Text b marty lacker: portrait of a friend

In 1969 Elvis Presley made the big decision to begin again to do live performances. At that time the International Hotel in Las Vegas was preparing for its opening. It was billed as Las Vegas largest hotel and the management wanted Elvis to bе the first person to perform in the massive new showroom. They reasoned that people would come to Las Vegas for their vocation if they had an opportunity to see a live Elvis performance.

Elvis was excited about resuming the live performances. By now he knew that performing before an audience was the most important thing in his life, whereas the movies had been a bore and the recording never had the thrill which comes with being before a large group of people.

Elvis began to hold auditions in Los Angeles and Memphis for musicians and he finally chose James Burton for lead guitar. He and Burton assembled a great group including Ronnie Tutt on drums, Larry Mohouberac on piano, Jerry Sheff on bass and John Wilkinson on rhythm guitar. Later, Glen D. Hardin replaced Larry Mohouberac on piano.

The return to live performances was a real challenge for Elvis. He was a natural performer and a natural man of music who, when faced with a challenge in his profession, never failed to overcome it.

Every phase of the opening show was meticulously arranged and supervised by Elvis. Lists of songs were made and orchestra leader Joe Guericio was hired to lead the string and horn section. Bill Porter worked as a sound engineer. The Sweet Inspirations were hired as the female background singers and the Imperials became the back-up male group.

Like all good rhythm sections, Elvis used no charts or written arrangements. Everything was worked out during weeks of rehearsals in Los Angeles where Elvis set the pace and created the feel for each song.

Two weeks before the show was scheduled to open the entire group moved into the International. There they rehearsed in the room to get the feel of the huge room and set the sound system in the way Elvis wanted it.

In the meantime, the lobby and entrance way of the hotel were decorated with photos of Elvis and other promotional material. Newspapers, billboards, radio and television carried promotion after promotion of the coming show. It was an Elvis summer festival for Las Vegas.

On the opening night of July 31, the showroom, which held twenty-two hundred people, was filled to capacity and it continued to bе filled for two shows a night the next thirty-two nights.

Opening night was to be a special show with admittance bу invitation only. Those in attendance included members of the press, celebrities and their families, and close friends with the hotel taking the majority of the seats for their best customers.

Colonel Parker decided not to use Elvis last name on the marquee. Instead he simply used the name ELVIS! It was spelled out in letters so large, they dominated everything in sight. After all there was only one Elvis.

Elvis was not a tuxedo-wearing man. He turned to jewel–studded jumpsuits. They were custommade and cost over twenty-five hundred dollars each. As with most everything Elvis introduced, his suits were soon copied by other performers.

On the afternoon of July 31, Elvis got out of bed about five o'clock, ate a big breakfast, reviewed some notes and then he and his guys went to the dressing room. Dressing, with the assistance of two of the guys, took about twenty minutes and when they were finished it was time to go to the stage.

Comedian Sammy Shore finished his act, the rhythm musicians began to play and then all of a sudden, Elvis was on stage. There was no introduction in Las Vegas, and none was necessary. The audience knew him. They gave him a fifteen-minute ovacion.

When the applause died, Elvis began a show which established once and for all that he was still the most exciting performer alive. The people who attended the show, including the critics, raved about his fabulous comeback. Credit, of course, must be given to all who worked to make the Las Vegas tour a success, but it was Elvis who gave it the natural touch, his special feeling.

Seeing him on the stage, listening to him and knowing that this was real and not a movie, I was spellbound. I began yelling and applauding like everyone else. The Elvis electricity was in the air, it couldn't be resisted even had we wanted to remain silent.

Proper Names

Las Vegas [,lRs ‘veigqs]

Memphis [‘memfis]

James Burton [‘Geimz ‘bWtqn]

Ronnie Tutt [‘rOni ‘tAt]

Lurry Mohouberac [‘lAri ‘mLbqrAk]

Jerry Shelf [‘Geri ‘Self]

John Wilkinson [‘GOn ‘wilkinsn]

Glen D. Hardin [‘glen ‘di ‘hRdin]

Joe Guericio [‘Gou ‘gurisjou]

Bill Porter [‘bil ‘pLtq]

Los Angeles [lOs ‘xnGiliz]

Sammy Shore [‘sxmi ‘SL]