By Maria Hesterberg
- Translation by Nadine Schwenk
Did you ever wonder how it was to be photographed
all the time ? Being all the time surrounded
by people, who have nothing to do but taking
pictures of you ? Elvis Presley is arguably
the only huge entertainer who never became tired
of being photographed together with his fans.
Just for this patience he has deserved a platinum
award. But how do you review a book which consists
to 90% of photos in a way, that the reader can
imagine the content of the book. Let's have
a try. With "Elvis Behind The Image",
shortly "BTI" a series began in 2003
which will bring the Elvis world hopefully a
lot of releases in the future. As the title
undoubtedly clarifies the reader shall get an
insight view of the life of Elvis Presley behind
the curtains. Who owns the first part already
knows the background of the material. Who doesn't
own the first part shall get an introduction
here: The two Behind The Image books are mainly
based upon photographs from the collections
of Bud Glass, Russ Howe and Sandi Miller, who
also allows the fans an insight in her diaries.
The photos are mainly unpublished and show Elvis
mostly in private aside from stages and studios.
"Elvis Behind The Image, Volume 2",
released in July 2005, has 144 pages with more
than 500 b/w and colored pictures. The hardcover
and the DIN A4 format makes the book good to
handle. The paper and print quality is first
class. Although the BTI products are especially
popular on the German market, also the second
part will be in English. Maybe the authors and
publishers should be geared to other releases
of the past, which were published bilingual
and by that surely had a bigger audience. Because
even if the photos are reason enough to buy
"BTI2", the non-English reader misses
a lot.
The preface was written
by the "beautiful high voice" Kathy
Westmoreland, who accompanied Elvis from August
1970 to June 1977 on concerts and was his
beloved from time to time. But the more interesting
piece of text comes from Sandi Miller: She
describes in easy words that Elvis influenced
her life a lot but never became her only purpose
in life. Sandi describes shortly the transformation
she had gone through at the time when she
had intensive contact with Elvis. From a die-hard
fan to a woman who got, through the collective
experiences, an insight into Elvis's world
only a few people on earth had. Insights that
made her realize that even the biggest entertainer
of the 20th century was only a human being!
But she also tells the reader that Elvis was
often worried about his fans: especially when
they - in his opinion - exaggerated it with
their adoration and aligned their complete
life to his shooting and concert plan and
nearly lived in front of his house. Something
impresses me especially in Sandi's statements
as a fan and reader. Something that probably
a lot of us feel: " If I could do it
again, I would put more attention to everything,
the bad things as well as the good things
I think I took too much as a matter of course.
Because I always thought he would always be
there, that there would always be a 'next
time'".
While the focus of
the first book is Elvis's houses on the west
coast and his stays there, this book deals
with the general memories of his fans und
the according photos: There is something for
everybody. The 50s and 60s as well as the
70s are documented photographically. Very
felicitous is the layout of the memory reports:
color- stepped and in the style of a personal
handwriting they are easy to distinguish from
the regular explanations. Unfortunately there
is also a downer. Not all of these memories
can be clearly assigned to an author. Names
under the texts would have been nice and would
have enabled a quick identification. The photos
in "BTI2" accompany Elvis's career
until the day of his funeral but the artist
and entertainer Elvis is not in the focus.
He is barely shown in the glamorous environment
of the show business but more likely in a
kind of backstage atmosphere. From time to
time you can even talk about private moments.
The first 23 pages
cover the years 1956-63 and present, with
two exceptions, only b/w photos. But especially
the Elvis expert knows to appreciate such
photos, because they bribe only because of
the motive: Elvis in person! Gail Sanders,
a member of the Fan-Club "The Presleyettes"
remembers the time and tells that Elvis humor
on stage was unbeatable. She confesses that
surely not everybody understood his jokes,
and that he had the most fun nearly lying
on the floor due to laughing. Besides that
she tells that she always knew where Elvis
was when he was on the west coast and under
which name he had checked in which hotel,
due to Tom Diskin, "Colonel" Parker's
assistant. (Not bad, is it ?). So he used
during the shooting of "Love Me Tender"
the name Clint Reno. I can't keeo back one
anecdote from this memories to the readers
of GRACELAND:
Gail also had telephonic contact to Elvis
when he was in Los Angeles and so Elvis called
back one day having not her but her mother
on the phone. Elvis greeted her with a loose
and happy "Hi, mom!" and Mrs. Sanders
was shortly before unconsciousness. The according
photos show us Elvis with his motorcycle cap
and the green-blue bolero (despite b/w we
can recognize the color"), which is corded
at the sleeves and front pocket. The pictures
which were taken in 1957 of Elvis show through
some of the outer arrogance for which Elvis
- especially in the early years - was criticized
a lot. But with tie and collar he makes a
rather attractive impression on me. What do
you think dear female readers ?
