He marched up the gangplank with a borrowed duffel bag slung over his shoulder as the army band, under the direction of Chief Warrant Officer John R. Charlesworth, struck up “Tutti Frutti.” He did it not once but eight times for news crews and photographers, with the two thousand relatives who were there for their own leave-takings waving and screaming on cue. Once on board, he was closeted in the ship’s library with the Colonel, Steve Sholes, Bill Bullock, and various other members of the industry entourage. He recorded a brief Christmas message for the fans, which, together with an edited version of the press conference, to be entitled “Elvis Sails!,” would help keep him in touch with his public. He conferred anxiously with the Colonel, Freddy, and the Aberbachs and promised them that he would do his very best. “He was resigned,” said Anne Fulchino, the RCA publicity chief, who had scarcely seen him since launching that first national publicity campaign for a bright-eyed youth in early 1956. “He was concerned about interrupting his career, he was worried that his records would stop selling. I said there was no reason they should, but I know he was thinking about that.” He took out one of the postcards with which the Colonel had supplied him to present to fans and fellow soldiers alike. “May God bless you,” he wrote on it as he handed it to her. He seemed trapped, cornered, she thought, his eyes frantically searched the room. Why don’t you come along, too? he said, suddenly, to Red, who was just standing there with Lamar. Red could fly over with Vernon and Grandma and Lamar. “Daddy will fix up the tickets,” he said. They would have themselves a ball.
Then there was a brief interview in the library. For the first time that day, in public he sounds tired, even a bit downcast. He hasn’t eaten since early morning, he says, but he doesn’t feel like he could eat anything right now. What are his thoughts? he is asked, as the time for departure approaches. “Well, I’m going to be very honest about it,” he says haltingly. “I’m looking forward to Germany, I’m looking forward to seeing the country and meeting a lot of the people, but at the same time I’m looking forward to coming back here, because here is where I started. Here’s where all my friends, my business and so forth…” Would he like to send any special message to his fans? “Yes, I would. I’d like to say that in spite of the fact that I’m going away and will be out of their eyes for some time, I hope I’m not out of their minds. And I’ll be looking forward to the time when I can come back and entertain again like I did.” “Well, thank you, Elvis,” the interviewer concludes, with fifteen minutes left before departure. “I know you want to talk to Colonel Parker, your close friend and your manager. All we can do is wish you a wonderful trip and all the best luck in the world and come home soon.”
The band played “All Shook Up,” “Hound Dog,” and “Don’t Be Cruel” as the ship got under way. Elvis stood out on deck handing out pictures and postcards to his fellow servicemen and throwing kisses back to the pier but stopped for a moment “to rotate his shoulder, snap his fingers and buckle his knees. His admirers shrieked,” reported the New York Herald-Tribune. “Colonel Parker beamed. The Department of Defense man from Washington who had overseen the operation wiped his brow and sighed.” And Elvis waved. And waved again for the cameras. And again, and again.
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS
Elvis at Katz Drug Store opening, September 8, 1954. (Opal Walker)
Map of Memphis, 1954
Elivs with Dewey Phillips, Beale Street, 1956. (Robert Williams)
Elvis with family in Tupelo, circa 1942. (Courtesy of the Estate of Elvis Presley)
Elvis in Memphis, circa 1950. (Courtesy of Jimmy Denson)
Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue. (Courtesy of Gary Hardy, Sun Studio)
Elvis with Dixie Locke, South Side Junior Prom, 1955. (Michael Ochs Archives)
Elvis on July 28, 1954. (Memphis Brooks Museum / Michael Ochs Archives)
Elvis, Bill, Scotty, and Sam Phillips, 1954. (Courtesy of Gary Hardy, Sun Studio)
Elvis with Bob Neal, 1955. (Courtesy of Ger Rijff)
Elvis on the Louisiana Hayride. (Langston McEachern)
Elvis in Tampa, July 1955. (Popsie. Courtesy of Ger Rijff)
Colonel Parker, Gladys, Elvis, and Vernon Presley: RCA Signing Ceremony, Sun Studio, November 21, 1955. (Courtesy of Gary Hardy, Sun Studio)
Elvis on The Dorsey Show, March 17, 1956. (Alfred Wertheimer)
Elvis with Colonel Parker, Las Vegas, April 1956. (James Reid)
Elvis at Russwood Park, July 4, 1956. (Robert Williams)
Elvis with June Juanico, 505 Fayard Street, Biloxi, Summer 1956. (Courtesy of June Juanico)
Elvis studying lines with costar Richard Egan and director Robert Webb, right. (Michael Ochs Archives)
Elvis with Natalie Wood outside the Hotel Chisca, October 31, 1956. (Robert Williams)
Elvis with B. B. King at the WDIA Goodwill Revue, December 7, 1956. (Ernest Withers. Mimosa Records Productions Inc. / Michael Ochs Archives)
Elvis with Yvonne Lime, in front of Graceland, Easter Weekend, 1957. (Robert Williams)
Colonel Parker, with fans. (Alfred Wertheimer)
Portrait of Elvis. (Alfred Wertheimer)
Elvis on the steps of Graceland with Vernon Presley, August 14, 1958. (James Reid)
Elvis on the train to Memphis, July 3–4, 1956. (Alfred Wertheimer)
ON THE TRAIN TO MEMPHIS, JULY 3–4, 1956.
