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Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:19 PM

As Told By..... MYRNA SMITH


If Elvis was in Las Vegas when he wasn't performing, he would go down and gamble in the casino.
Nobody would bother him.
But if he was working Vegas, it was a different story.
The hotel would be flooded with Elvis fans.
I remember one day during one of his engagements, he came down out of his suite on the elevator, alone.
All of a sudden I see just hordes of people running toward the elevator.
I had no idea what was going on, but it turned out Elvis had walked out of the hotel, gotten into a cab, and gone down to the gun shop to buy some guns.
It was always like that if he tried to venture out while he was working.
When he wasn't working there, somehow he kind of blended in.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:20 PM

When Elvis celebrated his 39th birthday on January 8, 1974, the entire town of Memphis got in on the festivities and set up a parade for their most popular resident.
Hundreds of people paraded down Elvis Presley Boulevard, led by the Mayors of both Memphis and Tupelo, Mississippi.
The L.C. Humes High School band supplied the parade music.
As they neared Graceland, the band slid into a jazzy rendition of "Happy Birthday".
Elvis heard the music and excitement coming from the street and ran out of his house.
He was then treated to the sight of the parade and the musical salute by the band.
Both Mayors walked up to the gates and yelled out their best wishes to the King.
Elvis could not believe that the Mayors would actually get involved in something so trivial as a parade for his birthday.
He could not see what the big deal was and could not understand why they would go to so much trouble for him.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:22 PM

A radio station in Jacksonville, Florida set up a contest to promote Elvis' April 25, 1975 show at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The disc jockey had ten pairs of tickets for the show and wanted to give them away via a radio contest.
If a caller could correctly answer questions about Elvis and his career, they would win the tickets.
The response to the contest was so great that the central telephone system was knocked out.
Phones went dead for miles around.
The station had to cancel the telephone contest and ended up giving the tickets to listeners who visited them at the station.
The only prerequisite to winning a pair of tickets was that whoever came in had to be wearing blue suede shoes or had to have a hound dog.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:24 PM

In the 1970's, Elvis frequented the Four Flames restaurant, located just 15 minutes away from Graceland.
Elvis usually went there more to relax and enjoy the atmosphere than to eat.
While slowly sipping a vanilla malted shake or a soda, Elvis would watch the people enjoying themselves.
Once in a while he actually ordered dinner and ate it over the course of a couple hours.
No matter what Elvis ordered, the owner of the restaurant would not let him pay his tab.
Sometimes Elvis and the owner got into little spats over paying, but in the end, Elvis always lost.
He was never allowed to pay his tab.
To compensate, he left the waitress a $100 tip.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:27 PM

In 1939, when Elvis was four years old, he received a spanking from his father and decided to run away from home.
He packed himself a couple of sandwiches and slipped out the door right after his parents went to bed.
Elvis was lonely, cold, and scared, but as he was intent on teaching his parents a lesson, he kept moving down the darkened road.
Fifteen minutes later, he heard a car approaching.
He moved closer to the side of the road, hoping he wouldn't be seen.
When the truck began to stop alongside him, the sound of the brakes was familiar.
It was his fathers truck.
Elvis ate one of his sandwiches during the short drive home.
Gladys was waiting for them outside, ringing her apron with nervous hands.
She thanked God that her son was safely back in her arms and led Elvis inside.
He received another spanking from his father, but, ths time, instead of running away, Elvis hugged and kissed his parents.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:29 PM

Elvis committed his first sin when he was just four or five years old.
He stole two empty cola bottles from a neighbor's porch.
When his mother questioned him about the bottles, he admitted that he had taken them from the Harris' porch without permission.
Gladys took him by the hand and dragged him back to the Harris' house.
Although Elvis was embarrassed at having to return the bottles, he was even more upset when Gladys annonced that he was to confess his sin at church the following Sunday.
She wanted to teach him a lesson about stealing that he would never forget.
When Sunday came, Elvis pretended he was sick.
His condition was instantly cured, however, when Vernon showed him a strap.
When the awful moment came, Gladys pushed Elvis up to the front of the Church and ordered him to confess in front of the entire Assembly of God congregation.
With tears brimming from his blue eyes and his head hanging low, Elvis whispered his wrong doing and then run out of the Church, crying.
He never again took anything without permission.
It was one lesson he learned the hard way.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:32 PM

In order to help support her family, Gladys was forced to get a job when Elvis was only a few months old.
She found a meager yet back-breaking job picking cotton for the Tupelo Garment Factory.
She could not afford and did ot want to leave Elvis with a babysitter, so she wrapped him in a blanket and took him with her.
After walking over a mile in the field, Gladys collected two sacks.
The first was used to collect cotton; the second was used to carry her son.
Elvis rested on a sack while Gladys plucked cotton from the seed pods.
As she moved down the row of plants, she pulled Elvis along.
When Elvis needed a diaper change, Gladys stopped picking and tended to her son.
When he was hungry, she stopped working and breast fed him until he had his fill.
Gladys continued to bring Elvis to the cotton fields until he grew active enough to require her full attention.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:34 PM

A few weeks before Priscilla gave birth, she and Elvis had to decide what to name their first child.
The four boy names they'd chosen were Vernon, Aron, Thomas, and John.
Elvis suggested Vernon after his father, but Priscilla was not crazy about the name.
She then came up with Aron after, Elvis' middle name, and both agreed to have that as a standby.
Thomas was for the colonel, and John was chosen because it was a strong name.
In the end both Elvis and Priscilla decided on, John Baron Presley.
Baron was a play on Elvis' and his stillborn brother's middle names, Aron and Garon.
The three girl names they selected were, Gladys, Josephine, and Lisa.
Glady's was Priscilla's choice in honor of Elvis' mother.
Elvis felt bad that he could not include or honor his paternal grandmother Minnie Mae, but neither he nor Priscilla liked the name Minnie.
Priscilla then came up with Josephine in honor of her step-father Joseph Beaulieu.
In the end the Presley's decided on Lisa.
Lisa Marie was the name chosen by Elvis and Anita Wood when they had discussed having a baby in the 1950's.
When Priscilla gave birth to a girl Elvis decided to keep the name.
The name Marie was rumored to have been in honor of Colenel Parker's wife, but that is not true.
Marie was Anita's Woods middle name, and Elvis chose his daughter's middle name in honor of his love for her, as well as because he genuinely liked the name.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:36 PM

When Elvis was offered a deputy's badge from Shelby County Sheriff Gene Barksdale in Memphis on September 1, 1976, he insisted on it being an authentic sheriff's badge with all its power and authority.
Sheriff Barksdale did not want to give him such "powers", as Elvis called it, because Elvis was only a civilian, after all.
When Elvis was refused the sheriff's badge, he became angry.
He threatened Barksdale, saying he would run against him in the upcoming election.
The sheriff knew that he would not be re-elected if Elvis did run.
Once the threat was understood, you can be sure Elvis was given the sheriff's badge, complete with all its "powers".

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:39 PM

A 10-year old boy named Donald Wilson had lost his immediate family to a horrific car accident.
After the funeral, the court awarded his grandmother custody.
A short while later, Donald suffered a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed as having a complicated kidney ailment.
His grandmother did not know what to do or how to help her sick grandchild.
The only thing that raised the boy's spirits was his Elvis Presley record collection.
One day, as Donald blasted his Elvis music, his grandmother went to her den and composed a letter to the singer.
She explained about Donald's ailments as well as his love for Elvis' music.
When Elvis received the letter he sat down to write a few encouraging words to the boy.
He put together a package which included several photos, current records, and a get well card.
He had each of his secretaries write a little something to the boy to show that everyone cared about him.
Elvis took the package to the post office himself and had it sent special delivery.
When Donald's grandmother brought the package up to his bedroom, the young boy cried out with glee.
He was amazed when he found the photos, records, and notes inside.
After reading Elvis' letter, Donald knew his loving grandmother had written to his favorite singer about him.
He ran over to her and hugged her tighly, crying as he thanked her.
After Elvis' package arrived, Donald got better and both he and his grandmother felt that they owed his recovery to Elvis and the love he had shown.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:40 PM

Because Elvis and Priscilla held different religious beliefs, they decided that Lisa Marie would not be baptized.
They wanted their daughter to be able to make her own decision about such things when she was of age.
Sometime after Elvis died Priscilla became a member of the Church of Scientology.
She is part of what is called the Celebrity Center branch in Hollywood., where discretion reigns and privacy is respected.
When Lisa Marie was 16 years old, she followed in her mothers footsteps and became a member of L. Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology as well.
She is still a member today. as are her two children.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:43 PM

Grandpa Vernon was ecstatic when Lisa Marie was born.
She was the first girl in a long time to be born in his immediate family and he could not have neen happier.
When it came time for Vernon to hold his granddaughter, Elvis roared with laughter.
Vernon hadn't held a baby in over 30 years, and he was scared.
Every time Elvis or Priscilla let Vernon hold Lisa Marie, he did so hesitantly.
He would hold her, look at her, and then begin to shake uncontrollably.
He was scared that he might drop or hurt her.
Vernon's knees wobbled and his hands and arms shook as he passed his grandchild over for someone else to hold.
The longest Vernon ever held baby Lisa Marie was about five minutes.
He reasoned that the baby was too small and too frail and he did not want to be held responsible if anything happened to her.
When Lisa Marie got older, Vernon lost his fear and played with the first girl in the Presley family everyday.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:46 PM

When Lisa Marie was four years old, she gave everyone at Graceland a big scare.
Elvis was on tour at the time, having left just two days before.
Vernon was named babysitter until Priscilla came to get Lisa Marie; Elvis and Priscilla were seperated and Priscilla had moved to their home in Bel Air.


The minature female version of Elvis went into the bathroom and locked herself in.
Vernon could not get her to come out. He feared she would hurt herself or accidently take some pills, thinking they were candy.
He called the local fire department for help.
While he waited for the firemen to arrive, he tried to open the lock by inserting thick wire and other keys, but the lock was too good.
He even tried to slide a credit card in at the side of the door to push the lock open, but it didn't work.
When the firemen finally arrived, Vernon was in tears.
The fire chief checked out the lock and then asked for a bobby pin.
After fiddling it back and forth and twisting the pin a little the lock opened.
A relieved Vernon saw Lisa Marie sitting on the closed toilet seat with her arms crossed against her chest, and an angry look on her face.
When Vernon called for her to come out, she stomped out of the bathroom with her arms still crossed.
She gave her grandfather an angry look as she passed, walked into her room, and slammed the door.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:48 PM

When Lisa Marie's first baby tooth came out, Elvis named himself her personel tooth fairy.
Lisa Marie was advised to put her tooth under a pillow at night and was told the tooth fairy would come and exchange the tooth for money.
She ran up to her room and put the tooth under her pillow early so that she wouldn't forget.
The following morning she woke up to find a $5 bill under her pillow.
Lisa Marie jumped and yelled all around Graceland, waving the money at everyone.
When Elvis got up several hours later, Lisa Marie showed him what the tooth fairy had left for her.
Elvis played it cool and acted very happy for her.
When Lisa called to tell her mother about it, Priscilla was shocked.
She scolded Elvis and told him the going rate for a child's tooth was 50 cents!

