Is there any info about this photo?

[Little Sister]

Hi u all!!

While looking for photos for my Crash! Boom! Bang! project I saw this photo. I've had it for quite some time, and have always wondered when it might have been taken. If there are any more lik it, and if a better version is avaible somewhere. though I'd give it a try and reach out to fellow Elvisfans. Do you know anything? It is a very cool photo, isn't it?!!

LINDA

EDIT: I would think 1957, mostly 'cause of the sideburns...

[Tommy]

Hello Little Sister,

Never seen this photo before. Sorry I can't help out. But sure is a nice photo.

Tommy

[Lonniebealestreet]

No help from me either, Linda, in terms of an exact date, but yes, it's a very cool photo. And I would be most confident its being taken some time in '57, as you suggested. Thanks for posting it.

[Cryogenic]

Y'know, he has a facial quality there - and I can't put my finger on it - that says 68/69. But I'm going with the majority: 57/58.

Those look like leathers he's wearing. If so, that's quite a rare thing. If, on the other hand, Elvis was merely sporting a bright shirt with raised collar, you might be sifting through reams of other pics/info for a match. So, maybe that helps narrow it down in some way that can be looked into.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

EDIT:

OK, so this nagging feeling of 68/69 and leather wouldn't go away. Take a look at this photo from Roustabout I've pulled from the TCB Image Gallery...

While I still have some doubts (the zip along the breast/chest doesn't seem to match), the overall "cut" of the jacket looks right. Just take a look at the right shoulder/right upper arm (Elvis' left). The seam looks the same. There appear to be epaulettes. The collar and lapelles look about the right size. Though we do hit snags. As stated, the zip doesn't appear to match. The lower button/stud on the lapelle nearest the camera appears bigger in one picture than the other. There also appears to be an additional button at the base of the near-side collar in your picture. Yet, as I'm sure you'll agree, there are some striking similarities - which is odd considering Elvis wasn't a big fan of leather. How many of these things would he have owned...?

Now, let's keep with the idea of it being the Roustabout jacket for a moment... That film was made in 1964. However, Elvis did get to keep the jacket/have a replica made and wore it from time to time. I think I've seen a picture of him wearing it at least as late as 1970 (during production of That's The Way It Is). His hair is crucial. If that picture of yours *is* from the 60's and not the 50's, then it is no earlier than 1968 and no later than 1969. Intuitively, his sideburns look to be slightly less than what they were in the Comeback Special and more like they were around Speedway. I think that could be a window worth exploring.

[Lonniebealestreet]

Gosh...I can see that too. What I'm thinking of is that period in '68 shortly before he grew his sideburns out a little more for the comeback special. He had lost some weight. Think of that home video clip which I believe was shown while I've Got A Thing About You Baby was playing on This Is Elvis (if not that segment, then Always On my Mind) in which they are horseback riding and Elvis has on a jacket that looks a lot like that. Specifically I'm thinking of the part when his horse stops walking and keeps nodding his head up and down, and Elvis was kind of doing that along with him. He does have a very similar look at that time as he does in this photo.

I'm sticking with '57 for now, but Cryo, I could possibly be convinced otherwise!

[Lonniebealestreet]

I hadn't seen your edit when I wrote that, Cryo! I've been looking around for more pics from this time, and this is the closest one I could come up with, which I would say was taken a few months after the period I was thinking of.

But after taking another look at all this, I still believe the pic is from '57. He just looks a lot younger to me, has the heavier eyeshadow going on, and is thinner. The wardrobe is sort of a question mark with that jacket and the turtleneck.

But I'm still open to further consideration.

[Cryogenic]

No epaulettes! And no lapelles! I'd say mine is a much stronger candidate (but then, I would say that, wouldn't I? ). Though, to be fair to you, you found matching sideburns AND a turtleneck!

I can honestly go either way on the face. If only that picture were a little higher quality...

The slimness is something I didn't really mention. He definitely has a slim figure there. Possibly too slim to be carrying off the bulk of the Roustabout jacket so easily. It just looks, despite what I said about the "cut" being a match, a little too form-fitting.

This mystery aint over till it's over!