(ALFRED WERTHEIMER)
Notes
THE MAJORITY OF THE INTERVIEW MATERIAL is my own, but Jerry Hopkins’ interviews of various figures for his 1971 biography, Elvis, have been a unique, and invaluable, resource. They were made available by the Mississippi Valley Collection at Memphis State University (MVC/MSU) through the kind efforts of Dr. John Bakke. In addition, Stuart Goldman and Adam Taylor were good enough to share information and interview material assembled for their 1993 film, Elvis in Hollywood. Many other people contributed their time and resources, and I have tried to indicate my thanks and indebtedness both in these notes and in the acknowledgments that follow.
PROLOGUE: MEMPHIS, 1950
the Mississippi Delta begins: David Cohn, Where I Was Born and Raised, p. 12.
The newcomer, Dewey Phillips, is twenty-four years old: Much of the account of Dewey Phillips’ early background comes from “ ‘Phillips Sent Me’ Has Become Vital Part of City’s Lexicon” by Ida Clemens, Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 9, 1950.
That is why Sam Phillips: Sam Phillips’ early background, as well as his account of his first meeting with Dewey Phillips, comes from interviews with Sam Phillips, 1979–93. All subsequent quotes are from these interviews, unless otherwise specified.
“Negro artists in the South who wanted to make a record”: “Man Behind the Sun Sound,” Melody Maker, c. 1957, as cited by Mike Leadbitter in “Memphis,” Blues Unlimited Collectors Classics 13.
“genuine, untutored negro” music; “Negroes with field mud on their boots”: Robert Johnson, “Suddenly Singing Elvis Presley Zooms into Recording Stardom,” Memphis Press-Scimitar, February 5, 1955.
The ostensible reason: Interview with Sam Phillips, 1988; letter from Sam Phillips to “Mr. J. Edward Connolly, June-bug, 8—50,” published in Kicks 7, 1992. The letter to Connolly seems to belie Phillips’ contention that he was not trying to sell Dewey to Connolly, but this was at the very beginning of their acquaintance, and by August, Dewey and Sam had their first (and last) release out on the aptly named “The Phillips” label.
“so nervous he was bug-eyed”: Vernon quoted in Elvis Presley, prepared by the editors of TV Radio Mirror, 1956, p. 10.
the Presleys gave the impression: “Elvis by His Father Vernon Presley” as told to Nancy Anderson, Good Housekeeping, January 1978.
In February 1949: All information on the Presleys’ housing from the time of their arrival in Memphis comes from Memphis Housing Authority records, kindly made available by Rick Hawks, whose “adoptive aunt” was Housing Authority adviser Jane Richardson.
TUPELO: ABOVE THE HIGHWAY
“industry rising
in the midst of agriculture”: Mississippi: The WPA Guide to the Magnolia State.
“Over the years”: Dale Dobbs, “A Brief History of East Tupelo, Mississippi,” Elvis Presley Heights, Mississippi, Lee County, 1921–1984, compiled by members of the Elvis Presley Heights Garden Club.
Gladys Presley, everyone agreed: The best printed source for background information on Gladys and Vernon Presley, and the Smith and Presley family backgrounds, is Elaine Dundy’s Elvis and Gladys. Vernon’s employment and financial records, however (made available by the Elvis Presley Estate), have been illuminating.
