Elvis, Man and God

By Estelle Hough

There really is only one thing that needs to be said here: The only reason you are not mesmerized by Elvis Presley is because you don’t know enough about him.
If you are new to Elvis, this book is for you. If you are a long-standing fan, you may be surprised, this book is also for you. Links are provided to YouTube videos. Writing in normal script is true as far as can be ascertained by cross-referencing biographies, memoirs, interviews and videos about Elvis. Script in italics is sometimes based on truth, sometimes fantasy. Expect some hagiography and spiritual references – they are difficult to avoid when dealing with Elvis.
An Elvis favorite quote: ‘Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free’

• Language: English
• Publisher: Estelle Hough
• Release date: Mar 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215484449

Estelle Hough

I live on a smallholding in South Africa. I have degrees in psychology and literature, and my interests lie in enhancing life for all. You can contact me through my website, or my blog: Through my window.

Book preview

FORWORD

Elvis Presley was a phenomenon that grew in the minds of many as time went by. Some who grew up after his era, when they discovered him, found they liked rock and roll music, his rich voice or whatever else. The Internet, videos, books and movies made him and his story accessible; his rise to stardom, his good looks, talent and charisma spread to next generations. Many fell in love with the person he was. People copied and drew from him what appealed to them. And often when they got to know more about the person, they were drawn in further.

Whether you are young, middle aged or old when reading this, remember that Elvis’ lifespan stretched only across the first half of a normal lifespan, and consider what you are, or were like at the same age. Think how you would have responded to the sudden frenzied adulation at the age of nineteen, and how you would have carried the responsibilities he carried on his shoulders from an even earlier age and throughout the rest of his life.

This book would not have been possible had it not been for the intense scrutiny under which Elvis had lived most of his life - but that was how he had to live. Under the same conditions, how would you have coped day in and day out?

If you can get online access, here is a link to this interesting YouTube video, ‘Elvis rocks Toronto’: https://youtu.be/6NBx9B8xv-Q

A photograph of the riot/chase that ensued after the Empire Stadium concert on 31st August 1957 (which seated 26,500) on the same tour, can be seen anywhere on the Internet. They tore up his hotel room for souvenirs after he had left. Almost every appearance he made, caused similar responses, but at this stage colonel Parker had become so afraid for his client, that concerts had to be suspended.

Today we have many flash in the pan celebrities who elicit wild reactions from the world, but there is no substance behind them and they disappear as fast as they appear.

Most celebrities have their moment in the limelight, eventually become old hat, and are then simply forgotten. Some of them cannot cope under the strain of their strange enforced lifestyles, and when their private lives are exposed in all their inadequacies, they crumble.

Elvis’s life story had a rather different outcome. He, the image, as well as the person, is loved more than ever. Every move that he had ever made that could possibly have been dug up, has been recorded as if it is precious and should not be lost - even that which seemed bad, pitiful and sad is now looked at with sympathy and empathy. There is a rising tide that says there is more to the life of Elvis, because his fanbase is growing instead of shrinking. The film ‘Elvis’ of 2022 reintroduced him yet again to a new generation of followers.

Why is he precious, and what did he have besides talent, beauty and charisma that others did not have that still today cause people to lose their minds over him? There are countless statements and hints from virtually everyone who knew him or met him that lead to an obvious conclusion – if you are receptive to following a trail.

There have been many contemporaries of Elvis who have known him to a greater or lesser degree, who were eager to tell the world about how they experienced this extraordinary man. Some of us have heard and seen enough on the Internet to have come to a place where we can compare stories and weed out personal motivations, distortions and second and third hand accounts in what was and continues to be discussed about Elvis.

Personal convictions and motivations will bleed through in biographies, but for a comprehensive chronological study about Elvis, you can try the two volumes: ‘The last train to Memphis’ (1994), and Careless love: The unmaking of Elvis Presley’ (1998), written by Peter Guralnick. There are quite a few other biographies, as well as memoirs, all with personal missions, some adlibbing here and there where they are trying to build a picture of their own importance in his life, but each adding nuggets of information to another picture that is taking shape.

