1964 (June 10) interview of Elvis Presley
THE BEATLES - `They don't bother me ... I wish them
luck'
HIS CAREER - `I haven't been hiding. There's no
attempt to keep me out of the public eye'
GIRLS - `I'll admit something. I'm as red-blooded as
the next guy'
According to Ann-Margret you were or are engaged to
her. This is not true either?
Elvis: 'The papers quoted her as saying it, but
later she told me how it happened. They asked if it were true she was in love
with me. Well, she was in love with me and she didn't want to lie about it. So
she told them. And that's how it happened.'
You could mistake it for any small American town the
morning after the night the circus arrived. Carnival booths, shooting galleries
and popcorn stands face each other across a dusty road littered with empty
paper bags. It looks seedy enough to be the real thing until you gaze down the
road where bored property men are adding another house to the film set's mock
town.
But there is no mistaking the young man slumped in a
canvas chair, halfway down the road, staring aimlessly ahead.
He is wearing
blue jeans, blue shirt, short blue jacket and black boots.
His face is
made up in a light even tan and his hair has been dyed jet black.
The make-up
people have done a good job on him, though they have done nothing about the
rosebud mouth, strangely small and almost feminine.
Pop idols
have come and gone over the past eight years but that mouth still has a
hypnotic magic for millions of girls around the world.
So has the name Elvis Presley.
He sits there bored, resigned to the film-making
waiting game, while pretty starlets swivel by.
They are just
about to shoot Roustabout, Presley's 16th film, for producer Hal Wallis who
discovered him for the screen.
At that time, Hollywood dismissed Presley as a
fluke. But the fluke minted enough money - a reputed £5,000,000 - to make them
eat their words with their cocktail olives.
"Never", producer Hal Wallis (right)
insisted, "Not for one moment, have I thought of Elvis as a freak. I am
reminded of this when I am asked why it is I have not gone after the Beatles
the way I went after Elvis.
"My answer is that I have no use for them. I
doubt that they can last more than a couple of pictures.
I don't want
to be unkind and call them a flash-in-the-pan, but they are no match for Elvis,
the unknown Elvis of 1956.
Not that I haven't had a good look at them. I have.
And I found them wanting. They have no sound, no rhythm. I wouldn't touch them.
It's as simple as that."
After talking to the star-maker, I moved over to the
star. What did he think of the Beatles who deposed him from the Top Ten and the
jukeboxes? There were many questions to put to him. Why for instance, had he
never visited Britain, where a personal appearance might win back fans from the
new boys?
We talked...
I said: You
haven't appeared in a live show at all in the past few years. Why are you
hiding from the world?
Presley replied: "I haven't been hiding, there
is no deliberate attempt to keep me out of the public eye.
I know people have said the Colonel (Colonel Tom
Parker, the mastermind behind Presley's career) has some sort of strategy about
my exposure to the public. It isn't that at all.
But we do have a program which calls for three
pictures in a year and that is a lot of pictures. It doesn't leave one with
much time in between.
Q: You rest
up? Even if you realize that your insistence on staying out of the public eye
may cost you some of your popularity?
Elvis: I wouldn't say that. But the Colonel says I
cannot go to one country without offending people in another country, and I
guess he is right. Somebody will always be unhappy.
But it's
different with movies. They go everywhere. Yet, don't think I wouldn't love to
go to England, for instance, and make a couple of appearances there.
I've been
thinking of that for some time, and I'm as close to going as I was a couple of
years ago.
Q: You make it all sound so difficult, but is it
really? I’m sure the people in Germany, for instance, wouldn’t mind if this
year you visit England only.
Elvis: This
is not the way the Colonel sees it. And I trust the Colonel.
Q: In the meantime, the Beatles have taken over.
People have said that, in a sense, you, or the absence of you, are responsible
for their emergence and their fabulous success.
Elvis: As for
the Beatles, all I can say is so much more power to them. They’ve appeared on
three Ed Sullivan shows in this country and I watched the all.
Q: What did you think of them?
Elvis: You can’t ask me to tell you what I really
feel about them. I don’t think I should. I don’t think it would be fair to
fellow entertainers.
Remember, I am a lucky guy myself. I’ve never
forgotten that. It’s too vivid in my memory. I’ll say that the Beatles have got
what it takes, and in great abundance that they have been given a heck of a
vote of confidence. I’m sorry, but I have to be diplomatic.
Q: You don’t sound envious, but as you watch the
teenage audiences scream, it must have brought back memories… Wasn’t it more or
less the same to you?
Elvis: More
or less. But let me add, I sure wish them luck.
Q: A lot of what you say implies that money is of no
importance to you?
Elvis: I’m not implying anything. I am most grateful
for my good fortune. But I am a man of simple tastes. I don’t need the money
for myself. For a while, I was like a kid with a new toy, but it was never my
goal and never will be.
