The monarch of rock ‘n’ roll traded in his black leathers for a white sequined jumpsuit, and via Las Vegas, ascended the throne. Elvis Presley saved both his faltering career and the entertainment capital of the world.

In the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s, Vegas became plagued by an ailing entertainment economy. The town had a feeble grip on its claim of being, “The Entertainment Capital of the World.” The big stars of the mid-century were losing their luster, retired, or dead. Only a few survivors, Sinatra in the forefront, had the drawing power to fill the city and they were fading fast. In a new, flashier incarnation, Elvis brought the national spotlight once again to Las Vegas and eventually made it a haven for rock ‘n’ roll revivals.

Elvis Aaron Presley was born to 18-year old Vernon Elvis and 22-year old Gladys Love Presley in a two room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His identical twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child. As the result of this solitary childhood, Presley became close to both parents and formed an unusually tight bond with his mother.

In 1945 Little Elvis was encouraged to enter a singing contest after impressing his school teacher with a rendition of Red Foley’s country song “Old Shep.” This was Elvis Presley’s first public performance. At ten years old he was dressed as a cowboy and he had to stand on a chair to reach the microphone to sing “Old Shep.” He recalled placing fifth. A few months later, Presley received for his birthday his first guitar. He had hoped for something else, by different accounts, either a bicycle or a rifle. Presley recalled, “I took the guitar, and I watched people and I learned to play a little bit. But I would never sing in public. I was very shy about it.”

In High School, Elvis received a “C” in music. When his teacher told him he had no aptitude for singing, he brought in his guitar the next day and sang the recent hit, “Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers off Me.” A classmate, years later, recalled that the teacher, “…agreed that Elvis was right when he said that she didn’t appreciate his kind of singing.” Years later Elvis would tell an interviewer, in good humor, that this had been his first critical review. He was still too shy to perform openly. By 1950, he began practicing guitar regularly under the tutelage of a neighbor two-and-a-half years his senior. They and three other boys, including two future rockabilly pioneers, brothers Dorsey and Johnny Burnette, formed a loose musical collective that played frequently around the neighborhood. During his junior year, Presley began to stand out more among his classmates, largely because of his appearance. He grew long sideburns and styled his hair with rose oil and Vaseline. On his own time, he would head down to Beale Street, the heart of Memphis’ thriving blues scene, and gaze longingly at the wild, flashy clothes in the store windows of Lansky Brothers. By his senior year, he was wearing them. Elvis recalled years later, “I wasn’t popular in school, I failed music…only thing I ever failed. And then they entered me in this talent show. When I came onstage I heard people kind of rumbling and whispering and so forth, ‘cause nobody knew I even sang. It was amazing how popular I became after that.”

Elvis Presley, who never received formal music training or learned to read music, studied and played by ear. He frequented record stores with jukeboxes and the old style listening booths. He knew all of Hank Snow’s songs by heart and he loved records by other country singers such as Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis, and Bob Wills. The Southern Gospel singer Jake Hess, one of his favorite performers, was a significant influence on his ballad singing style. He was a regular audience member at the all-night singings downtown, where many of the white gospel groups that performed reflected the influence of African American spiritual music and he adored the music of black gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe. He was also a regular listener to the regional radio stations that played “Race Records,” spirituals, blues, and the modern backbeat heavy sound of rhythm and blues. Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African American musicians such as Arthur Crudup and Rufus Thomas. B.B. King recalled that he knew Presley before he was popular when they both used to frequent Beale Street. By the time Elvis Presley graduated from high school, he had already singled out music as his career.

It was August 1953 and Elvis Presley walked into the offices of Sun Records. He aimed to pay for a few minutes of studio time to record a two-sided 78 RPM disc, “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin.” Elvis would later claim he intended the record as a gift for his mother or was merely interested in what he sounded like, although there was a much cheaper, amateur record making service at a nearby general store. One of his biographers claimed that he chose Sun Records in hopes of being discovered. Asked by the receptionist, Marion Keisker, what kind of singer he was, Presley responded, “I sing all kinds.” When she pressed him on whom he sounded like, he answered, “I don’t sound like nobody.” After he recorded, Sun owner/manager, Sam Phillips, asked Keisker to note down the young man’s name. She did as directed, along with her own commentary, “Good ballad singer. Hold.”

