Elvis Lives at the Michener

Before mobs of screaming girls would envelop him, before he couldn’t walk down the street, Elvis was a recently signed recording artist who did his own shopping and read his fan mail. In 1956, the young man from Memphis was on the verge of transformation and so was his country.

“Elvis is an avatar of change,” says Marquette Folley, project director at Smithsonian Institution, which brings "Elvis at 21: Photography by Al Wertheimer” to the James A. Michener Art Museum Feb. 19 through May 15. 

The United States was moving from a closeted, less inclusive country to one more welcoming to all people, including the young, African Americans and immigrants, Folley said.

“Elvis signifies a revolution is afoot,” she says of this onset of social, political and cultural change. “Elvis merges and changes our environment.”

In March 1956, RCA sent young documentary photographer Al Wertheimer to get some publicity shots of Elvis Presley during his rehearsal for an appearance on CBS’s “Stage Show,” hosted by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Wertheimer’s response to the assignment: “Elvis who?”

Upon introduction, Elvis grunted a greeting; he was engrossed in a ring he’d just purchased. Wertheimer went right to work, using mostly available light to avoid distracting flashes.

“I wanted to become a fly on the wall and be the observer,” Wertheimer says.

After the rehearsal, Wertheimer decided to follow the singer for the remainder of the day.

“He saw something fresh, an energy,” Folley said about Wertheimer’s decision. 

So in the break between rehearsal and show time, the documentarian and the musician walked back to the Warwick Hotel.

“I’m now his shadow,” says Wertheimer, “for better or worse, but I don’t think he minded.” 

Wertheimer reminisces about walking down Broadway when Elvis decided to enter Supreme Men’s Shop to buy a shirt, holding up a possibility for Wertheimer’s opinion. “I deferred. I didn’t want to get too close to him or any of my subjects.” 

Back at the hotel, Elvis opened a large envelope containing some 100 fan letters and proceeded to read them. Wertheimer tells how he strived to remain out of the way, using available light and avoiding instruction to pose. “I was the messenger, not the director.” 

Elvis fell asleep.

After reloading both of his Nikon split-range cameras, one with a 35mm lens, the other with a 105mm lens, Wertheimer dozed, too.

He awoke to buzzing – Elvis’s Norelco shaver.

“The door was open, so I asked permission to enter the bathroom,” recounts Wertheimer. “Elvis said, ‘Sure, come in.’” 

Buying a ring, a shirt, shaving – all everyday activities for average folks. It wasn’t long before Elvis was no longer average folk.  A mere one month later Elvis had his first gold record. 

Wertheimer continued over the next four to five months to document the young star’s rise, creating more than 2,500 images. 

“A photographer’s job is to store memories,” says Wertheimer. “We are the preservers of memory. People say those were the days. They were just days and you did what you had to do. I was just trying to make a living.” 

He did far more than that. He documented the inauguration of revolution. He captured, as Folley says, “some of the most informing moments of a young artist changing the way the world looks and sounds.

“These photographs really are a countdown to the blastoff of Elvis’s supernova fame.”

“Ali and Elvis: American Icons,” which includes “Elvis at 21,” runs at the James A. Michener Art Museum Feb. 19 through May 15.

Programs for “Elvis at 21" include:

Meet the Artist: Al Wertheimer, March 1, 1-2:30 p.m., Ann and Herman Silverman Pavilion, $20 ($10 members)

Movie Screening: Jailhouse Rock, March 6, 3-5 p.m., Ann and Herman Silverman Pavilion, free with museum admission

Why Elvis Matters - A Panel Discussion, May 1, 2-4 p.m., Ann and Herman Silverman Pavilion, $20 ($10 members)

Elvis Rocks: Special Music Presentation, May 15, 3-4 p.m., Ann and Herman Silverman Pavilion, $20 ($10 members)

An Elvis impersonator will be making live appearances at First Fridays in Doylestown, at the museum on opening day, in Philadelphia and other locations.

The museum also is hosting an Elvis look-alike contest on Flickr. Submit your image to the Flickr group, and the Michener will periodically select winners and offer prizes to the best Elvis look-alikes. Prizes include discounts on admission to “Ali and Elvis: American Icons” and gift memberships.