Jailhouse Rock (1957) – THE STILLS
By Bob Pakes
To the left we have (part of) the original Filmstudio envelope in which the movie stills were sent. From the Ger Rijff collection.
Below a still of the original artwork by Bradshaw Crandell.
Crandell´s work was used for the US posters (in all sizes), and also for Jailhouse Rock’s US and UK sheet music.
For a collection of Jailhouse Rock movie memorabilia, click HERE
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A question for the old geezers on this website : Any of you who were lucky
enough to have seen this great movie in the cinema, back in the
50’s or 60s?! R&B, Alan, Bruno…? The very first time I experienced seeing
it in a cinema was way back in 1967. It was the main attaction during
the first Dutch Elvis Fancub Convention in the city of Amersfoort.
I had already seen LMT and Loving You, and would get to see King Creole,
from a near mint 16 mm copy at the Leicester Convetion, held by the
official UK Elvis fanclub back in 1968.
Treat Me Nice and Baby I Don’t Care nocked me out of my socks that
afternoon seeing Jailhouse Rock on the big screen, back in 1967.
I had already seen the title song on Dutch television prior to seeing it
in the cinema. So the impact was a little less than the other two rockers.
After Jailhouse Rock was shown, the 2’nd title that afternoon was
Girl Happy…
I have no recollections of how I felt watching it on the heels of Jailhouse
Rock? I only remember thinking : O it’s in color..! I guess, being 15 at the
time, I did kinda enjoyed it…? After having sat through Frankie & Johnny, a
year earlier, Girl Happy was kinda okay in comparising to Look out Broadway,
and that awful song about Petunia…Such rubbish!
Please share your memories with us here!
Yes I did as a kid in 1957. My parents took me. It was wild, wild, wild. I remember at the time thinking gee, Treat Me Nice sounds so different than my 45! I had already seen Loving You (never saw LMT until it came on TV). My parents also took to see King Creole. At this time I didn’t own King Creole Vol 2 EP and was totally blown away by this new song Trouble. I didn’t own an LP player yet! They are very distinct and happy memories. By the time GI Blues came out, I was old enough to go with my friends. It just wasn’t the same though as those 50’s cinema experiences.
oh yes..I have seen all of them when first time appeared on the screen (cinena screen..not the tv screen)..( I am now almost 73..)J.Rock impressed me a lot at the time..along K.Creole these were the most exiting ones & finally I had the chance to see and hear the great Elvis.. after these movies I became a lifetime Elvis collector..now in 2013..still am .
Bruno
Thanks for these fabulous stills, guys !!!
By the way, I see that most of the stills are numbered (below, right) as either 57 / 533 or 60 / 533. What does this mean ?
One of the stills, the one in the bar with the stripper, is shown with both numberings. Is this for the sake of completism ?
Thanks again !!!
The number 533 means that it’s the 533rd movie that M.G.M made that year.
Thanks for the comment, Gerrit – I didn’t know that.
However, 533 movies in only 5 / 6 months sounds like a very high amount of movies…
I have no idea, really !
Thanks again !
Gerrit, I guess what you’re saying is Jailhouse Rock was number 533 on
the list of MGM releases since they had started making films in 1924,
including many cartoons by the likes of Tom & Jerry, a.o.
During 1957 the total number of films made by MGM that year was
( only ) 32.
Adding up all film titles made by MGM since 1924- till Jailhouse Rock
in 1957- might give you the grand total of 533…
You can count them all on Wiki. Have fun.
Thanks for correcting me.
Keep rocking!
Thanks Gerrit and Ger !!
Sorry for my late reply, just got back from our holiday last night.
Great to read that some of you actually saw this movie in the cinema when it was originally released!
I’m a bit younger I guess, but I did see it in the cinema, this was in the very early 80’s, around the time This Is Elvis was released, when Jailhouse Rock had a very short run as the ‘midnight-movie’ here in my local cinema. The cinema was named City, and it doesn’t exist anymore, and neither does the midnight-movies phenomenon. Only 14 or 15 people attended the showing, half of them were tag-alongs, so we figured next to us only a handful of serious Presley-fans existed in our town of 170.000. Since this showing of Jailhouse Rock (30 years ago!), never again has an Elvis movie graced the big screen of my town Groningen.
Regarding Josep’s original question about the numbers, 57 / 533 and 60 / 533:
The 57 is the year of the original USA release, 60 is the year Jailhouse Rock was re-released in the USA.
(this is why I grouped the 1960 stills together)
Usually a re-release set of stills would consist of the same stills as the original release, but not in all cases.
The 533 is, like Ger mentioned, the grand total of movies produced by MGM till that point.
When you look at the Jailhouse Rock stills, you will notice the white number 1719 on the photograph itself. This number appears on all stills. The second number (following 1719) gives an idea of how many different stills were actually produced.
The two stills on top don’t have the 1719 number. These appear to have been produced for different promotional purposes.
A group of stills that don’t have the white info banner at the bottom has just been added.
Thanks Bob for this info, and for the new set of stills.
I just found a still from jailhouse rock in my aunts trunk and it’s the arm wrestling scene at the bar and haven’t been able to find it anywhere online it also has white 1719-5 I’m assuming along with the 57/533 in the right lower corner has anyone seen this still or know if it is worth anything even though to me it’s priceless!!
JAILHOUSE ROCK (in Brazil, Prisioneiro do Rock and Roll) was one of the first movies of Elvis I saw back in the late fifties. All of a sudden everything was new, mysterious and promising. I think that Elvis rendering of Jailhouse Rock in the film is unique. For me it became Elvis on one side and all other singers on the other. To this day the enchantment I felt remains untouched. May you be able to continue offering us such precious bits of memory. As he used to say: Thank you very much! It is shocking though to think of what Hollywood made of this incredible artist in the sixties. Hollywood and true rock and roll never got along too well, don’t you think so?
Question please. Starting at the top, I have the 26th picture of Elvis standing in front of the judge. Same number also 1719-20. It is also marked 57/533. Is there any value to this photo. Thanks.
I reckon the 50’s movie stills usually go for around $ 15 to $ 20. Some of the 50’s stills are a bit more rare, while most of the later ones are of lesser value because of much lesser demand.
Quite a few new to me … Great detective work, Bob. Will never get used to the fact
we’re looking at the same guy who made so many crap movies in the 60’s!
Always great and something interesting to find.
I have a picture of Jailhouse Rock, copyright 1957, an Avon production an MGM release. It says “Property of National Screen Service Corp. Lisenced for display only in connection with the exhibition of this picture at your theater. Must be returned immediately thereafter”. And there’s this in bottom right corner: EP1B3. What is this worth?
Question: Was the original Bradshaw Crandell Elvis picture (used for Jailhouse Rock posters) a black and white chalk drawing?