Traveling exhibit of early Elvis Presley photos to debut at Grammy Museum (with slideshow)

In a photo taken March 17, 1956, inside his suite at the Warwick Hotel in New York City, Elvis Presley finds an envelope containing dozens of fan letters that were sent to him which he proceeded to read. (Photo © Alfred Wertheimer. All rights reserved.)

  "Elvis At 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer," a new Smithsonian Institute traveling exhibit featuring rare shots of Elvis Presley, will debut at the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live in Los Angeles on Jan. 8, 2010. That date would have been Elvis' 75th birthday. The exhibit will run through March 28, 2010. (See a selection of photos from the show in the slideshow at the bottom of the page.)

     In the privacy of the narrow hallway under
     the fire stairs of the mosque Theater, while other
     performers are on stage before 3,000 fans
     in the audience, Elvis is concentrating on his date
     for the day. Mosque Theater, Richmond, Va.
     June 30, 1956. (Photo © Alfred Wertheimer.
     All rights reserved.)

 Sponsored by the History Channel and developed through a collaboration by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and the Govinda Gallery, the exhibition will feature a series of shots taken of the young singer on the brink of stardom.

In 1956 photojournalist Alfred Wertheimer was hired by RCA Victor to shoot promotional images of the recently signed 21-year-old singer. His 56 pictures, many of which were taken offstage, provided an intimate look at the young Elvis. The pictures include a flirtatious encounter with a young woman backstage in Richmond, Va., and in a New York City recording studio on the day Presley recorded "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog."

Wertheimer also joined Elvis after the recording session as he traveled home to Memphis by train. One image shows Elvis as just part of the crowd surrounding a lunch vendor on a train platform during a brief stop on the 27-hour trip. His anonymity was short-lived. In the past few months, Elvis had appeared on the television shows "Stage Show," "The Milton Berle Show" and "The Steve Allen Show." In Russwood Park on his return to Memphis, photos show Elvis Presley had to have a police escort to get through the crowd of fans.

A catalog to accompany the exhibit, "Elvis 1956," is available through Welcome Books at http://welcomebooks.com/elvis1956.

For more info: The GRAMMY Museum is located on the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles, on the campus of L.A. LIVE.  For more information, visit the museum website.