ELVIS: Official second trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s movie
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Back in 1956, Elvis Presley was shaking up conservative America with his gyrating hips and rock n’ roll, as he took the country’s youth by storm. Arriving for a show in Cleveland, Ohio, the rising star almost had no press as a labour strike meant that major newspapers wouldn’t cover the event. So in stepped 17-year-old amateur photographer Lew Allen to capture some of the most famous shots in music history, as shared exclusively with Express.co.uk.
Speaking 66 years on, Lew remembered: “It was like an accident. The papers were on strike, they called up my high school. I got on the bus, I got down there. Everything went smoothly. I appeared at the stage door with my camera and was welcomed in and hurried into this press conference where they were talking about the show and talking about Elvis. During that period was when I first saw Elvis and photographed him and got to talk to him a little bit.”
The only thing was, the amateur photographer didn’t know who this Elvis Presley was.
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Lew admitted: “I didn’t know who he was! I’d never heard of him. I didn’t know the first thing about him.”
However, what he did know was that 14,000 screaming girls were desperately waiting for the 21-year-old to burst on the stage and wiggle in a way they’d never seen in public before.
When Elvis took to stage with his guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, the photographer grabbed his moment and joined them on stage to snap away, standing right by The King singing and dancing away.
Lew, who also went on to befriend and photograph Buddy Holly, remembered: “To be entirely honest with you, it was amazing because I was in a position where I was I was actually standing in the wings of the stage. And there were moments where I actually got out on the stage standing next to him. I really and truly was so involved in doing my professional job that I really didn’t have a chance to appreciate what I was doing.”
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Asked if Elvis was confident in person, Lew said: “Oh very much so, he was a really nice kid. He was just a nice guy, he was friendly and had a cute smile. You could see why he was so popular, you could see why he was so successful. It was obvious.”
On The King working with Scotty and Bill, he added: “The relationship that those guys had together was amazing. They were musicians, they were friends who helped each other out. They were a team.”
Lew added: “When I got home that night, I went right to the darkroom and stayed up all night developing all that film. I’ll never forget that! Unbelievable. The adventure of the whole thing. I remember selling the Elvis pictures for five dollars apiece at the cafeterias at the high schools!”
Elvis and the Birthplace of Rock: Photography By Lew Allen exhibition is running at Proud Galleries in London until June 25, 2022.
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