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:50 PM

Elvis was obsessed with cleanliness, germs, and bacteria from a very early age.
He was especially opposed to using other people's dining utensils.
As a result, he carried his own little utensil kit with him wherever he went.
Gladys was embarrassed by Elvis' behavior.
She scolded him, telling him that people would think he was crazy if he brought his own silverware when invited to their homes.
Elvis explained that no matter how often people washed their utensils, they could not get rid of all the germs and odors.
He told his mother that she should not worry about what people thought, but what her own son felt. Gladys' heart melted.
Elvis' obsession stayed with him throughout his life.
When drinking out of coffee cups that others had used, he drank from the area where the handle meets the rim, ensuring that others had not used the same spot.
In addition, he never shared his food or allowed anyone to eat off his plate.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:53 PM

In 1942, Elvis was involved in his first school fight.
When he got home, he was sporting a large shiner on his left eye.
Gladys took one look at Elvis' bruises and torn clothes and called for Vernon.
Elvis told his parents about the fight and how he'd lost.
Vernon told his son to fight back harder, not to yield to another boys punches, and above all, not to lose.
Gladys was horrified by her husbands advice.
Vernon told her that no son of his was going to be pushed around and that Elvis had to learn to protect himself.
While his parents bickered, Elvis went outside and began to shadow box.
His father was right: he was a Presley, a fighter, a survivor, and had to win.
The next time Elvis was picked on by a bigger boy, he was not afraid.
He looked his apponent squarely in the eye, dodged the boys punches, and landed several of his own, knocking the boy down.
The champion proudly told his father about his win.
Gladys was very upset that her husband had turned their son into a fighter, but Vernon was proud.
He congratulated Elvis and then gave him some money for a movie.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:55 PM

In 1944, Vernon taught Elvis how to drive a car.
Vernon sat in the passenger seat of the 1934 Ford, offering instruction to his son.
Elvis loved to drive; whenever his father asked him if he'd like to go for a spin, Elvis ran like lightning to the car.
The neighbors found it peculiar that Elvis was allowed to drive as such an early age.
He could barely see over the dashboard, so it was quite an amusing sight to see the young Presley behind the wheel.
In order to reach the accelerator and brakes, Elvis had to adjust the drivers seat all the way forward, sit on the edge, and stetch his legs as far as he could.
Every time the big old Ford was seen cruising around with no driver, the neighbors knew it was Elvis.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 09:57 PM

AS TOLD BY... GEORGE KLEIN


There was a mayor in Memphis who really liked Elvis and wanted to honor Elvis in some way.
There were a lot of fans who kept saying, "Why don't you name something for Elvis ?".
So finally they decided to rename Higway 51 South, which runs {in front of} Graceland, as "Elvis Presley Boulevard".
They asked me to find out what Elvis thought about the idea.
Elvis said, "Look, I don't want to make a statement because either way I could look bad.
If I said yes, it would look like I had a big ego; If I said no, it would look like I'm a snob or I'm not happy that they're doing this.
I can't win either way - just tell them I'll be happy, I'll be flattered, I'll be extremely honored if they name a street after me.
But by the same token, if they don't, I won't care; I won't get mad; it won't bother me in the least".
So, I told them and they passed a resolution and named the boulevard after him.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 6 2008, 10:11 PM

There's more to come!!

Posted by: tcbndixie Nov 6 2008, 11:25 PM

WOW! What a great wealth of information!! Thanks so much for shaing these gems with us! I never tire of reading about this man!! Looking forward to more!

Posted by: footagecollector Nov 7 2008, 12:30 AM

That was a great read, can't wait for more.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:01 AM

Here are some more stories:

Teenagers In Trouble.....

The Chiefs of police in both Los Angeles and Memphis stated that Elvis had helped many people out of various situations.
In the 1970's, it was reported that Elvis occasionally helped out teeagers who were in trouble with the law, sometimes even paying their bail.
Before the policemen would let the teens go, however, Elvis would lecture them for a couple of hours about life, law, limits, and obeying the rules.
He read their rap sheets and lectured them about what they'd done wrong and what they could, and should do to be better citizens in the future.
Once these boys had their ears full of Elvis' words, they thanked him for bailing them out and ran off as fast as they could.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:02 AM

The King Sent Her Flowers...

A young woman by the name of Peggy Thompson was an avid Elvis Presley fan for many years.
In the 1970's, she purchased tickets to one of his shows near her hometown.
It would be her first Elvis concert.
Unfortunately, Peggy suffered an illness and was forced to have surgery.
To make matters worse, the only day the surgeon was available to perform the operation was on the day of the Elvis concert.
Unable to postpone the surgery, Peggy was forced to miss the show.
Elvis found out about Peggy's situation from a fan who had a rendezvous with one of his men.
He decided to send Peggy a dozen long-stemmed roses tied with one of his baby blue scarves.
Peggy was in the intensive care unit when the flowers arrived.
When she was released from the ICU later that day, she saw the marvelous bouquet.
She saw the blue scarf, read Elvis' name on it, and couldn't believe that the King had sent her flowers!.
Peggy marveled at how Elvis found out about so many unfortunate, sick, needy people, and how he always managed to make them feel better with his love and kindness.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:06 AM

AS TOLD BY... DAVID STANLEY

Elvis had a jet he leased to fly from show to show.
There were threats to bomb that plane, as well as other threats.
We walked out of our hotel on Long Island {New York}, where we were playing the Nassau Coliseum, and a guy pulled a switchblade on Elvis. I saw the blade reflecting in the sunlight.
He had it down by his side.
Elvis and I were walking together, and the guy moved forward as we moved forward, so I jumped across in front of Elvis and grabbed the guy by the back of the hair and slammed him agaist the wall.
I had my gun down his throat until the others took him away.
We ran into that from time to time, but that was the worst situation we had.
Other times, some guy would try to punch Elvis out - jealous boyfriends, jealous husbands, even sometimes just fanatical women.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:07 AM

AS TOLD BY... SAM THOMPSON

There were very few real threats to Elvis' person - threats as a result of malice - but there were threats that sprang from the love Elvis' fans had for him.
They all wanted a piece of him, and there were millions of fans and only one Elvis.
I've taken Elvis into hotels and places where fans would literally pull his hair out.
They didn't want to hurt him, but they wanted a piece of him.
After every show, Elvis would have claw marks on his hands, and he would have to wear Band-aids; if you see pictures of him during and after shows, you'll see Band-aids.
People would accidently claw him when reachng for him and reaching for scarves.
Somewhere out in the Midwest, I took a lady offstage who had scratched Elvis in an attempt to get to him.
As I was taking her off, she was yelling excitedly to her friends, "Look, Elvis' skin!".
It was bizarre.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:12 AM

Denise Sanchez, an 8-year-old girl from Santa Fe, New Mexico, had been a huge Elvis Presley fan since she was four.
After the Christmas holiday in 1971, Denise was diagnosed with cancer.
She had to have her leg and part of her hip amputated when a large tumor was detected.
A very short while later, the cancer spread to her lungs.
Her doctors stopped the chemotherapy treatments she had been undergoing, stating that there was no more they could do for her.


Several months later, Denise's mother, Trudi, found out that Elvis was performing in Albuquerque on April 19, 1972.
Mrs. Sanchez was able to get two tickets to the show.
Her daughter was thrilled.
As the day of the concert neared, Denise suffered a relapse and was given the devastating news that she was too sick to travel the 65 miles to see Elvis.
The young girl cried for several days and begged her mother to take her to the show.
She wanted to see Elvis in person before she died.
Finally, her mother and her doctor agreed to let her go to the performance.


Two days before the show, Mrs. Sanchez was advised to go to the newspapers and have them print a story on Denise.
Trudi went to the Albuquerque Journal and spoke with a reporter named Grace Marie Prather.
Prather helped Trudi and Denise set up a meeting with Colonel Parker in the early afternoon on the day of the show.
They spoke to Parker at length about Denise's condition and her wish to see Elvis.
Parker told the women that they should come to the Hilton Hotel at 4 PM and he would see what he could do.
Trudi brought her daughters, Denise and Paula, and her two best friends, Emma and Belinda Cantu, to the hotel at the appointed time.
Prather also went along to document the meeting.
The Colonel instructed them to come to the show at 5 PM.
Denese could meet Elvis after the concert.


The entire clan drove to the Tingley Coliseum and were seated in special box seats.
Denise fidgeted throughout the entire show, anxious for the performance to end so that she could meet her idol.
During intermission, the Sanchez party was invited backstage to Elvis' dressing room.
Denise was scared, fearing Elvis' reaction to her missing leg and hip and to her bald head.
Elvis took one look at the child and knelt down in front of her, kissing both her cheeks.
He told Denise that she was beautiful.
Trudi started crying.
She could not believe how loving Elvis was to her daughter and saw how happy and alive he made her feel.
Denise shyly unrolled a poster of the King and asked him to autograph it.
Elvis signed it: "To Denise - Love You, Elvis Presley".
Denise then asked him to sing her a song once he went back onstage.
As the second part of the concert began, Elvis dedicated the first song, "You Gave Me A Mountain", to Denise.
He explained to the audience, "This song is for a very special little girl I just met backstage - Denise".
Denise was thrilled and cried through the entire song.


When Denise got back home she told her mother that under no circumstances was she going to clean her face and wash off Elvis' kisses.
Three days later, Denise had still not washed her face.
On the fourth day, her mother finally forced her to clean her face.
Elvis made little Denise's short life a happier one.
His love for her helped her to feel better and eased her discomfort.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:15 AM

CONCERTS WERE SCARY SOMETIMES
AS TOLD BY...MAE AXTON

Girls would try to get onstage with him, especially when he was throwing those scarves out.
In Oklahoma City one night I saw a girl get so excited she jumped out of the balcony.
It might have killed her, but the people below her broke the fall.
It was scary sometimes in those concerts.