[Lonniebealestreet]

Oh, I totally agree that the jacket there is nowhere close. That's just the closest shot I could come up with period-wise of Elvis on horseback. Most of the other pics from this general era of Elvis on horseback were from '67 when Elvis was carrying a bit more weight.

Do you know offhand if the clip I mentioned from TII features a jacket like the one in the photo in question and yours from Roustabout--a typical biker jacket (lapels and epaulets), or if it is the same one as in the pic I just posted?

[Cryogenic]

I have absolutely no idea. I've never seen that programme.

But, it makes me wonder... Why would Elvis want a leather biker jacket when he was a) not a biker, and b) not so hot on leather? I'm not trying to place limits on the man's fashion - he had a LOT of clothes, afterall - but rationalise the situation as best I can. It seems odd. Then again, maybe the mood just took him on a particular day/week/month/season/year and he HAD to have one. Or maybe he's just posing in someone else's jacket for their or someone else's benefit. That's the problem with history. Particularly Elvis history. So many possibilities, and buried beneath all those, is the one and only truth.

[Little Sister]

Well I would definitly call Elvis a biker, in the 50's, he rode on his Harley as often as he could. An according to sources countinued with that in the 60's and 70's. But he rarely wore leathejackets, in contrast to poular belief. The 68 comeback was a rare (an crazy!! imagine the heat!!) occasion.

There are a few know times when he wore one though. The most famous one after the comeback is probably the picture with the mysterious blonde from 1957 (actually Ms Austria). The 2nd would be Roustabout - where he really wore a Marlon Brando/punk-rocker jacket (which differs from the one he wears here, for example look at the top pocket). The 3rd would be the jacket we can see him wearing while he's riding. 4th a blue leather jacket he wore around the same time. The 5th one would be the one he wore in 1970, that has allready been mentioned. And last at least one red leather jacket, or coat he wore in the 70's.

While compiling this I was actually surprised over how often he wore a leather jacket. Of course it would be cool to see more of the 50's...... hey I just remembered a photo Stacy from http://elvis.fan-sites.org emailed me a couple of years ago. I think we might have solved the mystery on the jacket, and possibly the year too. What do you guys think... Have we found our mystery jacket?

LINDA

[Tommy]

Here's another photo concerning this subject.

[Wendy56]

Here's another photo concerning this subject.

Awesome Tommy... (!)

I like Elvis, the biker...

[Cryogenic]

Great stuff, guys!

I guess I was wrong on a few points.


Funny how my memory had altered what is OBVIOUSLY the Comeback Special jacket into the Roustabout one for the picture of Elvis in 1970 signing his autograph! "Organic minds are such fragile things..." (One for the Trekkies ).

[Little Sister]

Here's a few more for you Wendy!! Enjoy!!

Also, I posted the same question on the forum at Elvis-Collectors.com and they think it is May 1957... That is due to his hair and the sweater he wears underneath. It is probably, on in the same style as the one i have posted. So it seems like whe have our answear of when it was taken. But no one seem to have seen it b4, so for now I will have to stop hoping for a better copy of it!

LINDA

[jbgude]

There were a couple of pics of E from the late 60's in a similar (white)turtle neck ... could it be from around Stay away Joe ...he had motor bikes and could have got into gear. The hair is much too full to be '57 for me.....

[Little Sister]

jbgude - I don't agree with you there. If you look at one of the Vegas photos, which are from October 1957 his hair is very full. Just mess that hair up and you have the first picture.
Just my opinion though!! Maybe I am just so happy to finally have a date on the photo that I really don't want that ruined.

LINDA

[Tommy]

I agree Linda.

Tommy

[P.S. Annie]

mmmm interesting my first impression was not the 50's but rather somewhere later 60's, but after reading all this.... im not sure anymore

[tcbtigerman]

Definately '57 because of the hair,and jacket

[Jumpsuit Junkie]

My instincts are screaming 60's, I just don't think it is a 50's photo

I have had a look through some 50's images and I just can't see anything like this look, perhaps it's just caught him in such a way that gives an impression of 50's............................ oh I just don't know......help

Matt