Like many of the earliest Elvis performances, details about the August 20th gig at a VFW variety show on Novarese Avenue have proven hard to find. The news clipping is likely either from the Memphis Appeal or the Press-Scimitar, but I have not yet verified the publisher. Based on the similar title/subtitle format to an article about the August 18th Bellevue Park show, I believe it's from the Appeal, and this time they got his name right; Elvis Prescott no more.
The supporting acts, Lee Atkins and Dorothy Dale Burkle, seem to have largely escaped the historical record. I did find a Memphis obituary for a Lee Atkins who was born in 1939. That would make him 15 at the time, and I don't have any context that associates him with the VFW show. I found one reference to Dorothy Dale Burkle in a comment on an obituary for Edward Bousson, a Memphis music teacher, posted by her daughter Darla, who passed away in 2019.
I have not obtained any information about Elvis' show at the VFW, but we can likely assume that Scotty Moore and Bill Black accompanied him, and they played That's All Right and Blue Moon of Kentucky. The VFW building at 693 Novarese is long gone and I was unable to find a photograph of it for reference. As of this writing, there is a Stone House Halal Market at the site. The houses across the street date from the 1940-1950 era and have escaped redevelopment, but the VFW side of Novarese would be unrecognizable to anyone attending the Elvis show.
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