3465 1956 was a pivotal year for Elvis and the start of his quick ascent to superstardom. This was the period that he began starring in Hollywood films, his music was topping charts and he made his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show which immediately delivered him to national fame. By the fall of that year, RCA had released “Heartbreak Hotel” just 17 days after it was recorded, Elvis appeared on CBS’ Stage Show several times, the Colonel officially took over as Elvis’ sole manager, Elvis appeared on The Milton Berle Show shot on the U.S.S. Hancock in San Diego, had his first appearance in Las Vegas in the Venus Room, was featured in Life Magazine, appeared on The Steve Allen Show, and began production for his first Hollywood film, The Reno Brothers (later retitled Love Me Tender). All the while, amazingly, Elvis continued his live performances across the nation and kept recording new songs for release.
On Saturday, September 1, 1956 Elvis reported to Radio Recorders, a studio on Santa Monica Boulevard, to begin a three-day recording session for RCA. Elvis recorded material for his second album, entitled Elvis, and for a new single. The songs created over the three-day session include “Ready Teddy,” “Old Shep,” “Paralyzed,” “Love Me,” and “When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again.” The recording work went well, as Elvis was comfortable in both the setting and with Thorne Nogar, the engineer.
Offered is an interesting collection of ephemera related to this iconic year in Elvis’ career that mentions some of the consequential events and people during that period. The grouping, emanating directly from Trude Forsher’s personal collection, includes:
- Sheet Music for “Old Shep” measuring 12 by 9 inches (30.48 x 22.86 cm);
- A note referring to Elvis that reads: “Thorn Nogar: Recording Engineer Says. / Real nice to work with. No problem with him. I wish all clients were as nice to work with, lets say it that way, he is one of our better artists as far as technically working with him,” measuring 5 by 8 inches (12.7 x 20.32 cm);
- A two-page typed letter from the Colonel to Mrs. Forsher which is a long list of instructions for immediate execution by Trude which includes mention of the sessions Radio Recorders, “Also double check the reservation for Mr. Sholes and Mr. Bullock at the Knickerbocker for this Thursday and advise Mr. Sholes in New York airmail special that we made the reservations for him there” and Elvis’ first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, “also check with William Morris regarding twelve tickets for the Sullivan Show I need Sept 9th.” Interestingly Trude has indicated completion of the tasks with red check marks in the margins and various notes and underlines. Measuring 14 by 8 1/2 inches (35.56 x 21.59 cm);
- Fifteen (15) page onion skin draft article for Look Magazine by Trude Forsher entitled “Presley Feature New RCA Record Album” measuring 11 by 8 1/2 inches (27.94 x 21.59 cm); and
- Twenty-seven (27) pages of mainly typed and some handwritten notes and drafts, measuring 11 by 8 1/2 inches (27.94 x 21.59 cm).
It was these sessions at Radio Records in 1956 that produced all but one of the twelve songs on Elvis’ second album titled Elvis (the gold award for this album is also being offered elsewhere in this auction). This important grouping of documents, mentioning pivotal moments early in Elvis’ career like the Radio Recorders session and The Ed Sullivan Show, is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Graceland Authenticated (quoted here).