual contract signing did not take place until April.
Elvis Presley 1969 International Hotel, Las Vegas - Click image to view larger size
Elvis Presley 1969 - Backstage The International Hotel, Las Vegas - Click image to view larger size
Elvis Presley July 31, 1969 International Hotel, Las Vegas
As Elvis came off the stage, he had tears in his eyes and was soaked in sweat, but this was the sweat of a job well done. - Joe Esposito.
Elvis embraced by a female member of the Las Vegas audience.
Elvis on Rising Sun at Graceland, circa May-June 1969
Chris Ellis, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones's drummer and Tom Jones 1969
Elvis came back to Graceland at 12:30 a.m. on May 28 and left again for Los Angeles at 8 p.m. on June 10. The above photo appeared in the August 1969 issue of Elvis Monthly and Gary Pepper wrote about the horse-riding autograph sessions and writes that "this past Tuesday, June 10th, he (Elvis) had a call to fly back to California on business concerning the Las Vegas appearance at the International Hotel.
So therefore we know that the photo was taken between May 29 (he rested most of the first day at home) and June 10.
Summer of 1969 at Graceland
Elvis finished filming of his movie 'Change of Habit' for Universal Studios on May 4th and he, Priscilla and his cousins Patsy and Gee Gee Gambill flew to Honolulu for a two week's vacation leaving little Lisa Marie in the care of Priscilla's parents.
After their vacation in Honolulu they flew back to Los Angeles for a week so Elvis could check with the studio to see whether or not he was needed for further filming, dubbing, etc., before they left for Graceland.
Elvis, Priscilla and Lisa Marie arrived home on May 28th at 12:30 a.m.
On his first day home Elvis rested most of the time, and then at 12 p.m. he, Priscilla and Patsy went to Midnight Movies where he showed three movies titled 'Good Bye Columbus', starring Richard Benjamin; 'Winning' starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and 'Death Of A Gunfighter' starring Richard Widmark and Lena Horne. These movies were over at 5 a.m.
Elvis attended movies nightly, except for two nights, showing twenty-three movies. Some that he especially liked were 'Magnus' starring Anthony Quinn and Michael Caine, which he thought was terrific. 'True Grit' with Glen Campbell and John Wayne (great). 'Support Your Local Sheriff' with James Garner. 'The Lost Men' starring Sidney Poittier, 'The Eye Of The Cat, 'You Only Live Once' starring Sean Connery, 'The Illustrated Man' starring Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom, which he liked real well because Rod Steiger was one of his favourite stars, 'Charlie' with Cliff Robertson, 'Hell In The Pacific' with Lee Marvin, who was another favourite with Elvis, 'The Oblong Box' with Vincent Price, and last, but not least, 'Goldfinger' which he showed several times and enjoyed tremendously.
After a night at the movies and getting back to Graceland about 5:30 a.m. they hit the hay for some sleep and got up about 4 p.m. They had a swim in the park until about 5:30 and then had breakfast. By that time Elvis' uncle Earl Prichard and Mike McGregor had the horses saddled up ready for them to ride. Elvis and Priscilla took off riding the horses in the side lot and front grounds of Graceland putting on quite a show for everyone to see. Elvis was very generous with his fans who threw their shoes across the stone fence as Elvis rode near the front of the yard. He autographed the shoes and many other items and threw them back over the fence.
The next day Elvis rode down near the gate where at least 500 fans had gathered and a traffic jam on the highway was forming because people slowed the traffic down to get a look at Elvis. He rode his horse near the driveway and entrance to Graceland looking over the crowd and asked the gatekeeper to open the gates and let everyone in. He sat on his horse and signed autographs and allowed the fans to take photos and ask question for about two and a half hour. Someone in the crowd asked him about his neck scarf and he took it off and threw it into the crowd. As you can imagine there was quite a scramble and quite a few fans got a piece of it.
Elvis finally got so hot and tired he said he would have to say goodbye to everyone. An estimated three or four thousand people crowded onto his grounds. Not all at once, but coming and going. He continued to do the same thing each day for a week.
Elvis had planned to stay at Graceland but on June 10 he was called out to California and left with an 8 p.m. flight. The next day Priscilla and Patsy flew to New York on a shopping spree returning on June 17th.
Elvis returned from Los Angeles on June 21 and had a wonderful ten days visit together with Priscilla's family who had come to Graceland on June 19th.
Upon his return Elvis showed more midnight movies such as: 'Hard Contract' with James Coburn and Lee Remick, 'One Hunter' starring Charlton Heston, 'The Lone Bug' with Dean Jones and Buddy Hackett, 'Che' with Omar Sharif and Jack Palance (as Fidel Castro) which Elvis was very interested in, 'More Dead Than Alive' with Clint Walker and Vincent Price.
He continued riding his horses each afternoon after a late afternoon swim in his beautiful swimming pool until the last week he was home the temperature got up to 102 degrees, and it got too hot for his horses to be down there with all the fans crowded around them while Elvis signed autographs; so he began riding down to the gate in his golf cart for his autograph sessions and picture taking with his fans. Around 8:30 after the temperature dropped a few degrees, at which time he usually took up about two hours of his time signing autographs, talking and joking with everyone.
Elvis had invited Glen Campbell's parents to Graceland after their son's movie 'True Grit' opened at the Malco Theatre. They had a wonderful evening with Elvis playing the piano and everybody joining in.
Elvis and his family and his entourage left at 8 o'clock on July 5th by plane for Los Angeles. They seemed to have had a real nice vacation and looked real slim and trim – looked and felt great. Many fans were thrilled because they had a chance to see him and talk to him and get their pix taken with him.
Story above put together from stories by Gary Pepper printed in Elvis Monthly 115-117
Stop, look and listen baby that's our philosophy .... First thing in the morning, last thing at night ... look, stare everywhere and see everything inside .... Stop, look and listen!
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