sunday, november 15, 1998
4 and 6 pm

photo: LOVE ME TENDER

Directed by Robert Webb, 1956; 94 minutes

archive print!

When Elvis Presley--and the subversive culture of rock-and-roll that he helped to create--invaded homes and the sexual imagination of every teenager in America, few realized how radically the world was changing.

When the man who would be the King took to the silver screen in a hastily shot LOVE ME TENDER, hysteria reigned at moviehouses everywhere.

Taking a rare shot at "serious" acting, Elvis played one of the brothers in a family divided by Civil War politics. He delivered a credible and stirring portrayal of teen angst, the boy with a troubled soul. (Naturally, Presley's songs--"Let Me," Poor Boy," the title tune, etc.--are accompanied by gyrations that might have given 1860s folk quite a turn!)

During the month of November, dramatic, never-before-published photographs of the King will be exhibited in the Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery. They are selected from Elvis Presley 1956, a potent photographic essay by Marvin Israel on the 21-year-old star in the heat of performance, relaxing backstage, and at home.

Marvin Israel was designer and artist, mentor to such important photographers as Diane Arbus and Richard Avedon, and art director of Seventeen Magazine and Harper's Bazaar. The book is edited and designed by Martin Harrison.