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[GuitarMan66]

In this series of articles I would like to lay out Elvis' life on a year to year basis, highlighting as many key events as possible, both profesionally and personally that occured during his lifetime.I have decided to start in 1953 the year that Elvis turned 18 and of course the year when he would make his first venture into a recording studio.

1953
March 26
An 18 year old Elvis Presley signs on at the Tennessee State Employment Security office. His address is now 462 Alabama during their 5 years in Memphis (since moving from Tupelo Miss)the Presley family (Elvis his father Vernon and mother Gladys)have moved many times due mostly to the fact that they are continually earning more in wages than the Memphis housing projects will allow.
The interviewer at the security office notes "rather flashily dressed playboy type" on his application
April 9
Elvis takes part in the annual Humes High School Minstrel Show singing Till I Waltz Again With You by Teresa Brewer. Despite being wrongly listed on the bill as Elvis Prestly after his performance Elvis suddenly becomes very popular in school.
June 3
Elvis receives his High School diploma.
July 1
Elvis starts work on a temporary basis at M.B Parker Co. on an assembly line making $36 a week.
Around this time Elvis visits Sun Studios on Union Ave he has frequented the premises on a number of occasions making small talk with the lady on the front desk Marion Keisker usually enquiring as to whether she knows of any groups that may be looking for a singer however, this time he takes things a step further and decides to cut a record at his own expense hoping that this will attract at least Marion's attention as the owner Sam Phillips is not present. He records 2 songs "My Happiness" and "That's When You're Heartaches Begin" whilst accompanying himself on guitar.
Aug 21
Colonel Tom Parker the self titled one time carny operator who is now working as manager for country singer Eddy Arnold receives a telegram from his client informing him that his services are no longer required. Parker who is fast becoming well known for his rather unique management skills is taken aback by this and finds himself temporarily unemployed.
Sept 21
Back at work this time for Precision Tools Elvis is now assembling shelves for $1.55 an hour a job he will keep until March '54.
1954
Elvis again returns to Sun Studios cutting another 2 songs "I'll Never Stand In You're Way " and " It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You" like the previous time Marion takes some interest in his singing though nothing comes of it.
Also around this time Elvis begins dating 14 year old Dixie Locke they see each other frequently and often attend the all night gospel sing in's at Ellis Auditorium which features such groups as The Blackwood Brothers and Elvis' favourites The Statesmen and especially the lead singer Jake Hess.
March 19
Due to constant tormenting about his dress sense and length of his hair from fellow work mates Elvis leaves his job at Precision Tools.
April 20
Starting out as a truck driver Elvis begins work for Crown Electric Co. Hoping one day to train as an electrician.
June 26
Marion phones Elvis to ask if he would be interested in trying out a song that Sam Phillips has acquired, a ballad called "Without You" Elvis is at the studio practically before she hangs up the phone, but the session is unsuccessful as Elvis struggles with the song.
July 3
A young guitarist called Scotty Moore calls at Elvis' house he has been given Elvis' name by Sam Phillips and Scotty is wondering whether he would like to audition for his group the Starlight Wranglers. The next day Elvis meets up with Scotty and bass player Bill Black to run through some songs none of which seem to work though Scotty after talking with Sam agrees that it could be worth a try in the studio to see if they can come up with something better.
July 5
Now in the studios at Sun the trio tries to come up with something to impress the owner Sam Phillips without much luck. However during a "break" Elvis begins to fool around with a country song called "That's All Right" Scotty and Bill join in and suddenly Sam hears that "something "he has been waiting for. The three do a couple of more takes to iron out the edges and soon a master take is complete.
Sam is very excited about this song and despite having no B side as yet he decides to play the record for Dewey Philips (no relation to Sam) a local disc jockey, in the hope of getting some air time. Dewey loves the song and plays it on his next show. Gladys and Vernon listen intently to hear Elvis' song on the radio for the first time but Elvis himself can't stand the tension and decides to go the movies. The song is played and the switchboard lights up as callers go crazy wanting to know more about the record. Dewey calls Elvis' home to get him to come over for an interview so Vernon and Gladys have to chase Elvis down at the movie theatre and take him over to the studio where Dewey is playing the record over and over again.