SHAUN NIELSEN

One time Elvis threw a scarf out to a lady, and the lady made the mistake of crossing it around her neck.
Suddenly there was one woman on one side and another on the other, both pulling at that scarf, literally choking the middle woman to death!.
Elvis yelled, "Here now! Hold it!.
Hold it!" and he threw scarves to the women on both sides of her.
I do believe they would have choked the woman to death right there on the front row, all because they were determined to get that scarf.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:16 AM

During the filming of Kid Galahad in the winter of 1961, Elvis' friends ordered a custom-made director's chair as a prank gift.
The chair had "MR. PRESLEY" stamped on the back of it; they presented it to the star on the first day of filming in mid-November.
Elvis turned to the crew, the director, and the producer and asked, "Mr. Presley ?.
Why so formal ?".
Director Phil Karlson said, "Only the best for our star!".
Elvis hated the formality of it.
He wanted to be treated like one of the boys, and the chair destroyed that illusion.
The next day a new chair replaced the formal one.
The bright red canvas sported bold print that read "JUST PLAIN OL' ELVIS".
Elvis laughed out loud and plopped into the chair.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:19 AM

Elvis gave a couple from Arkansas a check for $1,000 in 1969.
The money was to get the couple back on their feet after a series of disasters.
When 34-year-old James Bullock was hospitalized with serious injuries, as the result of a car accident, his car was stolen from the hospital parking lot.
He was forced to call a taxi and pay the large fare with money he really couldn't afford to spare.
To top it off, later that same year, Bullock lost his arm and his leg in a tractor accident.
His wife was forced to get a menial job in order to support them.
Whatever money she earned went toward bills and a little bit of food each week.
They were in serious financial trouble.
A local newspaper found out about the couple's bad luck and printed a short article about them.
Elvis happened to see the story and, after reading of their tragedies, he wrote out the check.
He had one of his men drive to the adjacent state and hand-deliver the check to the couple.
The Bullocks claimed that Elvis was an angel sent from God.
The money came in very handy and they were able to pay their rent and eat well for a few months.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:22 AM

On June 25, 1973, a summer camp in Holden, Louisiana was robbed by thieves.
They stole everything that was not bolted to the floor.
A local newspaper covered the story of this misfortune and printed it in their June 26th issue.
Several major newspapers picked up the story.
When Elvis saw the story in the Cincinnati Post on June 28, 1973, he was shocked at the crass boldness of the thieves and it made him angry.
That same day, Elvis ordered new equipment from a local sports store in Holden and had it delivered to the camp.
He completely restocked the camp and turned the unhappy situation around.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:23 AM

During a break on the set of Loving You, Elvis allowed his female lead, Dolores Hart, to set his hair in curlers.
Elvis had always been curious about how he would look in curly or wavy hair, and let Dolores talk him into trying it.
Five minutes later, director Hal Kanter came to Hart's dressing room and burst out laughing.
What a sight Elvis was, with little pink rollers all over his head.
Kanter laughed so har and for so long that he started to get stomach cramps.
He had to leave because he could not look at Elvis anymore.
Producer Hal Wallis stopped Kanter and asked why he was laughing so hard.
Wallis caught Hart frantically yanking the rollers out of Elvis' hair.
Elvis could not believe his bad luck: both producer and director had caught him in curlers!.
He was reluctant to come out onto the set, and when he did, he saw both Kanter and Wallis hiding smiles.
Elvis reshot his scene with Hart and ran quickly back to his dressing room as soon as it was done.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:27 AM

While Elvis was filming "Live A Little, Love A Little" in downtown Los Angeles in April 1968, two old ladies started running towards him.
When Elvis got in their way, they pushed him so hard they knocked him down.
Elvis then realized that the women were after his co-star, Rudy Vallee.
As he lay on the ground, Elvis watched the women make a mad dash to get Vallee's autograph before he got into his car.
Elvis went over to his famous co-star and asked the man how he kept the women interested.
Vallee replied, "Sex appeal, my dear boy!".
Elvis walked away laughing.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:28 AM

During his senior year at L.C. Humes High School in 1953, Elvis' history teacher was Mildred Scrivener.
She was also his homeroom teacher.
One day, Elvis was caught eating an apple in her class.
This was unusual because the school had a strict rule of no eating outside the cafeteria.
Mrs. Scrivener did not reprimand Elvis for eating in class, nor did she stop him from finishing the apple.
She knew that he came from a very poor family, and surmised that he did not have any money to buy lunch in the cafeteria.
She could not force herself to stop him from eating, even though she knew she was allowing him to break the rules.
The following day, Mrs. Scrivener found a bright red apple sitting on her desk.
She knew right away that it was Elvis' way of thanking her.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:31 AM

When Elvis was young, he wanted a bicycle so that he could have a newspaper route, but his parents could not afford to spend the $55.
In addition, Gladys did not want her son to have a bicycle because she was afraid he would have an accident.
After much scrimping and saving, Vernon and Gladys were finally able to purchase a bicycle for their son in 1948.
Elvis couldn't thank them enough.
His happiness was short-lived, however, when he fell off the bike and couldn't move his arm.
Gladys and Vernon drove their son to the hospital where they were given the bad news.
Elvis had a broken ulna.
The Presleys did not know what an ulna was and they feared for the worst.
They were quite relieved when the doctor explained that their son had a broken arm.
Elvis would have to wear a cast for two months.
The next day, Gladys gave Vernon orders to get rid of the bike and use the money to pay the medical bill.
Elvis was silent as his precious bicycle was sold to one of his best friends.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:32 AM

On occasion, Elvis would allow some of the fans waiting at the Graceland gates to come up to the house.
One night in 1963, he told one of his men to invite all the girls at the gates.
He was very surprised when approximately 150 girls walked into Graceland.
Elvis chose his ten favorites and told his men to select theirs and enjoy themselves.
Each man had to entertain ten girls.
Everyone had the time of their lives that night.
Whenever the word "party" came up in conversation, Elvis would mention that party and he and his friends would howl like wolves at their fond memories.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:34 AM

During one party, Elvis was desperately craving peanut butter cups.
When he was unable to find any in the house, he asked a young boy to go down the street to buy a carton of his favorite candy.
The boy, all too eager to run an errand for Elvis, agreed.
Elvis gave him $10 and told him where to go.
The boy ran to the store, bought the candy, and ran all the way back.
He did not want to make Elvis wait.
Elvis ripped open the carton, took two packs of peanut butter cups for himself, and distributed the rest amongst his guests.
After devouring the candy, Elvis approached the young boy and asked, "Can I have my change back, please ?"

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:36 AM

Elvis was talking to several girls at a party one day when he noticed a girl sitting all alone, crying.
He excused himself from his adoring harem and went over to the sad guest.
He sat next to the girl, put his arms around her, and let her cry on his shoulder.
He asked her to explain why she was crying before she flooded the entire room.
In between sobs, the girl explained that she was unhappy about turning 27 the following day.
Amused by her reason for crying, Elvis laughed.
He hugged her closer and said, "Honey, don't worry about it.
You'll grow out of it".
He exploded in a fit of laughter, and then the girl began to laugh as well.
She kissed Elvis and thanked him for making her feel better.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:39 AM

Elvis was reunited with his co-star Yvonne Craig the day before they began filming Kissin' Cousins in October 1963.
He invited her out to dinner, and she gladly accepted.
Afterwards, they decided to go to Elvis' house to watch some television.
Elvis fell asleep while watching an old movie and Yvonne decided to leave.
Not wanting to disturb her sleeping date, she covered Elvis with a blanket, turned off the tv and the light, and went out the door.
Just before locking the door Yvonne remembered that Elvis hated the dark.
She went back inside.
After turning on a light, Yvonne went to the front door and walked out, closing the door behind her.
As she turned to walk away, she saw five police cars in front of the house.
Policemen, guns in hand, were aiming their weapons at her.
Yvonne had activated a silent alarm.
The sergeant in charge questioned her about who she was and what she was doing there.
The policemen then rang the doorbell and woke Elvis up.
He verified Yvonne's story and they let her go.
Elvis laughed at her for getting into such a situation and called her a silly bird.
The following morning on the set, Elvis popped into her dressing room and asked her if she'd set off any more alarms.
Yvonne told him to shut up and get out; she was embarrassed enough and did not want to keep being reminded of the incident.
Although she was a little piqued at Elvis when the scene was finished they walked hand in hand back to his dressing room.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:45 AM

As Told By..... SAM THOMPSON

One time my sister Linda, my wife Louise, and I had been down with Elvis to see the old Circle G Ranch in Mississippi and were on our way back to Memphis in Elvis' Stutz Bearcat.
We passed a little black boy, maybe ten or eleven years old, by the side of Highway 51.
It was summer; it was hot - dust in the air.
The kid was caked in dust, sitting at a little watermelon stand.
We had the entourage, about four or five vehicles, and Elvis was in the lead.
{As we go by} Elvis pulls over.
Of course, everybody pulls over after him.
Everybody jumps out - Red and everybody.
They're looking around.
This is in the middle of nowhere.
This little kid - I'll never forget his face.
I know he knew who Elvis was, but he wasn't gonna let Elvis know that he knew.
He was a businessman, this kid.
He sat there and waited for Elvis to walk up.
Elvis had to initiate the conversation, "How much are the watermelons ?"
A price was established.
The kid was real tough and he wouldn't come off the price.
So finally Elvis just turned around and said, "We'll take the whole stand.
Pay him".
That's the only time the kid's visage cracked.
Elvis took one watermelon, the choice one, and put it in the back of the car.
Off we drove and left the entourage down there to settle up.
Elvis bought the whole watermelon stand, bought all those watermeons, and took them back to Memphis.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 08:47 AM

As Told By..... CHERYLE JOHNSON

Elvis again had to cancel shows, this time {May 4-16, 1973} at the Sahara Tahoe {Statelie, Nevada}.
He canceled out four days early because, it was reported, he was ill.



JAMES BURTON (musician)

We cut "Are You Sincere" at the Palm Springs house.
We had a remote truck brought up from Los Angeles.
Elvis cut the record right in the living room with his pajamas and robe on the whole time.
We did a couple more songs, but that's the only one that was a hit.



ALEX LOGAN

The Palm Springs house was different back then.
The rooms were papered red and black, and the carpet was mostly red.
I remember that Elvis had a big round bed and a red bedspread.
I came into the room one day, and he was in bed by himself.
I kidded him about how he knew what side of the bed to get up on.
Elvis had buttons that controlled all the lights, all the sound, and the security system.
He finally had to have bars put on the windows because people would climb the fence and get in there.
We were building him a master bedroom that overlooked the valley, but after he and Priscilla split up, he never completed it.
He never even put carpet in it; it just sat there.
We put a playroom in for Lisa Marie.
It took us about a year and a half to finish it.
They had her fourth birhday party there.



