Elvis History Blog Archives
November 2008

Entry #35: Posted November 6, 2008
During His Lifetime Elvis Was Too Busy to Vote for President

The historic election day just passed started me thinking about Elvis’s possible connections with presidential politics. Of course, there is no telling who Elvis, if he were still alive, would have favored for president this year. Certainly, though, Elvis, who would have been 73 years old on election day 2008, would have understood the significance of an African-American being elected to the presidency. After all, Elvis graduated from a whites-only high school and as a young entertainer often played to segregated audiences (whites on the main floor, blacks in the balcony).

During his lifetime, Elvis had the opportunity to vote in six presidential elections. However, it is probable that he never exercised his right to vote in any of those elections. In Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen’s book, Elvis Day By Day, there is no mention of Presley ever casting a vote for president. Let’s take a look at what Elvis was doing on each of the six presidential election days during his lifetime.

Elvis first became eligible to vote on his 21st birthday, January 8, 1956. (The 26th Amendment, giving 18-year-olds the right to vote, did not go into effect until 1971.) The first presidential election in which he could have voted came later that year on November 6, 1956. As with most young people then, as well as now, voting was no doubt a low priority for Elvis. It was one of few presidential election days during his life that Elvis was actually in his hometown of Memphis. That would have made it relatively easy for him to vote for either incumbent Republican Dwight Eisenhower or Democratic challenger Adlai Stevenson. Instead, Elvis was probably more excited about his upcoming vacation. On November 8, two days after Eisenhower won a second term, Elvis took the train to Las Vegas.

Elvis’s next opportunity to cast a vote for president came on November 11, 1960, when the candidates were Democrat John Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon. On that day, Elvis, then age 25, spent the morning in Hollywood finishing up the soundtrack recordings for his seventh movie, Wild in Country. As he was away from his home state, if Elvis had wanted to vote, he would have had to do so by absentee ballot. The day after the election, when John Kennedy became president-elect, Elvis was in Napa, California, starting principal photography on Wild in the Country.

Four years later, Elvis was again in Hollywood on November 3, 1964, when the Democratic president, Lyndon Johnson, faced off with Republican Barry Goldwater. On election-day Elvis was in the middle of shooting his 18th movie, Tickle Me for Allied Artists. Again, there is no evidence that Elvis, at age 29, exercised his right to vote via absentee ballot in the election, won easily by Johnson.

When presidential election-day came around again, it was during one of the most troubled years in the nation’s history. Protests against an unpopular war in Vietnam and race riots in many American cities had caused President Johnson to forego running for another term. So, on November 5, 1968, the contest was between Republican Richard Nixon, Democrat Hubert Humphrey, and independent George Wallace.

While a bad year for the country, 1968 had been a successful and exciting year for Elvis. He was in the early stages of a career transition from acting to live performing. In June he had taped his “Comeback” TV special for NBC, which would air on December 3. On election day itself, RCA released Elvis’s new single, “If I Can Dream,” which would herald his return to the top of the record charts. That election day Elvis was again in Hollywood, making The Trouble With Girls, his 30th and next to last theatrical film.

Elvis probably didn’t vote for winner Richard Nixon in 1968, but a little over three years later the King of Rock ’n’ roll stood in the White House shaking hands with President Nixon. The morning of December 21, 1971, Elvis had dropped off a letter for the president at the White House. In it he expressed his concern about the “drug culture, the hippie elements, the SDS [Students for a Democratic Society], black panthers, etc.” Actually, Elvis was probably more concerned about obtaining a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge for his collection. In any event, he persuaded the president of his sincerity and got Nixon to authorize the bureau to issue Elvis the treasured badge. Fortunately, a photographer was on hand to record the meeting, which now lives on as an urban legend.

Less than a year later, on November 7, 1972, President Nixon stood for re-election against Democrat George McGovern. On that day Elvis flew from Memphis to Lubbock, Texas, to begin an eight-day concert tour. Again, it is very unlikely that Elvis stopped off to cast a vote on the way to the airport. Nixon won easily but was forced to resign the presidency less than two years later.

Elvis Presley’s last chance to vote for president came on November 2, 1976, when Republican incumbent Gerald Ford squared off against Democrat Jimmy Carter. Just exactly where Elvis was that day is hard to determine. According to Guralnick and Jorgenson, Elvis spent much of the first three weeks of November 1976 “flying back and forth between Memphis, Denver, Palm Springs and Dallas.” With his career, health, and personal life becoming more and more unstable, it’s extremely unlikely he took the time to vote on election day 1976. Elvis passed away less than 10 months later.