During the coming days Elvis Scotty and Bill are back in the studio frantically trying to come up with a B side worthy of "That's All Right" and once again by pure chance they stumble across "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" during another improvised session.
July 12
Due to the complete confidence in their new single Scotty Moore now becomes Elvis' manager
and booking agent with the 3 agreeing to split all earnings 50% to Elvis and 25% each to Scotty and Bill.
July 17
The trio play the Bon Air club in Memphis singing the two songs on their first single.
Having been away on vacation in Florida Dixie is quite surprised on her return to see so how so much has changed for Elvis in such a short time.
July 26
Sam Philips signs Elvis to a contract with Sun records for a two year period with a further two year option to be added at the company's discretion.
July 30
Elvis and the boys appear at the Overton Park Shell in Memphis their biggest venue to date. Elvis' family, Dixie and Sam Phillips are among the crowd. It's at this show that Elvis' gyrations first begin to come to attention whether it is nerves on Elvis' part or just an unconscious movement to the music the reaction from the crowd is amazing. And this sets the precedent for most shows thereafter.
August
Billboard magazine in a review of his first single hail Elvis as "a strong new talent".
Throughout this month and up until November the trio regularly play at The Eagles Nest nightclub in Memphis honing their stage talents. As well as making ever more regular appearances on the Louisiana Hayride
Also around this time it is announced Col.Tom Parker will become the new manager of country star Hank Snow in a joint partnership called Hank Snow Enterprises and Jamboree Attractions.
September
Good Rockin' Tonight/ I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine is released as Elvis' second single whilst it does well in the Memphis area it never lives up to the success of his first release.
Dec 13
Scotty Moore writes a letter to Tom Diskin, Col. Parkers right hand man enquiring about help with future bookings for the group.
Dec 23
Elvis and the boys are pulled over for speeding whilst heading home from Shreveport, fortunately the officer only cautions them. The three men count up their money at the curbside, with Elvis reminiscing years later that he "had never had so much money in his pockets at one time" to which he promptly went out and blew the lot on Christmas presents.
Dec 29
A write up in the Memphis Press-Scimitar states DJ Bob Neal is to take over as manager of Elvis Presley in the New Year and also releases details of his third Sun single Milk Cow Blues Boogie/ You're A Heartbreaker.

This post has been edited by Pacer: Mar 2 2007, 10:11 PM

[GuitarMan66]

1967
January 2
On this day a new agreement comes into effect which for the first time recognises Elvis and Colonel Parker to be engaged what amounts to be a partnership or joint venture. Within this agreement the Colonel will now receive 50% of any profits or royalties beyond basic payments, as well as 50% of all special or side deals.
January 3
Over the next few days Elvis’s current obsession of horse-back riding escalates. He buys a Palomino horse called Midgets Vandy, that he rechristens Rising Sun, as well as buying other horses and purchasing horse riding equipment for various friends. The barn behind Graceland is renovated to accommodate the horses and Elvis now names the barn the House of the Rising Sun.
January 8
Elvis spends his 32nd birthday at Graceland.
January 9
Over the coming days Elvis buys another five horses and has the area behind Graceland cleared and bulldozed to create a riding ring.
January 24
Colonel Parker renegotiates Elvis’s contract with RCA through 1974 with an extension through 1980. Elvis receives word of the new contract and telegrams the Colonel, ‘Dear Colonel the greatest snowman on earth has caused another storm’. Looking forward to another great forecast from you, respectfully Elvis.
Before the end of the month Elvis purchases another three horses.
February 8
During a horse buying trip in Mississippi Elvis and the boys come across Twinkletown Farm a 160 acre cattle ranch, marked by a lighted 65 foot high white cross about 10 miles from Graceland. The property is for sale and Elvis almost immediately decides to buy it, costing him $437,000. Soon after Elvis and the gang take up residence at the ranch which is renamed The Circle G (for Graceland). During the next three weeks, Elvis purchases at least two dozen pick-ups for use on the ranch, he also starts buying house trailers as the main ranch house is too small for the group and yet more horses.
