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Rockin' Robin and Al as
vendors'
in Palm Springs, May 2003
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Charlie Hodge and Big Al
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Al Dvorin, Darlene Tompkins, Dick
Grob, Patti Parry,
Sam Thompson & Cynthia Pepper. Cannery Hotel, Las Vegas
August 14, 2004 |
Dvorin was thrown from the car he was
riding in Sunday after it swerved off a desert road near Ivanpah, the
California Highway Patrol said.
The night before, Dvorin performed his
signature closing line at an Elvis impersonator concert in California.
A former bandleader and talent agent in
Chicago, Dvorin was with the King from his early days as a performer and
was on his last tour in 1977, the year Presley died.
The phrase that Dvorin made his
signature was first uttered by other announcers early in Presley's
career. It was intended to disperse audiences who lingered in hopes of
an Elvis encore.
"Al made it his own with his
particular style," said Todd Morgan, a spokesman with the Presley
estate in Memphis. "He's the man when it comes to that
saying."
Dvorin's version was captured on many
recordings of Elvis' performances and has become a pop-culture
catchphrase and punch line.
Dvorin told The Desert Sun of Palm
Springs, California, in an interview published Saturday that he had not
heard others use the phrase before he began saying it.
"Everybody and his
brother has claimed the line, and I'm sure Elvis' mother, when somebody
called him, said, 'Elvis is not home. Elvis has left the
building,"' Dvorin said. "As far as I know, I created
it."
WHO
REALLY COINED THE PHRASE "ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING"
THANK YOU ROCKIN'
ROBIN FOR THESE PHOTOS
I got the call Sunday
evening and it was a shock and I am sending you a few photos of Al
Dvorin that I took last year during "The Weekend with the
King" events in Palm Springs: Rockin' Robin