The 60s are mainly
documented with photos showing Elvis in California.
If you look at the pictures very intensively
and read some of the reports the coincidences
are near and not nearly 40 years away! A lot
of designer would love this photos ! We see
Elvis in outfits that are sometimes more sportive-dressed
down, sometimes more trendy and just elegant
and chic. No matter what they are - they are
always Elvis ! This photos prove the statements
of many persons around Elvis, which all remember
independent from each other, that Elvis was
always dressed very well. He put great attention
to his physical appearance and probably never
went "unprepared" out of the house.
Also other are well prepared for a meeting
with the King, as this story proves: "In
spring of 1968 Elvis was just shooting "Live
A Little Love A Little" in Hollywood.
When the shooting began at the Citizen News
building, some people gathered before it to
watch the location shots. Some people noticed
that a woman, also standing there, had an
usual deep voice. After a closer look they
noticed that "she" also needed a
shave. It didn't take long to realize that
this was really a man wearing a dress, green
pantyhose and a blonde wig.
After the director had finished the scene,
Elvis took some time to greet his fans and
to allow them to take pictures. While the
other fans were waiting, the "blonde
woman" went to Elvis and laid his arm
around him. Due to all the people Elvis didn't
realize who was beside him and also laid his
arm around "her" for a photograph.
Another fan took this pictures and later showed
it to Priscilla and Patsy, who were rolling
on the floor laughing and couldn't wait to
kid Elvis with it. The other day Elvis came
and asked the photographer for the picture.
After looking at it carefully he asked: "Are
you sure this was a man ?" she answered:
"yes he needed a shave!" Elvis shook
his head and said: " I don't know, honey
!"
Not only because of
the according dates to the pictures but also
due to the following photos the Elvis expert
sees that the pictures are getting closer
to the legendary 1968 Comeback show. Elvis
changed. He changed to the man who would shortly
show the whole world, that he is still the
undisputed number 1 and is not going to leave
this place during the next time. If anyone
still doubts this, please look at the pictures
in this book: We can see a human, who is content
with himself and his decisions and - despite
all the nervousness before the big event -
is emanating a self-confidence which can hardly
be beaten.
A special photographic
goody from the 70s are the b/w pictures showing
Elvis in unusual outfits and in unusual company
(Page 106/107): Even in a simple white shirt
with turned up sleeves this guy still looks
fantastic. But who does he meet at the gate
of his Hillcrest Home ? There is really an
impersonator of the first generation ! How
is this scene being described ? "It was
funny watching Elvis's face talking with this
guy and it was very weird to see them side
by side
!" Look at Elvis's face
yourself and you know that every word is needless.
Unfortunately it would extend this review
to much, to repeat all the impressions, experiences
and memories of the persons in the book. There
would be a lot more interesting material worth
mentioning, which intensifies the look behind
the image: Jean-Marc Gargiulo, founder of
the "Treat Me Nice" fan club in
France, who saw Elvis several times on and
back stage; Livio Monari, the founder of the
first Italian fan club who saw 14 Elvis shows
and also met him back stage; or just the anecdotes
Sandi Miller tells us.
Conclusion:
Of course there are
a lot of illustrated books within the Elvis
literature but the BTI series has a special
charm. It is not primarily the professional
realisation but the fact that photographs
are being brought into a textual, temporal
and local context so that the gain even more
fascination. Although the linguistic one-sidedness
might be hindering to certain people is "Behind
The Image, Vol. 2" a big enrichment for
every Elvis collection. I'm already looking
forward to the third part.
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