THE STORY BEHIND THE "SIGNED COPIES"
OF JERRY'S SUN RECORD - "BREATHLESS"
Back in '58 Jud Phillips, in charge of promotion at Sun, had a problem. Sales of "Breathless" - Jerry Lee's latest record were slow. Jud did a deal with Dick Clark who had the "Bandstand" show on TV. One of the sponsors was Beechnut Chewing Gum and Jud fixed up a special promotion where the kids sent in gum wrappers and got a specially "autographed" version of the disc sent to them direct from Sun at Memphis. The autograph was done with a rubber stamp and green ink. Very few unopened examples of Jud's ingenuity survive to this day. There used to be thousands, packed in these envelopes, gathering dust at Tom Phillip's shop at 605 Chelsea Avenue, Memphis.
Return to view more of Jerry in the 50's
The Story behind the "signed" copied of Jerry Lee Lewis' Breathless - published in Kyle Esplin's ROCK 'N' ROLL SCRAPBOOK