It's January twenty-fifth, and on this day in 1957... Colonel Tom Parker announced a new deal with MGM for Elvis Presley's third film, tentatively titled *The Rock*. Parker called it “the biggest deal ever made in Hollywood,” though the terms were modest: \$250,000 and fifty percent of the net profits. Behind the scenes, the message to producer Hal Wallis was clear—and the project soon evolved into *Jailhouse Rock*, one of Elvis’s most iconic films.
The movie would go on to produce some rare collector’s items, including a picture sleeve for the fictional Vince Everett single “Treat Me Nice” backed with “Baby I Don’t Care,” released on the made-up Laurel Records label. Only around 100 of those sleeves were ever printed. And in a small but clever detail, a poster on the office wall of Geneva Records in the film bears the image of a fictional singer named Mickey Alba—whose face, upon closer look, is none other than Elvis himself.
