Elvis Presley The World's Most Photographed


Elvis Presley

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In March 1959, a group of regulars gathered for another night

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at the Moulin Rouge Strip Club in Munich.

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Moving among them was photographer, Rudolf Paulini.

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This would turn out to be one of the most memorable nights of his life.

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A special guest with two bodyguards had slipped into the club

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and was mingling freely with the drunks and strippers.

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The man who invented rock'n'roll,

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Elvis Presley.

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That night, Rudolf Paulini took an extraordinary series of photographs.

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They captured the unruly and spontaneous side of Elvis

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that would be ruthlessly repressed and hidden for the rest of his life.

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These were the last pictures ever to be taken of the real Elvis Presley.

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MUSIC: Intro to "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley

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# A little less conversation A little more action... #

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Elvis Presley was the undisputed King of rock'n'roll.

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He burst on to the 1950s music scene,

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the shocking, sexually-charged idol of a new youth culture.

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At the peak of his career, his image was more carefully

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packaged and protected than any other star before him.

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Access for informal photographs was always denied.

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-# Come on, come on

-Come on, come on

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# Don't procrastinate, don't articulate, girl, it's gettin' late, gettin' upset waiting around... #

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But in the months before he conquered America, a few photographers managed to capture

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the raw energy that would turn a small town boy

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from Memphis, Tennessee, into a legend of rock'n'roll.

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Elvis Presley released his first single, That's All Right Mama

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in July 1954.

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It was an overnight success and played on radio stations all over the American South.

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# Anyway you do

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# Well, mama, she done told me Papa done told me too

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# Son, that girl you're fooling with She ain't no good for you

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# But that's all right... #

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Elvis was known as the "Hillbilly Cat", a raw, un-honed talent who had soaked up the musical influences

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of his youth - country, blues and gospel - mixed them all together and created rock'n'roll.

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On the 28th July, press photographer, James Reid,

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was assigned to take some shots of the up-and-coming Memphis star for the local newspaper.

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A reporter said, "Jim, I need you to take a picture of this fella

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"and his name is Elvis Presley and he's a singer".

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Well, poor fella, I looked at him and

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his hair was sort of short on top and long on the sides

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and his face was very badly pockmarked.

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The boy was poor and he had the best clothes that

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he could afford to wear that day but he did not make a good impression.

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James Reid's photograph was the first publicity shot of Elvis Presley.

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I love that particular picture of Elvis because he's so rough

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and untutored and he was just this wild kid from the country.

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He looked like an awkward teenager

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and yet you see the elements of the Elvis that he would become.

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You saw the hair, you saw the emphasis on the eyes,

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he's like the pre-Elvis before he became Elvis Presley the superstar.

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By the summer of 1955, Elvis was playing to packed houses across the South.

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Waiting in the wings, watching his progress with growing curiosity,

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was a man who knew a potential goldmine when he saw one,

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Colonel Tom Parker.

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Parker was an illegal immigrant from Holland.

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He'd learned his trade on carnival side-shows and was a shrewd salesman.

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He was about to become one of the most powerful managers in rock history.

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What Colonel Parker saw was the audience, all those kids.

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I think Parker said to Elvis's parents, "We can sell this."

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He said "Your son has a million dollars worth of talent

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"and when he's done with him he'll have a million dollars".

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Within months, Parker had negotiated a deal with record company giant, RCA.

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It was time to conquer the big cities across America.

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The year was 1956.

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Elvis Presley was about to gyrate his way on to national television

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and unleash a revolution in popular music.

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In March, the Colonel booked a television appearance for Presley

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on the Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show in New York.

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Elvis was heading straight for the CBS studios on Broadway.

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On the other side of town, a young photographer, Alfred Wertheimer,

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took a phone call from the publicity director of RCA Records.

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She says to me, "Al, what are you doing on Saturday?"

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and I said "Nothing, what would you like me to do?"

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So she said,

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"I'd like you to cover the Tommy, Jimmy Dorsey Stage Show".

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And I said to her "Oh, Tommy Dorsey, you'd like me to cover him?"

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So she said "No, I want you to cover Elvis Presley".

