The recently discovered Madison Square Garden pictures of George Kalinsky, seem to have triggered the attention of several journalists. Some published "a best off" in their news magazines, and others even went looking in their own archives. Julie Muhlstein, Columnist for the Herald, dug up a 'family shot' with Elvis and her father-in-law, and she asks her readers to go looking for unseen snapshots of Elvis. Here is her picture, and her story:
Rare. Never-before-seen. Wow! That's how a newly discovered photo of Elvis Presley was described in Thursday's Herald. Reading the Associated Press article over breakfast, and seeing the 1972 image of a caped King of Rock 'n' Roll at Madison Square Garden in New York, I had to laugh. Then I had to go check. Yep, Elvis was still in the house.
Before leaving for work, I managed to find my prized Presley picture. It was tucked in an envelope of photos of my late father-in-law, David Muhlstein. In the late 1950s, David Muhlstein was news director for a Dallas radio station, KLIF. There's a mention of him in a book called "Gordon McLendon: The Maverick of Radio." McLendon owned KLIF, and in the early '50s had pioneered the top-40 music format at the Texas station.
All I know about my Presley photograph is second-hand information, stories from my late husband and his mom. Apparently the young Elvis dropped by the radio station one day to promote a new single -- I don't know which one. Found in boxes of my husband's stuff were several Presley 45 rpm records from the 1950s and early '60s. They're marked "not for sale," so they likely came from the radio station. The picture has no date on it, but I know my father-in-law worked at KLIF in 1958 and 1959, when Presley would have been 23 or 24. Perhaps a publicity shot, the photo shows a dreamy Presley, with the slightest hint of a lip curl, in all his "Hound Dog" glory.
My father-in-law is on the right in the picture, and looks to be waiting for the star to sign an autograph. I don't know who the two men are on the left; both appear to be thrilled by the encounter. All the men are wearing the era's white shirts, skinny ties and big-shouldered jackets. Whenever I look at it, I wish that photo could come to life. I'd love to hear the banter between the King and the man who died before I met his son.
When I went to find the picture Thursday, I was half surprised I still had it. Knowing that my 21-year-old musician son has a few kitschy Elvis items, I thought maybe the photo had become part of his collection. Ah, but it's still mine. Reading about never-before-seen Presley pictures, I wondered if they're really all that rare. If I have Elvis in an envelope, how many others do? 1963's "It Happened at the World's Fair" was set in Seattle. Anybody out there have a Kodak Brownie snapshot of Presley being kicked in the shin by 10-year-old Kurt Russell? There must be hundreds, even thousands of never-before-seen Presley pictures. The New York discovery is just the thing to flush them out. Seeing that young, cool Elvis, I couldn't resist. I'll go first.
Do you have a snapshot of Elvis Presley? To share it with Herald readers, contact Julie Muhlstein at 425-339-3460.
Another Unseen Picture Shows Up
April 12, 2008 | Other
circleG wrote on
April 14, 2008
He must have been. I asked the same question when I first got into Elvis at the age of 19.
NONE000000 wrote on
April 14, 2008
This picture has to be earlier than 1958 or 1959 though '59 is out of the question because of the army, and 1958...this just looks earlier, like 1956. Doesn't look like King Creole era Elvis. Either way, very very cool. I hope we get a huge glut of new Elvis photos now. My girlfriend has an autographed menu from the 50s. Her mother and aunt were on a train with Elvis in New Orleans in the 50s and got him to sign the menu in the food car. Wish there was a picture!