Tyson Champagne asked:


Graceland has been open to the public since 1982 and since then over 15 million people have taken the public tour of Elvis Presley’s legendary home. Some people just couldn’t wait for the tour, however, so they took matters into their own hands. Two famous Graceland visitors who decided to take an “unofficial” tour of the King’s Mansion were Bruce Springsteen and Jerry Lee Lewis.

When The Boss Met The King (Almost)

After playing Memphis on his 1976 Born to Run tour Bruce Springsteen decided to take a cab to Graceland. When he noticed a light on up at the house, Bruce climbed over the wall and made his way to the front door where he was met by Elvis’ security guards.

“Is Elvis home?” asked the Boss.

“No…He’s in Lake Tahoe” replied the guards.

As he was escorted back to the street, Bruce made conversation by telling the guards that he had recently been on the cover of Time and Newsweek. Years later in a concert, Bruce was philosophical about his Graceland visit:

“…it really wasn’t Elvis I was goin’ to see, but it was like he came along and whispered some dream in everybody’s ear and somehow we all dreamed it.”

Perhaps Bruce just wanted to whisper a little “thank you” in Elvis’ ear.

The Killer And The King

In the middle of a November night in 1976 an armed and intoxicated Jerry Lee Lewis drove his Lincoln Continental up to the Graceland gates and demanded to see Elvis. Elvis declined, deciding he didn’t have anything to say to a drunken man with a gun who was known as “The Killer”. The police were called and, after a little persuading, Jerry Lee left the scene in the company of five of Memphis’ finest. To this day, it’s not clear why Jerry Lee needed to talk to Elvis so urgently.

Thankfully Elvis fans today don’t need to resort to wall jumping or gunplay to see Graceland. All they need to do is make their way to Memphis and buy a ticket for the tour. It may cost a few bucks but look at the bright side: You won’t have to leave Graceland in the back of a police car.



Loretta

Theresea Hughes asked:


1956,November 16, Elvis’s first movie, Love Me Tender, was released. (Clint Reno)

The movie seemed to be a failure, but a box office success; Elvis was the main attraction and the demand so great that Twentieth Century-Fox had to distribute almost double their usual prints of a first run movie.

The critics quickly dismissing the movie and marked it as a B grade melodrama.

But what the critics didn’t see was the fact that Love Me Tender is a classic love story.

But for as long as Elvis lived he would be bothered by the poor quality of the scripts and songs.

1957,July 9, Elvis released his second movie, Loving You, (Deke Rivers) this movie dealt with the theme of troubled youth.

Elvis’s hair was naturally light brown but dyed it a darker shade, later he would keep it as he preferred, the color blue-black.

1957, October, Jailhouse Rock, was released. (Vince Everett)

It is considered by many to be Elvis’s best movie Elvis enjoyed the vigorous Rock-and-Roll score, as he threw himself into the main role.

Elvis himself choreographed the title number. And to this day remains a Rock and Roll classic.

1958, June 4, While Elvis training in the Army at Fort Hood, Texas King Creole was released by Paramount. (Danny Fisher)

King Creole is remembered as one of Elvis Presley’s best movies, and is probably the only one that was ever taken seriously by the critics, the good reviews of the movie filled Elvis with deep satisfaction and accomplishment, which would stay with him right up until his mothers sudden death.

1960, October, G.I.BLUES, (Tulsa McLean) was Elvis’s first movie after two years in the Army, then Flaming star, (Pacer Burton) and Wild In The Country (Glenn Tyler) were made the following year, (1961)

The three movies were a financial success, but a dramatic failure.

1961, November 14, the film Blue Hawaii was released, (Chad Gates)

It was a huge success: one of Elvis’s biggest money makers, records continued to sell, an album made from the songs in Blue Hawaii was the fastest-selling album of the year.

The film reached the five-million-dollar mark.

1962, January 18, Elvis signed a five-year multimillion-dollar contract with producer Hal Wallis, the movie Follow That Dream was filmed in Florida. (Toby Kwimper)

1962, July, Kid Galahad (Walter Gulick) the film was another one of Elvis’s movies that did not do as well at the box office.

1962, November 2, Girls! Girls! Girls! was released. (Ross Carpenter) produced by Hal Wallis, the film included the sound track “Return To Sender.”

1963, April, Elvis’s first movie for the year was, “It Happened at the World’s Fair” (Mike Edwards) it was filmed in Seattle.

Elvis’s next movie for the same year was Fun In Acapulco (Mike Windgren) the critics would dismiss his movie as lightweight fluff, never recognizing the depth he brought to each of his roles.

