else saw much hope at this point for an unproven talent like Elvis to be embraced by Hollywood with anything but a movie “ short ” designed to be shown , like a cartoon , in front of the feature attraction , or a low-budget rock “ exploitation ” picture with lots of featured entertainers but no star to build the story around . The Colonel , meanwhile , insisted that his artist had all the potential to be the next James Dean or Marlon Brando . And no one at RCA or the powerful William Morris Agency , which represented Elvis in the Colonel ’ s movie deals , was going to persuade him otherwise .
But then things started to turn around . “ Heartbreak Hotel ” sales suddenly accelerated , and by April 21 it was number 1 on the pop and country charts , where it would remain for most of the next two months . At almost exactly the same time Elvis signed a long-term contract with independent producer Hal Wallis , which from the Colonel ’ s point of view was little more than a contract of convenience . To get his foot in the door , he agreed to terms ( a seven-year option , starting at $ 15,000 for the first picture and rising very slowly ) that were altogether unacceptable on their face but that he knew , with his confidence in both his own resourcefulness and the impermeability of his artist ’ s talent , he would be able to vastly improve upon before the first movie was ever made . And so he did , as history would record , succeeding beyond anyone but Elvis ’ and his own wildest dreams .
In the meantime the first album , simply titled Elvis Presley ( the second would no longer need the surname ), was released on March 13 . Steve Sholes had long since given up on getting any more material out of Elvis and had constructed an album that would consist of five previously unreleased Sun sides and as many titles as Sholes could cobble together from the first two sessions . No one at RCA had any faith in the album , they simply
15