Meet the dog at the scene of the most sexually charged concert of the 50's - now worth over £5,000 - and his glamorous new owner, Rebecca Hooper. The famous hound is to be displayed at Liverpoolıs Fingerprints of Elvis exhibition for a few weeks commencing 1 November 2003.
Elvis shocked his audience when in a burst of high spirits he rolled around on the stage floor with the stuffed animal in a highly uninhibited and provocative manner during a fast and furious rendition of 'Hound Dogı at the inaugural concert of his 1957 California Concert Tour. The LA Deputy Police Chief ordered the Vice Squad to instruct Elvis to eliminate any 'sexy overtones' from his performances or risk obscenity charges. Even Colonel Parker took him to task.
The hound is an original RCA Nipper Dog from the California Concert Tour 1957. It was given to Elvis Presley by RCA on the release of his huge hit 'Hound Dogı. Elvis kept the dog at Graceland for many years before he gave it as a gift to his great friend, Paul Lickter, rock concert promoter and manager of the 60s groups The Soul Survivors and The Vanilla Fudge. Rebecca, bought it for £3,000 in 1997.
Elvis
Pets
Rebecca Hooper, Nipper's owner, is available for interviews.
Rebecca is an ardent Elvis fan and as a sign of her undying commitment has had a beautiful picture of Elvis tattooed on
her
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UPDATE: FROM A FAN THAT WAS
THERE: Dina Angus ...The
picture of Elvis with the RCA
Nipper Dog... I was there when
that photos was taken!
What a night that was! That
was the first time I saw Elvis
in person. My dad, bless his
heart, can home one day with
four tickets to see Elvis in
L.A. After the show, a bunch
of us went backstage, looked
up and there was Elvis...
hanging out the window,
tossing stuff out, like his
socks, shirts, etc. It was
unbelievable! We were
all yelling back and forth.
Elvis was just a kid himself
and having a ball with the
fans. I thought I would be
catching a treasure any minute
when my dad showed up and he
was none too happy. He
grabbed me by the neck and
said, Let's go, now!" I
pleaded with him but it was no
use. So off we went, all of us
crying. All the way home, we
screamed, cried and laughed.
It was a wonderful night.
When I think back to that time
and I can remember all the
details as if it were
yesterday.