Not too much should be made of Elvis’s choice to not exercise his right to vote over the years. As noted above, he was often out of town on election day, and even when he was in Memphis at the time, his going to the local polling place would have undoubtedly caused an unwelcome commotion. In the final analysis, his decision not to vote may have been just another example of how Elvis’s fame kept him from living a normal life. — Alan Hanson

Entry #36: Posted November 13, 2008
The Mystery of Marilyn Evans, the "Million Dollar Quartet" Girl

I have to admit that I’ve never really understood the fascination many Elvis fans have with the man’s girlfriends. I know that lots of women, a few of them qualifying as “girlfriends,” cycled through Elvis’s life in the fifties, but can you honestly name one who had any influence whatsoever on his music or any other part of his career. I can’t think of any. When considering Elvis as an important figure in mid-20th century American culture, the string of girls he chose as company through those years have no significance.

Of course, this interest in Elvis’s girlfriends is primarily found among his female fans. I’m sure most of his male fans are like me. We guys can’t relate to girls wishing they had been Elvis’s girlfriend. When I was a teenager, I liked Brenda Lee’s music, but did I fantasize about being her boyfriend? The thought never crossed my mind.

So why am I writing this week about Elvis girlfriends, a topic mostly irrelevant in the history of Elvis Presley? Well, the subject has popped up in the news recently in connection with a very significant event in Elvis’s career.

“Presley girlfriend cropped from history!” was the headline in the Chicago Tribune two weeks ago (10/29/08). The story by Tribune reporter Jason George concerns a stage act currently playing at Chicago’s Apollo Theater. Titled “Million Dollar Quartet,” the musical “tells the story of the impromptu 1956 jam session of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash,” according to George.

OK, we all know about the event in question. It happened on December 4, 1956, when Elvis dropped into Sun Studio in Memphis toward the end of a Carl Perkins recording session. Lewis was playing the piano on the session, and he joined with Perkins and Presley for a jam session recorded by Sam Phillips. Johnny Cash dropped by long enough to get in a photo with the other three but did not participate in the jam session.

So where does a “girlfriend” fit into the scene? Well, it turns out that the Chicago “Million Dollar Quartet” cast includes performers playing six roles—Elvis, Carl, Jerry Lee, Johnny, Sam, and Dyanne. Wait a minute—who was Dyanne? Writer George explains the character is “loosely based on a short-term girlfriend of Elvis Presley’s.” The character was created, says George, because “no one knows what happened to the young woman who actually did appear on Elvis’ arm that day.”

OK, let’s just back up for a minute. The shadowy, “short-term girlfriend” in question supposedly was one Marilyn Evans. Her name has long been associated with the Presley myth, but only in a trivial sense. Peter Gurlanick gave her some credibility when he mentioned her in his 1994 Elvis biography. First, of Elvis’s November 1956 vacation in Las Vegas, Guralnick wrote, “He stayed at the New Frontier with his cousin Gene and attended all the shows. At the outset of his visit he dated Marilyn Evans, a dancer at the New Frontier, and invited her to come see him in Memphis in December.” Apparently, Miss Evans accepted Elvis’s invitation, as Guralnick claims she was in the car with Elvis a month later when he pulled up to Sun Studio in Memphis for the historic jam session.

Here’s the problem—since that day, Marilyn Evans seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. “She’s one of the few Elvis girlfriends to completely vanish into the ozone,” according to Colin Escott, co-writer of the Chicago play and author of Good Rockin’ Tonight: Sun Records & the Birth of Rock & Roll. Unlike many other women Elvis knew in those days, Marilyn Evans has never sold her story, appeared in any article, fanzine or made-for-TV movie, according to a statement by Guralnick in the recent Tribune article.

Guralnick says that the only information about the girl was provided by “those there that day” at Sun Studio. That scant information about Miss Evans says that she was age 19, worked as a showgirl at the New Frontier in Las Vegas, and dated Elvis only for a few weeks. In his book, however, Guralnick gives no source for the facts about Evans or even that she actually existed. The author even admits that before Carl Perkins died, he insisted that the woman with Elvis that day had a different name. There were more than a dozen people in the studio that day, and still no one has been able to nail down who said what to whom about the mystery girl.