Whether you like or dislike what became iconic of Elvis; the hairstyle, and later the high collars and studded bell-bottomed suits (your opinions on those would depend on your own time frame and background) take note they are your first impressions, only the markers, and an introduction to the reality of Elvis surpassing the test of time.

ELVIS IN A NUTSHELL

There is significance in where, when and in which circumstances Elvis was born. If he had not been born one of the very poor, one of those whose parents had to sometimes rely on food donations and charitable accommodation, would he have become famous for his own empathy towards those in need and his own charitable contributions? And would he have had such a burning ambition to overcome poverty and provide for his parents?

Elvis was born on 8th January 1935, during the great depression which lasted from 1929 to 1939. He was born in the land of cotton, southern America, which had lost the civil war to north America 70 years before. The Civil war meant not only the emancipation of Black people; it meant the loss of economic control over the cotton rich land. Cities and farms had been burnt to the ground, which meant that many Southerners found it almost impossible to recuperate. White Southerners were poor, resentful and afraid of becoming one with their very poor Black neighbours. They clung to segregation and you were looked down upon if you became one of those who had to live on the fringes of the Black community due to poverty.

This was Elvis’ inheritance. His father drifted after a short jail sentence because of a forged cheque, and his mother took whatever work she could find; laundry work and even picking cotton. She always had Elvis by her side.

There was always hope in going to church. Living close to Negro communities and churches meant absorbing their influences and accepting them as neighbours.

Elvis wasn’t shy to sing in church, everybody did it. At that time, he wasn’t even aware there was another world out there. He must have known his voice sounded sweet even then. He must have sung with the same emotion as the gospel singers and the same abandon as the congregation.

In all this you have to take Elvis’ character in consideration. He felt deeply for his mother’s plight and wanted to lift both his parents out of their circumstances. He had inherited his mother’s drive and sweetness, but he had more; he was smart, he had a good voice and enough will to overcome his shyness. He was brave enough to stand out in a crowd by dressing his cheap or second-hand clothes with flair and later styling his longer hair with equal flair – despite ridicule or threats from peers and teachers. By his own admittance, he felt he was different and that something big was going to happen for him.

Elvis was made to feel special as a child. When he was very young his mother watched over him with an eagle eye. She needed him near her and cosseted him. He was with her out in the cotton fields even at the age of three. By the time they moved into Lauderdale Courts and had two bedrooms, he had the biggest one and was given what could barely be afforded by Gladys and Vernon.

He was both shy and quiet as a child. As a teenager, after a school performance in which he sang he became popular, he began to dress ‘sharp’ and grew and groomed his hair. Girls liked him. Early loves of Elvis say that he had charisma even as a young teenager. He could have all the girlfriends he wanted. Some of those early girlfriends were interviewed (there is a longer Elvis in love bio on YouTube) Even they say that they knew he was not faithful to any one girl, but nevertheless, they say they will love him for the rest of their lives - granted, this could be because of who he became.

Elvis grew up fully aware of the lowly state of their position in society. He dreamed of becoming a superhero and compensating his parents for all their hardship. As a child he did what he could to help; he did odd jobs and called his mother and father his babies. In his senior year he even had a job for a while from three in the afternoon till eleven at night at a metal furniture factory, but he began to fall asleep at school and they made him quit. With his first job after graduation, he handed his earnings, bar a little spending money over to his mother.

He had only worked for a few months when he cut his first demo record. He noticed Sun records in Memphis, discovered he could cut a demo record, and followed up on his dream – as Sam Philips had said, he was never going to be a nobody. He may have been scared, but he aimed high and took steps to get there. Marion Keisker who worked at Sun records and Sam both commented that there was something about the boy. Something not like other people. Marion was drawn to him because, besides his good looks and charm, he seemed so intense, nervous and ingenious. Sam saw something deeper; at different occasions he called him both ingenious and disingenuous. It was as if he read you and gave you what you wanted, said Sam.

Elvis, throughout his life had a vulnerability about him. He was sensitive and could be emotional, which endeared him to people. At the same time, he was intelligent and aware of the atmosphere and situations around him.

He also took charge of anything he wanted to do. In later years some people said that he should have stood firm about issues that seemed to hurt his career, but then they would turn around at the same time and say that if he had really wanted to, no one would or could have stopped him from doing what he wanted to do. Elvis was very disgruntled at times about his work and his life, but strangely he did nothing to change certain avenues of his own life path.