CHARLIE HODGE

Elvis liked to lay out by the pool, but he didn't want to get his body tanned, just his face, so he wore his robe.
He'd have {an electric} fan on him to keep cool.
He would eat a pan-fried hamburger steak and mashed potatoes from the kitchen, but he liked to grill steaks out by the pool and do a hot dog for Lisa Marie.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 11:32 AM

In the film Girl Happy, Elvis played Rusty Wells, leader of his own band.
His band members were Andy, Wilbur, and Doc, played by Gary Crosby, Joby Baker, and Jimmy Hawkins.
Rusty Wells and his Combo played at either the 77 Club or the Sandbar Club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
In the scene where the band plays "Startin' Tonight", Elvis accidently hit Jimmy Hawkins in the mouth with his guitar.
One of Jimmy's teeth was knocked loose and he was immediately sent to the dentist.
Elvis felt terrible for the accident and apologized to Hawkins several times.
From then on, the director made sure that the band members were spread out enough to keep everyone safe.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 11:35 AM

As Told By..... SHAUN NIELSEN

The first time I took the whole group (the group that was to become "Voice") to see Elvis, he flew us to Las Vegas.
Tom Jones was having trouble with his backup singers, and we were gonna be like a "gift" from Elvis to Tom.
We were put up in a nice hotel at Elvis' expense, and then he brought us up to his room to sing for Tom that night.
This had to cost him a lot of money.
We got up to sing, and I remember that right in front of us were Tom Jones, Bobbie Gentry, and Elvis Presley!
I was intimidated, to say the least.
Anyway, Tom told Elvis that he had just signed a contract with The Blossoms, and if he got rid of them he'd probably be sued, so he didn't feel like he could use us.
Afterwards, Elvis called us back up to his suite, and we sat there on the floor in the bedroom for a long time, just chatting.
He said, "Well, I know you're probably disappointed, so I've drawn up this little contract."
It was on a sheet of toilet tissue!
The opening line said, "For the sum of one hundred thousand dollars..."we would travel and sing and work with him and write songs for his music publishing companies.
He said, "Would you boys be interested in that?"
As soon as we revived ourselves, we said, "Sure! We'd love to do that".
That was in 1973.
That same hundred thousand dollars would be equal to two hundred fifty to three hundred thousand dollars today.
After he signed the "contract" with us, Elvis went to the phone and called hs dad.
He said, "Daddy, I just want you to know I've finally got my own group".
Those were his words.
We were basically just to travel and sing with him when he felt like it.
Sometimes he'd send a plane for us in Nashville, just to take us to Memphis to go to the movies!
Then sometimes after the movies we'd go back to Graceland and sing all night.
That basically was our job.
We also opened his show at the Las Vegas Hilton for two or three years.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 11:38 AM

Elvis nearly suffered fatal injuries on the set of Loving You in January of 1957.
He had just finished shooting a scene and had stepped back up onto the set when some instinct told him to move.
Three seconds later the entire light structure crashed to the ground.
Elvis would have been crushed had he not moved.
The studio wanted no more accidents with their young, multi-million dollar actor.
A stage-hand was ordered to stand within earshot of Elvis to ensure that nothing happened to him.
The director and producer had the crew check and stabilize all of their equipment.
An entire day was lost in taking these precautions, but it was better to lose a day than to lose the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 11:41 AM

In March 1967, Elvis was working on the movie "Clambake". While he was having his make-up done by make-up man Dan Greenway, one of the crew members tossed a lit firecracker into the trailer.
An all-out firecracker war was soon under way.
Elvis lit a firecracker to toss under a crew members chair.
He misjudged, however, and the cracker landed on top.
As the crew member sat down, the firecracker blew a hole in his pants.
Elvis laughed so hard that he did not hear one of his bodyguards behind him until a larger cracker popped right under his own rear end.
He quickly ran to his dressing room and retrieved his own stash of fireworks.
The firecracker fights continued for several days.
The set looked and sounded like a war movie.
Even director Arthur Nadel got involved in the action; he eventually appeared on the set sporting a German war helmet for protection.
Rear ends were singed and fingers were burned, but by the time some action was finally caught on film, everyone was in a great mood and it showed.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 11:42 AM

On June 16, 1966, Elvis started work on his new movie, "Double Trouble", with Annette Day.
Day was only 18 years old when she was hired; she was nervous about being in her first movie as well as meeting and playing with the famous Presley.
Always in a playful mood, Elvis decided to play a prank on Day.
He got a rubber vulture from the prop room and attached it to his arm.
He then went to Day and asked her if she'd like to see his new pet.
He shoved the vulture in her face, making her scream.
She nearly tumbled backwards trying to get away from the bird.
It took Day over ten minutes to compose herself, Elvis kept apologizing - in between fits of laughter.
When she finally forgave him, Elvis told her he'd never seen anyone's eyes bulge so much.
He soon had the young actress laughing as well.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 11:45 AM

As Told By..... DR. GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

Unfortunately, Elvis felt that in order for something to be more effective, it had to be given by a shot.
That's the reason that we gave him decongestants by injection at times.
Elvis had a phobia about going onstage and his voice cracking, or not being able to project as well as he could.
Even though he may have felt all right before going onstage, he felt that somehow a shot would protect him from something bad happening.
I don't know if he'd been embarrassed at some time or another onstage, or what may have happened, but it was difficult trying to get away from giving him shots all the time.



BECKY HARTLEY

I do know Elvis would get "desert throat" out in Vegas.
Before he would sing he would have to have shots and things. Mr. Presley had me write a letter to one doctor because he was wondering why vitamin B-12 shots cost what they did, and exactly what all did they do?
The doctor wrote back and said he couldn't, naturally, divulge that information. Vernon was concerned about it.



DR. GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

Every time Elvis got a shot, {the bodyguards} would think that it was some sort of narcotic or something, and that wasn't true.
He was getting some allergy shots and B-12 shots (he was one of those people who thought that a B-12 shot helped him).
He would feel better after one; whether it actually helped him or not, I don't know.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 11:47 AM

In the mid-1970's, Elvis heard from a friend about a boy who was almost blind.
The boy needed a very delicate operation to regain his sight and his family did not have enough money to pay for the surgery.
Elvis contacted the boy's hospital, set up a date for the operation, and hired the best eye surgeon in Memphis to perform the risky procedure.
Elvis did not want to call the boy's family himself; instead, he had the hospital inform the family that "someone" had arranged and paid for the operation.
The youngster and his family were ecstatic about the unexpected news.
The operation was a total success and the boy's sight was fully restored.
All of the hospital and doctor bill were paid in full before the boy ever came in for the surgery, and no word was ever spoken by the staff in regards to who the mysterious benefactor was.
The family never knew who funded the boy's miracle.
Elvis was extremely happy that his riches could help so many people.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 11:51 AM

As Told By..... SHAUN NIELSEN

Elvis came to the National Quartet Convention in Nashville several different times.
They'd bring him around to the backstage door and he'd wait there until everybody was onstage, to make as little commotion as possible.
They would just kind of sneak him in.
We would always ask him if he wanted to be introduced, and sometimes he'd walk out and wave and go backstage.
It was always quite an event when he was there.



JAMES BLACKWOOD

Elvis would always attend the convention if he could.
I remember looking up one time and there he was backstage.
The auditorium was packed - like four or five thousand people there.
When Elvis came out onstage, it looked like a million light bulbs went off.
Elvis had a great feel for gospel music.
The Grammys that he won were all for his gospel albums, and they were best-sellers.
It's been said that Elvis copied his style originally from Jake Hess, who sang with the Imperials and the Statesmen Quartet.
Like myself, he'd been raised in the Pentecostal church.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 11:53 AM

In October 1974, Elvis sponsored a girl named Wardee Anderson in the annual bike-a-thon benefiting the Diabetes Association of California.
Wardee had approached Elvis at his Bel Air home and asked him to sponsor her.
Elvis got a kick out of the idea of riding a bicycle for money and agreed to pay Wardee $5 for every mile she rode.
In those days, the average amount of money paid per mile was 25 or 50 cents.
For someone to pay $5 per mile was unheard of.
By the end of the charity event Wardee had ridden 28 miles.
Elvis promptly wrote out a check in the amount of $140 and proudly presented it to the girl.
Elvis' contribution and participation helped to bring in $7,000 more than the anticipated mark of $50,000.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 11:56 AM

Although Elvis very rarely went to bars, one of the girls he dated requested that he take her to one.
Not wanting to disappoint her, Elvis took her where she wanted to go.
They sat at a table in the corner for some privacy.
Elvis ordered sodas for himself while his date drank martinis. Elvis overheard two men making remarks about him and his date and asked the men to apologize to her.
They laughed and said they would do no such thing.
Elvis asked the men to step outside, and when they refused to move, he grabbed one of them and knocked some sense into him.
He then grabbed the other man and did the same.
When he was through, Elvis forced them to apologize to his date. He then helped her with her coat and they left the bar.
They went back to his house for a little peace and quiet.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 11:57 AM

On March 26, 1976, Elvis and his electrician went to the lighting fixture store to purchase a new chandelier for Graceland.
While driving down the highway, they spotted an overturned truck.
Elvis stopped his car and ran over to see what was happening.
He asked the police officer at the scene if he could be of any help, and the man turned around and yelled, "Yeah!.
Move your damn car out of the way!".
Elvis pulled out his sheriff's badge and showed it to the cop, but the officer was not impressed.
He said, "That's nice.
Now move!".
Offended by the policeman's arrogance and bad attitude, Elvis stormed off and drove home.
The next day, the same policeman came to Graceland to attempt to apologize to Elvis.
After learning about the incident, the local sheriff had forced the cop to offer an apology.
When Elvis heard that the cop was at the gate, he refused to see him.
The policeman was shocked by Elvis' behavior.
When he got back to the station and told the sheriff what had happened, he was suspended without pay.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:02 PM

As Told By..... DR. GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

Elvis would call other physicians and get extra drugs.
I had to get full cooperation from everyone around him on trying to limit those extras he was getting.
I had to make everybody realize that if we didn't control the situation it would not only effect Elvis but also their jobs.
If Elvis didn't work, they didn't work.
Some of them may have thought they were doing him a favor by not telling him what was going on, but they were only hurting him and themselves.
There was {somewhat of} a turnaround about that time; if the pilots flew out, they'd call me; if someone had to go to the airport for Elvis, they'd call me.
Sometimes they'd pick up a drug shipment and bring it by my office.
But if he really wanted something, it was easy for him to procure it.
He would hide drugs everywhere.
During Elvis' first major illness in '73, while he was in the hospital, Joe Esposito and myself went to his room to go through everything.
He had three bottles {of drugs} that had a thousand capsules each: one was Dexedrine, one was Seconal, and the other was some other sedative - a thousand capsules in each bottle!.
We threw 'em all out.
This was a sporadic thing.
There would be times when everything was fine and he would take nothing, times he was totally drug free.

SONNY WEST

Elvis was very strong in his convictions.
If he had made up his mind that he was going to get off the drugs and never take another one - if he'd really made up his mind to do it - he'd have done it and never take another one again.
I mean, he could have done that just like he done other things; he just had to make up his mind.

DR. Forest Tennant Jr. (drug abuse expert)

I think that Elvis Presley, himself, had a very poor understanding of what his drugs were doing, or why he was even taking the drugs.
When you get your drug problem all mixed up and you don't know why you're taking your drugs, and you don't admit to yourself internally why you're taking your drugs, that's when you get yourself into problems.
That's exactly what happened to Elvis.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:05 PM

As Told By..... LINDA THOMPSON

Life with Elvis wasn't all Camelot.
There was a lot of heartache, and he exhibited a lot of self-destructive behavior, which was very difficult for me, you know - watching someone I loved so much destroy himself.



DR. GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

Elvis was always looking for shortcuts: "I oughta be able to lose weight faster!".
In November of '73, I believe, he found this physician out in California who said he was giving Elvis acupuncture, but he was injecting him with syringes.
He was using some local anesthetic, some Novocaine, some Demerol, and B-12, and of course Elvis felt great afterwards.
This is how that illness got started.
He'd had so much cortisone and Demerol in those shots he'd become addicted to Demerol and he was Cushingoid {his face and hands swollen, his body bloated} from too much cortisone.
He was so sedated when he came back to Memphis, he was carried off the plane.
I called an ambulance immediately.
There were a number of different side effects; his ulcer was bleeding due to the cortisone, and the pain medicine was covering all this up.
He was having a very difficult time breathing.
He was near death.
I hospitalized him and called in a couple of specialists to detoxify him.
That was the first time I'd had to have him detoxified, and I've always felt this {overdose} was an accidental thing.
While he was in the hospital we had to keep his chart locked up.
Everyone wanted to look at his records.
That particular admission, the lab technicians were selling his blood and urine.
It was crazy.
A lot of things we didn't put in the chart because it was difficult to keep quiet.
We didn't know how much Elvis was addicted, so we treated him like a Demerol addict.
We stopped the Demerol and gave decreasing doses of Methadone.
After he got well, Elvis was sorry; he tried to behave himself.
He promised not to do it again.



