Elvis’s 50th Anniversary

This is a storefront on the North-East corner of Mission St. & Geneva Ave. in San Francisco. It is currently a Check Cashing business but back in the 1960’s & 1970’s it was a record store called “The Record Changer”. The actual address is 5129 Mission Street. San Francisco, CA. 94112. My sister Ginny would take me there occasionally to back order old records that you couldn’t find in stores that only maintained current stock.

The guy was hardly ever open but what I remember about his store is THIS! This is an R.C.A. Promotions poster that was given to record stores across the country to advertise an Elvis Presley syndicated radio show. The show was aired in 1967 just one year before the “Singer Presents Elvis Show” aired on T.V. What I LOVE about this poster is the visual images of the L.P.s, E.P.s and most of all, the two 45 R.P.M. singles picture sleeves. R.C.A. did not normally use the singles picture sleeves with their promo materials.

Note that the picture sleeve for “Blue Christmas” in the 1965 release. The one released in 1964 had “Wooden Heart” as the “B” side. “If Everyday Were Like Christmas” was a current single in 1966. The single reached No. 2 on Billboard’s “Best Bets For Christmas” survey in 1966, and returned to the chart in 1967, spending a total of eight weeks in the chart. In the United Kingdom, the song reached Number 9 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1966.

The E.P. cover for “Peace In The Valley” is the re-issue on the Gold Standard series and not the original from 1957. “Elvis’ Christmas Album” cover is also a reissue from 1959.

Also from Bunny’s book, the original plans for the shopping center. Just under the word “Mall” is the east side of the Daly City Mall.

The following year the “Singer Presents Elvis” T.V. Special was aired and the Singer Sewing company was the sponsor. So all of their stores featured all of the promo items I have been showing off here.

Our local store was in the Westlake Shopping Center in Daly City, CA. The Singer Sewing stores was 4 doors to the south from the local Bank Of America branch.

These photos from local newspapers of the time and the book by Bunny Gillespie “Westlake (Images of America)” by Arcadia Publishing. This one, from Bunny’s book is looking south. The Singer Sewing Center is to the left a few doors past the Bank of America sign.

Here’s a bit of a close up and, taken from a Daly City phone book, the actual address and phone number.
Now I’m walking by one day and was blown away by two HUGE posters in the window advertising the 1968 Special! Here’s the smaller of the two. It measures 14 inches height by 27 3/4 inches wide.
Here’s a full page add from Billboard magazine advertising the T.V. Show but isn’t THIS more appealing to the eye?
I bugged the manager EVERYDAY for weeks to save the two poster which she did God Bless that woman! This poster measures 58 inches in length and 35 and 3/4 inches wide!
Just to make sure that everyone could read the Gold Strip in the middle.
Here’s what all three posters look like together. I want to thank Kathleen Manning of the Pacifica Historical Society for helping to hang these properly so we could all enjoy photos of them hanging flat on the wall. The walls were provided by PCT 26, PacifcaCoast.tv studios & Martin Anaya.. Last but certainly not least is photographer Steve Fogel for the excellent shots of my posters.
Just to give you a full perspective. Here I am standing in front of my two prized positions. For the record, I’m 6 feet 4 inches tall. Thanx for stopping by for this week’s installment of the 50th anniversary of the “Singer Presents Elvis” T.V. Show.