February 21
On this day Elvis was scheduled to report to United Artists for the start of filming on Clambake however the Colonel realising the impossibility of getting Elvis away from the ranch arranges for the cast insurance exam to take place at RCA’s Studio B in Nashville where the soundtrack for the movie is due to be recorded. Recording continues over the next couple of days though it is obvious to all that Elvis’s mind is elsewhere. He even turns up at the studio for vocal overdubs dressed in a cowboy outfit complete with chaps.
February 26
Elvis puts off flying to L.A. once again this time complaining of saddle sores. On the advice of George Klein’s girlfriend Elvis calls Dr. George Nichopoulos to resolve the problem. He and Elvis immediately become friends and is the beginning of a long standing friendship.
March 3
Colonel Parker frustrated and embarrassed by Elvis’s continuing delays manages to get a postponement from United Artists on the condition that he reports without fail on Monday March 6. Elvis’s spending spree on the ranch continues as he buys eleven Rancheros, two more pick-ups and yet another mobile home.
March 6
Elvis reports to United Artists to begin work on Clambake.
March 8
The Colonel writes to MGM in the hope that for Elvis’s next film scriptwriters can come up with a good hard hitting story. He says he wants to do away with the same old scenarios focusing on girls in bikinis and nightclub scenes which have been in the last 15 pictures.
March 9
Sometime during the night Elvis falls in the bathroom in his house at Rocca Place badly bruising his head. The Colonel arrives with a doctor soon after, x-rays are taken, but shows no fracture and Elvis is confined to his bed for a couple of days. This gives the Colonel the opportunity he has long been waiting for, he gathers all the guys into the living room and reprimands each and every one of them, but especially Larry Geller, he continually stomps his cane into the floor and says to the effect ‘Some people had better start looking for new jobs’. Vernon and Priscilla fly out immediately upon hearing of the accident and in the meantime Colonel Parker has dismissed Marty Lacker as co-foreman, thus leaving Joe Esposito in sole charge. Larry Geller is effectively banned from the group and everyone told there will be no more religious discussions and certainly no more books to fill Elvis’s head with.
March 20
Elvis returns to the studio after 11 days off to begin rehearsals for Clambake.
March 22
Principal photography begins with Elvis back to his old self as co-star Bill Bixby recalls many high-jinx on the set. Over the next two weeks both Easy Come, Easy Go and Double Trouble open Nationwide with both films grossing less than $2,000,000, this leaves Hal Wallis in no doubt that Elvis is no longer the attraction he once was.
April 12
Wrought-iron protective bars are fitted over the windows at Graceland, which can still be seen today replacing the old burglar proof screens that were fitted in 1963.
April 27
Elvis completes work on Clambake.
April 28
More rumours appear in the papers of Elvis’s imminent marriage. Meanwhile members of Elvis’s wedding party begin to assemble in Palm Springs with security so tight that not even close friends Lamar Fike and Alan Fortas receive invitations. Larry Gellar only learns of the wedding when he sees it on the front of a supermarket tabloid.
May 1
Elvis, Priscilla and the wedding party fly out to Las Vegas in 2 leased jets, obtaining a $15 marriage licence at 3.30 a.m. at the Clark County Court House. At 11.45 a.m. in The Aladdin Hotel on the 2nd floor, Suite of the Colonel’s friend and hotel owner Milton Prell, Supreme Court Justice David Zenoff marries Elvis and Priscilla. Only Joe Esposito and Marty Lacker, Elvis’s two best men are present. As Colonel Parker at the last minute decides the room is too small to accommodate everyone.
Everyone is present at the reception afterwards, with the exception of Red West (and his wife) who is furious at being excluded from the ceremony. He and Elvis will remain estranged for the next two years.
April 4
After two days honeymooning in Palm Springs the newly married couple fly back to Memphis. The following day she persuades Elvis to burn all the books the Colonel had banned.
