October 28, 1956 – On this day a HUGE Elvis cut-out on top of Paramount‘s marquee was unveiled. On the photo you can see that the cut-out is about to be covered up. The movie would not premiere until 2,5 weeks later. So in the weeks that followed, this cardboard Elvis Presley would take control of Times Square.
At the big premiere of Elvis’ first movie at the Paramount Theatre in New York. No expenses were spared in order to launch Elvis’ movie career and further deepen his already meteoric rise to fame in late 1956. He seemed to be all over the place at the same time (either in the flesh or in a cardboard version). And Elvis had now also arrived in Hollywood. Due to the clever marketing schemes by Presley’s management, Elvis ruled the media. And not just on the east coast!
Young girls were picketing outside the cinema the whole 2,5 weeks and apart from the signs mentioning local Elvis Fan Clubs, all other signs were clearly not a product of homemade creativity but merely the result of the very clever marketing scheme thought out by one Tom Parker.
On the same day Elvis performed on the Ed Sullivan Show. The same fans, with the same signs, wearing the same EPE hats, lined up outside Studio 50 while Elvis was rehearsing. Way to go Colonel!
Text and images from ELVIS – Echoes Of The Past
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Filed under: Hollywood, Movies, Rock'n'roll Tagged: Elvis Presley, Fans, Love Me Tender