MARY ANN MOBLEY

In a way, Elvis was a victim of his fame.
I think that the doctors gave him whatever they thought he wanted.



DR. GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

I became very conscious that Elvis was using prescribed drugs more heavily after the acupuncture incident.
I felt if he could get sucked in on that so easily, he was a sitting target for anybody that wanted to play games with him.
He was naive in a lot of ways about doctors.
Right after he got well from the acupuncture and started working again, I'd find him going to different areas of the country wanting to get something for pain, something I didn't think he ought to have.
This was about the time he'd bought his airplanes, and it was convenient for him.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:09 PM

As Told By..... DR. GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

During one hospitalization some doctor mailed Elvis some drugs "to get well".
We couldn't even identify the drugs because they were locally made.
He didn't get to use them; we threw them away.
Once a doctor came to visit him and gave him some medications without informing me.
I called the doctor up and asked him what was going on.
He said they were all placebos; not to worry, there was nothing in those pills.
The bottle was sealed like from the factory.
They were the real thing.



DR. FOREST TENNANT JR.

Every internal medicine specialist, every general practitioner in the United States has some patients like Elvis Presley in their practice. It's well-known to doctors; and doctors, frankly, are at their wits end in managing these cases.
Doctors like myself are trying to work out what should be done with them, but it's a very frustrating thing for physicians.
Elvis Presley's case is routine in some circles of medicine.
National surveys show that ninety percent of drugs prescribed by a doctor are taken as prescribed.
However, doctors know that we have those few patients - that five or ten percent of patients that get these substances - that simply will not take them as prescribed.
They have this compulsive drive to take more and more.
We seem to be powerless to take them off of the drugs or to keep them from going from one doctor to another or one emergency room to another.
They just keep taking the drugs on a compulsive basis, and they refuse to go into any kind of therapy from a psychological point of view, or they have failed these treatments.
There is quite a difference in having addiction that is well-controlled versus uncontrolled addiction.
What we're finding out in those people who are going to compulsively take a drug to the point of addiction is that it's far better to have controlled medical addiction than uncontrolled addiction.
In other words, it's the lesser of two evils.



SONNY WEST

There's times when Elvis woke up in the middle of the night and just took things.
That's why he had someone watching him, so that he wouldn't take things and forget and accidentally take them again.
There'd been a couple times when Elvis almost OD'd but was saved.



DR. GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

We had a confrontation and I told him that I couldn't trust him to continue taking his own medicines.
I wasn't accusing him of overdosing or deliberately taking too much, but people with him would sometimes see him reach over and take something, and he'd be half asleep.
He'd wake up and go to the bathroom and take a pill just to be sure he could go back to sleep...and he didn't need it.
This is where we had gotten into a lot of problems earlier on the tour.
I said, "Let me handle your medications.
You call me if you need me".
This put more demand on me as far as getting rest at night.
It would have been easier to give them all to him and say, "Here, you take 'em", you know.
We did real well with this for a while, then he got to the point here he'd say, "Hey, I'm an adult.
I'm a grown man.
Why can't I handle my own medicines?"
Everybody else does.
Why do you have to baby-sit with me ?"
I said "We tried it the other way and you saw what happened.
This is the only way I can be responsible for it".
This came up every now and then, but he seemed to adjust to it.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:13 PM

As Told By..... CHERYL JOHNSON

In August, Elvis was again appearing at the Hilton in Vegas, and he cancelled two more shows.
They said it was because he had the flu, but a lot of fans were beginning to seriously worry about him.



ED PARKER

Once, at the Hilton, Elvis asked the guys to be quiet at the table; they didn't.
He pulled his gun and shot it five or six times into the air.
He put some holes in the ceiling; he got their attention!.
It was his form of release.
Some people try to make it mean something else, but it really didn't.
Another time Elvis asked the guys to turn the tv off because Robert Goulet was on it.
They didn't do it, so he came over and shot the tv out.
Some people said he was vicious - a madman; he was not.
That was just his strange form of entertainment.



FRED FREDRICK

Elvis shot his Ferrari.
It did something - ran off the road or stalled or whatever, so he just shot it.
He said he "killed it".
Somebody went down to get the car and towed it back up to the house.
Elvis said, "Take that damn thing right back where I left it.
It died!".
It still won't run.
It's still shot.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:15 PM

As Told By..... PAUL DOUGHER

We stayed close friends, but later on it got to be such a hassle to try to see him, I gave up.
Used to, you could just call and get right through.
I could almost always get him on the phone or go out to the gate.
They would let him know I was there and he'd say "Let him come up".
But later, with so many people trying to do that, I guess he wanted more seclusion.
When I would call up there, Charlie Hodge would get on the phone, or Joe Esposito.
They would say, "He's busy with something."
They probably wouldn't even let him know I was on the phone.
I finally gave up and would only see him when he came to see me.
He would come by and I would say, "I tried to get hold of you".
Just tell them who you are," he'd say.
"That doesn't always help," I explained.



EDDIE FADAL

The Memphis Mafia isolated him.
They were afraid someone else would encroach on their territory, so they tried to keep everybody else out.
It was a tough ring around Elvis, and I don't think Elvis realized that.
There were a lot of people who called who had business being with Elvis.
Some of the people were important recording artists and recording people that Elvis wanted to see, but they couldn't get through that group.



GEORGE KLEIN

Elvis knew that some of us, like Red West and I, weren't there for the money or to cash in on his fame - we'd been there before he became famous.
Sure we rode with him to the top, but we weren't Johnny-come-lately's.
We were friends with him when he was a nobody, and he never forgot that.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:19 PM

As Told By..... MYRNA SMITH

Jerry was probably more aware of the changes in Elvis than I was.
I knew he wasn't himself some nights when he came onstage; he wasn't quite awake yet.
He slept all day and didn't get up 'til late afternoon.
That's when he ate breakfast.
Then he got ready for his show.
And sometimes when he came down, he would still seem half asleep.
Even when he first walked onstage, he'd be half asleep.
But he'd just be doing his show, you know, because he knew it so well.
During the course of his show, whatever he'd had kicked in, and he woke up.
I've seen those times when he was having a hard time, but I'd be pulling for him so hard!
He looked to us for a lot of inspiration.
If you watched his shows you'd sometimes see him looking over at us, pleading with those eyes.
We'd be pulling for him.
We'd make more racket, trying to get him going, you know.
He'd pull it through somehow.
I've seen him sometimes when it was scary; when he was glassy-eyed and not really awake.
It was frightening to me 'cause I thought, "He is gonna fall."



RONNIE TUTT

I saw big changes in Elvis toward the end.
There were nights I sensed he was so tired or so down I felt like I had to physically hit the drums much, much harder than I had before.
There were times I would say to him in my mind, "Let's get up.
Let's get going!" just like he would mentally "say" things to me at times.
Sometimes he'd get my signal and he'd understand, but there were some nights when he just seemed so out of it, so down.
Also there'd be certain nights when the people were either too courteous, or too in awe, or too conservative, or whatever you want to say, but the audience wasn't responding like normal, or like what he was used to.
He'd get frustrated and turn around and say, "Let's get the hell out of here!" I mean, he'd do his show - he always respected the public in that sense - but he certainly wasn't going to stay on and do extra encores or work quite as hard.



TONY BROWN

The band included the rhythm section, about twenty backup singers, and about twelve horn players.
It was a big entourage.
We'd sit around back there in the dressing room and talk about the situation: "Why can't somebody get through to Elvis?"
"We should get Elvis on a health kick."
"I wish we could help him."
We'd say, "Ronnie Tutt, you know him really well.
Why don't you go talk to him ?"
But we all knew it was hopeless because Elvis was surrounded by that little circle of people, you now, all those so-called friends and all those bodyguards.
If you dared to ask, "Can I have five minutes alone with Elvis ?" the answer would be, "Absolutely not!"
They probably figured you were gonna ask him for a Cadillac or something.
If you did get five minutes with him, most likely they'd be opening the door, constantly checking to see what was going on.
It was totally unrealistic to attempt to get thirty minutes alone with him so you could say, "Elvis, man, you could go on a program and clean yourself up, lose some weight.
Man, you'd feel much better."
Those kind of conversations could never have taken place because when we got around Elvis, he controlled the conversation with idle chitchat.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:23 PM

As Told By..... LARRY NIX

The second time Elvis came to Stax {December 10-15, 1973} it was a lot more upbeat.
Elvis had his daughter and the girlfriend {Linda Thompson}.
They brought a girl just to answer the phone.
We had to keep a line open so Colonel Parker could call, I guess.
One of the things that struck me was when Elvis turned to one of his guys and said, "Hey! Hey, man, tonight's Monday night, right?"
And the guys says, "Yeah," and boom!
The guy leaves.
It wasn't fifteen minutes later, this guy comes in with a big ol' TV - all the tags on it.
He had run down and bought a tv and stuck it up there in the studio to watch Monday night football.
When they left, they left the tv - just got it to watch Monday night football one time.

Another thing that surprised me was if a writer would bring a song in on tape, I would have to transfer it to a disc.
Elvis wanted to review all the songs on record.
That may have been because it was easier to play parts of a record than to rewind a tape, I don't know.
They'd bring the song in, I'd make the acetate {disc}, and then I'd go in the studio while they were cutting it.
Elvis would listen, and he'd go do it.
The song would be done identical to the demo.
That dumbfounded me.
There was no imagination, no "Create a little bit here," you know!
Felton Jarvis was the producer, but all the production was already done on the demos.
They just copied them.

Elvis' daughter would be in there with him when he would perform.
Most times about ten or eleven o'clock she'd fall asleep, and he'd pick her up and carry her.
You could tell that, man, she was everything.
I mean, nothing else mattered.
He definitely took care of that girl.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:25 PM

As Told By..... DAVID BRIGGS

Elvis loved and worshipped Lisa Marie.
That pretty well sums it up.
He was crazy about her.
He wanted everybody to really be nice around her.
He really didn't want her to know some of the things that went on in his life.
He was as protective as any dad.
From what I saw, she was the most important thing in his life.