May 8
Ann Margret marries the actor Roger Smith.
May 29
Elvis and Priscilla hold a reception at Graceland for friends, relatives and employees. They are dressed in their full wedding attire. The room just off the pool patio that recently held the now dismantled slot-car track is decorated in green and white for the 8.30 p.m. affair.
June 7
Elvis sends a guitar shaped flower arrangement to Ann Margret for her opening in Vegas. Something Elvis will continue to do for everyone of her Vegas openings until his death.
June 9
Priscilla learns she is pregnant just before leaving for California with Elvis and the gang as he is due to start work on his next motion picture Speedway. The larger than normal caravan of cars and tourers sets of for California including for the first and only time wives and girlfriends with the journey becoming somewhat of an extended family vacation much of which was captured on home movies by Joe Esposito.
June 19
Elvis reports to MGM for pre-production of Speedway, he presents co-star Nancy Sinatra with a car that has Speedway painted on one door and starring Nancy and Elvis on the other.
June 20
Soundtrack recording for Speedway takes place at the MGM Studio in Culver City.
June 26
Principal photography begins for Speedway.
July 12
On the movie set Elvis announces to all that Priscilla is pregnant. He later tells reporters ’This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me’.
August 8
Vernon begins to sell off pick-up trucks, mobile homes and cattle from the ranch as Elvis’s interest in horse back riding etc has virtually vanished.
August 18
Principal photography for Speedway is completed.
August 21
After completing looping on Speedway, after lunch Elvis has make-up tests for his next picture Stay Away Joe.
August 22
Elvis is scheduled to begin two nights of recording sessions, however the plans are scrapped when Elvis’s friend Richard Davis accidently knocks over and kills a gardener who steps out onto the road from behind a hedge near to Elvis’s Bel-Air home. The Colonel worried about bad publicity sends Elvis and the group off to Vegas.
August 27
Elvis spends some time at the ranch having now taking up a new hobby, target shooting, buying rifles, targets, ear protectors and other supplies. However by the end of September the ranch is up for sale.
September 10
Re-scheduled recording sessions begin for the next two days, with Elvis cutting some of his most contemporary recordings to date, these include Guitar Man written by Jerry Reed who also plays guitar on the track, the resulting song sets a good feeling for the rest of the session at which Elvis also cuts the song Big Boss Man, however the mood quickly changes when music publisher Freddy Beinstock gets into an argument over publishing rights with Reed and the songwriter storms out. Recording session continues the next day.
October 1
Elvis is at Nashville’s Studio B to record three songs for the Stay Away Joe soundtrack. Elvis is so discouraged with the quality of the material that he goes as far as to have his record producer Felton Jarvis swear to never release one of its songs, Dominic (a song which Elvis sings to a bull) on record.
October 5
Elvis spends a few days in Vegas before travelling to Arizona for location shooting.
October 9
Principal photography begins on Stay Away Joe in Sedona, Arizona.
October 26
Priscilla and several wives and girlfriends fly out from Memphis to Sedona.
November 6
Now that Elvis’s movie contracts have ran out Colonel Parker is busy lining up new work for Elvis. He makes a deal with National General Pictures for one film (Charro) and also continues negotiations which had begun in October with NBC vice-president Tom Sarnoff for a Christmas special to be shown in 1968.
November 22
Location shooting is completed for Stay Away Joe.
November 28
Elvis completes filming and is released by MGM.
November 30
Plans are drawn up for a nursery and other renovations on the second floor at Graceland.
December 10
Elvis and Priscilla fly to San Francisco to visit her family who are currently stationed at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento, they return to Memphis six days later.
December 25
Elvis and Priscilla spend Christmas at Graceland. Soon after the ranch is shut down with the remaining horses etc. moving back to Graceland where Elvis and his friends continued to ride around the grounds.
December 31
For the first time Elvis holds his New Years Eve party at the thunderbird lounge on Adam Street, several singers entertain including Sun Records rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley. Elvis and Priscilla dance several times including once to his request of ‘Summertime’.