Graceland

Found and Lost: The official Elvis On Tour video outtake releases

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Elvis On Tour Countdown: 2 weeks to theater event, 19 days to Blu

The Graceland/Elvis Presley Enterprises communications department must have loved me back in the early 1990s. I was 15 or 16 years old and somehow got into the habit of sending them letters through the mail with questions about Elvis.

As I started to build my Elvis music collection, I also began reading whatever material I could get my hands on about him. Among these were tribute magazines collected by my brother celebrating Elvis’ 50th birthday in 1985 and commemorating the tenth anniversary of his death in 1987.

In one of those magazines, I read an article titled something like “The Elvis Movies: Have We Really Seen Them All?” It mentioned Bill Randle’s infamous Pied Piper of Cleveland short film (1955), but it also focused on potential outtakes from the documentaries That’s The Way It Is (1970) and Elvis On Tour (1972).

As a huge fan of both of the documentaries, I had to know if there was more footage in the vaults. So, I did what any self-respecting Elvis fan would do – I fired off a letter to Graceland and asked them about it. I had been to Graceland, and I was pretty sure that if anyone would know, it would be the people who worked there.

To his or her credit, and my surprise, someone there actually took the time to write me back. (I was unable to dig up the letter in time for this entry, but I know I still have it somewhere in my archives.) Receiving a letter from Graceland was quite the thrill.

Even more thrilling, though, was their answer. Not only did such footage exist, but Turner Entertainment had even compiled it together for video release. Unfortunately, the release was on hold as to not conflict with the 1990 Elvis: The Great Performances videos.

Not understanding the marketing and contractual issues behind the delay, I quickly resented The Great Performances for holding up the outtake footage. Though it contained two or three newly released numbers, most of The Great Performances was just a slightly modernized re-hash of 1981’s This Is Elvis.

Promotional flyer for Elvis: The Lost Performances (1992)

Promotional flyer for Elvis: The Lost Performances (1992)

It seemed like decades later to me, but 1992 arrived, and there were two big Elvis releases that year – which marked the 15th anniversary of his death. One was ELVIS: The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll – The Complete 50s Masters, the now legendary 5-CD boxed set that chronicled his studio recordings from that era. Until I had a little help the following year, that one was temporarily out of my financial reach.

It did not matter one bit to me, though, for it was the other big release of 1992 about which I was most excited. Released in the same month, possibly even the same day as the CD set, Elvis: The Lost Performances was a one-hour VHS videotape that finally delivered those promised outtakes from That’s The Way It Is and Elvis On Tour.

Watching Elvis: The Lost Performances for the first time was, perhaps, the best hour of my entire Elvis fan experience – including all the way up until the present day. I remember coming to the end of the tape, rewinding it impatiently, and immediately starting it over again. I must have watched it at least three times that first day, maybe even four.

The majority of the video focused on incredible material filmed for That’s The Way It Is, but it also included a few songs filmed for Elvis On Tour:

  • All Shook Up
  • Teddy Bear/Don’t Be Cruel
  • Are You Lonesome Tonight
  • I Can’t Stop Loving You
  • How Great Thou Art
  • Release Me

The Lost Performances was actually not the first time that Elvis On Tour outtakes became available to Elvis fans, though. Back in 1981, a couple of songs were prominently featured in the movie This Is Elvis:

  • Always On My Mind (rehearsal)
  • An American Trilogy

That movie also included some miscellaneous outtake footage, such as the recently separated Elvis boisterously indulging in guy talk with his entourage.

Thursday, July 29, will offer fans another chance to see Elvis outtakes, as previously unreleased footage will be shown as part of a special screening event in US theaters. Elvis On Tour: 75th Anniversary Celebration will also feature the newly restored Elvis On Tour.

Go to Fathom Events to find out if a theater is showing the event near your area. On August 3, Elvis On Tour will make its DVD and Blu-ray debuts. All of us who can need to be there in both cases to support Elvis and encourage future releases of additional Elvis On Tour and That’s The Way It Is footage.

Elvis: The Lost Performances never made it to DVD, so let’s make sure that these and dozens of other hours of Elvis footage from the two films are not lost forever.

Elvis On Tour Countdown

  • 14 days until Elvis On Tour 75th Anniversary Celebration theater event
  • 19 days until Elvis On Tour Blu-ray and DVD releases

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For more information (official sites):

Selected posts about Elvis On Tour from The Mystery Train:

Journey Back in Time to Elvis Presley’s Memphis

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When I was 15, my family took a summer vacation to Tennessee. Though we took a detour through Nashville, the main destination, of course, was Graceland in Memphis. One of the things I was unprepared for in the Graceland area was the sheer volume of Elvis merchandise available.

