Authenticated Elvis Autograph and Record from 1954

$

850

Authenticated autograph from Elvis Presley, signed in 1954, with personal inscription: "To Bob, Public enemy no. 1 (ha) Elvis Presley" & Genuine Elvis Presley record from Sun records (First record Elvis ever made). Both in matted frame, with enlargement of autograph included. Frame is 17" X 22" and 1" thick.

Story about the Autograph:

In December of 1954, when I was 17 ½ years old, my uncle was responsible for opening and closing The Texarkana Arkansas Auditorium. I would go with him most Friday nights and I got to meet and hear a lot of young country singers who were just starting out. Most of them would stop by Texarkana on Friday night and go on to Louisiana Hayride on Saturday night.

In the front of the Auditorium, left side of the stage, a small set of stairs lead up to the back of the stage, and my uncle asked me to stand at the top of the stairs so no one from the audience could walk back stage.

This particular night in December of 1954 was the second time I saw Elvis. He had been there in November, and I had spoken to him once, but there was no other conversation. However, this night, we had had a lot of conversation. Being two good looking southern boys, we found a lot to talk about while the other entertainers did their numbers.

While Elvis was performing, and all the audience was screaming, a very pretty girl walked up the stairs to where I was standing and asked me if I could get Elvis’ autograph for her. I told her that I would try. After Elvis was finished with his songs, he walked back stage. I walked up to him and asked him if he would sign and autograph for a pretty girl, and he said “sure”.

We both walked over to the top of the stairs where she was still waiting, Elvis spoke with her, and she handed him a piece of paper. He signed it, and was about to hand it back to the girl when she said, pointing to me, “Can I have his autograph also?” Elvis said to her, “He’s not performing with our group.” So, I said to Elvis, “What does it matter who I am? She wants my autograph.” and I signed her paper. After she left, I said to Elvis, “Maybe you should sign an autograph for me. Someday, I might wish I had it.” I had a business card in my wallet, from a friend’s radio shop. I gave the card to Elvis, he turned to a small table, wrote on the card, handed it back to me and said “Leave my girls alone.” I looked at the card and it said “Public enemy no. 1” I said to Elvis, “I just signed an autograph for her, Elvis.” Elvis laughed and hit me on my shoulder.

After the show and audience were gone, they put a table on stage. Some of the guys would sit at the table and count out the money from the gate on it. Elvis and I stood by a wall and watched them divide the money. Elvis said to me “We probably won’t make enough money for gas and cheeseburgers to get to Hayride.”

Many years later, Elvis was performing in Las Vegas at the Hilton. My wife and I made reservations to stay at the hotel and see Elvis’ concert. I asked some of the friends that were with us to keep their eyes open. If they saw Elvis at the hotel, I wanted to try and say hello.

Three of us guys were playing Blackjack at a table close to the bathroom and kitchen doors. When one of my friends went to the bathroom, he ran back to the table and said to me, quietly, that he saw Elvis standing in the corner, over by the kitchen door. I ran over there and he was alone. I took my card from my wallet, handed it to him and asked him if he remembered signing my card for me in 1954. Very nicely, he said so many things had happened to him since 1954 that it’s hard to remember yesterday. He returned the card to me, and as we looked up, several ladies were running towards us. I shook his hand really fast and said to him “We love you. Take care.” and I got on my knees and crawled away from the crowd.

That’s the last time I spoke and touched Elvis Presley. At least he touched my autographed card twice.

I carried the card in my wallet. After Elvis’ death on August 16th, 1977, I took the card out and put it in the center of a block of Plexiglass, held together with bolts. The card has not been handled since 1977.

Story about the Record:

I bought Elvis Presley’s first record on Sun Label “That’s All Right” in December of 1954. This was the second time I saw and spoke to Elvis at the Texarkana Arkansas Auditorium. I was 17 years old, and I was kind of a back stage usher.

Being so young and out of touch, I never gave it a thought to ask Elvis to sign his record, and I had several opportunities. I met and spoke to Elvis four times at that Auditorium, I saw him five times at the Louisiana Hayride, and six times at the Las Vegas Hilton. I think the reason I became a fan of Elvis was because he was almost two years older than I was and he would talk to me like one of the guys; a very nice person.

I left home in October of 1955, to find work in Los Angeles, California. I left my Elvis record in Texas with my mother. That’s when my baby sister tried to scribble her name on my Elvis record label. When I found a job in California, I asked the guys and girls if they had ever heard of a singer by the name of Elvis Presley. They said “never.” A few months later, one of the guys at work told me he was at roadside café and someone played a song on the jukebox called “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley. After work, we all went to the café to check it out and I told them that was the same Elvis I met in Arkansas. That was the only Elvis Record on that jukebox.

The next day I called my mother in Texas and asked her to please send my Elvis record to me. Her response was “Son, I am so sorry. Your little sister found a pen and scribbled on your record label.” I told my mother “That’s okay mom, don’t worry about that.”

The record arrived in California and one of my co-workers had a record player at her house. A couple of other co-workers and I went to her home and she played the Elvis record. The had never heard it before and they liked it a lot. They were a little envious of a young boy from Texas owning a record they had never heard play before, but in the next few weeks I became very popular with them, as more Elvis records were on the jukebox and the radio.

Through the fifties and sixties, we only played the Elvis record during the holidays. To play the record, just take the back off the frame.