Meanwhile, Sam Phillips was always on the lookout for someone who could bring the sound of the black musicians to a broader audience. As Marion Keisker reported, “Over and over I remember Sam saying, ‘If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars.’” In June of the same year he acquired a demo recording of a ballad, “Without You,” that he thought might suit the teenaged singer. Presley came by the studio but was unable to do the song justice. Despite this, Phillips asked Presley to sing as many numbers as he knew. He was sufficiently impressed by what he heard, to invite two local musicians, a guitarist by the name of Winfield “Scotty” Moore and upright bass player known as Bill Black, to work something up with Elvis for a recording session. The session proved entirely unfruitful until late in the evening. As they were about to give up and go home, Presley took his guitar and launched into a 1946 blues number, Arthur Crudup’s, “That’s All Right.” Moore recalled, “All of a sudden, Elvis just started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool and then Bill picked up his bass, and he started acting the fool, too, and I started playing with them. Sam, I think, had the door to the control booth open ... he stuck his head out and said, ‘What are you doing?’ And we said, ‘We don’t know.’ ‘Well, back up,’ he said, ‘try to find a place to start and do it again.’” Phillips quickly began taping because this was the sound he had been looking for. Three days later, popular Memphis DJ, Dewey Phillips (no relation to Sam) played the tape “That’s All Right” on his Red, Hot, and Blue show. Listeners started phoning in, eager to find out who the singer was. The interest was such that Phillips played the record repeatedly during the last two hours of his show. Interviewing Presley on air, Dewey Phillips asked him what high school he attended, in order to clarify his color for the many callers who had assumed he was black.

During the next few days the trio recorded a bluegrass number: Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky”, again in the new distinctive style, and employing a jury-rigged echo effect that Sam Phillips dubbed “slap back.” A single was pressed with “That’s All Right” on the A side and “Blue Moon of Kentucky” on the reverse. Presley transformed not only the sound, but the emotion of the song “That’s All Right,” turning what had been written as a lament for a lost love into a satisfied declaration of independence.

1954 was the year that Elvis’ singing career took off, making both him and Sun Records legends in Memphis, Tennessee. By late 1955, his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor. By 1956, Elvis Presley became an international sensation, with a sound and style that uniquely combined his diverse musical influences, and blurred, as well as challenged, the social and racial barriers of the time. He ushered in a whole new era of American music and pop culture.

In the span of 12 years, he starred in 33 successful films. Although the scripts were trite and his acting one-dimensional, he eventually became the highest paid actor in the world, commanding one million dollars per picture plus fifty percent of the profits, a true testament to the loyalty of his fans. Elvis also made history with his television appearances and specials, and knew great acclaim through his many, often record-breaking, live concert performances. Globally, he sold over one billion records, more than any other artist.

By the late 1960’s, Elvis’ film career had faded and he hinted to his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, that he would like to go back on the road. A crucial event in the evolution of the Vegas Elvis was the opening of Kirk Kerkorian’s 1500 room International Hotel in July of 1969, the largest in the world at the time. It had three showrooms, and the biggest: the Showroom Internationale, was a 2,000 seat monster. Kerkorian’s vision for his new property was that of a city in itself. It would end up being the first mega-resort, a place with a myriad of entertainment choices. The hotel’s general manager, Alex Shoofey, a veteran casino man whom Kerkorian had enticed from the Sahara, needed big name entertainers. He offered to let Elvis open the hotel. “Absolutely not!” announced Colonel Tom Parker. “We will not open under any conditions. It’s much too risky. Let somebody else stick their neck out.” Risky it was, because Elvis Presley had performed before a live audience only once in the past eleven years during his “Comeback Special” for NBC in 1968. Elvis was badly out of practice. On his TV special he looked every inch Elvis: encased in a skintight leather suit, his voice had matured, deeper and more powerful than before. He sang the obligatory hit songs and closed with a new one, “If I Can Dream”, his first hit record in years. The critical success of the TV show was due in large to its producers who backed Elvis’ vocals with a full sized orchestra. In Las Vegas and elsewhere, he decided, he would never again perform without at least 30 pieces and a legion of backup singers.