Back then, there were no online stores. While Elvis was certainly available in various places at home, especially in record stores, I had never seen anything like this. For instance, there was an entire record store devoted to Elvis that seemingly had every record he ever released (looking back, probably not).

While I had brought along what I considered a decent amount of spending money (probably the most amount of money I ever had at one time to that point), I quickly realized I was going to have to be very judicious in what I bought. I tried to focus on things that I had never seen before and definitely couldn’t buy back home. Records were out. Though they had records I had never seen, all of them were much more expensive than the prices I was used to paying.

Two of the items I bought were reprints of the two Memphis newspapers’ coverage of Elvis’ death in August 1977, the Memphis Press-Scimitar and the Commercial Appeal. While the articles represented a sad time, I enjoyed reading about Elvis within the context of his times – rather than with years of posthumous baggage.

That’s why I’m looking forward to the July 30, 2010, release of Elvis Presley’s Memphis, a 160-page hardcover book from the archives of The Commercial Appeal and Elvis Presley Enterprises. Along with photographs, the book will include reprints of various articles covering Elvis’ life.

I’ve given EPE a hard time this month over the Mr. Potato Head Elvis Presley fiasco, so it’s only fair for me to point out that the Elvis Presley’s Memphis book may turn out to be one of their best products since the release of the ELVIS: ’68 Comeback Special- Deluxe Edition and Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii-Deluxe Edition DVD sets.

If you happen to be in Memphis during Elvis Week in August, be on the lookout for an exclusive edition of this book that includes a DVD. The rest of us can pre-order the book alone over at Pediment Books.

What Graceland’s broken gates reveal about us (Conductor’s Reflections #1)

/ TY / 4 Comments

Over the weekend, I was happy to see a portion of one of Thomas’ Elvis Today blog posts picked up by no less than Elvis Australia, Elvis Information Network, and ElvisNews.com.

While at ElvisNews.com, another story also caught my eye: Graceland Gates Damaged.

In the middle of the night on Friday, a motorist apparently crashed through Graceland’s famous music gates, shouted something to a security guard, and then fled the scene.

Appalling behavior, of course, but what I found even more appalling were the views of some of the Elvis fans that posted reactions on ElvisNews.com.

Attention immediately focused on the suspect’s race, while some called Graceland’s surroundings a “ghetto” and a “hood” and suggested that the whole area be bulldozed and its occupants evicted. To top it off, insults were hurled at the entire city of Memphis.

I have a simple question. How can people who spend so much time listening to Elvis manage never to hear his message?

There was a guy who said one time, he said, ‘You never stood in that man’s shoes, or saw things through his eyes. Or stood and watched with helpless hands while the heart inside you dies. So help your brother along the way, no matter where he starts. For the same God that made you, made him, too – these men with broken hearts.'” –Elvis Presley, 1970, quoting Hank Williams, Sr.

Though often associated with extravagant wealth, Elvis rose out of a poor background. From his early days of fame all the way through to the end, he often gave to his community. Though he eventually had everything, he obviously remembered what it was like to have nothing. 

People don’t you understand? A child needs a helping hand, or he’ll grow to be an angry young man some day. Take a look at you and me, are we too blind to see, or do we simply turn our heads and look the other way?” –From “In The Ghetto,” Elvis Presley song, 1969 (written by Mac Davis)

The answer is not to extend Graceland’s walls out and create an antiseptic Disneyland for Elvis fans. The answer is not to kick out Graceland’s neighbors in the name of “improvement,” but rather to help those same neighbors improve their community.

Yes, there is crime in Shelby County. Yes, there is crime in Memphis. Don’t look too far out of your own backdoor, though, because you might find out that crime is closer than you think.

Graceland is a part of Memphis, just like Elvis once was a part of Memphis. To ignore Memphis, to ignore the context of Graceland – whether in the past when Elvis lived there or in the present day when thousands of fans spend money to visit there – is to turn visiting Graceland into something no more real than visiting the Magic Kingdom. Sure, it’s a lot of fun, but at the end of the day, it’s all meaningless illusions.

Is that really what Elvis fans want for Graceland? I think we can do better.

If I can dream of a better land, where all my brothers walk hand-in-hand, tell me why can’t my dream come true?” –From “If I Can Dream,” Elvis Presley song, 1968 (written by W. Earl Brown)