“Elvis who?” was photographer Alfred Wertheimer’s response when,
in early 1956, an RCA Victor publicist asked him to shoot an
up-and-coming crooner from Memphis.
Little did Wertheimer know that this
would be the job of his life:
just 21 years old, Elvis Presley was—as
we now know—about to become a legend. Trailing him like a shadow,
Wertheimer was given unlimited access to get up close and personal with Elvis; even as the singer was seducing young women in dark hallways, he allowed the photographer to record his every move.
Wertheimer
took nearly 3,000 photographs of Presley that year, creating a
penetrating portrait of a man poised on the brink of superstardom.
Extraordinary in its intimacy and unparalleled in its scope,
Wertheimer’s Elvis project immortalized a young man in the very process
of making history.
(Just a month after he shot Elvis recording the
“Don’t Be Cruel”/“Hound Dog” record, it became the first ever to top all
three Billboard charts.)
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