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There was a silence there.

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I said, "Elvis who?"

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Three days later, Wertheimer was in a CBS dressing room, standing in front of Elvis Presley.

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Elvis was sitting with his feet up on the table and his Argyle socks showing.

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And there was a salesman and he was selling jewellery.

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Ann comes in, says, "Elvis, I'd like you to meet Al Wertheimer, he's our photographer."

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and Elvis says, "Yeah, hi".

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He's busy worrying about his ring, not about the photographer.

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So that was fine with me because my attitude in those days was fly on the wall, I don't exist.

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I put the camera up to my face, I disappear.

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And I'd never met this guy, I don't know what he does, I don't know

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how well he sings but that's irrelevant, I'll just hang around.

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Wertheimer hung around all afternoon and started to get curious.

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After rehearsals, he tagged along with Elvis to his hotel.

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We got up to his suite...

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..and there was fan letters on the couch

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and I'm talking to myself, "What do I do now? There's no action".

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I said, "Well just observe, just be quiet".

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Now he's intensely reading some letters and he's spread out

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on the couch and I said, "Well it's what he's doing so photograph him."

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I'm sort of doing a study as if I had him in a laboratory under a microscope.

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And I'm saying, "This is wonderful".

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Elvis was a natural.

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Completely at ease with the camera.

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Elvis would permit closeness.

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I mean you could get close.

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You could get two and a half feet away from his nose

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and he'd go about doing what he was doing.

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Wertheimer was still with Elvis as he started getting ready for that night's show.

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There's Elvis in the nude except for a towel.

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I said, "Elvis, can I come in?"

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and he said, "Sure, come on in".

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Now when's the last time you had a photographer

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ask to come into your bathroom after you'd just took a shower?

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When Wertheimer turned up for the performance,

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he began to realise just how special this young singer might be.

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# You ain't nothing but a hound dog Cryin' all the time... #

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There he was being crushed by the body of flesh wanting autographs

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and I have some nice images of this wall of hair.

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I noticed that the girls, they had tears in their eyes when he spoke to them.

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I said, "Anybody who can make the girls cry has got something."

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What had started as just another assignment had turned into

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the most important shoot of Wertheimer's life.

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# You ain't nothing but a hound dog Cryin' all the time... #

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Elvis's style was unique.

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# ..Cryin' all the time... #

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His sexual convulsions sent shockwaves across America.

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His weeping fans adored him

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but others saw him as a dangerous threat to the morals of the nation.

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You shake and you quake when you sing. Do you think

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your rocking and rolling has had an evil influence on teenagers or is it just an outlet?

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I don't see that any type of music would have any bad influence.

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Do you think you've learned anything from the criticism levelled at you?

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No, I haven't because I don't feel I'm doing anything wrong.

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# ..You ain't nothing but a hound dog... #

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They were calling him Elvis the Pelvis, they were accusing him of movement.

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I said, "OK he moves, so how do I show movement as a still photographer?"

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You have to think with very slow shutter speeds so that you catch just the right amount of movement

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where it looks like a still photograph in movement.

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Wertheimer was now following Presley as he toured all over America.

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Off-stage, he was finding it hard to keep up with the unruly teen idol.

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I come down the stairs in the back of the theatre and

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I'm saying, "Where's my subject? Where's Elvis?"

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I was supposed to be close to him, and I see these two silhouettes back there, the anonymous date and Elvis.

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Wertheimer was working without a flash.

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He remained unnoticed as he tried to capture this moment of shadowy flirtation.

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So I get up on the handrail to a tighter shot.

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And then she says, "I'll bet you can't kiss me, Elvis."

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And she sticks out her tongue at him "So there, hmmph!"

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And then he says, "I'll bet you I can kiss you".

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The two tongues touch and that's the infamous French kiss.

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By spring 1956, his debut album, "Elvis Presley"

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was a nationwide smash.

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Colonel Parker's million dollar dreams were starting to come true.

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On the 3rd July, Elvis headed home to visit his parents.

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Wertheimer and the Colonel joined him on the 28-hour journey from New York to Memphis.

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# Well that long black train got my baby and gone... #

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I was just clicking away.