Supposedly, audio and visual evidence exists to verify Evans’s attendance that day at Sun. Halfway through the audio tape of the jam session, a female voice can be heard asking, “Would this rover boys trio sing ‘Farther Along’?” According to the Tribune article, the voice is believed to be Marilyn’s, but I’ve read other accounts that credit Sam’s secretary Marion Keisker with asking the question.

What about the visual evidence? A Memphis newspaper photographer was called to record the historic gathering. Surely the mystery gal must appear in one of the photos he snapped. Well, maybe, maybe not. In his article, reporter George writes, “There is an iconic photo from that session, which shows the quartet clustered around a piano—believed to be the uncropped original of the famous photo—features a woman, believed to be Evans.” (Being a skeptic at heart when I read things that sound phony, I feel compelled to point out that it is just as easy to insert in a photo someone who was not actually there as it is to crop out someone who was actually there.)

In an effort to locate the elusive Marilyn Evans, the Tribune contacted Betty Bunch, a fifties era hotel showgirl and now a Las Vegas historian and lecturer. “The name just doesn’t ring a bell,” Bunch said. “That was the year before it got really big out here, so I should remember her, but I don’t.”

From a historic point of few, the whole Marilyn Evans mystery is much ado about nothing. Even if she really was at that historic gathering at Sun Studio in 1956, she certainly would have been no more than a spectator.

So why bring up an empty argument? For all those with a stake in the “Million Dollar Quartet” show at the Apollo Theater in Chicago, the answer is obvious. First of all, for wider audience appeal, the act needed a female presence (preferably a shapely blonde). Thus was born the character of Dyanne, played by shapely blonde Kelly Lamont. And she doesn’t play a fly on the wall. A photo in the Tribune shows her right in there with the boys, singing away and banging on her tambourine. And then there’s the hype factor. What better way to generate some publicity for the act than to trumpet the injustice of Elvis’s girlfriend being “cropped from history”?

Really, as years go by there is no end to the twists and turns that the Elvis myth can take. Sometimes actual history has to take a backseat. You know, though, I’d still kind of like to see that “Million Dollar Quartet” show. Maybe someday it’ll come to my hometown. — Alan Hanson

Entry #37: Posted November 20, 2008
What Made Elvis One of Rolling Stone's "Best Singers of All Time"

In its most recent issue (11/27/08), Rolling Stone lists the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time,” according to its own poll. The magazine was issued with four different covers, one each featuring Elvis, John Lennon, Aretha Franklin, and Bob Dylan. Fortunately, the copy that showed up in my mailbox had the Elvis cover.

In case you haven’t seen the magazine, the top 10 in the poll are: (1) Aretha Franklin, (2) Ray Charles, (3) Elvis Presley, (4) Sam Cooke, (5) John Lennon, (6) Marvin Gaye, (7) Bob Dylan, (8) Otis Redding, (9) Stevie Wonder, (10) James Brown.

Of course, these kinds of polls are completely subjective, not to mention thoroughly meaningless, but they do fuel spirited discussion and arguments. Some Elvis fans will doubtless be incensed that anyone finished ahead of their guy. As you might be able to tell from the top 10, the complete list leans heavily toward established male rhythm and blues singers. Intermixed along the way is a smattering of straight country, hard rock, and mainstream pop vocalists.

Such a list begs two questions: “Who had a vote?” and “What makes a singer great?” Rolling Stone answered the first question and vaguely addressed the second one. The magazine lists the names of 179 singers, musicians, producers, executives, journalists, etc., who were asked to list “20 favorite vocalists from the rock era, in order of their importance.” The only voter on the list with a direct connection to Elvis is Scotty Moore.

The instructions made it clear that voters were to consider each singer’s influence in the rock era more than voice quality. In a lead-in article, titled “What Makes a Great Singer?” Jonathan Lethem admits the subjectivity of such a question. “The beauty of the singer’s voice touches us in a place that’s as personal as the place from which that voice has issued,” he explains. That, of course, explains why Elvis fans think his voice is the greatest ever, while non-Elvis fans can’t stand to listen to his music.

The job of justifying Elvis’s #3 spot on the list was given by Robert Plant, the former lead singer of Led Zeppelin. He doesn’t do a very good job of it. He starts out with a few generalizations, such as, “I just heard this voice, and it was absolutely, totally in its own place. The voice was confident, insinuating and taking no prisoners.” Plant spends the rest of his allotted space listing his favorite Presley recordings and telling about his meeting with Elvis in the early seventies.