1964, March, Kissin’ Cousins, was released (Josh Morgan / Jodie Tatum)

A movie in which Elvis played two parts, giving his fan’s double value for money.

1964, April, the movie Viva Las Vegas (Lucky Jackson) was one of his best musicals and grossed nearly Six-Million Dollars

1964, November, Roustabout (Charlie Rogers) was put with other lightweight Elvis Presley movies.

1965, In this year Elvis released three movies Girl Happy (Rusty Wells), Tickle Me (Lonnie Beale), and Harum Scarum (Johnny Tyronne), most of his movies were musicals, and these three no exception.

1966, the movie Frankie and Johnny (Johnny) was released, and then Paradise Hawaiian Style (Rick Richards)

1966, Elvis’s next two movies: Spinout (Mick McCoy) and 1967, Easy Come, Easy Go (Ted Jackson), both are typical of his movies.

During Elvis’s years in Hollywood, the actor- Elvis Presley, films were never given the recognition they deserved.

1967, Double Trouble (Guy Lambert) and Clambake (Scott Heyward / ‘Tom Wilson’) were released.

1968, Stay Away, Joe (Joe Lightcloud) was released in March, the next two movies, Speedway (Steve Grayson) was released in June and Live a Little, Love a Little (Greg Nolan) was released in October.

1969, in March, Charro (Jess Wade) was released, and although Elvis continued to make more movies, he was ready to move in a new direction.

1969, Elvis went on to make two more movies, The Trouble with Girls (Walter Hale) released in May, and Change of Habit (Dr John Carpenter) came out in October, which would be Elvis Presley’s last movie.

1972, ELVIS ON TOUR, ended the age of Elvis Presley movies, and left Hollywood be hind him.

Elvis Presley’s movies grossed over $180 Million Dollars, more Millions were made when Colonel Tom Parker started the merchandising of Elvis’s products, and the Colonel controlled the rights.



Eileen

Theresea Hughes asked:


Merry Christmas From Elvis Presley….

It was Christmas time, and in the local paper there was a short article about an old woman in North Memphis, it was near the area where Elvis lived while he was growing up.

The man and woman were old, black and very poor, they lived in a two-room house with only a tattered curtain dividing the rooms, in the poorest part of Memphis. The old woman had been confined to a wheelchair all her life. She had no legs and her old wheelchair had become worse from age, she wasn’t able to use it anymore and left her unable to move around her home.

The story was written by a charitable woman who knew of the old lady’s circumstances and decided to do what she could, and try to raise enough money to buy the old lady a new wheelchair. When Elvis read the article he turned to Marty Lacker and said, “Moon, take care of it for me. Get her a new chair.” Marty made a call to the phone number which was with the article, and asked the woman who answered the call, if she was still looking for a wheelchair for the crippled woman?

She said, “We are taking donations and will very much appreciate anything you can do.”

Marty then asked how much had already been raised; so far the donations received totaled a little over eighty dollars. Marty explained to the lady, he is acting on behalf of someone who would like to remain anonymous but would like to buy the old woman a new wheelchair.

The lady on the phone said, “Oh, you want to donate some money.”

Marty replied, “No, we want to buy a new chair for her. You take the money that has been raised and give to her. We’ll get the wheelchair.” The lady seemed to be unsure about the caller, until Marty asked for the old woman’s address and reassuring her that they would get the old woman her chair, she then seemed satisfied this call was genuine.

She said to Marty, “You are very kind,” then she offered to pick up the wheelchair and send the bill on to them, he said, no, ma’am. “We will pick the chair up and personally deliver it, there is somebody who wants to do this for the old lady.”

“God will surely bless you and your friend.” She replied.

After getting the elderly woman’s address Marty made another call to a hospital supply company in Memphis, where Marty and one of the other guys found a really nice electric, automatic wheelchair and bought it, put it in the trunk of the car and went back to Graceland to show Elvis the chair before they delivered it to the old woman.

When they got to Graceland, Elvis and Priscilla were dressed to go out.

Marty asked Elvis if he wanted to see the wheelchair before taking to the woman, Elvis answered “Priscilla and I are both going with you.”

Elvis, Priscilla and Marty got into one car and two of the guys followed in a second car, using the second car was normal procedure for security, or in case anything happened to the car Elvis was traveling in. They drove to one of the poorest neighborhoods in Memphis. It was the pits, and they all wondered how people were living like that and yet, most of the guys had begun their lives in little better conditions.

Marty went to the door making sure they were at the right address; an old man let him in.