Aron (pronounced with a long a): This is how Elvis pronounces it at his army press conference on September 22, 1958.
“when one twin died”: “Elvis Presley Part 2: The Folks He Left Behind Him,” TV Guide, September 22–28, 1956.
Gladys was never able to have another baby: In Elvis Presley Speaks, the book-length bio by Memphis reporter Robert Johnson that came out in 1956, Vernon says, “That was just one of those things that couldn’t be…. We spent a lot on doctors trying to change it, but there wasn’t anything we could do.”
The physician’s fifteen-dollar fee: William Thomas, “Delivering Elvis Paid $15—From Welfare,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, January 6, 1980.
“she worshiped him”: Jerry Hopkins interview with Faye Harris (MVC/MSU).
“Elvis was so sure”: Elvis Presley, prepared by the editors of TV Radio Mirror, 1956, p. 6.
“My mama never let me”: C. Robert Jennings, “There’ll Always Be an Elvis,” Saturday Evening Post, September 11, 1965, p. 78.
“common laborer”: This was Elvis’ own phrase in a number of interviews.
In 1937 Gladys’ uncle Gains: Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, p. 72.
“when Elvis was just a little fellow”: TV Radio Mirror, p. 8.
“My daddy may seem hard”: Both Cliff Gleaves and Charlie Hodge cited this phrase in separate interviews, and George Klein alluded to similar conversations.
“It was no big disgrace”: Interview with Frank and Corene Randle Smith, 1990.
“afraid that he would get run over”: Interview with Corinne Richards Tate, 1990.
“crying his eyes out”: Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, p. 84.
“Though we had friends”: “Elvis by His Father Vernon Presley” as told to Nancy Anderson, Good Housekeeping, January 1978, p. 156.
“Mrs. Presley would say”: Interview with James Ausborn, 1990.
“[one time] I asked him”: Good Housekeeping, p. 157.
“‘When I grow up’ ”: Recollected by both Gladys (in Martha Lopert, “The Boy with the Big Beat,” Celebrity, winter 1958) and Vernon (in Edwin Miller, “Elvis the Innocent,” Memories, May 1989, from a May 1956 interview). This story combines the two accounts.
“an average student,” “sweet and average”: Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, p. 107; Pat Chism, “Teacher Recalls Elvis’ Favorite Tune While at Lawhon Was ‘Old Shep,’ ” Tupelo Daily Journal, July 28–29, 1956; Kathy Jarman, “Milam Report Card Reveals Elvis as an ‘Average’ Student,” Tupelo Daily Journal, October 6, 1977.
“and we couldn’t”: Larry Geller and Joel Spector, “If I Can Dream,” p. 288.
The picture that you see of him: This picture was in the Tupelo Museum in 1989.
“I’d tramp all over town”: TV Radio Mirror, p. 8.
In May of 1943 the whole family moved: Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, p. 87; Vernon’s employment records; friendship with Sales and Annie Presley documented in Elvis Presley Heights, p. 47.
On August 18, 1945: Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, p. 108.
became a deacon in the church: Ibid., p. 109; Good Housekeeping, p. 157.
the Presleys, like every other member: Interview with Frank and Corene Randle Smith.
“I sang some”: Saturday Evening Post, p. 78.
he “trioed” with his mother and father: Army Archerd, “Presley Takes Hollywood,” Photoplay, December 1956, p. 94.
two doors down from the Presleys: Elvis Presley Heights, p. 156.
the two couples would share: Ibid., p. 48.
The newspaper did not cover: In 1994 Bill Burk discovered a photograph of a ten-year-old Elvis Presley standing onstage after the contest, wearing glasses and flanked by the first-, second-, and third-place winners. Elvis, as he always said, had come in an unofficial fifth. The photograph and accompanying interviews will appear in Burk’s Early Elvis: The Tupelo Years.
“I’ll never forget”: TV Radio Mirror, p. 26.
(the tornado of 1936): Mississippi.
“Son, wouldn’t you rather”: TV Radio Mirror, p. 26.
