The First Elvis Impersonator Elvira Presley!
Complete
with guitar-shaped pasties, Elvira Presley hits the stage in 1957 in
the not-so legendary strip dump "The Near and Far Club" operated by Al
and Mal Warner in Los Angeles. They were looking for a sensational act
to celebrate a club makeover, and when they heard of a model who looked
like the "Mississippi Peckerwood" Elvis, they convinced her to put on Levi jeans and then immediately take them off on stage! Complete with
Elvis gyrations which even Ed Sullivan would have enjoyed.
Elvira
was thus not only the first Elvis Impersonator, she was the first with
38-28-37 measurements! Like the real Elvis, she came from Mississippi.
The act began with
the house orchestra playing "Don't Be Cruel" while Elvira made her
entrance with a guitar. As the band continued performing without paying
royalties to the illegal immigrant Colonel Tom Parker, Elvira pops out
of her Levis to "Blue Suede Shoes" and then out-hip-shakes the hip
shaker with "Hound Dog" while tearing off her bra revealing sequins
shaped like a Nashville guitar-shaped Swimming Pool!
Elvira
became the first to set the standard Elvis Impersonator patter. When
interviewed by the press, her answers are filled with "I hope he would
be flattered" responses, but she avoids the "it's not an imitation, it's
a tribute" banal platitude adopted by every single Elvis imitator since. It
was an imitation for sure.
Uncredited Photographs appeared in Modern Man Magazine 1957
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Elvis : The Last Tour The last photos and Why the King NEVER performed outside the US.
The king is not looking too well here. A group of never published photographs found in Michigan. Indeed Elvis played Michigan several times during his end times. Having been pushed to the limit by fame and his crooked, greedy manager Col. Tom Parker. He was near collapse. Sure enough, he dropped. Elvis spent a week in the hospital from April 1 to April 6, 1977, but a few weeks later there he was again. A night in Detroit. A night in Ann Arbor. One in Saginaw. A show in the hockey rink in Kalamazoo. BACK to Saginaw a week later for another gig.
Colonel Tom Parker took 50%.
You know the protocol. There were a few shows cancelled due to "intestinal flu" or "toothache" but he rolled on. He died several months later.
He was performing well enough, some say. Live gigs on the 1977 tour were captured for a concert film and albums. When Dr. Nick had him jacked-up with as many drugs as Elvis took, he could get through a show. The concert film was canned, as it showed a man clearly on the brink, but greed caused it to be released not long after his death. Greed.
Why did Elvis NEVER PLAY OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES? Other than three or so gigs in Canada (back when a passport was not required to cross the border) Parker never once put the King on display unless he was on American soil. At least one offer of a million dollars in Australia was turned down. Can you imagine if he had played Japan? 20 sold out shows in a row in any Japanese venue. Europe?
Colonel Tom Parker was an illegal Immigrant who feared he would not be able to return to the US if he left. That was the reason. Some even speculate he was "on the run" from a murder he committed in Europe as a young man. He was Dutch born. He made it to the US and claimed he was born in West Virginia. He never had a passport. A manager on the lam.
Original Unpublished Photographs of Elvis 1977 Anonymous. Collection Jim Linderman Each signed on the reverse "E C"
