Elvis Presley Spring 1956 Columbus and Dayton, Ohio Concert Handbill. ...

Description

Elvis Presley Spring 1956 Columbus and Dayton, Ohio Concert Handbill. A very early Elvis Presley advertising flyer for four concerts in Ohio when "Heartbreak Hotel" was the #1 single and Elvis Presley the #1 album in the country. A terrific design using the King's famous "tonsil shot" photo, which blessedly takes up ¾ of the handbill.

"Elvis Presley Plus 8 All-Star Acts," the flyer proclaims. We're sure Colonel Tom Parker wasn't involved in designing this, due to the latter five words being much bigger than Elvis's name. But this very rare item has so much going for it. Nothing's missing: the great picture, the venue names, the dates and concert times, the ticket-buying locations including addresses, and the ticket prices. It's all there. With the two cities being only 70 miles apart, it's a good guess that one promoter handled both shows, and used joint advertising. He couldn't have known in advance how lucky he was to get the newly anointed King of Rock 'n' Roll for four concerts in his two mid-sized Midwestern cities, with a #1 album and single to boot.

Great provenance on this piece, which originated with a woman who owned a record store in the area which sold tickets to the shows. Heritage has had one other example of this terrific piece, and it sold in our August 2020 auction for $8,750. We wish there were comparable ones made for other Elvis shows in 1956, but usually nothing was needed... he would always sell out in an instant. Measures 5 ¾" x 10 ½" and grades to Very Good Plus condition. COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: Light toning to the paper with age. Quarter-inch diagonal crease in lower right corner that's resembling a dog-ear and dangling just a little bit. Super-light crease along the bottom edge on the other side. The verso has three light-brown strips in the upper corner which are lightly visible on the front in the upper right corner, just catching the tip of Elvis' picture. Barely there, mentioned just for full disclosure.