Elvis Presley, New Singing Find, Booked Into New Frontier

Las Vegas Sun : Staff Report : April 21, 1956

Elvis Presley, unanimously acclaimed by critics as the most important singing find since Johnnie Ray, will open in the New Frontier Hotels' Venus Room Monday, April 23 , as a special added attraction to the Freddy Martin show. The handsome 21-year-old rock 'n' roller's appearance in the latest Sammy Lewis production is considered to be the Las Vegas entertainment scoop of the year.

Elvis Presley's sensational rise to fame is largely based on his recent recording of Heartbreak Hotel which sold 100,000 copies the first week it was out and at present is nearing the 1,000,000 mark.

Two years ago the young giant (he stands 6 feet 2 inches tall) was driving a truck in Memphis for $45 a week. Yet in West Coast appearances last week his unusual singing style attracted turnaway audiences of 5,000 and special police squads were needed to handle the admiring crowds who came to see America's newest idol.

Adding to Presley's fame and fortune is a motion picture contract which he signed with Paramount Studios in Hollywood just this week. The young vocalist will be featured in one of the most lavish productions ever presented in the Venus Room, Lewis stated. Freddy Martin and his band, comic Shecky Greene, the Venus Starlets and a cast of more than 60 performers will make up the entertainment package.

Column: Just About Everything Under The Sun

By Bud Lilly (New Frontier Hotel publicity director) : Las Vegas Sun : April 26, 1956

Thanks for your note requesting more info on Elvis Presley. You should know nothing makes a publicity man happier than furnishing background on one of his favorite subjects. And Elvis certainly is one of my favorite subjects. Here is a nonchalant phenomenon whom, as yet, no one has accurately described. Here is a young man who has an inherent ability to arouse mass hysteria (or should I say ecstasy?) wherever he goes, yet is unassuming and completely untouched by the fabulous success he has achieved almost overnight.

Scotty Moore and Elvis Presley Las Vegas 1956 : Above photo from the book Flashback .

Wherever Elvis has appeared in the recent weeks since he 'hit' he has left behind him tears, screams, wild applause and mangled emotions. Yet it must be a sweet agony he creates because his avid fans already have elevated him to a plane reached only by a few singers of our time. Far be it for me to analyze this handsome, 21-year-old lad whose rock 'n' roll rhythms brings forth squeals and cries not heard since way back when Frank Sinatra first came into his own. It has been suggested to me that Elvis Presley is a combination of Johnnie Ray and Billy Daniels - that he displays the magnetism of Sinatra and Como- that he possesses the intangible attributes of almost any two or three popular male singers you might care to group. I'll go so far as to say I don't agree with this. In my opinion, this boy is one to himself - doing what comes naturally.

The most-used phrase coined by writers across the country to describe Presley's singing is 'a peculiar brand of western bop'. Yet that 'peculiar brand of western bop' alone could inflame followers to mob a theater for just a look at their idol? This is not an unusual incident when Elvis makes a personal appearance. City officials from coast to coast already have learned to place extra police on duty to control overflow crowds wherever he appears. Presley is billed as 'America's only atomic powered singer'.

Maybe, this explains everything you and I are witnessing another amazing development in this amazing age of the atom. It makes as much sense as another rationalization of an 'irrational situation'.

Briefly he was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. All his training in show business has been through self-instruction. Two years ago he was a truck driver. Last December he was signed to an RCA Victor recording contract and just two weeks ago signed to a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures In Hollywood. Sammy Lewis, our producer here at the New Frontier Hotel says he feels this is only the beginning!

And THERE you are.

Hoping to stir the interest of Vegas showgoers in April of 1956, Elvis Presley and Liberace were brought together in a comical session of publicity photos where the duo switched instruments and wardrobe.

Review of Elvis' show

By Bill Willard : Las Vegas SUN : April 28, 1956

Accent is on pitch and pull for this batch of acts comprising the current Venus Room Bill. The powers of the New Frontier are pitching the local premiere of Elvis Presley, but the pull will be in Freddy Martin's smooth music making and word-of-mouth cheering for Shecky Greene's unbridled comedy.......

Elvis Presley, arriving here on the wave of tremendous publicity, fails to hit the promised mark in a desert isle surfeited with rock and rollers who play in shifts atop every cocktail lounge on the Strip. The brash, loud braying of his rhythm and blues catalog (and mind you, they are big hits everywhere it seems) which albeit rocketed him to the big time, is overbearing to a captive audience. In a lounge, one can up and go -- fast. But in