Elvis Presley

The Hearts and Souls He Touched


A young Elvis Presley bombs in his first Las Vegas appearance, at the New Frontier in 1956.....		...then later he returns to set box office records at the International Hotel, now the Las Vegas Hilton.

Elvis Presley signs autographs for fans while in Las Vegas in 1963 filming the movie "Viva Las Vegas."
	Las Vegas News Bureau Photos

Above, Elvis and Liberace change
jackets and switch musical instruments
in 1956. Below, he marries Priscilla Beaulieu at the old Aladdin Hotel, May 1967.

He may have been popular with teen-age girls, but he wasn't a hit with the gambling crowd. At least not then.
   A young upstart from Memphis by the name of Elvis Presley breezed into Las Vegas in April 1956, betting his growing popularity as a newcomer on the rock 'n' roll scene would translate into big bucks on the Strip. The theory bombed.
   Billed as "The Atomic Powered Singer," Presley made his Vegas debut as an opening act for Freddie Martin and Shecky Greene at the new Frontier Hotel.
   But the Las Vegas crowd wasn't ready for Elvis - yet.
   Longtime Las Vegas publicist Bruce Banke recalled that Elvis was not well-received in his debut on the Strip.
   "He was very popular with the young girls," Banke said. "Unfortunately, they don't shoot craps."
   Presley turned to making movies, and returned in 1963 to film "Viva Las Vegas" with friend Ann-Margret. The Sahara Hotel became his second home between films.
   On May 1, 1967 he married Priscilla Beaulieu in a ceremony at the old Aladdin Hotel on the Strip.
   The "Atomic Powered Singer" may have bombed in Las Vegas in 1956, but times change, and so did the American public. Elvis would return to Las Vegas 13 years later, and this time he would take the town by storm.
   In 1969, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian was getting ready to open the 1,519-room International Hotel, the world's largest at the time and now the Las Vegas Hilton. He wanted the best entertainers in the business and the choices came down to Presley and a young singer named Barbra Streisand.
   Presley's longtime manager, Col. Tom Parker, decreed Elvis would open four weeks after Streisand to allow the hotel time to work out the opening kinks.
Presley's return to a Las Vegas stage came on July 30, 1969. Over the next 7 1/2 years he would perform at the International/Hilton

58 weeks, working two shows a night , seven days a week, making $125,000 a week. His 837 shows at the resort drew an estimated 2.5 million people.
   There was never an empty seat. His appearances became a happening and he would fill the town with fans, whether they could get seats to his show or not. The idea was just to be in the same town at the same time.
   Elvis last performed at the Hilton for a two-week engagement ending Dec. 12, 1976. He was scheduled to return Aug. 17, 1977.
   He died Aug. 16, 1977 at his Graceland mansion in Memphis. He was 42.
   Jackie Kahane, Presley's opening act during many of his Las Vegas performances, remembered The King.
   "No one had more fans," Kahane said. "No one inspired more love. No one fulfilled more dreams in a grander manner. No one's loss has ever been felt more deeply."
   Las Vegas icon Wayne Newton said he had lost a dear friend who was "kind, compassionate" and "truly one of the nicest people I'd ever known."
   Newton said Presley's impact would be gauged by "the hearts and souls" he touched along the way.

Reprinted from "The Stars of Las Vegas"