Two Women, One Smoking

/ Kimberly

Musical Accompaniment: If I Can Dream by Elvis Presley, from his 68 Comeback Special.

 

Well at the beginning of the week, I was writing about looking your best and listening to Billie Holiday.

Now that it’s Wednesday,  my frequency is running a little lower and this uncredited picture from 1900 is resonating with me more. It’s called Two Women, One Smoking . And a very good title that is.

NYPL

If anyone could  pull me out of a mid-week slump, it’s the King.  I never heard this song until yesterday. How beautiful and powerful his voice is. Listening to him reanimates me!

14 thoughts on “Two Women, One Smoking”

  1. Nothing like Elvis! We saw him at the International Hotel in Las Vegas on our tenth anniversary in 1975.

    The woman on the left in the photograph seems to be unhappy with the fortune in the cards the cigarette lady is telling her.

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          • We saw Elvis in the early part of December, 1975. The main showroom was packed, not an empty seat around the tables. It was about an hour or so before he came out and we were entertained by groups that traveled with Elvis during the wait. Everyone just sat and waited patiently. When he came out, he was very giggly for a little while, then in an instant, he started belting out songs and was Elvis, the ultimate entertainer. He sang for an hour or more and tossed scarves from around his neck to the crowd up close. (no, I didn’t catch a scarf). I don’t remember anything about “Elvis has left the building.”. I think that got started after he passed away and people refused to believe he was dead. There were Elvis sightings everywhere. He wouldn’t have left the building since he and his entourage stayed at the hotel where he was performing. Most of the stars did the same unless they had a home in Vegas. I have a lot of wonderful memories of old Vegas during the 60’s and 70’s.

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            • When I was a very young lad, on a day trip to Atlantic City, my oldest sister convinced our parents to go onto the “Steel Pier” to see the very end of Elvis’ concert show. I vaguely remember it but was too young or naive to appreciate what I was experiencing.

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            • I can sympathize with the people who can’t accept he’s gone! I forgot that he was probably living at that hotel. What a wonderful place Vegas must have been then. But the “Elvis has left the building” announcement really did happen! There are a lot of clips of it on YouTube. The first is the best one, you can see how enraptured people were with him and the madness at the end of his shows. I heard the they had to make the announcement was because it was the only way people would leave the venue. As long as they thought he might be backstage, nobody was going anywhere!

              Elvis has left the building

              Leaving the building again

              And here was the first time it was used in Shreveport Louisiana in 1956

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              • I’m pretty sure it wasn’t said the night we saw Elvis. Everyone left the showroom when the concert was over. There would have been a dinner show after and some entertainers had midnight shows. Possibly other parts of the country acted a little differently at his concerts. At that time in Vegas, the showroom had men in tuxedos, a full orchestra, audience with men in suits and women in heels and nice dresses. It was a different time.

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    • You saw Elvis! I’m green with envy! how was that show? What was he like that night?
      I believe you’re right that the girl on the right didn’t like her fortune. But I’m very confident that the girl on the left would happily tell her some things she could do to improve her luck… for just a few dollars more!

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