He had watched Barbra Streisand, chosen to christen the Showroom Internationale, and shuddered. She was in fine voice, but she brought no sparkly sets, no high-stepping chorus line, no jokesters, jugglers or tap dancing armadillos. Talent wasn’t enough. Ultimately Parker signed Elvis to a four-week contract with the International, at $100,000 per week. The singer knew he had to build a new act from scratch and he loved the challenge. But he hated being in Las Vegas again.

Back in the spring of 1956, just as Elvis’ career was taking off, Parker had booked him at the New Frontier for two weeks. The New Frontier had been operating continuously since 1942. It was the second hotel casino resort that opened on the Strip and it was very conservative. He headlined a program that opened with the soothing strings of the Freddie Martin Orchestra, followed by the Borscht Belt humor of Shecky Greene. Then along came Elvis, a 21 year-old punk in a ducktail hairdo, long sideburns and eyeshadow. The collar of his pink shirt turned up, he slung his guitar forward and with a sneer, began to beat on it. He punctuated his vocals with what sounded like hiccups and lurched around the stage in a spastic fervor. Newsweek magazine compared Elvis’ performance at the New Frontier to a “jug of corn liquor at a champagne party” and reported that the stunned audience sat motionless, “as if he were a clinical experiment.” Inside of two weeks, Elvis moved from the top to the bottom of the marquee, vowing never again to play nightclubs.

To Colonel Parker, what Elvis did or did not want was irrelevant. Parker was a showman in the mold of P.T. Barnum, a manipulative and cunning man who rarely concluded a deal without satisfying himself that his adversary had been deceived or conned in some way. Parker received the rank of colonel in the Louisiana State Militia in 1948 from Jimmie Davis, the governor of Louisiana and former country singer, in return for work he did on Davis’ election campaign. His management of Presley defined the role of masterminding talent management, which involved every facet of his life, and was seen as central to the astonishing success of Elvis Presley’s career. The “Colonel” displayed a ruthless devotion to his client’s interests and took far more than the traditional 10 percent of his earnings (reaching up to 50 percent by the end of Presley’s life). Elvis said of Parker: “I don’t think I would have been very big with another man, because he’s a very smart man.” For years the Colonel had forbid Elvis to marry. He was afraid that Presley would lose his teeny bopper fans. Out of the blue one day, he decided it was time for Elvis to marry his fiancé, Priscilla, with whom he had actually lived with for several years. The Colonel wanted to wring every molecule of positive publicity from the event. It would be in Las Vegas. He conned his old pal, Milton Prell, owner of the Aladdin, into hosting the wedding, which meant that Prell picked up the bill.

Elvis eventually found the solution to his professional identity crisis in the lounge of the Flamingo Hotel Casino in 1969. He had been scouting showrooms and lounges, studying entertainers and audiences, looking for inspirational material to craft “The Vegas Elvis.” In Tom Jones, a then unknown Welsh singer, he found the prototype. Dressed in a skintight tuxedo, Jones on stage would lean far, far back, to give fans a good look at the outline of his bulging genitalia. Elvis was impressed with the response this elicited from the middle-aged female audience. They screamed, cried, and threw room keys at Jones. Sometimes, they would rip off their panties and fling them at him. Elvis professed admiration for Jones’ vocal skills, telling an aide, “Tom is the only man who has ever come anywhere close to the way I sing.” In truth, it was his visceral connection with the audience that wowed Elvis.

