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| ©Alfred Wertheimer |
| Click photo to launch a slideshow with more images from Elvis at 21: New York to Memphis. |
Elvis at 21: New York to Memphis
By Alfred Wertheimer
Insight Editions; 254 pages; more than 300 black-and-white photographs; $65
In 1956 Alfred Wertheimer befriended and photographed Elvis Presley on the thin cusp of fame, before Colonel Tom Parker began micromanaging access to his star and before rock and roll began taking itself seriously enough to prepackage its idols. "At the beginning of a musician's career, they need all the help they can get, so they're very friendly," Wertheimer recalls.
The resulting pictures, both onstage and off, are amazingly candid, as close as we're likely to get to an unvarnished charisma that's about to set the world on fire. This comprehensive collection shows both the breadth of Wertheimer's work on Presley's 1956 tour and its atmospheric artistry. "Of the millions of pictures taken of Elvis, there were very few where he is vulnerable and basically himself," Wertheimer opines. Yet many more than a few such rarities are collected here.
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