It’s presumptuous to think I could better answer the question, “Why was Elvis Presley a great singer?” but I’m going to attempt it anyway. I’m well aware that all Elvis fans have their own favorites among his recordings, and many feel very passionate about them. Recently, I’ve communicated with fans who have listed the following recordings among their most-treasured Elvis titles: “Where Do You Come From?” “Until It’s Time for You to To Go,” “Is It So Strange,” “A House That Has Everything.”

Now, I wouldn’t have put any of those titles in my list of “Hanson’s Top 500 Favorite Elvis Recordings.” I only mention that to show I understand that many of you will disagree with some of my personal favorites that are listed below. Therefore, I’m going to save some space by asking you to mentally add the phrase, “in my opinion,” to the end of each sentence that follows from this point on.

When I first became an Elvis fan in 1963, it was the beauty of his voice that attracted me initially. His voice then was crystal clear, smooth, and pleasing to my ear. I didn’t make the connection, then, but now it seems clear to me that Elvis’s vocal style in those days showed the influence of Dean Martin. I was especially drawn to ballads, such as “There’s Always Me,” “Starting Today,” and “They Remind Me Too Much of You.” The beauty of Elvis’s voice also was evident in rhythm songs, like “I Got Lucky” and “Follow That Dream.”

As I began to delve into his recordings of the fifties, I became aware of the versatility of his voice. No one then could match Elvis’s strength and energy on a rock ’n’ roll song. Take “Blue Suede Shoes.” Although it was Carl Perkins’ song, Elvis’s version was much more compelling and demanding than Carl’s version. Elvis gave that same hard edge to other rockers like “Ready Teddy,” “Hound Dog,” and “A Big Hunk ’o Love.” At the same time, the strength of his voice and natural timing was also evident in softer, rhythm numbers, like “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Anyplace Is Paradise,” and “All Shook Up.”

“Love Me Tender” notwithstanding, Elvis’s voice was not mature enough to handle ballads in the 1950s. His uneven and strained efforts on “Is It So Strange,” “Blueberry Hill,” “Don’t,” and others, make his ballads of that era among his worst vocal efforts. Two years away in the army gave his voice time to mature, and ballads became one of his strengths. “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” was one of the best vocal performances of his career.

In the end, though, it is the versatility of Elvis’s voice and his ability to handle a variety of musical genres that makes him one of the rock era’s greatest singers. Through the years he could always handle the rockin’ numbers. “Such a Night” in the sixties and “Promised Land” in the seventies are evidence of that. He could deliver a soulful number, like “In the Ghetto,” and sing the blues, as in “Reconsider Baby.”

Elvis’s vocal output in the seventies was very uneven. He was at his best then when singing tunes like “An American Trilogy” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Such recordings featured his voice in soft ballad segments that built into strong, big voice endings. “How Great Thou Art,” among the best of his critically acclaimed gospel recordings, was another effort that put Presley’s great vocal range on display.

The single recording that best represents Elvis Presley’s voice, however, is “It’s Now or Never.” The ability to branch out into a different kind of music; the beauty of his voice throughout; the soft delivery in the two verses, followed each time by the passionate chorus; the big finish—all are characteristic of one of the greatest singing voices of the rock era … in my opinion, of course. — Alan Hanson

Entry #38: Posted November 27, 2008
What If Elvis Had Made Only One Movie Per Year?

On November 25th I posted my review of Elvis On Tour in the “Elvis Movies” section of Elvis-History-Blog.com. That completed a project I began nine months ago to review all of Elvis’s 33 movies. Watching and attempting to analyze all those movies in a relatively short period of time was both an entertaining and enlightening experience.

Since I watched and reviewed all of the movies in the order in which they were released, from Love Me Tender in 1956 through Elvis On Tour in 1972, I eventually began to understand why Elvis’s film career evolved the way it did. It wasn’t a simple thing. A number of factors came together to lead Elvis down the winding Hollywood path that he followed. Like most Elvis fans, I believe misjudgments were made along the way that damaged his reputation as an actor.

This week I’d like to discuss what I consider to be one of those missteps, that being that Elvis made too many movies in too short a period of time. The standard output for most of Hollywood’s leading men during that era was one motion picture per year, but, disregarding the army year of 1959, Elvis made 31 films in the 13 years from 1956 to 1969. That’s an average of nearly 2½ pictures per year. During seven different years, Elvis made three movies, including six years in a row beginning in 1964.

This unprecedented flood of movies starring Elvis inevitably led to a lack of quality filmmaking. I think there is no doubt that Elvis would be more respected today for his acting if he had restricted his output to one movie per year.