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Until somebody tells me to stop, I just continued

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because I figured that's my job.

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Wertheimer was having the time of his life.

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But someone was about to tell him to stop.

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When they arrived in Memphis, Wertheimer grabbed his chance to get the scoop of scoops.

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Elvis Presley relaxing at home with his mom and dad.

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These would be some of the most touching pictures of Elvis ever taken.

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I call this photograph Up Against The Wall

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and it's a picture of Elvis and his father in the swimming pool.

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And incidentally, as he jumped in the pool

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and was horsing around, he says "Stop, stop,"

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and he holds up his hand and he's holding his watch up

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and he says "Ma, my watch is wet!"

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and she says, "Don't worry, it'll be all right" and she dries it off.

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She sort of rubs it against her and she shakes it and

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she sees it's still ticking and she says, "It's fine son".

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We look at those images of a young man, 20 years old,

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and he's on the verge of... His life is about to explode.

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We see those things of Elvis that we love - the youth, the beauty, the energy, they're just images

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before the curtain came down, before the PR machine came in.

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# You know I can be found

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# Sittin' home all alone... #

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The Colonel felt people wanted to see Elvis's face,

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that was his form of art and my form of art

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was really photographing as close as I can, truth.

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But publicity has nothing to do with the truth - it has to do with the image that sells.

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Colonel Parker wasn't simply managing a singer,

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he was manufacturing a commodity for the mass market.

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He ordered a clampdown on all candid photography of Elvis

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and demanded that all RCA publicity photos should be handed over to him.

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Alfred Wertheimer's days on the road with Elvis had come to an end.

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But only a month later, the Colonel's draconian ruling would be breached,

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by a 17-year-old schoolboy.

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On the 26th of November, Lew Allen, from Cleveland Heights High School,

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went along to an Elvis concert to try to take some photographs for the school newspaper.

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We got down there and found out there was a newspaper strike

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-so that

-I was the only photographer there.

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and I had a professional camera, I looked like I belonged there.

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So all the back stage people accepted me and invited me in into the press conference

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and they allowed me to take whatever pictures I wanted.

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The Colonel hadn't come along to this small town concert and Elvis allowed

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the schoolboy the kind of access that professionals would have killed for.

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Lew Allen eagerly took a series of informal shots of Elvis backstage before the show.

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There was one of his fans that was in the hospital

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and he got on this phone, and he started talking to this kid.

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His managers kept coming in and saying,

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"You've got to go on stage, you're an hour late as it is", you know?

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But he stayed with what he was doing and he finished talking to her.

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His gentle side and that warm smile and warm look on his face,

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it's a side of Elvis that a lot of people at that time couldn't believe existed.

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# Oh well bless my soul What's wrong with me? #

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Elvis even allowed the young photographer on stage during the performance.

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# I'm in love, I'm all shook up... #

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# Uh-huh-huh... #

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This was my first big adventure of any kind,

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my first time seeing total craziness.

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# ..I can't seem to stand on my own two feet

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# Who do you thank when you have such luck?

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# I'm in love I'm all shook up... #

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After the show, Lew Allen printed his exclusive shots and sold them in the school cafeteria.

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I didn't get much money for them but a lot of kids wanted them and I earned myself a nice hunk of change.

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The pictures went in a box and stayed there till the mid '80s.

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These unofficial photographs show just the kind

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of raw, unstaged Elvis that Colonel Parker was determined to suppress.

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# ..I'm all shook up. #

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By the end of 1956, Elvis had signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures.

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He was about to be swallowed up by the Hollywood publicity machine.

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At the New York premiere of his first movie, Love Me Tender,

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the Colonel organized the unveiling of a 40-foot tall figure of Elvis above the Paramount Theatre.

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Elvis the movie star was born and the wild, thrusting rebel

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was buried beneath a tidal wave of sentimentality.

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# ..My dreams fulfil

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# For, my darling,

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# I love you... #

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Once he got to Hollywood, it got sort of homogenised.

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They cleaned him up and made him more acceptable for families and Middle America.

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The Colonel would use every opportunity

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to reaffirm the image of the wholesome new Elvis.