LINDA THOMPSON

Elvis was an enormously loving parent.
I was with Lisa from the time she was four years old until she was nine years old.
Every summer Elvis and I would have Lisa.
Every Christmas she would come and spend time with us.
We spent a lot of time with her.
Elvis gave her, I think, the one thing that is vital for a parent to give to a child, and that is unequivocal love.
She knew, unequivocally, that her daddy absolutely adored her.
Elvis was not always right.
He was not always as strict as he should have been.
He was not always as lenient as he should have been.
But he was always, always as loving as he should have been.
He let Lisa Marie know every waking moment how much he loved her.
He had no hesitation, no qualms about saying, "Your daddy loves you so much," and he would get tears in his eyes telling her.
You know, Lisa was just this little kid; she soaked it up.
She knew that her daddy adored her.
He would laugh with her.
He was very physically demonstrative in his affection, which is also very important.
He was really a loving, wonderfully doting parent.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:28 PM

As Told By..... GEORGE KLEIN

Barbara Streisand came backstage with Jon Peters to see Elvis {at the Hilton}.
They wanted him to do a lead part in their remake of A Star Is Born.
He liked the idea and Joe Esposito liked it and Jerry Schilling liked it.
I was just sort of on the fringes of the group at that time; I wasn't there every day with him, but I put in my two-cents worth.
I said, "Yeah, great idea."
Then he turns the deal over to Colonel Parker and it gets bogged down in money.
Colonel Parker told Streisand, "We will do it - million up front and fifty percent of the picture."



SHAUN NIELSEN

The Colonel made the demands for Elvis doing A Star Is Born so high, I think Streisand just couldn't afford to give him the part.
I never understood why Elvis didn't just say, "Colonel, these are the things I want to do.
Now if you want to go along, fine.
If you don't, you just go your own way.
I'm gonna do this."
But I think the Colonel had been there for so many years, Elvis was afraid to go it alone.



EDDIE FADAL

Elvis wanted to do some heavy stuff.
He wanted to do a picture like Marlon Brando did.
He would recite some of Brando's lines from The Wild One.
He could remember dialogue incredibly. Just hearing it a few times he could repeat it almost verbatim.
That long speech at the opening of the movie Patton, he could recite that whole speech.
He loved it.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:30 PM

Elvis had a library of approximately 250 books at Graceland, most pertaining to religion or to the occult.
Some of the books were...

01. The Bible

02. The Face Of Jesus - Frank O. Adams

03. The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran

04. Autobiography Of A Yogi - Paramahansa Yogananda

05. The Secret Teachings Of All Ages - Manly P. Hall.

06. Sun Signs - Linda Goodman

07. Cheiro's Book Of Numbers

08. The Masters - Anne Besant

09. Only Love - Sri Daya Mata

10. The Infinite Way - Joel Goldsmith

11. The Secret Doctrine - Helena P. Blavatsky

Elvis carried two trunks full of books whenever he traveled.
Many of the titles were suggested to Elvis by Larry Geller.
After Colonel Tom Parker finally broke Geller's influece on Elvis, those two trunks and their contents were burned.
Some of those who encouraged Elvis to read were actress Donna Douglas, martial-arts instructor Ed Parker, columnist May Mann, and mentor Larry Geller.
Martial-arts instructor Kang Rhee encouraged Elvis to read books on the martial arts.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:33 PM

Elvis called Schilling Lincoln-Mercury early one morning in 1974 and told him to prepare the showroom for him.
He told the dealer, Percy Kidd, that he would be down in 20 minutes.
Elvis was in a gift giving mood and wanted to buy Lincoln Continental Mark IV cars for his friends.
When the entourage arrived at the dealership, Elvis told each man to choose his favorite car.
He bought seven cars that day.
When he was told the price, he wrote out a check and never bothered to verify anything with the dealer.
When the men got back to Graceland with their new cars, Vernon asked Elvis for the receipt.
After looking it over, Vernon yelled at his son.
He had paid full price and tax for every car.
Vernon told him to go back and get some kind of discount for buying so many cars at once.
When Elvis told Kidd that he demanded a discount for buying seven cars, the man turned him down.
He stated that the deal was done and it was too late for a discount.
Kidd knew that Elvis could afford to pay full price without a discount, and he also knew that he would get a bigger commission that way.
Escorted by police, Elvis returned to the dealership at 3:00 PM to return the cars.
The dealer was stunned.
Because of his greed, he'd just lost a very big sale.
Later, Elvis went to Foxgate Lincoln where he bought the same seven cars - with a $1,500 discount.
When dealer Dewayne Curtis was unable to locate the color cars that Elvis was interested in, he called Percy Kidd and made a secret deal for Elvis.
Schilling Lincoln-Mercury owned Foxgate Lincoln!

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:38 PM

As Told By... GEORGE KLEIN

Elvis never lost his will to live; he loved life.
He enjoyed the tours.
But he was putting on weight and he knew that he didn't look his best; plus the fact that you can't be good every night - there's no possible way.
He was only human. Elvis, when he'd be feeling sick, he'd have to go out and perform in front of fifteen thousand people.
Only when he was deathly sick or just flat on his back would he cancel.
He went on the stage many times sick as a dog, with a bad cold or the flu or a sore throat.
He hated to disappoint his fans.
He loved those fans.



LARRY STRICKLAND

To me he was just a real simple kind of guy.
I mean, he was always Elvis; he didn't act like "Elvis."
He was very down to earth. He had a very normal side to him.
There was a part in the show where he liked to sing low on a couple of songs.
He would drop down an octave, and it was my job to match tones with him and sing along with him, fill it out down there.
Basically, if nobody looked at me, they would think that Elvis was singing those low notes.
We got to where we could do it right together.
He would never have had to let the audience know that it wasn't really him; but every night after our song, Elvis would walk over and point to me to let people know that it wasn't really him singing that low.
He could have just gone right on and people would never have known.
I think he truly, honestly loved the music and really loved anybody that had any musical talent.



BEN WEISMAN

Elvis invited me to come to one of those parties, you know, the last evening of the season [in Las Vegas].
I went upstairs and I kind of sat there real quiet.
I'm not much of a party guy.
Around maybe six o'clock in the morning he waved to me to come over.
He said, "Ben, why are you so quiet?"
I said, "I haven't got much to say".
He said, "How many songs did I record of yours?"
I said, "Fifty-seven".
He said, "Fifty-seven!"
He grabbed me, stood me up in front of the crowd, and said, "I want you all to meet Ben Weisman who wrote more songs for me than any other writer: fifty-seven.
I want to hear it for this man."
There was a big applause, then he took me over to the piano.
He said, "Ben, I want you to hear this song.
It's called 'Softly as I Leave You'.
It's about a man who's going to die".
That was in 1976, a year or so before he died.
Something wasn't exactly right.
I think he knew it.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:43 PM

As Told By... EDDIE FADAL

Elvis felt guilty whenever he disappointed his fans.
He really loved them, and if you worked for him and you insulted his fans, that's one thing that could get you fired.



MYRNA SMITH

Elvis was easily angered due to the drugs he was taking.
All the guys got fired at some point or another, but they were usually re-hired - just like Red and Sonny probably would have been.
It wasn't that they were permanently gone.
He would have called 'em back.
They were his friends.
I saw him angry a couple of times.
When he heard about the book Red and Sonny and the other guy was writing he was angry, but he was really more hurt.
He didn't want Lisa to read that stuff.
They say their intent was to ultimately help him, but he said he felt betrayed.



LARRY GELLER

We found out about the book [Elvis, What Happened ?] in the fall of 1976.
It blew Elvis away.
Man, I can't tell you the pain it created.
This was a sensational (and controversial) major blast of an icon.
Months later Elvis dismissed it.
He thought maybe it was not going to actually come out - maybe this was just denial.
But I knew it was coming out; we all knew.



BILL E. BURK

Red has said that shortly after the firing he and Elvis had a telephone conversation, and Elvis expressed disappointment that the book was coming out.
Elvis knew what was going to be in it, but he never did say, "Don't print it".
He just expressed his disappointment.
Near the end of the phone call Elvis told Red, "Do what you've got to do."



LINDA THOMPSON

One day I said to myself, "I could be around here forever, and I could grow old, or I could die an untimely death from exhaustion just trying to take care of this person.
Ultimately it's up to him.
He's the one that's going to have to take care of himself.
I can't do it for him".
So I finally decided, "I don't want to live this kind of life for the rest of my life".



GEORGE KLEIN

I don't think Elvis really knew how sick he was.
I don't think anybody knew.
We knew he wasn't in the greatest of health, but we had no earthly idea that he was as sick as he was.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 7 2008, 12:46 PM

On the day that Elvis Presley died, it was rumored that RCA Records was planning to file bankruptcy.
For several months, the company had been having financial difficulties and it seemed there was no way out of the growing sea of red ink.
It has been said by insiders that the executives were actually on their way to court to file the final papers when they received the phone call informing them of Elvis Presley's death.
Company executives went digging trough their files and unearthed a $2.5 million dollar insurance policy on Elvis.
With that money, RCA was able to pay off some of their debts and managed to stay in business.
A few days later, the company received record orders totaling over $4 million - just in Elvis Presley records!
RCA shredded the bankruptcy paperwork.
In the course of that year, they earned $25 million.



Frank Sinatra was performing at the Alpine Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin, in late August of 1977.
During the last half of his show, Sinatra sang some of the more popular Elvis tunes and said to the audience, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've lost a friend.
We've lost a good friend today!
Good-bye, Elvis!"
He then asked everyone for a moment of silence in which to remember the late, great King of Rock-n-Roll.



As many people may know, when Elvis died his father suffered a massive heart attack.
It was reportedly his second heart attack.
Vernon was shocked and completely devastated by the loss of his only son.
He was now all alone in the world.
In August 1978, one painful year after Elvis' death, Vernon ordered a special floral arrangement for his son's grave.
The message on the red ribbon read, "It's been one year since you left us, Son.
It's almost unbelievable still.
Miss you terribly.
I love you so much - Daddy".
Vernon set out for the Meditation Gardens to put the arrangement on Elvis' grave.
He used a walking stick and took baby steps to get outside.
He was determined to pay his respect to his son even though it was painful for him to walk.
After placing the flowers on Elvis' grave, Vernon cried bitter tears.
He never thought that he would outlive his son.
Vernon knelt down beside the grave, holding onto the railing surrounding the grave for support, and cried sorrowfully.
He then slowly got up and staggered back inside the house.
He knew that his son was indeed gone - gone forever.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:11 AM

I'M JUST TIRED OF BEING ELVIS PRESLEY

As Told By...FELTON JARVIS

I remember Elvis telling me, "I'm just so tired of being Elvis Presley".

LAMAR FIKE

He had to keep working.
Elvis had a payroll that was phenomenal, and he had to keep a lot of people employed.
By all rights, he should have never worked the year before he died.
Everybody kept telling the Colonel: "Hey, back off.
The guy's sick.
The guy's really in bad shape".
But Elvis had to pay his bills, and I suppose the Colonel had to pay his.
I was on the payroll like everybody else.
Today it wouldn't happen.
Who goes to Vegas and works four weeks and does two and three shows a night?
I mean this is unbelievable.
The hotel put in a special, larger concert room that holds four thousand people because Elvis only wanted to work one show a night.
I think Fred Allen put it great when he said, "It's called a treadmill to oblivion".

