ELVIS WHO?

In March 1956 a struggling photographer named Alfred Wertheimer was asked by a publicist at RCA Records to take some shots of its new star, a 21-year-old called Elvis Presley. “Elvis who?” Wertheimer replied.

The results of that ten-day collaboration are being shown in "Elvis at 21:
New York to Memphis", a vibrant exhibition at Proud Chelsea, a gallery on London’s King’s Road. Forty 16 by 20 inch black-and-white silver gelatin prints from the Alfred Wertheimer Archive are on view. They are extraordinary in their candour, capturing a man on the cusp of fame yet still retaining his youthful naivety. (The "King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” would have been 75 on January 8th 2010.) Thanks to his talent and exotic looks—Presley had Cherokee ancestry—this Tennessee boy would soon be known around the world.

Many of the pictures capture his star quality: a pouting, open-shirted Presley sits astride a gleaming Harley-Davidson; mobbed by fans he signs autographs at New York’s Hudson Theatre; silhouetted in grainy light, he kneels on-stage by the footlights of the Mosque Theatre singing to a crowd of 3,000.

Most striking are the shots of Elvis at home, away from his rockstar trappings. “Elvis Presley and Barbara Hearn in the Living Room” shows Presley sitting bare-chested at 1034 Audubon Drive, Memphis, the home he shared with his parents. Wertheimer captured him listening to recordings of “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel”, both made that day. With messy hair and his untoned upper body, he looks anything but the budding superstar.

“Elvis, You’re Wanted on the Phone” is a notably candid shot of a boxer-short clad Presley talking to a fan on the telephone. In the background Presley’s father shaves at a washbasin; in the foreground his wide-eyed young cousin seemingly wonders what all the fuss is about.

Most touching in its sheer ordinariness is “Elvis and his Cousin Junior Smith Decide What to Eat for Brunch”, shot at the Hotel Jefferson in Richmond, Virginia. Here Presley, with dark brooding eyes and slicked back hair—the forerunner to that famous quiff—sits with his cousin at a table set with glasses of water, tea-cups, salt, pepper and sugar. A full ashtray sits in the middle. A note next to the photograph says Presley ordered bacon, two fried eggs and a side order of French fries.

“Elvis at 21: New York to Memphis” is at Proud Chelsea, London, until January 31st

~ HELENA DOUGLAS