‘62 footage of Presley surfaces

Whether footage of Elvis Presley presenting a ham to the governor of Washington in 1962 ranks among the cultural milestones of the 20th century is a question probably best left to historians. But Elvis fans can see it for themselves in “Elvis Presley at the Seattle World’s Fair,” a new DVD including 8-millimeter movie footage of the King behind the scenes during filming of his 1962 feature “It Happened at the World’s Fair.”

The film was shot by Albert Fisher, then an employee of the fair’s TV and movie department, and includes the ham presentation from Presley to the state’s chief exec as well as shots with his costars in the film, Joan O’Brien, Gary Lockwood and Ginny Liu, and with an uncredited 10-year-old actor, Kurt Russell.

The 28 minutes of footage has never been shown publicly, says Fisher, who produced “The New Original Amateur Hour” series in the early ‘90s. The DVD is available online at www.fairvideo.com.

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-- Randy Lewis