LOWELL HAYS

Toward the end, Vernon had the staff trained so that when I came on the premises they would call him and let him know I was there.
Vernon would come up there and stay with me the whole time, trying to keep me away from Elvis.
Elvis was having financial problems, you know.
He had really made some bad business moves, and he was also in trouble with those airplanes.
He didn't pay me for a long time.
I never really worried about being paid.
It wasn't nothing for him to be behind one hundred-fifty thousand dollars for months at a time.
That was kind of hard on me, but I banked at the same bank he did, and they knew; so the bank would loan me money when I needed it.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:15 AM

GEORGE KLEIN

It had gotten to where he didn't want any people up at Graceland.
He went into seclusion.
It had gotten to the point that he couldn't even come downstairs in his pajamas or with his hair messed up in his own home.
So the last six months that Elvis was with us, he said, "Look, guys, I don't have anything against you, but I'm not feeling all that well; so why don't you call and check before you come up to Graceland, to see if everything's cool".

DR. GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

There were times I think Elvis really enjoyed being a recluse.
There were other times he had no choice.
He couldn't go out even if he wanted to because the crowds at the gate would follow wherever he went.
He did a lot of meditating.
He also enjoyed reading, watching tv, and not having somebody hovering over him all the time, like it was on the road.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:16 AM

ELVIS WAS MISCHIEVOUS

As Told By...BOBBY OGDIN (musician)

When he was onstage, Elvis was always on somebody, teasing and playing.
He got me with a big cup of water one night - one of those big cups of water he kept up there.
Every now and then he'd look around at somebody onstage, and he'd look just like a mischievous little kid; then all of a sudden, he'd throw water all over you.
He did it to me.
He did it to the girls.
He would fake it sometimes with an empty cup.
He loved clowning, something to break the monotony a little bit.
At some point in the show, Elvis always leaned forward and pulled a scarf from around his neck and threw it to some lady up front in the audience.
Charlie Hodge would immediately wrap another scarf around his neck.
Elvis would be on the front edge of the stage and it would just freak out the women.
They'd be hysterical with excitement.
But before he did that, Elvis would always take off his rings, those big, really expensive diamond rings, and hand them to Charlie Hodge for safekeeping.
One night he got mixed up and handed Charlie a scarf and threw his big diamond ring into the audience.
He did it totally backwards!
I have no idea what that ring was worth, but I'm sure it was worth a small fortune.
Elvis was real cool about it when it happened, though.
He didn't say a thing or let on that he'd goofed.

SHAUN NIELSEN

Elvis got sick onstage in Baltimore.
He had to leave the stage, and we all had to fill in.
When he came back, some people in the audience booed him, but they were certainly outnumbered by the ones who were just happy he was back.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:22 AM

THE LAST SESSION AND SONG

As Told By...CHIP YOUNG

I played on just about all of Elvis' records from 1966 on.
Once he knew you, really knew you, he was real friendly.
He'd walk into a session and hug my neck.
The last session that I did, down at his house [Graceland, October 29-31, 1976] was kind of a fiasco.
The production truck was set up outside and wires were run into the house.
We did cut "Way Down" and "He'll Have To Go".
But you know, it just wasn't technically good and I don't think Elvis was in the right frame of mind, either.
Fact is, I never understood why he wanted to record at home.
He did two albums there.
All the mikes were set up in that little den area in the back part of the house, the jungle room.
All we did was move furniture around and set everything up there.
The drums were right out in the open room.
Unfortunately, their sound was bleeding into the other mikes.
Elvis was standing in the middle of it all, so all the instruments were bleeding into his voice mike, too.
They put up clear plastic material, but it just wasn't enough to keep the sounds separated.
Elvis never paid attention to technical things like that.
He was just not technical minded.
When we all finished the sessions, he went upstairs and gave each of us one of his personal shirts - the kind with a big collar and blousey sleeves.
He hugged my neck and said, "Next time we record, I'll come to your studio in Murfreesboro and do it."
But he never recorded again.
So other than his concert recordings, the last song he completed was done at that session at Graceland - November 1, 1976; the song was "He'll Have To Go."

LARRY STRICKLAND

When we'd have time off from Elvis, we'd book out as The Stamps Quartet.
So we had a date booked over in North Carolina, but we were going to miss that date because his recording session [at Graceland] in Memphis was running overtime.
Well, Elvis wouldn't hear of us missing a date.
He loaned us his Lear jet and had us flown from Memphis to North Carolina to make our little ol' booking.
It probably cost ten times more money to fly that Lear over there and back than we made by performing.
We came back to Memphis and finished up the album, but we didn't have a way home to Nashville.
We were going to have to fly home, which we couldn't afford. "Y'all just take my limo", Elvis said.
"I'm getting a new one anyway".
Just like that, he gave us the limousine.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:27 AM

ELVIS and LINDA: THE BREAKUP

As Told By...JO ALDEN (Ginger Alden's mother)

Elvis had bought Linda {Thompson} a house.
That was his way of providing for her.
Linda was hanging in there as long as she possibly could.
She tells it that she just couldn't take it anymore; but even Sam Thompson said it was over.
I think Elvis just couldn't bring himself to say it.

LAMAR FIKE

I think Elvis came closer to being in love with Linda than anybody.
He cared for Linda a lot.

LOWELL HAYS

When Elvis and Linda Thompson broke up [in November 1976], I think that's when he really went downhill.
He was miserable after that.
He had been miserable after he broke up with Priscilla.
A lot of those songs he did, they were for her, you know.
He never got over her.
And then, I think he really loved Linda, but he just couldn't bring himself to marry her.
When he broke up with her it was downhill from then on.

LINDA THOMPSON

It was incredibly difficult for me to make the decision to leave, but I thought, "God forbid, if anything serious should happen to him.
I have adored Elvis so deeply that it would be completely devastating for me to watch him die."
So I had to sort of wean myself away from being that close, that bonded to him.
It took eight months.
When I left, I knew it was going to be rough for him.
I had cared for him like he was a newborn baby; he was that needy.
I thought, "Nobody else is going to do that.
Nobody's going to know him that well; nobody's going to take care of him."
But I had to go.
For my own sanity I had to go.
It was time.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:30 AM

DO WHAT YOU'VE GOT TO DO

As Told By... EDDIE FADAL

Elvis felt guilty whenever he disappointed his fans.
He really loved them, and if you worked for him and you insulted his fans, that's one thing that could get you fired.

MYRNA SMITH

Elvis was easily angered due to the drugs he was taking.
All the guys got fired at some point or another, but they were usually re-hired - just like Red and Sonny probably would have been.
It wasn't that they were permanently gone.
He would have called 'em back.
They were his friends.
I saw him angry a couple of times.
When he heard about the book Red and Sonny and the other guy was writing he was angry, but he was really more hurt.
He didn't want Lisa to read that stuff.
They say their intent was to ultimately help him, but he said he felt betrayed.

LARRY GELLER

We found out about the book [Elvis, What Happened?] in the fall of 1976.
It blew Elvis away. Man, I can't tell you the pain it created.
This was a sensational (and controversial) major blast of an icon.
Months later Elvis dismissed it.
He thought maybe it was not going to actually come out - maybe this was just denial.
But I knew it was coming out; we all knew.

BILL E. BURK

Red has said that shortly after the firing he and Elvis had a telephone conversation, and Elvis expressed disappointment that the book was coming out.
Elvis knew what was going to be in it, but he never did say, "Don't print it".
He just expressed his disappointment.
Near the end of the phone call Elvis told Red, "Do what you've got to do."

LINDA THOMPSON

One day I said to myself, "I could be around here forever, and I could grow old, or I could die an untimely death from exhaustion just trying to take care of this person.
Ultimately it's up to him.
He's the one that's going to have to take care of himself.
I can't do it for him". So I finally decided, "I don't want to live this kind of life for the rest of my life".

GEORGE KLEIN

I don't think Elvis really knew how sick he was.
I don't think anybody knew.
We knew he wasn't in the greatest of health, but we had no earthly idea that he was as sick as he was.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:36 AM

DISSOLUTION OF OUR RELATIONSHIP

LINDA THOMPSON

There were a number of things that led to the dissolution of our relationship.
The primary one was just watching Elvis slowly self-destruct.
It got to be too painful for me.
I tried so many things - so many ways to get him to take better care of himself - to stop using so much prescription medication.
Nothing seemed to work.

DR. GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

Linda was pretty much on every tour with Elvis.
Occasionally he'd make up some story (when he'd met someone else on a tour) to get Linda out shopping or something and bring this other person in.
Linda and I were both striving for the same things; we wanted to see Elvis happy.
We wanted to see him involved, out of his depressed states.
We were trying to keep him away from certain situations.
Linda was very helpful as far as letting me know what was going on.
We had a good relationship.
I discussed with her telling the cooks what food to give him and how much, but the cooks wanted to mother him, so they would just load him down.
Breakfast was a pound of bacon with maybe eight or nine or ten biscuits, some eggs, and some cereal.
He would not eat all that, but it was there if he wanted it.
It was much easier to control his diet and food intake on the road than it was at Graceland.

CHERYLE JOHNSON

For awhile people were willing to say, "Well, you know he's not feeling well.
He's tired.
The schedule is too much for him".
The audiences really blames it on his physical problems, overwork, the Colonel.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:39 AM

ELVIS WAS FEELING HORRIBLE

As Told By...LARRY GELLER

Near the end of March 1977 we were in Baton Rouge.
Elvis was feeling horrible.
I was in my bedroom, and at seven in the morning my phone rang.
Elvis wanted me to come to his room.
I went in and he was sitting propped up in bed.
He kept shaking his head: "Lawrence, man, I'm sick.
I don't feel good.
There's something wrong.
I can't sleep and I've got to be onstage tonight".
That afternoon he still felt rotten, and he cancelled the tour.
When he did that, I knew I had to give him some information he did not want to hear.
No one was speaking the truth to him.
Everyone was just placating him - being obsequious.
In Elvis' mind, a book [Elvis, What Happened?] was coming out, but he wouldn't admit it was really coming out.
But I knew for sure it was.
When I think about it, I just cry.
I cringe within myself.
We went into the bathroom.
Two grown men are standing there crying - tears rolling down our faces.
I said, "Elvis, I love you.
I'm only telling you the truth because you need to know it".
He said to me, "What is my little girl going to think when she grows up?
What is she going to think of her daddy?"
I said: "Wait a minute, Elvis, what the hell are you saying, man?.
What do you mean, what is she going to think of her daddy?
You're going to be there with her.
She'll be by your side.
She'll know the truth".
He said: "And my fans will be my fans.
They are not going to believe lies.
All I'm concerned about is my daughter and my daddy.
The book is going to hurt them.
That's the only thing I give a shit about.
The fans are not going to believe it".
Elvis went into the hospital the next day, but he did not let the doctors do any extensive testing.
He should have.
He knew the end was near.
There's no doubt about it.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:42 AM

ELVIS WANTED ANOTHER CHILD

As Told By...DR GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

Elvis had expressed to me on many occasions that he would like to have another child.
He had gotten over his financial stresses and some other problems he'd been having, but he was still having girlfriend problems.
Probably the biggest stress was Ginger.
He was very wrapped up in her 'cause apparently something about her eyes or facial expressions reminded him of his mother.
He wanted her to be around more.
He'd want her to go on the tours, and sometimes she did, sometimes she didn't.
Her behavior just kept him in emotional turmoil.
I don't think he'd ever been faced with a female companion that he didn't have the upper-hand with; it really got to him.

