Fan mail

There's probably no telling how much fan mail Elvis probably received on a daily basis. As his career took off in the '50s it likely started coming in by the sack fulls and it likely required an industry almost of its own to reply to most of it.  Last week, our friend Steve sent us his story about being at CBS Studio 50 and seeing the Beatles perform on one their Ed Sullivan appearances.  This week he's shared with us a few items he's had before that when he was 10 years old and wrote to Elvis in 1961 and 1962:

I have two letters from Elvis to me, no kidding. They are form letters, but from Memphis.  I was a BIG Elvis fan before the Beatles.

Steve's first letter from "Elvis" postmarked January 13, 1961

Steve's first letter from "Elvis"

Well I was 10 or so when I got the letters.  The Long letter was Xeroxed except for "Steven". "Steven" was hand written in, and you can see the ink had dried in the pen, so as the name was being written the color changes. The paper was normal stock, similar to computer printer paper. He gives info on his location "back in Hollywood" but the envelope is from Memphis.

Steve's second letter from "Elvis"

Steve's second letter from Elvis, oddly postmarked January 25, 1961

The second one is an extremely thin pink sheet of paper. Onionskin I believe. It is clearly a different style from the first, especially the signature. I believe Elvis wrote the 1st one and it was mass produced except for the name. The pink one probably was by staff.  EITHER way,  I wrote to Elvis and he was kind enough to respond. Originally it had a label addressed to me but I wanted to see what was under the label. You can see my name imprinted thru the label. We had moved, did that a lot.

Next up 2 actual DIG magazine photos my older brother got, he was a big Elvis fan too.

Elvis and Hal Wallis (1956) in Steve's DIG magazine photo

Elvis and fans (1956) in Steve's DIG magazine photo

Now this is just a page from a magazine. I believe it is from DIG. Anyway Elvis has the same suit on and is with the same guy [Hal Wallace??] in one photo. I'm giving you both sides of the page to help figure out its source.  Note - my mother had these cool scissors [to a 10 year old] that were zigzag.

Elvis and Hal Wallis, from a magazine clipping

Judy Spreckles helps Elvis go through some of his fan mail, from a magazine clipping

Sincerely,
Steve
March 8, 2010

All photos on this site (that we didn't borrow) unless otherwise indicated are the property of either Scotty Moore or James V. Roy and unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.