Unbekanntes Elvis Konzert aus den 50ern

<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Joy Drive-In Theatre</span>

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>The Joy Drive-In Theatre on Shreveport Rd. in Minden, LA - c.1952
Photo courtesy Peggy Cheshire Baldwin and the Dorcheat Museum</span>

The Joy Drive-In Theatre in Minden, LA was located on the right of Shreveport Road (U.S. 80) as you head East into Minden after Dixie Inn between Dorcheat Bayou and Roosevelt park. It was built, owned and operated by Ruth (Cheshire) Lowe and her brother William Cobb around 1951 on property leased from (old maid) Mary Babb.

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>The Joy Theatre on Pearl St. in Minden - c.1951
Photo courtesy Peggy Cheshire Baldwin and Minden Memories</span>

Edgar Hand originally owned the Rex Theater located on Pearl Street in Minden and Ruth Cheshire got her start in the theater business after William Cobb partnered with Joy Houck and bought it in the early '40s. Houck owned Joy Theaters, Inc. based in New Orleans which owned theaters across the south. The Rex became the Joy, Ruth was brought in to manage and Hand relocated the Rex to around the corner on Main Street. Several years later, Ruth's 16 year-old-son was accidentally killed on Shreveport Road way out near (Edgar) Hand's Drive-In. At the insistence of her husband Douglas, who was of ill health himself, she purchased a third interest in the Joy theater on Pearl with the insurance settlement.

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>The snackbar/projection booth at the Joy Drive-In in Minden, LA - c.1952
Photo courtesy Peggy Cheshire Baldwin and the Dorcheat Museum</span>

When Ruth and William built their Drive-In on Shreveport Road they called it the Joy to keep it consistent with their business interests, though it had nothing to do with Houck or his chain. The Drive-In was managed by John Cobb, their brother, who lived in the "manager's" house on the property. Ruth's daughter, Peggy, who was 6 at the time of her brothers accident, worked at the Drive-In from her teens through adulthood. She remembers, I could bring anyone I wanted in for free but it was more fun for us to sneak in. I remember once some of us walked through a field of briars just to prove to my uncle, John Cobb, that we could sneak in because he was always bragging how NO ONE could do that. We came in through the back of the screen and went straight to the concession stand to brag.

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Ad for Joy Drive-In in the Minden Press-Herald - July 14, 1955
courtesy the Dorcheat Museum</span>

On July 15, 1955, Elvis, Scotty and Bill performed at the Drive-In. They were booked by John Cobb who regularly attended the Louisiana Hayride and had first seen them perform there. For a stage, Cobb borrowed a flatbed truck from Almond's Feed & Seed Co. in Minden and parked it in front of the snack bar (concession stand). They were said to have been booked for two appearances but only did the one and paid $25 for it.

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Scotty, Elvis and Bill at the Joy Drive-In Theatre in Minden - July 15, 1955
Photo by David Madalozzo courtesy Peggy Cheshire Baldwin and the Dorcheat Museum</span>

Earlier that week, on the 11th, they had recorded Mystery Train, Trying To Get To You and I Forgot To Remember To Forget at Sun so its quite possible that they performed these songs in addition to others at this appearance. This was also likely to have been one of the first appearances outside of the Hayride that Scotty performed with his new Gibson L5 that he had only acquired the week before.

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Scotty, Elvis and Bill at the Joy Drive-In Theatre in Minden - July 15, 1955
Photo by David Madalozzo courtesy Peggy Cheshire Baldwin and the Dorcheat Museum</span>

Peggy also recalled, when I was 13 or 14, my future husband worked for 6 months at the theater running the projector when he first came out of the Navy. Of course I didn't notice him nor him me but through the years, he would come over to Minden and visit with the help at the theater.

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Elvis in the Manager's house at the Drive-In - July 15, 1955
Photo by David Madalozzo courtesy Peggy Cheshire Baldwin and the Dorcheat Museum</span>

At 16, Peggy Cheshire was dating David Madalozzo, a serviceman from Pekin, Illinois stationed nearby at Barksdale AFB. On the night of the show he took photos of the performance. She said Elvis was the only act that evening and afterwards we went over to the manager's little house located on the Drive-in property and visited with him for a few minutes. That is when my boyfriend took more pictures.

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Peggy Cheshire at 16 with Elvis in the Manager's house at the Drive-In - July 15, 1955
Photo by David Madalozzo courtesy Peggy Cheshire Baldwin and the Dorcheat Museum</span>

David also took a picture of one of the local residents of Minden who wanted his picture taken with Elvis. He just happened to bear a striking resemblance to Tibby Edwards, another young Hayride performer at the time. Peggy though, maintains it wasn't him.

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>A local fan and Elvis behind the Drive-In Manager's house - July 15, 1955
Photo by David Madalozzo courtesy Jim Curtin's Candid of The King</span>

Interestingly enough, aside from recording at Sun and his commitments to the Hayride, Elvis was supposed to be on vacation during this time. Billboard* had reported in the July 9th issue:

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Peggy Cheshire Baldwin and her husband on right at a recent Shriners' luncheon
Photo courtesy Peggy Cheshire Baldwin</span>

David Madalozzo eventually returned to Illinois, married and settled in Tarboro, North Carolina. He passed away in January of 2009 at the age of 74. At her mother's encouragement, Thomas Baldwin started courting Peggy Cheshire, would eventually raise five children and today they have been happily married for 53 years. They now reside in Shreveport.

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Aerial view of the site of the former Joy Drive-In in Minden - 2009
Photo courtesy Microsoft EarthData</span>

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<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>The Trailer Park on the property that was the Joy Drive-In in Minden (map) - 2010
Photo courtesy Google Streetview</span>

In 1959 Douglas Cheshire was found unconscious and later died after an apparent robbery, the case of which was never solved. Ruth later married Prentiss Lowe. She eventually bought out her brother William's interests and operated the Drive-In until it closed around 1983. The Joy Theater on Pearl Street is now occupied by the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum and a trailer park currently occupies the site of the former Joy Drive-In on Shreveport Road.

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Quelle: ScottyMoore.Net</span>

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Unbekanntes Elvis´ Konzert aus den 50ern

Kann man bitte das falsche Apostroph aus dem Titel bei "Elvis" entfernen?

Kann man bitte das falsche Apostroph aus dem Titel bei "Elvis" entfernen?

Ich seh gar keins

Minden, ich dachte zuerst ich les nicht richtig, aber dann laß ich Minden, LA. Schade das dort nicht Minden, OWL stand....

Zitat (Vincent-The-Falcon @ Montag, 03.Januar 2011, 11:16 Uhr)

Kann man bitte das falsche Apostroph aus dem Titel bei "Elvis" entfernen?

Wenn man denn schon so kleinlich sein will: "den falschen Apostroph", bitte.

so unbekannt ist es aber nun auch nicht

Ito, du warst mal wieder schneller, wollte auch gerade schreiben:

Auf diesen Auftritt wurde bereits im Juni 2006 im deutschsprachigen “Rockin‘ Fifties“-Magazin, Nummer 100, hingewiesen.
So unbekannt kann also die Existenz dieses Konzerts eigentlich gar nicht mehr sein!!!!

war einen Versuch wert

Gibt es überhaupt noch unbekannte Elvis-Konzerte?

Obwohl, die Frage kann man ja eigentlich gar nicht beantworten. Denn, wenn etwas unbekannt ist, dann weiß man naturgemäß ja auch nichts davon.