It was a shock to see what these people lived in, he noticed the newspapers, which were there to try and stop the wind from coming in the windows, there was an old wood stove in the middle of the floor. It was the poorest place Marty had ever seen, and the shocking fact was this place was in the city. It was a run down shack, not a house.

Marty explained to the old man three or four times why he was in the neighborhood, even then it’s not certain the old man understood. Then Marty saw the old woman sitting on a wooden chair in the other room, he then told the man he would be right back.

While outside, he told Elvis the old lady was in the house and got the other guys to put the wheelchair together. Elvis carried the chair into the house, with Priscilla, Marty and the others following. Tears welled in everyone’s eyes at the sight of these dear old people during such poverty. Elvis went to the lady and said, “Hello, I came to give you this chair as a gift for Christmas”.

The dear old woman didn’t understand why this white man was in her home to giving her a new wheelchair. She kept looking at the chair and Elvis while he explained and showed her how it should be operated.

Suddenly she seemed to understand this wheelchair is truly a gift to her, then she tried her hardest to get off the wooden chair to her new chair wheelchair, but she struggled and was unable to do so. Elvis then gently picked her up and carefully placed her in her new chair.

As her tears began flowing from her old eyes she cried, “Praise God! God bless you!”

The moment was filled with genuine emotions, with Elvis on one side and Priscilla on the other, sharing this “happy sadness” moment with the old lady.

Even the tough members of the Memphis Mafia couldn’t control the powerful emotions floating in the room; each of the guys came forward and put their arms around the old lady and clasped the old man’s weak hand. The general feeling that surfaced from this special visit was the love felt for the elderly couple, Priscilla and all that were present, but most of all they truly loved Elvis and the sincerity with which he gave his true gift, himself.

Before leaving the couple, Elvis turned to Marty and said, “Look at the way they’re living,” each person involved in the experience felt thankful for what they had.

Elvis then asked Marty to give him a couple of hundred dollars; Elvis then placed two one-hundred-dollar notes in the old woman’s hand wishing her a Merry Christmas.

Elvis gently kissed her, then turned and walked out.



Angel

Peter Cross asked:


Thomas Edison made the first recording of a human voice on December 6, 1877, but he did not record a singer. The first great singer to be recorded was Enrico Caruso, and he made over 250 sound recordings. There may have been singers prior to Caruso who were even better virtuosos but we have no way of knowing that because sound recording is the definitive judge of a singer’s ability. In recording studios, it has often been said that “tape don’t lie”. Even the best recording engineers cannot make a good singer sound like a great singer. Skipping briefly through the jazz era, a few great singers who deserve honorable mention are Billy Holiday, Al Jolson, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby and Tony Bennett. The concept of what constitutes a great singer is subjective, but the key qualities a great singer must possess are range, timing, phrasing, pitch, timbre, emotional impact and originality of style.

Elvis Presley was the first great rock and roll singer. His first hit record in 1954 entitled That’s All Right was a blues song written by Arthur Crudup and it proved that Elvis had a unique quality in his voice. Songs like Jailhouse Rock and All Shook Up demonstrated that Elvis was the epitome of rock and roll, and songs like Are You Lonesome Tonight and Can’t Help Falling in Love showed the world that Elvis could put the emotion of love into a vocal track with intense male sexuality. With one of his last blazing bursts of energy in 1972, Elvis proved that he was still a hunk-a hunk-a Burning Love during his twilight years. Elvis can be credited for breaking down the racial barrier that existed for black singers within the record companies in the 1950’s. Little Richard said, “He was an integrator. Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn’t let black music through. He opened the door for black music.” Elvis opened many doors. He let Pandora out of her box and girls all over the country began to scream at the very sight of Elvis. Much has been written about the King of Rock and Roll and his impact on our culture, but the focus of this article is on a unique vocal quality that has not received attention. Elvis pioneered many instantly memorable vocal mannerisms that shall hereinafter be collectively referred to as the rock and roll vocal schtick. It is possible that Elvis picked up his vocal schtick from Otis Blackwell, the songwriter who wrote many of Elvis’ early hit records, because Otis sang his original songs on the demos that Elvis listened to and Otis originated much of the phrasing that Elvis recorded. But much water has passed under the bridge since those days and we may never know whether the Memphis chicken’s schtick preceded the Otis egg.