Some aspects that contributed to Elvis’s standing today originate in his upbringing. He never forgot what it was like to be poor and needy, and during stressful times in his life had repeated dreams about being broke and abandoned. He had been brought up with the solace of the poor; faith in God, and shared in the adulation they could offer to God. He knew his bible extremely well, and what a good person according to the bible should be like. With Elvis there was always a tug of war between the luxury and good fortune that was his and the humility that was the trademark of a person of worth in the eyes of his mother and of God.

This tug resulted in Elvis giving his wealth away as soon as he made it. He gave of his own money to charities after paying the 90% tax required from him by the government. He was always aware of others less fortunate than him and tried to help whenever need became known to him. He visited jails and hospitals, not as publicity stunts, but in order to help people where needed. It was just who he was. The accounts of him hearing of someone who needs a wheelchair, a home, medical or financial assistance are endless. See ‘Elvis a generous heart’, a longer video on YouTube, to get an idea. It partly explains why so many fans of his era in America had children and grandchildren who were also fans – people they knew had a story about his generosity to tell.

His power over people grew with every successful show, with every successful record sale, with every outward display of financial success. But many people become successful without becoming memorable. Many achieve greatness without being loved. Many even are charmers without being loved.

Was it his charitable tendencies that were responsible for where the differences lay? It can partly explain why so many people loved him, but there were other reasons. Elvis often allowed fans to visit in Graceland. Many said that he had an aura about him that was so strong that even with your back turned from across the room you would know that he was entering the room. Some described the feeling as electrical. They often said that the room would go silent for a moment when Elvis entered. (He also liked to make an entrance.)

Not only fans said this. Friends and co-workers were aware of it. There are some video clips of his early shows where you can hear and see frenzied fans screaming, but his backing band’s eyes are more aware of Elvis than of them. They did need to watch him in order to follow his antics, but when they didn’t need to, they were still watching him. https://youtu.be/bzvJQdOu5hI

Elvis needed not only his Memphis mafia bodyguards right from the beginning of his career. He needed many policemen to control the crowds at his live shows. His young fans tried frantically to get to him. They tore his clothes off him when they could reach him, fainted, tried to embrace and kiss him, and were simply mesmerized.

Dolores Hart of the movie Loving you said Elvis gave her a lift from the Hollywood movie studios in his Rolls Royce one day and the pavements exiting the studios were packed with fans clamouring to get to him. A girl got her arm stuck through the window when the car gained momentum. Elvis stopped the car and freed her. Dolores asked him how he could stand being mobbed all the time. He just said he was used to it.

This watching him thing continued throughout his life. One of his co-stars in Hollywood, Shelley Fabares, told the story that she was sitting in the dining hall where there were seventy odd diners when Elvis peered through the window. This was in 1966, at a time when he was at the lowest point of his career, when he had been contracted to budget movies with the sole purpose of cashing in on his star power and extracting songs from them for albums. The Beatles were now the hot item. Shelley said that when he peered through the window with his hand to his forehead, the whole hall, some of them famous celebrities themselves, got up to get to the window – but he had fled.

There is another video clip of Elvis at one of his own after-show parties, where you can see not only his bodyguards watching him from across the room, but the guests trying not to be obvious, but keeping him in view or manoeuvring around him. They chat, trying to look at ease, but it looks like they are not at ease, they know exactly where he is in the room.

Filming ‘It happened at the world’s fair’ in Seattle became very difficult as it involved working around the public. They had to hire 100 extra policemen to have space to work. There is video footage of Elvis sitting in middle of an open tram car surrounded by guards. While the vehicle moves slowly, pedestrians hand pieces of paper to him to sign autographs.

At his later live shows which housed thousands of people, audiences had to be told to stay seated or be evicted, but things still got out of hand, especially towards the end of performances. The famous words: ‘Elvis has left the building’ did not however originate there. They were words that had been needed from as early as 1956.

It wasn’t only because he was a great showman that his concerts sold out so quickly. His first season of 80 odd concerts at the International Hotel in Las Vegas seating 5,000 people sold out within 29 days, before everybody could have known what to expect, and they continued to sell out for years once they knew. (80 x 5,000 = 400,000 people came to see him every month-long season he performed there.)