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When Elvis received his draft notice, it was time for the creation of Elvis the clean-cut military hero

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and a string of publicity stunts in uniform.

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'As the transformation takes place and Elvis emerges a serviceman,

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'some 55 members of the press are present to record the event as Elvis

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'switches to a new beat. Hup two three four!'

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But just before he was posted to join the American forces in Germany, Elvis was called back to Memphis.

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# Maybe I didn't treat you... #

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On August 14th, 1958, Elvis's mother died at their new family home, Graceland.

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# ..Maybe I didn't love you

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# Quite as often as I could have... #

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James Reid heard the news and wanted to pay his respects.

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I called and wanted to know if it would be appropriate to come down and they assured us that it would be,

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so I stood back and I took that photo.

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Reid captured a private moment of grief between father and son.

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I don't recall another photographer there,

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so I may have been the only one that shot that picture.

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It was very sad.

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Some things you do for a newspaper but my heart broke for him.

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Two months after the funeral, Presley sailed to Germany.

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This was the only time that Elvis ever left the United States and Colonel Parker had to stay behind.

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He was still an illegal immigrant without a passport.

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Elvis was off the leash but the contrived photo shoots of the clean-cut hero went on.

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# Can't you see I love you?

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# Please don't break my heart in two... #

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On a shoot for the magazine, Confidential, Elvis's publicists

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paired him with a pretty 18-year-old actress, Vera Tschechowa.

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With the Colonel stuck in the States, Elvis was about to put

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his safe new image at risk for a night on the town.

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This was Colonel Parker's worst nightmare.

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His carefully controlled star was going to a strip club with an actress.

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And the strip club had its own in-house photographer.

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The wild image Parker had so ruthlessly repressed, was back.

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Instead of teddy bears or puppies on his knees,

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Elvis was photographed with a stripper balanced on each hip.

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The slick hair and smooth self-assured smile are gone.

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What's left is raw and human.

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Rudolph Paulini's photographs had the power to shatter

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the Colonel's carefully nurtured image of the all-American hero.

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But Paulini promised that they would never go further than the night club notice board.

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No photographer would ever again be allowed to capture the real Elvis Presley.

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On March 3rd 1960, Elvis was discharged from duty and returned home.

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# Return to sender... #

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The Colonel hustled Presley into a cycle of cabaret shows and formulaic Hollywood movies.

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His raw and authentic image was buried forever beneath an artificial facade.

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Dig that high-flying Elvis!

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-Man, this guy's feet hardly ever touch the ground.

-I just spotted a couple of sweet ones.

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# We're caught in a trap

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# I can't walk out

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For the rest of his career, Elvis would take on a variety

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of increasingly exaggerated styles, taking him further and further away from his true self.

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# ..Why can't you see what you're doing... #

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By the '70s he was a legend, "the King of rock'n'roll,"

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with a lavish, over-the-top lifestyle to match.

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The same costume designer who did wacky jump suits also did his outfits for off stage.

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# ..With suspicious minds

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# And we can't build our... #

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There were the big gold glasses, the big hair.

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There was the extraordinary jewellery.

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Everything about Elvis became almost too big.

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He was a prisoner,

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behind the facade.

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# ..Because I love you too much... #

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Behind the gates of Graceland, Elvis was disappearing into an existence fuelled by junk food and drugs.

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Colonel Tom Parker's multi-million dollar creation had turned into

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a grotesquely bloated, recluse who had no desire to face the camera at all.

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Presley died on August the 16th, 1977.

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He was 42 years old, weighed nearly 20 stone and had 14 different drugs in his veins.

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# Are you lonesome tonight?

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# Do you miss me tonight?

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# Are you sorry we drifted apart? #

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By the end of his life, Elvis Presley had been reduced to a parody.

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He was no longer the raw, sexually-charged young man,

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captured by photographers before he became the King of rock'n'roll.

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# ..Sweetheart

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# Is your heart filled with pain?

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# Shall I come back again?

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# Tell me dear

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# Are you lonesome tonight? #

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Subtitles by BBC Broadcast - 2005

0:28:580:29:01

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