Elvis & Lolita Fanza, Las Vegas 1969

[The fool]

Elvis & Lolita Fanza

Modern Screen, October 1969

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The Girl He Saw When Priscilla Wasn´t Around!
by Sheila Ellsworth
Modern Screen, March 1970

[drjohncarpenter]

Elvis & Lolita Fanza

Modern Screen, October 1969

Modern Screen Oct 1969_01.jpg

The Girl He Saw When Priscilla Wasn´t Around!
by Sheila Ellsworth
Modern Screen, March 1970

Modern Screen Mar 1970_01.jpg

Modern Screen Mar 1970_02.jpg

Modern Screen Mar 1970_03.jpg

Lovely share. I've had some files on Lolita Fanza based on that photo, which dates to Oct-Nov 1969 in Vegas. I'll see if I can find them.

Elvis' behavior after his smashing summer 1969 Vegas stand at the International Hotel was a bit odd. After he finished on August 28th, there were no work commitments until January, save a brief Nashville overdub session date in late September.

He tried a Hawaiian vacation, and then a failed European sojourn that turned into a not terribly great trip to the Bahamas. Then he booked lots of Vegas visits, solo, until a week before Christmas (and some Palm Springs trips too). These articles were rather truthful, in retrospect.

The unnamed gal who dated him from the Flamingo had to have been a member of Wayne Cochran's band, given the timeline:

691109_LA Times Calendar_p29.png

Los Angeles Times Calendar - Sunday, November 9, 1969





And the "pretty, dark-haired young girl, who used to date Elvis before his marriage" I'll wager is Sandy Ferra:

640300_w Sandy Ferra at Paramount.jpg

With Sandy Ferra at Paramount - March 1964

Sandy later married disc jockey and TV show host Wink Martindale in August 1975. Wink knew Elvis back when he started in local Memphis radio, moving quickly to TV with "Top Ten Dance Party" on WHBQ-TV.


If I find more I'll post it here. Thanks again, another piece of the puzzle!

[Mississippi]

Looking for page 119 - very interesting.

https://www.google.de/books/edition/Why_Elvis_Left_the_Building/PumPkAtIUGIC?hl=de&gbpv=1&dq=Elvis+presley+Lolita+Fanza&pg=PA119&printsec=frontcover

Mississippi

[drjohncarpenter]

Looking for page 119 - very interesting.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Why_Elvis_Left_the_Building/PumPkAtIUGIC?hl=de&gbpv=1&pg=PA119

Mississippi

Interesting, but inaccurate in that Fanza was a member of The Soul Patrol, not the Platters.

Meant to note the photo from the March 1970 magazine is the best version I've seen of the photo of Lolita with Elvis.

691100_w Lolita Fanza_Las Vegas.jpg

It surfaced in the newspapers around the same time as the magazine article, in the nationally-distributed Sunday insert called Parade Magazine. It was part of Walter Scott's column for March 15, 1970. Scott was a pseudonym for Lloyd Shearer, who photographed and interviewed Elvis in July 1956 and September 1962 for the same magazine.

WALTER SCOTT'S

Personality Parade

[snip]

Q. Is there any chance Elvis Presley will leave his wife for a black beauty named Lolita Fanza? -- T. L, Memphis, Tenn.

A. Mr. Presley and Miss Fanza are old Las Vegas buddies, but Mr. Presley is not about to go beyond that.

691100_w Lolita Fanza_Las Vegas_Parade.jpg

ELVIS AND LOLITA

700315_Jackson Clarion-Ledger_Parade magazine_p02.jpg

Jackson Clarion-Ledger "Parade Magazine" - Sunday, March 15, 1970
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/180655059/