Alfred Wertheimer Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll book cover featuring Elvis Presley

Alfred Wertheimer. Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll

$20.00
Alfred Wertheimer. Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll

TASCHEN

Alfred Wertheimer. Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll

Well, they said you was high-classed...
$20.00
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Alfred Wertheimer Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll book cover featuring Elvis Presley
  • Alfred Wertheimer Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll book cover featuring Elvis Presley
  • Alfred Wertheimer photograph of Elvis Presley beside the Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll title page
  • Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll book open to the contents and a photograph of Elvis Presley's guitar
  • Alfred Wertheimer photograph of Elvis Presley backstage at the Mosque Theatre beside the In the Beginning essay
  • Alfred Wertheimer photograph of Elvis Presley performing onstage with his band
  • Alfred Wertheimer photograph of Elvis Presley performing on Stage Show in March 1956 beside a New York Times quote
  • Elvis and the Birth of Rock and Roll book open to the Steve Allen Show at Hudson Theater in 1956
  • Alfred Wertheimer photographs of Elvis Presley singing Hound Dog to a basset hound on The Steve Allen Show
  • Alfred Wertheimer photographs of Elvis Presley fixing his hair in front of a mirror
  • Alfred Wertheimer photograph of Elvis Presley performing before a crowd at Russwood Park in Memphis
  • Alfred Wertheimer photograph of the crowd watching Elvis Presley perform at Russwood Park in Memphis
  • Alfred Wertheimer photograph of Elvis Presley boarding a U.S. Army troop train

About

Well, they said you was high-classed...

In 1956, Elvis Presley was 21 years old and standing on the edge of becoming one of the most famous people in the world. Photographer Alfred Wertheimer happened to be there.

Wertheimer was originally assigned to photograph a young RCA recording artist who was still unfamiliar enough that he could move through train stations, diners, backstage hallways, and city streets without an entourage. What followed was extraordinary access to Elvis during the year everything changed.

The photographs are remarkable not because they show us the Elvis we already know, but because so many of them don't. He's rehearsing. Waiting. Traveling. Fixing his hair. Performing for increasingly enormous crowds. Kissing a woman backstage. Singing to a basset hound on television. And, eventually, leaving for the Army.

Wertheimer caught the strange in-between: Elvis Presley was still a person, but Elvis was already becoming an idea.

That's what makes this book so good. You know how the story ends. These photographs let you watch it begin.

Details

  • Hardcover
  • 192 pages
  • 5.5" × 7.7"
  • Weight: 0.95 lb
  • English-language edition
  • Photography by Alfred Wertheimer
  • Contributing author: Robert Santelli
  • Edited by Chris Murray
  • Published by TASCHEN
  • ISBN: 978-3-8365-9708-1

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