Gates of Graceland: Las Vegas 1969

[Music] hi tom brown here and another episode of gates of graceland and we have a very special guest first of all i want to welcome back my usual co-host angie marchese vice president of archives hello tom nice to see you nice to see you we have a special guest with us yes we do we have angela henderson because i you know there's you're an angela she's an angela so it's going to get very confusing for me angela welcome to the gates of graceland and excited you're here because there was an event that happened um birthday in 2019 and that was one of the uh the auctions that went on there were experiences auctioned off things that you that the you know fans can't usually do and because of this auction a lot of money went to the elvis presley charitable foundation yes and angela and your husband bruce you guys were the bidders and the winners of the gates of graceland experience so tell me why would you want to co-host an episode of gates of graceland with tom honestly it's all about elvis and i just anything i admire what you guys do and how you are contributing to elvis's legacy and when i saw the opportunity to even be in your presence what you do i just said to my husband we cannot lose this like to me this is i've been looking forward to this for the entire year so this is like a highlight of my life fantastic well you get to experience something as we came into the the studio here you see the archival box in front of us um and i was telling angie angela off camera see i knew that would be that angie uh that i never know what we're doing and and you said this is real isn't it and it is we i have no idea what we're gonna look at so i'm excited angie to have one other person to be able to go oh my god with me so this this means you're officially now welcomed to the gates of graceland yes when you got your white gloves you get the white gloves so much and we're not making you take your shoes off in here so that's cute can i pick gloves yes it's a memento yes you can keep the gloves will you guys autograph them i have never been asked to autograph a pair of gloves you each have that's the first wow that is a first that'll be the next auction that we're gonna get a little picture something of us three okay we're all gloved up okay so i bet you want to know what's in the box i want to know what's in the box monty funny connection angela's last name is henderson henderson which you related to henderson nevada actually yes and i had never heard of nevada well what else cities in nevada that we are las vegas las vegas so we are going back to 1969. okay las vegas yes [Laughter] [Music] so what we have here there oh my god so cool look what it says that i didn't know that existed i didn't either okay well we'll start okay we're getting ahead yes we are getting ahead okay okay so we're going to start with this agreement dated august 4th 1969. if you're one that's colonel's handwriting signed by colonel parker and signed by alex who was the vice president of las vegas international hotel right and signed by albuquerque of course and this agreement is actually here this agreement actually is what conspired on a famous tablecloth after elvis's first appearance in vegas in 1969. after the first appearance colonel takes the leaders of the international to the coffee shop and writes down an agreement on a tablecloth he then takes that tablecloth and has it typed up into this one-page agreement and it brings elvis back to the international for a five-year deal he gets paid five hundred thousand dollars for each engagement for a total of five million dollars wow and this is august 4th 69 so this is five days after opening night yes and four days after the famous tablecloth was signed exactly so this is colonel moving quickly while they're in while they see all the people that are in the hotel gambling because elvis is in town and he's making their signatures wow can i ask a question yes do you guys have the table cloth or is that part of colonel parker's it was part of conor parker's collection that we actually acquired in the early 90s so it is part of our collection yes wow so it's very interesting because it literally is verbatim what's typed here in the first paragraph is what is written on the table so cool yeah oh my gosh and you know i actually didn't realize that elvis had a five-year contract in vegas i was never clear on i mean i knew he performed there for many years but i didn't know that it was it was a five-year deal yeah it's a five-year deal which transferred obviously when the international change to the hilton hotel so they had that's just that what a testament to him they just gave him they had confidence in him for the next five years because they knew he was going to sell them out and make them money and this was big money for vegas at the time oh yeah i mean elvis was the first artist to really set up true residency where he was there for four weeks and the fans flew from around the world to this one city to that one hotel to see their favorite artist yep yep and that's why i always say that's the way it is which came out in 1970 was really produced to show elvis is back he's in vegas come see him come see him and there was a way to make a you could make a schedule for five years for yourself to to go you knew when elvis was going to be in vegas so you could and the great thing about it is that if you look at the attendance records for vegas there's several that we have in the collection where it's like so-and-so is performing here and there's three thousand people so i was performing here at three thousand people elvis is at the international ten thousand people you know i mean there's just no comparison when elvis was in town everybody was in town and there's elvis presley's signature so there's something i'm not clear on does that international still exist yes it's now the westgate hotel it was the international then it went to the hilton and now it's the westgate property okay still in the same location right next to the convention center okay at the time in 69 when the international bill was built it was the largest resort in vegas it was the largest showroom in vegas it was the biggest and grandest showroom in the world and elvis was not the opening act he was not because colonel they wanted elvis to be the opening act but colonel said no there'll be too many technical problems we're going to get somebody in there to open before elvis opens and it was barbra streisand oh my gosh and she had massive she had massive sound and light problems did she really by the time elvis came smart everything was cool okay now speaking of mrisan oh my gosh in april of 69 barbara won the academy award yes her funny girl and this is the congratulate telegram from colonel to barbara cool look at that on her oscar win dear miss streisand on behalf