Elvis had studied karate for several years and was a second degree black belt. Drawing on these skills he replaced the jerky undulations of his old act with the fluid movements of martial arts. Backing The King was a thirty-five piece orchestra, his old five piece rock band, and two soul and gospel groups, the Imperials and the Sweet Inspirations – a total of fifty artists in all.

Opening night at the International was a VIP event. The press had been flown in from New York and from around the country on Kirk Kerkorian’s private jet. Presley took to the stage without introduction. The audience of 2,200, including many celebrities, gave him a standing ovation before he even sang a note. Elvis launched into the loudest and most elaborate arrangement of “Blue Suede Shoes” ever heard. He sauntered along the stage apron, kissing one woman after another, wisecracking, passing out sweaty handkerchiefs, singing louder, moving faster, driving the energy level of the show to a goose pimple crescendo. When it was all over, he had won over the thirty-something crowd and the media. For the second time in his life, he was an overnight superstar.

At a press conference after the show, when a journalist referred to him as “The King,” Presley gestured toward Fats Domino, who was taking in the scene. “No,” Presley said, “that’s the real king of rock and roll.” Newsweek commented about the King, “There are several unbelievable things about Elvis, but the most incredible is his staying power in a world where meteoric careers fade like shooting stars.” Rolling Stone called Presley, “Supernatural, his own resurrection.” In November, the double album From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis came out the same month; the first LP consisted of live performances from the International and “Suspicious Minds” reached the top of the charts. It was Presley’s first U.S. pop #1 in over seven years, and his last.

A month after Elvis’ debut, the Colonel sat down with Alex Shoofey in the showroom. Shoofey wanted Elvis for the long haul. “I’d like to draw up a new agreement with you…for five years,” said Shoofey. The Colonel feigned disinterest, but signed. For the next five years, Elvis would appear for four weeks twice a year at a salary of $125,000 per week.

Shoofey walked away amazed, calling it “the best deal ever made in this town.” Even that was an understatement. Showrooms at the time were expected to lose money, which was theoretically recovered in the casino. However, by the time Elvis concluded his first month-long engagement, the showroom had generated more than $2 million. It was the first time a Las Vegas resort casino ever had profited from an entertainer. Many were stupefied that Colonel Tom Parker, known as one of the sharpest and greediest men in showbiz, would sell his hot new act for such a trifle. The mystery was easily solved. Parker, a habitual gambler, had found a home and planned to settle in. He was housed in luxury, fed a gourmet fare and traveled in hotel limousines and planes. Best of all, he had unlimited credit in the casino, where he lost $50,000 to $75,000 nearly every night. He was the highest roller in town.

In January of 1970 at the International Hotel, another month-long engagement, Elvis broke his own attendance records. The live album, On Stage, is recorded there and reaches number 13 on the album chart. In July of the same year, Elvis returned to what the Colonel dubbed “The Elvis Presley Summer Festival.” MGM was on hand to shoot a documentary film titled: “Elvis -That’s the Way It Is” that shows Elvis off stage, in rehearsals, in the recording studio and on stage. RCA also released an album with the same title. In his first two years at the International, Elvis’ enthusiasm for his new career kept him happy and busy, experimenting, tweaking his act. In February 1970, perhaps inspired by fashion tips from Liberace, Elvis came onstage in the famous white jumpsuit. It was adorned with long ropes of pearls, beads and rhinestones, as well as a belt buckle of sufficient size to hide his burgeoning belly.