The word “schtick” is derived from a Yiddish word and it refers to various bits of business that cause an entertainer to be instantly memorable. Prior to Elvis introducing the concept into rock and roll, it was very common in the movie business for actors to achieve fame by virtue of their schtick. Jack Benny became notorious for being stingy and a bad violin player even though in real life, he tipped lavishly and he was an expert violin player. Groucho Marx had his stooped strutting, his lascivious eyebrow raising, and his cigar. Elvis had his gyrating hips and his out of control, shaking leg, but he also put a new kind of mannerism into his singing. On All Shook Up, he turned “Mm mm mm, oh oh oh, yeah yeah yeah!” into a memorable chorus, predating the Beatles famous yeah yeah yeah’s by about 10 years. Predating Elvis by four years, Fats Domino had already developed his signature vocal style by the time he hit the R & B charts in 1950 with The Fat Man which sold over a million copies. One year after Elvis opened the door with That’s All Right, Fats crossed over into the mainstream with Ain’t That a Shame in 1955, and soon millions of people found their threeee-ill on Blueberry heeee-ill. That there is rock and roll vocal schtick in a nutshell, and countless singers picked right up on the groove.

In the 1950’s, original vocal styles literally oozed out of the radio every day. Tony Williams, the lead singer for The Platters, was a truly great singer who had it all - range, timing, phrasing, pitch, timbre, emotional impact and originality of style. As a professionally trained singer, Tony was able to express the emotional essence of previously recorded songs like Smoke Gets in Your Eyes with professional style and grace, but he also influenced the new rock and roll vocal style. In the number one selling hit record, Only You, Tony could have sung the words “Only you can make this change in me” using straightforward and traditional phrasing, but instead he sung “cand-a make this change in me” and threw in a bit of schtick. Marty Robbins and Ben E. King were also two seminal rock and roll singers who embodied all the qualities that define a great singer. There were many other outstanding singers during the 1950’s but the most sublime singer of them all was Smokey Robinson. In addition to every other quality previously discussed, Smokey sang complex blues melismas as if God told him the secret and said “Smokey, you will make everybody think this is easy.” Nobody can sing like Smokey Robinson, nobody can duplicate his vocals, and when Linda Ronstadt recorded her version of Ooh Baby Baby, she had to white out his melismas because she had too much sense to even try to duplicate him. Buddy Holly, among his many achievements, may be credited for introducing the hiccup into rock and roll vocals (fantastic schtick). But the award for Most Outrageous Rock and Roll Schtick of All Time goes to Little Richard for “a wop-bop-a-loo-mop alop-bam-boom” and his earth shaking, high pitched woo’s that Paul McCartney duplicated with enormous commercial success. Other great primal rock and roll singers of the 1950’s who deserve Most Honorable Mention include Roy Orbison, Brenda Lee, Del Shannon, Jimmy Jones, Frankie Valli, and the list goes on and on.

The great singers of rock and roll peaked during the 1960’s and 1970’s with John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin. Robert Plant’s 12 year career with Led Zeppelin began with the band’s formation in 1968 and continued until John Bonham’s death in 1980. That fatal day may have been the turning point in the history of great rock and roll singers because even though some very good singers achieved fame and success after 1980, none are in the same exalted league with the Great Ones. Discussing each of the great singers could generate an entire article for each one of them, but suffice it to say that history has already passed judgment on them and declared their venerable status. In terms of the key vocal qualities defined in the first paragraph of this page, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin must also receive honorable mention. But in terms of the sheer number of hit records and brilliant vocals that incorporate all the qualities of a world class singer, Paul McCartney is arguably the best rock and roll singer of all time. It’s always nice to end a treatise with a provocative pronouncement like that one, and then to immediately disappear into oblivion before anyone can throw a tomato.



Roland

eim1959 asked:


I am looking for eyewitnesses who met Elvis in the army, be it at Fort Hood, TX, or in Germany, or whereever. Thanks!

Joan

Theresea Hughes asked:


Elvis had his own private collectibles, they were police badges and guns. President Nixon presented Elvis with a Federal Narcotics badge, Elvis had always been a keen collector of the law enforcement badges.

Elvis took a great interest in the law, he would go out of his way to make friends with police officials at almost every town he was to travel.

Elvis’ most valued possession in his collection before receiving the Federal Narcotics Bureau badge from President Nixon, was the Police Lieutenants Identification Shield from the Los Angeles police department.

Elvis also was a collector of guns. He was a member of the Memphis Police Department, where he qualified on the pistol range, just the same as any other law enforcement officer.

Most of the guys that worked for Elvis would become special deputies, because of the level involved in the security work required to protect Elvis.

The guys involved all qualified on the firing rang, allowing them to carry weapons.

Elvis took a great interest in being involved in helping police with many youth programs,

Becoming especially close to the youth programs in Denver, Philadelphia and Los Angles.

The King’s generous contributions with the youth programs, were in Memphis. For years he gave on going support and involvement in the work with the Police Sheriffs Departments.



Daniel