of elvis and myself congratulations on a well-deserved award sincerely the current yeah so this was april of 69. obviously she goes and opens up the showroom before elvis is there in july of 16. so she's an academy award winner opening the room for elvis yes yeah so also some of the things so we started with the contract from august of 69. this actually is the first draft of an agreement note the date okay december 10th 1968. so seven days after the 68 special airs colonel is already getting an agreement together for elvis to perform in las vegas he knew his guy was hot he knew he was back and he knew vegas was the place he needed to be and the hotel is under construction at this point yes it's not even built because elvis goes in february to actually visit the site where it's way under construction yes and you look at that and you realize only a few months later he's opening in the showroom and at the time he's signing that they're wearing hard hats of course elvis is elvis he doesn't have to wear a hard hat and he's signing the contract on the construction side and you think there's no way this hotel is going to be finished no way at all but they made it yeah so anyway so this is this so this is the precursor to the long-form agreement that colonel did on mgm studios stationary well he wasted no time after the success of the special not at all to get elvis booked in vegas isn't it amazing how not only has angie taking care of all this material but that colonel had such record-keeping and that goes to even vernon keeping receipts and checks for items that they all had i mean the paper alone that you have answered it's a lot yeah there's millions and millions of pieces of paper in our collection cancel checks documents telegrams you name it we've got it so now this is another letter this is actually dated october 9th to 69. so this actually is from colonel to the president uh to alex the president of the international hotel to discuss elvis's engagement for january of 1970 of when it was going to begin again obviously we know in 1970 mgm comes and films elvis for that's the way it is and on stage is recorded during this engagement i believe february february 1970. yeah so elvis is there in july august by october they're already talking about the january engagements and as you can see there was a progression here that they would continue to um get elvis to perform and change and update and make the show better and confirm dates and things like that what gets me to about this era too is that here's a letter going out to alex and it's a day or two probably getting there a day or two getting back and that was that was good communication back then now it's like if you don't answer an email in 10 minutes people think you're that you're stiffing them on yeah as soon as the bubbles show up on your text message it's like really you're not replying to me yeah exactly yeah so anyways the second part of that letter also says we will start preparing the complete contract in a few weeks argumenting that other terms stipulation in the agreement dated august 4 69 or augmenting them so we could start jump planning for the first of the year for a jam up jam bang presentation jam up jam bang i love that that's the phrase that pays i'll take the tenth caller jam up jam bang yeah we gotta remember that that is so fantastic when people ask you how is it being on gates of graceland you say it was jam up jam so also back in 69 one of the first and probably the most rememberable guitar that you see all this on stage with is the 1969 the gretch this is the purchase receipt for that guitar elvis buys it and oh my god july of 69 right before opening he buys one country gentleman gretch for 650 buys a case for it for 73 dollars he buys it in hollywood california want to see where he bought it from vine it's it's in hollywood on vine spills like spelbin's music center 1501 vine street so that guitar which is currently on display an elvis c entertainer in our new las vegas exhibit that is the receipt for it so within a month it's on stage yes less than a month yeah less than 99 yeah and he's playing it on july 31st and now that guitar is worth he paid all told seven thousand dollars no seven hundred dollars seven hundred fifty nine seven hundred dollars yes what's it worth now priceless priceless priceless yeah everything here is priceless this is priceline it is priceless how much would you give me for it [Laughter] i'll go in with you on that if you want a bit okay so we're going to jump forward here these are the preliminary production notes for that's the way it is okay so this is the it's actually a show just called elvis says preliminary production notes and basically it starts out elvis has starred in 31 motion pictures number 32 is not only something entirely different for the star but a complete new concept in movie entertainment yeah and then it goes on too i love that no script no makeup no sets no directions no tricks just elvis so was this movie um the movie that won the was it an academy award for best documentary actually that was a golden globe and it was elvis on tour okay that won that one yes this one should have won an academy award you should have won something because it was really the first of its kind just like it said there's no makeup no nothing just elvis so it really highlighted elvis return to live stage performing his incredible return to vegas all of the action all of the emotion that was felt there and really captured elvis at his prime and it talks about too in here i love that already they figured out that it's not just on stage it's the preparation for the gig it's elvis putting the show together and i look down here at the very bottom of elvis the mississippi-born tennessee raised boy who literally overnight flashed on the scene and forever changed the course of popular music so that's your favorite yeah so that's the original press release for that's the way it is the production notes that were basically based for that's the way it is director photography for elvis is top cinematographer lucian ballard who recently photographed true grit the wild bunch and the battle of cable hogue so elvis had some talent working for him and all movies he probably watched at the memphian so oh yeah yeah so this is an agreement we saw the agreement earlier uh from colonel talking about the january 26 shows this was actually dated september 23rd to 69 it's a tentative discussion about elvis 1970 engagement the first engagement would be the 26th of january through february 23rd 29 days or it could have been march 9th through april 6th obviously they did the january the february engagement second engagement will be a period from august 10th through september 7th 29 days the second engagement is a definite one not changing okay so i love that confidential and this is what's interesting