Vanity Fair: The Elvis Kiss Mystery—Solved!

August 8, 2011 | Source: Monroe Gallery of Photography

 Image #1 for Vanity Fair: The Elvis Kiss Mystery—Solved!
Photograph © Alfred Wertheimer, all rights reserved


WEB EXCLUSIVE August 8, 20
Culture

The Elvis Kiss Mystery—Solved!

In the summer of 1956, a 21-year-old Elvis Presley, already inciting libidinous mayhem from Kansas City to Jacksonville, impishly touched tongues with a young woman in Richmond, Virginia. Photographer Alfred Wertheimer snapped the shutter just at the moment of contact. The result: "The Kiss," one of the most storied photos in Elvis lore and "the sexiest picture ever taken in the whole world," according to Diane Keaton, who owns a print. Yet for five decades, no one, not even Wertheimer, knew the identity of Presley's date—until now.

Read the full article on VF.com here.

Tags: kissing photographs Elvis Presley The Kiss Alfred wertheimer