Both those who worked for Elvis and his audiences said that when he got on the stage it was as if an electrical shock wave emanated from the stage over the auditorium. He loved his audience and he played to his fans who came to see him again and again and again. Jerry Schilling in his book said that he wondered how some of the women could afford the hundred-dollar tickets they paid thirty days in a row plus bribery money to doorkeepers to get to the very front.

One reason for his fame was his emotive rendering of the songs he sang. His humanity comes through in his singing. This ‘humanity’ is the one description of his character that always surfaces.

He had a way with conveying the feelings that had urged other song writers to write their songs. When Elvis recorded a song of another artist, it meant that sales would skyrocket. Arguably, his greatest asset was that he expressed a universal human need for love through song. He reflected the emotional needs of the world. He also sang any song as if it was personal to him, whether it was or not. And because of that the world loved him. He was adored because everyone felt as if they were personally addressed, and that his emotion was real.

Biographers all wonder at Elvis not standing up to the Colonel concerning his disregard for Elvis’ creative ambitions. They see him frustrated, but walking away from confrontation time and again. They surmise that he was tired, disinterested, or simply choosing money over quality.

They wonder, because at other times they witness him doing exactly as he pleases, and they know that he is capable of charming anyone into following his lead, or doing what he wants to do and being forgiven afterwards. His money mostly went to others anyway. One can only think that his intuition dictated his decisions.

Joe Esposito, who was clearly entranced by Elvis’s sexual exploits, said that as right-hand man he organized the comings and goings of Elvis’s girlfriends. There would be a girl in the foyer of the hotel waiting for the plane to take her somewhere, while another would be on the same plane coming in, while another would be either on call or somewhere in the hotel or in Memphis.

Jerry Schilling, on the other hand said that Elvis was essentially a one-woman man. He did not like one-night stands. His attention would be on the woman he was with until something did not work for him anymore – it was as if though he had compartmentalized his brain.

If a girlfriend confronted him with rumours and suspicions of other women in his life, he tended to deny everything until he couldn’t anymore, then he might explode. The others were mere distractions, he’d shout. Linda Thompson stated in her book: ‘a little thing called life’ that Elvis would cry out: ‘Can’t you understand, I cannot go out and meet people. I live between my shows and my bedroom. The only way I can get to know someone is to invite them up to my room, and I cannot invite men up to my room. The only thing is, he was like that from when he was young.

When things went wrong for Elvis, the world tended to forgive him. Women still fawned, lost their minds, and even died for the love of him. Men friends still thought of him every day, and missed him for the rest of their lives, as can be seen on many videos remembering him.

Elvis was always surrounded by people who wanted to get close to him for whatever reason, but they weren’t people he knew. He would invite them up to his dressing room for a chat, but it was impersonal.

He suffered from insomnia throughout his life as the result of constant nightmares and sleepwalking when he did manage to fall asleep. He took sleeping pills, and the more dependent he became on them later in life, the more he needed someone to supervise his sleep, as he could forget what he had taken or suddenly be out like a light. Taking his enforced lifestyle into account it makes sense that he needed a woman by his side at all times. In fact, they were not primarily there for sex, they were there for company, supervision – and of course something lovely to look at.

There were many contradictory aspects to Elvis’ nature and behaviour. As a child he was called a mommy’s boy, and when he got older a man’s man. He liked to do manly things; football, horse-riding, karate, guns… All the roles he played in his movies were manly roles. He had no qualms in real life to punch someone if they pushed him too far. There was an incident with a doorkeeper when he was young, and another when he punched a petrol attendant and his assistant who had been disrespectful by giving him a slap on the back of his head when he wouldn’t stop signing autographs and move his car along quickly enough, and another in a pub when someone was belligerent. He wasn’t a fighter, but he didn’t back off either.

Elvis would take flak from the Colonel – and use it to make changes that he wanted to make anyway, without taking the blame for it. Or he would agree to a directive, and then disregard it, as he did with his Christmas special.

Growing up shy and diffident, he had a slight (but very charming) stutter when he said I-I-I all his life. Yet his