That started me thinking. What if Elvis really had just made one picture per year? That would have reduced his career total to just 13 films, not 31. In that scenario, most of his marginal films would never have been made, and his reputation as a leading man would certainly be greater today. Considering the movies he made through the years, what follows are my choices for the one film he should have made each year.

1956 (Candidates: Love Me Tender)

No choice to be made here. While not a strong movie, Love Me Tender is still a credible debut film for an inexperienced actor like Elvis was.

1957 (Candidates: Loving You, Jailhouse Rock)

I hate to throw out Loving You, but the choice here has to be Jailhouse Rock. It’s Elvis’s classic rock ’n’ roll movie and his break out film as a leading man.

1958 (Candidates: King Creole)

To many critics then and now, King Creole was the pinnacle of Elvis’s acting career at the age of 23. He was perfectly suited for the role of an “angry young man.”

1960 (Candidates: G.I. Blues, Flaming Star)

G.I. Blues was much bigger at the box office, but my choice is Flaming Star. In it Elvis did an above average job in his first straight acting role. If we’re interested in Elvis’s reputation as an actor, it’s a better choice than the syrupy army film.

1961 (Candidates: Wild in the Country, Blue Hawaii)

Wild in the Country was an actor’s film, but I can’t pass on the biggest box office success of Elvis’s career. Despite its light-weight plot, Blue Hawaii was a winner with its scenery and great music.

1962 (Candidates: Follow That Dream, Kid Galahad, Girls! Girls! Girls!)

This was Elvis’s first three-movie year, and picking one is tough. Kid Galahad is one of his best efforts, but Follow That Dream gets the nod. It wins due to Elvis’s great comedic timing, its social message, and Elvis’s classic courtroom speech.

1963 (Candidates: It Happened At the World’s Fair, Fun in Acapulco)

Back in 1963 I would have chosen the Seattle film, but now I think Fun in Acapulco is the better movie. It has some lasting charm due to its Latin music and exotic setting (despite the fact that Elvis filmed his scenes entirely in Hollywood).

1964 (Candidates: Kissin’ Cousins, Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout)

This is an easy one. The dynamic pairing of Elvis and Ann-Margret against the flashy background of Vegas makes Viva Las Vegas a timeless classic.

1965 (Candidates: Girl Happy, Tickle Me, Harum Scarum)

It’s difficult to pick between the first two, but I’m going to go with Tickle Me. It was Elvis’s first straight comedy, and the music is much better than in Girl Happy.

1966 (Candidates: Frankie and Johnny; Paradise, Hawaiian Style; Spinout)

I’d like to throw out all three, but since I have to make a choice, I’ll go with the Hawaiian movie. Again, it’s exotic setting and native ceremonies give it some allure. (If they just hadn’t let that little girl sing “Bill Bailey”!)

1967 (Candidates: Easy Come, Easy Go; Double Trouble; Clambake)

This was Elvis's weakest year in theaters. OK, let’s go with Clambake. It has some humor to go along with the Florida scenery. Let’s be honest, though. It wins by default.

1968 (Candidates: Stay Away, Joe; Speedway; Live a Little, Love a Little)

Not much to chose from here, either. Stay Away, Joe is an embarrassment to Native Americans and Live a Little still leaves me a lot confused. That leaves Speedway as the keeper for 1968.

1969 (Candidates: Charro!, The Trouble With Girls, Change of Habit)

Since Elvis had already returned to live performances by the time Change of Habit was released in late 1969, it was an ignored film back them. Still, it’s one of Elvis’s best dramatic roles and, in my opinion, one of the top 10 films of his career.

There you have it. Elvis’s Hollywood career would today be considered in much higher regard had he released only the following 13 films: Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, King Creole, Flaming Star, Blue Hawaii, Follow That Dream, Fun in Acapulco, Viva Las Vegas, Tickle Me, Paradise—Hawaiian Style, Clambake, Speedway, and Change of Habit.

Of course, had he done only one film a year, it would have changed his career in other respects. With reduced income from films, he would have needed other ways to earn money. He might have had a varied career similar to Frank Sinatra’s. One movie and one Las Vegas engagement per year. One or two quality albums each year in place of the disappointing soundtrack LPs. Perhaps a U.S. concert tour every two or three years, and at least one European and one Australian tour as well.

Isn’t it funny that, despite all the enjoyment he gave us over the course of his career as it was, we Elvis fans still insist on playing the “what if” game? — Alan Hanson

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