LARRY GELLER

In either March or April of '77 we were in Elvis' bedroom - him and I - on the floor.
There were two large trunks filled with his favorite books, over a hundred of them, and we were looking at a book or two.
We were talking, and Elvis stood up and said, "Come with me a minute".
As we were approaching the living room, he stopped in the doorway and stood toe to toe with me.
He put is arm on my shoulder.
He said, "Lawrence, the fans, they know 'Elvis' but they don't know me.
They have no idea of the truth.
If you don't tell the story, my story, to the world, they'll never know it.
They'll never know the truth.
I want to know right now, are you with me?
Are you going to do something?"
Well, in my mind I figured we were going to write a book together, to offset that bodyguard book.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:45 AM

THE ELECTRICITY WAS ALWAYS THERE

As Told By...BOBBY OGDIN

Even on his final tour, Elvis Presley's shows created the strongest audience electricity of anybody I've ever worked with.
When Elvis walked onstage it was like an explosion of response and screaming and flash bulbs and everything.
It was probably just caused by the limited access to him.
People stored up all that desire and excitement.

JANELLE McCOMB

Elvis made every member of an audience a part of all he acquired.
When he stepped on that stage, that little secretary became the office manager, and that little intern became chief of staff.
He gave hope and inspiration to all those kids who dared to dream some impossible dream.
In Elvis they saw a kid born in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, who rose to fame and stardom, and it gave them hope.

BOBBY OGDIN

During the time I worked for Elvis, we never did a sound check, never did a rehearsal either, as I recall.
We had scheduled rehearsals in Memphis during that last year - scheduled 'em before four different tours.
Everybody flew in from all directions, and we'd go down and set everything up at Graceland in the racquetball court.
We'd get it all ready, check out all the microphones, and wait about an hour or two.
Then Elvis would decide he didn't want to rehearse and call it off.
We'd all go back to the hotel or go out to eat.
We'd do that for about three nights in a row, and then we'd just take off on tour, no rehearsal, no sound checks.
One time Elvis scheduled a rehearsal on the road.
There was some song he wanted to work up.
The entire band came in that afternoon, set up and waited, but Elvis didn't show up.
There was an Elvis impersonator there that Felton knew, so he just called the guy down on the stage and got him to run through a few songs - songs we never did on the regular shows.
It was just kind of spinning wheels.
Then we all went back to the hotel.
The show was pretty well set as it was.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:48 AM

DID CILLA TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ELVIS?

According to Jo Alden (Ginger's mother), she did.......

Elvis would talk with Priscilla all the time when Lisa was there and when Ginger was there.
They had a good relationship because of Lisa, you know.
Priscilla was kinda taking advantage of Elvis.
Along in the spring Priscilla was going to get into the jewelry business.
Elvis would laugh and say, "Oh, Priscilla is always trying something, something new, and something different".
Way up toward the last, Priscilla called.
She wanted to go on a trip overseas, and she wanted to use Elvis' plane.
Elvis told her, "No.
You fly commercial".
Then what was it?
Oh, she wanted Elvis to set her dad up in the imported wine business.
Elvis wouldn't do it.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:51 AM

NEARING THE END OF THE TOURS

As Told By...ARLENE COGAN

I went on most of the last tour, followed the show from city to city, mainly because I was just worried about Elvis' health.
I felt that he was unhappy, and I felt for the first time in my life that it was more important for him to see me sitting there than it was for me to see him.
I wanted him to know somebody was there that cared about him.
I went with a friend, Rose Clayton, to see him in Knoxville, Louisville, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Binghamton, Omaha, and Lincoln.
(He cancelled two dates during that tour for health reasons).
I had planned on going on to Indianapolis, but for some reason, I just came on back home to Memphis and didn't see that last concert.

MYRNA SMITH

I saw a change in Elvis physically, but not so much while it was occurring as when I reflect on it now.
The concerts [filmed for the CBS Tv special] weren't shown on TV immediately.
While we were doing them, I thought he looked great.
You know, being around somebody all the time, you don't notice so much how they really look.
I knew he had put on weight, but I didn't think, "Gee, he looks bloated", or any of that until I saw one of the concerts on TV later.

BOBBY OGDIN

No matter how he was feeling, Elvis always nailed "How Great Thou Art" in his stage show.
It was really pretty magical.
His voice was always great for that song even when he wasn't "in voice".
It was real special, real heavy.

BILL RANDLE

The last time I saw Elvis Presley, he came to a class of mine.
I was teaching at the University of Cincinnati.
He came anonymously, only three or four people saw him.
He was bloated and fat.
I'm a martial arts person, so wherever I work I always have a kicking board or a punching board on the wall.
Elvis was a student of Mr. [Ed] Parker, who was a very good karate fighter.
He practiced on my wall for about fifteen minutes and told me he was very happy with his life and left.
I went to see him at his concert that night.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 11:59 AM

ELVIS IN THE GUINESS BOOK

Elvis in the Guinness World Record book

Most Hit Singles On US Chart
Elvis Presley had a record 149 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1956 and 1996.
The King of rock 'n' roll took his first step towards a musical career at the age of eight, when he won $5 in a local singing contest in Tupelo, Mississippi performing the Red Folley ballad, "Old Shep".

Most US No. 1 Albums By A Male Solo Artist
Elvis Presley had a record nine solo albums reach the number one spot on the US chart.
They were - Elvis Presley (1956), Elvis (1956), Loving You (1957), Elvis Christmas Album (1957), GI Blues (1960), Something For Everybody (1961), Blue Hawaii (1961), Roustabout (1964), and Elvis - Aloha From Hawaii (1973)

Most Weeks On UK Singles Chart
Elvis Presley's 111 hits have spent a total of 1,149 weeks in the UK singles chart since "Heartbreak Hotel" debuted on May 11, 1956.
In the weeks following his death on August 16, 1977, his record sales predictably rocketed.
Sales of the tragically fitting "Way Down" went way up - propelling Presley once more to the number one spot.

Most Consecutive Weeks On UK Singles Chart
Elvis Presley is the artist with the most consecutive weeks in the UK chart.
His 13 hit singles, from "A Mess Of Blues", in 1960, to "One More Broken Heart For Sale", in 1963, spent an unbroken 144 weeks in the chart.

Most Hit Albums On UK Chart
As of February 2001, Elvis Presley had 100 hit albums in the UK chart.
This is just one of the 15 records held by The King - others include "Most No.1 Singles In The UK Chart", "Most No.1 Hit Singles By A Solo Artist", and "Most Fan Clubs."

Most RIAA Certificates Held By A Single Artist
The recording artist with the most certified titles ever is Elvis Presley with 235.
This total is comprised of 132 gold, 70 platinum, and 33 multiplatinum certificates.
RIAA stands for the Recording Industry Association of America.
Most Platinum Certificates For Record Sales The only audited measure of record sales in the USA is certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Elvis Presley holds the record for the most platinum certificates issued by the RIAA, with 70.

Most Charted Artist
Elvis Presley's records spent a cumulative total of 1,155 weeks on the UK singles chart since his first hit Heartbreak Hotel released on May 11, 1956.

Most Fan Clubs
There are more than 613 active Elvis Presley fan clubs worldwide, accounting for a total membership 510,489.
The longest running of these is the French "La Voix d'Elvis", founded in January, 1956, by Evelyn Bellemin.
It currently has 30 members.
His fans take all kinds of guises - there's even a group parachuting Elvis impersonators called the "Flying Elvi", the 10 high-altitude look-alikes can be booked to drop in on any occasion!

Richest Dead Celebrity
In the year 2000, 23 years after he died of a heart attack, Elvis Presley earned $35 million (£25 million.)
Since he first launched his recording career, Elvis has sold more than one billion albums, generating fat royalty checks for his family.
Elvis left daughter Lisa Marie his Graceland mansion in Memphis, TN., which earns $15 million (£10.5 million) annually in admission fees, while $5 million (£3.5 million) was earned by selling Presley related articles like T-shirts and toys.
Some folks say he's still working at a gas station in Tennessee, or stacking shelves in a local Wal-Mart, or performing as a wedding singer.
But the career of the dead Elvis is proving to be much more lucrative than any of these professions.
In 2000 the Elvis estate earned $35 million from record sales, merchandise, and licensing deals.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 12:01 PM

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Elvis is an icon.
Let's look at how people become icons and how you too could end up immortalised in history!
An important first step is to capture a moment or happening in history.
Elvis is a great example - he didn't invent rock 'n' roll, but his charisma, stage presence, and great voice brought it to a whole new audience.
Like the film star James Dean (who was one of Presley's heroes), Elvis also captured a new spirit of rebellion among America's youth in the 1950s.
The way Elvis used to gyrate his hips caused controversy back then, but icons are often controversial - just look at Eminem.

CHECK THIS OUT

In 1970 there were 250 professional Elvis impersonators.
Today there are estimated to be 35,000.
If this trend continues at the same rate there will be 700 million Elvis impersonators by 2060 - that's double the population of the USA and Canada combined.

Most Durable Elvis Impersonator

The world's most durable Elvis Presley impersonator was Belgium's Victor Beasley.
The boundless Belgian had been belting out The King's tunes since 1955, a total of 48 years, and spanned every stage of the late King's career - from the early rockabilly days right through to the lavish showmanship of the Vegas era.
Like Elvis, Vick also developed his singing voice at a local church, and in another parallel with the life of the King, did military service in Germany.
"They were stationed very close," explained Vick's wife.
"But unfortunately they never met."
The boogieing Belgian - whose favorite number was "Pledging My Love" - had transformed his home in Wuurstwezel, just outside Antwerp, into a shrine to The King, which he named "Small Graceland".
He had also recently been made an honorary citizen of Tupelo - the King's birthplace.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 10 2008, 12:04 PM

Most Valuable Hair

The most valuable hair clippings sold at auction are a mass of dark black cuttings from the head of Elvis Presley.
The King's curls were sold by his personal barber, Homer "Gill" Gilleland, for $115,120 (£72,791), buyer's premium included, to an anonymous buyer during an online auction held by MastroNet Inc., Oak Brook, Illinois, USA, on November 15, 2002.
The lock of hair is approximately 8 cm (3 in) in diameter and is accompanied by letters of authenticity from Tom Morgan Jr. (detailing their history), John W Heath (the world's foremost Elvis memorabilia expert) and John Reznikoff of University Archives (the world's most respected authority in the field of hair collecting).

Posted by: tcbndixie Nov 10 2008, 03:01 PM

Thanks for more great info on the greatest entertainer of all time!!

Appreciate you taking the time to share all this with us!!

Keep it coming...

Posted by: NightRider Nov 10 2008, 06:21 PM

Certainly have taken alot of time posting all of these....thank you...interesting stuff !!

Posted by: kissmequick Nov 10 2008, 06:39 PM

Great Pieces of Elvis's Life!

thank you for sharing them here with us.

Posted by: King Of Graceland Nov 12 2008, 01:51 PM

tcbndixie, NightRider and kissmequick:

Thank you for your kind words.