The iSold It Sherman Oaks location has been selected to manage the eBay listing for rare, never before seen, backstage footage of Elvis Presley. The eBay listing will begin on Saturday, January 12th 2008 at http://www.isolditso.com.
The listing is for 4 1/2 hours of black and white original unedited video and audio of Elvis Presley's last two recorded live concerts in Omaha, Nebraska, June 19, 1977, and Rapid City, South Dakota, on June 21, 1977. It includes intimate backstage scenes, candid dressing room footage and hallway shots of Elvis, his girlfriend, Ginger Alden, and his father, Vernon Presley. It also includes the presentation of the Full Circle Medallion of Life from the Sioux Indian Reservation. The concerts are unedited and contain the original audio mix and camera shots. The electricity and excitement is utterly phenomenal. The two concerts include approximately 27 different songs sung by Elvis. At that time, no one dreamed Elvis would die six weeks later. This unedited footage was a direct feed into the recording/audio engineer's truck.
The Presley Estate has given the engineer's widow their consent to sell this unique one-of-kind package as a collector's treasure only. The Estate will not give its consent for reproduction.
Item Description from eBay:
You are bidding on an EXTREMELY RARE ELVIS PRESLEY COLLECTION PACKAGE !!! This one of a kind package includes two recorded live concerts in Omaha, Nebraska (6/19/1977) and Rapid City, South Dakota (6/21/1977) at never seen camera angles. Along with the live concerts this package includes unedited backstage footage that has never been seen by anyone except the original owner of this tape and has never been broadcasted. There is a total of four and one half hours (4 1/2) of unedited black and white footage. In all, the winning bidder will receive the six original 1/2" reels, three VHS tapes that were copied from the originals, as well as two DVD were copied from the VHS Tapes.. The original machine (Sony AV-3650) will also be included with this auction. The machine needs to be repaired to work properly. The actual tape log is also included. The quality of the tapes are spectacular. See our teaser video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDXsNyNmhF0
The Story Behind the Tapes
The owner of the tapes, Wade Williams, was hired by Smith-Hemion Co. to provide the audio/video for Elvis Presley's last two recorded concerts in Omaha and Rapid City. Mr. Williams was given permission to keep this feed as a memento of his involvement in the show. Elvis unfortunately died six weeks later.
The behind the scenes footage includes various candid dressing room shots of Elvis; his girlfriend, Ginger; and his father, Vernon Presley. All of this footage has never been seen before by the public audience. The concerts contain the original audio mix and camera shots. The electricity and excitement of these concerts is utterly phenomenal. There are approximately 27 different songs that Elvis preformed during these two shows.
The State of the Tapes
These tapes have been in a bank vault for over 30 years. During the mid 1980's Mr. Williams put them on the market for $500,000. This became major entertainment news as the story was featured in The Los Angeles Times as well as various news stations. The Presley Estate has granted permission to sell this unique package. The Presley Estate will not give consent for reproduction as they do not plan to air any more on Elvis visually beyond the 1968 era: thus increasing the value of this rare package. The buyer of this auction must sign an indemnity agreement before receiving the tapes. Once again from the original six tapes, three VHS were copied and then two DVD's were copied from the VHS tapes. All are in immaculate condition.
The Market Value of the Tapes
The tapes have been appraised by well know film historian and archivist, Anthony Slide, over three years ago. In Mr. Slide's expert opinion, he concluded that they can sell as high as $418,000. Once again this appraisal was taken place in August of 2004. The reserve price set for this auction is $200,000.
Rare Elvis Presley Footage On eBay
January 10, 2008 | Video Source:VariousJimmyCool wrote on
January 10, 2008
I heard about this since 1994 aprox. This guy was the sound engineer, who recorded everything in audio from his truck outside those buildings. They provided him a b&w monitor to see what he was recording on audio, so he wisely videotaped what he saw on the monitor, Elvis backstage, putting make-up on, and everything we read before. he offered this tape a long time ago to RCA/BMG, but they weren't interested, since they own the original color footage. The only bad thing is that it is in b&w and, I'm not sure, but I think it has a kind of transparent logo on the center of the image as well.
Tony C wrote on
January 11, 2008
I don't think any bootleggers would be interested as it would mean paying somebody. They usually just illegally copy or steal tapes to reproduce.
Pedro Nuno wrote on
January 11, 2008
Who send this press release must be joking or doesn't know what is talking about! "The electricity and excitement is utterly phenomenal." I have the two concerts and Elvis is a shadow of his very worst, only with few exceptions! "At that time, no one dreamed Elvis would die six weeks later." Only Elvis himself and some of the guys that surround him! The life he lived was obviously self-destructive! Just hope that E.P.E. continue to avoid those concerts to reach the general public, otherwise Goldman’s image of Elvis will be alive again!
2kisses&3scarfs wrote on
January 14, 2008
I've seen the 2 concerts, but I sure would love to see that "unseen backstage footage"- I agree, I hope someone puts it out for us.
Jumpin Jehosaphat wrote on
January 30, 2008
its time for EPE to pull its head out of the sand, Elvis Presley 1977 is REAL it happened he looked and acted just like the films show he got sick, he got fat he died. They just seem to want that part of history to go away, its not going to go away they should open the door to what happened except it and go with it. Medications were a large part of his late life and even little children know it they cant hide it.