On July 31, 1969, Elvis Presley took to the stage of the International Hotel in Vegas for the first time, still riding the high of his electric 1968 TV special, which had revived his flagging career.
What was originally conceived of as a four-week residency at the hotel – a brand new, $60 million development, then the biggest in the world – would spin out into a seven-year stint, bracketing off the final chapter of Presley's tragically curtailed career, the theatre a witness to his descent into a state of narcotised, rhinestone-encrusted stupor.