Elvis’ weight gain was a symptom of a graver problem…boredom. Elvis’ antidotes of choice for this malady were teen-aged girls, fatty foods, and vast quantities of powerful pharmaceuticals, most from the Landmark Pharmacy across the street. Dozens of pill bottles bore the names of “The Guys,” old redneck pals Elvis kept on the payroll as aides. Each man wore the logo of Elvis’ “Memphis Mafia”, a necklace with a gold lightning bolt and the acronym, “TCB,” which stood for “Taking Care of Business.” While Elvis was onstage, “The Guys” would be taking care of business, combing the hotel and environs, inviting attractive girls to join Elvis in his penthouse for an after-show party. The handfuls of pills Elvis would take usually would knock him out in minutes. Elvis Presley’s drug use probably began about the same time as his career in the 1950’s. Racing from roadhouse gigs to county fairs for weeks and months on end, surviving on backseat naps, he almost certainly discovered amphetamines. A chronic insomniac plagued by nightmares, he had a legitimate need for sleeping pills. The King liked his medication, as he called it, but feared and despised pot smokers, acid heads, and especially, “filthy lowlife junkies.” He even paid a visit to President Richard Nixon in October of 1970 to offer his celebrity as a weapon in the war on drugs. Cassandra Peterson (television’s Elvira), met Presley during this period in Las Vegas, where she was working as a showgirl. She recalls of their encounter, “He was so anti-drug when I met him. I mentioned to him that I smoked marijuana, and he was just appalled. He said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’” Presley was not only deeply opposed to recreational drugs, he also rarely drank. Several of his family members had been alcoholics, a fate he intended to avoid.

Supported by dozens of pliable doctors, Elvis’ periods of isolation at Graceland became longer and more frequent. Reviving him and preparing him for his two yearly Las Vegas gigs became a week-long ordeal. Elvis’ increased drug use also made him more paranoid than usual. The Sharon Tate-LaBianca murders shook him badly and he saw attackers everywhere. The end came on Aug. 16, 1977, when Elvis was found dead in his bathroom. An autopsy revealed 11 different narcotics in his body, any one of which could have been lethal in a large dose. The official cause of death was listed as cardiac arrhythmia.

Elvis’ talent, good looks, sensuality, charisma, and good humor endeared him to millions, as did the humility and human kindness he demonstrated throughout his life. Known the world over by his first name, he is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture. Elvis’ enduring popularity in Vegas is a tribute to the bonds forged between the singer and the city in a seven year run between 1969 and 1976, a period fondly remembered as the “Vegas Years.” It is a legacy that continues to this day. “He was the show in town …the one everyone wanted to go to because he was just really hot and was coming back with new music,” said singer Terry Blackwood, a member of the Imperials who sang backup for Elvis. “Everyone wanted to see Elvis.” Elvis performed his first show at the International to a sold out crowd and he went on to perform regular engagements at the property for seven years, a total of 837 consecutive sold out performances in front of 2.5 million people. The sheer numbers from these performances are mind boggling. In one 29-day period, Elvis entertained 101,509 guests, bringing in $1.5 million in ticket sales. In the course of his 800-plus performances in Vegas, Elvis sold $43.7 million in show tickets, about $250 million in today’s dollars. In the months when Elvis was performing, 1 in 2 visitors to Las Vegas saw his show.

Kirk Kerkorian’s International Hotel became the Hilton in 1971 and over the years more people saw Elvis perform there than any other performer anywhere else in the world. On the Strip, Elvis’ spirit lives on in shows like “Legends in Concert” and “Viva Elvis”. Hundreds of couples tie the knot in Las Vegas each year with “Elvis” officiating at their wedding and the city is home to the world famous Flying Elvises, a ten member skydiving team dressed as the King. Everywhere you look, from a rusted sign in the Neon graveyard that proclaims “Elvis slept here” to the $9.99 gold-rimmed sunglasses and sideburns at the “World’s Largest Gift Shop” on the corner of Sahara Avenue and the Strip, Elvis lives on. Graceland may be home to his shrine, but it is Las Vegas that pays homage to the spirit of Elvis the entertainer. SLV

The Men Who Made Las Vegas is a twelve-part series
by Byron Craft chronicling the growth of Sin City
and the men who made it possible.

Issue 64 featuring: Emily Addison, Carlotta Champagne & Markesa Yeager