look how tall look how colonel parker signed it t.a parker yeah tom versus colonel why is that i guess that's the way that alex wrote it out was ta parker which is and like you noted earlier everything is the colonel the colonel yeah yeah or colonel tom parker but this one actually he signed t.a parker and you can tell over here that that uh mr schufe dictated it to his secretary mh yes or mh typed it at least typed up this typed up the agreement yeah i'll let you do the unveiling of this one tom there's more there's more oh no no no no no i think i know what this is this is the the two piece yes the black two piece the black two piece from this course engagement synthetic wow what before the jumpsuit the first engagement that is amazing he wore a two-piece can i pick it up oh he looks so good in this oh my god can i try it on look at that's the next auction that's the next dog hold on oh please yes i can't believe i'm holding this and the best thing my favorite thing about this is the fact that the lining is absolutely amazing it cuts the crown it's got crowns on it but also how do you think elvis got in and out of this you'd have to go over his head with the side zipper no yes wow so it fit him like fit him like a glove but i remember seeing him and he does he just looks he's god like a greek guy he had the black and he had like a sash belt and he had the scarf like the multi-colored scarf and i remember reading that the reason he wanted to go to jumpsuits for the next engagement was now look at this he's got he's got that down with a belt he's got his pants under that so his pants are falling down his jacket's riding up and he's trying to pull two things in two different directions and he's like i've got to have something like like karate like the ghee in karate not to mention the fact that he used to bust the seat out of the pants sometimes oh my gosh you know it was a little constricting the jumpsuits gave him more freedom wow so this was worn only at that first uh july and august 69 engagement right yes on stage and then elvis made it part of his personal wardrobe okay and you might if you look closely enough see it in the nixon picture that's the shirt elvis is wearing under the jacket in the next photo he's wearing one of the black tunics you couldn't have picked a poor piece of clothing okay wait a second i'm totally i can't yeah i can't so it was in the white house so this was this one just imagine the moment elvis is going through his wardrobe he knows he's going to meet president nixon and he's like what am i going to wear he wants it to look sharp and he wants to feel confident and this is what he chose who made this do we know bill ballou made them yes they came in black i don't want to let it go i don't either yeah wait he say that again they came in black navy and white there was three colors wow that is that's really beyond the thing it blew my mind yeah i mean first of all to have that from from the opening engagement but i did not know that was the next one that is so cool so we actually have that picture of elvis shaking hands we've got it it was the limited edition gift one of the gift shops it was the opening of the elvis presley's memphis and they had i don't know how many available but anyhow it's like the real deal and i have it in a place in our house where i pass it at least 25 times a day and that look in his eye when he is shaking nixon's hand he is so he is he's on and one of the most requested uh images still the most requested photograph from the national archives is elvis and nixon and a lot of people don't believe it like when i show people because i know a lot of people who are not you know enthusiastic about elvis like i am and i showed in that picture and they're like i don't understand that like was that photo was that real i don't know did it actually happen no it didn't and one last thing oh gosh i just i always can't i can't absolutely i think i know it's coming i don't you never leave home without it oh my god that is fun that is fun the reason why i pulled it for this segment was because elvis has been a member since what year 1969 oh interesting hi carl maldon here for american express there's a certain age group of people that are laughing right now and everybody else is like who's that yes wow look at that okay so wow i'm memorizing his number really fast remember something expired oh five of 78. he didn't make it yeah elvis so that was his only american express card if it was pyro 578 there you go remember since 1969. don't leave home without you don't leave home it stayed the same that was that was proof that even though he had the guys with him he did have his own way he did have his own way of paying for things and i bet he didn't have to show id no probably not two other forms of id yeah his glasses and his rings that's a sideburn maybe yeah you know so has this been like an incredible gates of grace 10 times the amount that we pay there you know i said i i said we would mortgage the house you do this again i don't care when this is the best you thing ever they they came up with this idea and and angie and i were like would would people care people care yeah exactly and to have a fan like you that gets it that understands when i saw that i died in fact i think we decided we didn't get anything else that year because we got three experiences right it was like we gave up the you know the things in order to get the experiences because yeah this is this is a moment that i mean you look at that and you look at that and you see the the the paper that we saw with the lists and elvis handwriting that is that is pretty much the coolest it's a part of history and as we stand here now in you know summer of 2019 as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the launch of vegas all of this this is like timeless this outfit could be worn today yeah in a second i wish i would have i have a an um a copy that lowell hayes did of the necklace that elvis wore when he met um nixon nixon yeah and i was gonna wear it today and i thought that's a little too much like so hey it would have fit right in that would have been fantastic well angela henderson the winner of the gates of graceland host experience co-host experience thank you for being a part of this thank you so much and uh the white gloves look at what the white gloves got to see today thank you so much thank you so much thank you and thank you for watching and uh next time we will see you on the gates of graceland there's no telling what she's got planned [Music] bye [Music] you

Channel: Graceland

Views: 69,009

Keywords: Elvis Presley's Graceland, Graceland Memphis, Music History, Museum, Elvis, Memphis, Rock and Roll, Music, Music Legend, Music Education, Rock Music

Id: PW2X2RlCJWM

Length: 22min 58sec (1378 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 30 2021