Money can
never buy everything your heart desires. It won't buy love, or health or true
happiness. And even sometimes when you give it away, you don't get the thanks
you're entitled to.
Presley, the ex-truck driver from Mississippi, is
now the master of a mansion outside Memphis, Tennessee, which he calls home,
and a villa outside Hollywood he regards as his working quarters.
Once a film
is finished, he drives 2,000 miles back to Memphis with the private army he
calls "my guys" (cousin Billy Smith, aide Joe Esposito, transport
boss Allan Fortas, pals Jim Kingsley and Richard Davis)
Elvis is at
the wheel every inch of the way, "These are the happiest days of my
life," he said.
This seemed an apt moment to ask about the other
side of his life which has been kept so secret.
I said I
hoped he would be as outspoken as he had earlier, Presley said he didn't as a
rule discuss his private life.
I told him;
"I see you as a red-blooded young man with normal instincts. I refuse to
accept the theory that you spend your time with your guys or timidly taking
girls out on dates that end with a shy kiss on the doorstep."
Presley replied, "I'll admit something to you.
But without going into details. Let me say that I've led quite a fast life,
really, and that I'm as red-blooded as the next guy.
The
difference between me and the other guy is that I hate to publicize it. I've
been in love, but it's not true that I am secretly married or that I am
secretly engaged, I have no permanent attachments and you can take my word for
it."
There have been many rumors that Presley was engaged
to Priscilla Beaulieu, the pretty 19-year-old daughter of an American Air Force
captain he met while in the Army in Germany.
Last year,
Priscilla took up an offer from Presley's father to live with the family at
Memphis because her father was still in Germany. Presley's public promptly
assumed she was engaged to Elvis.
Elvis: I know what people are saying. I knew that
people would say it even before Priscilla came to stay with us. I had to make a
decision and I made it. All I can say is that Priscilla is a great girl and I
like her very much.
You never
know what the future holds. All I can say is to repeat that I am not secretly
married or secretly engaged.
Q: According to Ann-Margret (his co-star in Viva Las
Vegas) you were or are engaged to her. This is not true either?
Elvis: The papers quoted her as saying it, but later
she told me how it happened. They asked if it were true she was in love with
me. Well, she was in love with me and she didn't want to lie about it. So she
told them. And that's how it happened.
Q: And she
told you all this?
Elvis: Yes. Because she felt she owed me an
explanation. She is an honest girl, a good girl and she told the truth. I have
great respect for her.
Q: Would that mean that all is over between you two?
Elvis: I haven't seen her in a while, but that is
because she has been working in a movie. But that's all. I like her very much.
I guess I have now told you more about my private life than I've told anybody.
You can't expect more than that.
The main
point I want to make is that I am not ready for marriage. I mean it sincerely
and I feel very strongly about it.
Of course,
people don't believe this is so and think I am playing games, but it is a deep
conviction with me.
There are a
great many, things want to do and I have to do them all first, and it may take
a long time.
Meanwhile, I
intend to stay the way I am and lead the life the way I lead it now.
I like my
present ways and there is no reason in the world to change anything.
I believe I have matured since I first came to
Hollywood. You see it reflected in my pictures. The dialogue is more mature
because I am ready for it.
You asked me how far is the Colonel "the
boss"?
I have left
it to the Colonel to guide my career and I trust him because he knows his
business like nobody else. But I draw my own conclusions and make my own
decisions.
Which includes anything from picking the songs for
my new film, to cutting a new record, to falling in love....
Q: It still leaves the Colonel with a heavy load of
responsibilities doesn't it!
Elvis: You bet it does...
Presley smiled as he said that. Across the Paramount
studios, in an office, cluttered with Presley posters and records, the legend
behind the legend is talking on the telephone to a film magnate.
Colonel (a title he claims was conferred on him by
several State governors) Tom Parker's voice is as sweet as honey.
"If you
don't want us." purrs the Colonel. "You wouldn't call us. You know
what's good for the public and so do we, so we are in full agreement, aren't
we?"
"Nobody
has yet lost any money on a Presley picture and you're much too good a man to
be the first . . . Now 1965 and 1966 are filled but if you want a word of
advice, take spot No.1 in 1967 for 750,000 dollars (nearly £270,000) and I tell
you, sir, you will never regret it."
Nothing can
bother Elvis Presley while Colonel is taking care of things in the background.
Tough-talking producers, hard-dealing impresarios, the Colonel looks after that
side of the business.
Girls,
Presley can handle.
And as for the new pop liners who are challenging
him. . Well, Presley has 51 Gold Discs to show he was king for eight years and
could well be again.
"The Beatles?" asks Presley "Do they
bother me?" Of course not. They are entertainers like myself and I guess
they are as dedicated as the rest of us. In the long run, this is all that
matters."
Mr. Elvis
Presley is of course, entitled to his own opinions.
2013 by Jeff Schrembs ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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