“I always played the guitar”: Interview with Frank and Corene Randle Smith.
the hillbilly star of the station: Background on the Brasfield family of comedians, Rod, “Boob,” and Cyp, from Linnell Gentry’s A History and Encyclopedia of Country, Western, and Gospel Music; The Country Music Story by Robert Shelton; Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry by Jack Hurst; and 1989 and 1990 interviews with Charlie Hodge and James Ausborn respectively.
“He was a good entertainer”: Interview with Bill Mitchell, 1990.
Archie Mackey’s memory: Interview with Archie Mackey, 1990.
“He was crazy about music”: Interview with James Ausborn.
“He always knew”: Elvis Presley Speaks!, p. 16.
Tex Ritter was making a personal appearance: The Tex Ritter story is from a 1990 interview with James Ausborn.
“I took the guitar”: 1972 interview.
To Ernest Bowen: Interview with Ernest Bowen, 1990.
“All of us were country kids”: Interview with Willie Wileman, 1990.
“It was unbelievable”: Interview with Roland Tindall, 1990.
“Elvis would bring”: Ibid.
“He brought his guitar”: Interview with James Ausborn.
A classmate, Shirley Lumpkin: Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, pp. 120–121.
“All the socializing”: Interview with Roland Tindall.
You walked by the Elks Club: My tour guide for the North Green Street area of Tupelo was Jimmy Young, a lifelong resident, who was good enough to drive me around and point out all the sights.
Several times a year: The basis for this description of a revival on North Green Street comes from Ernest Bowen, although I have taken the liberty of adapting it and introducing an eyewitness. In the August 1, 1957, edition of Jet magazine, Dr. W. A. Zuber, a black Tupelo physician, spoke of Elvis going “to Negro ‘sanctified’ meetings.”
On his last day of school: Vince Staten, The Real Elvis: Good Old Boy, p. 42; Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, pp. 124, 132. The date is based on the fact that Elvis’ first day in the Memphis school system, as recorded on his high school record, was November 8, 1948. Also, see below.
They moved on a Saturday: TV Radio Mirror, p. 9.
“We were broke, man, broke”: James Kingsley, “At Home with Elvis Presley,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, Mid-South Magazine, March 7, 1965.
According to Gladys: TV Radio Mirror, p. 9.
“I told Elvis”: Ibid., p. 8.
“There were times”: Good Housekeeping, p. 157.
MEMPHIS: THE COURTS
putting in an application for public housing: This, and all subsequent information on the Presleys’ living situation, is from Housing Authority records, as supplied by Rick Hawks, and Jerry Hopkins’ interview with Housing Authority adviser Jane Richardson.
(“We always found”): Jerry Hopkins interview with Jane Richardson (MVC/MSU).
“like we’d come into the money”: Interview with George Blancet, 1989.
you just did it: Interview with Buzzy Forbess, 1991.
Stanley Products (Tupperware-like) parties: Interviews with Barbara Pittman and Jimmy Denson, 1989.
“They treated him”: Jerry Hopkins, Elvis, p. 38.
“He was particular”: Interview with Lillian Fortenberry, 1988.
“He never spent”: “Elvis by His Father Vernon Presley” as told to Nancy Anderson, Good Housekeeping, Jan
uary 1978, p. 157.
“If one has no scruples”: Humes Herald, 1953.
At first Gladys: Joseph Lewis, “Elvis Presley Lives,” Cosmopolitan, November 1968, p. 94.
“He was a gentle, obedient boy”: Robert Johnson, Elvis Presley Speaks!, p. 18. (Miss Susie Johnson was Press-Scimitar reporter Bob Johnson’s aunt.)
“He was during his first years”: Ibid., p. 18.
According to a classmate: Elston Leonard, “Elvis Presley: The New Singing Rage,” Tiger, c. 1956. George Klein, another student in the class, also tells this story to date the beginning of his friendship with Elvis.
“My older brother”: Interview with Barbara Pittman.
Gladys was working: Elvis Presley Speaks!, p. 17.
“Paul lived on the third floor”: Interview with Buzzy Forbess.
“The first evening he came in”: Elvis Presley Speaks!, p. 17.
“With the three of us”: Interview with Buzzy Forbess.
One time Farley’s mother: Vince Staten, The Real Elvis: Good Old Boy, p. 44. The quote from Jane Richardson comes from Jerry Hopkins’ interview.
“He even practiced two or three songs”: Interview with Buzzy Forbess.
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