Unknown Stories Behind The Legend

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

As Told By..... PAUL DOUGHER

We stayed close friends, but later on it got to be such a hassle to try to see him, I gave up.
Used to, you could just call and get right through.
I could almost always get him on the phone or go out to the gate.
They would let him know I was there and he'd say "Let him come up".
But later, with so many people trying to do that, I guess he wanted more seclusion.
When I would call up there, Charlie Hodge would get on the phone, or Joe Esposito.
They would say, "He's busy with something."
They probably wouldn't even let him know I was on the phone.
I finally gave up and would only see him when he came to see me.
He would come by and I would say, "I tried to get hold of you".
Just tell them who you are," he'd say.
"That doesn't always help," I explained.



EDDIE FADAL

The Memphis Mafia isolated him.
They were afraid someone else would encroach on their territory, so they tried to keep everybody else out.
It was a tough ring around Elvis, and I don't think Elvis realized that.
There were a lot of people who called who had business being with Elvis.
Some of the people were important recording artists and recording people that Elvis wanted to see, but they couldn't get through that group.



GEORGE KLEIN

Elvis knew that some of us, like Red West and I, weren't there for the money or to cash in on his fame - we'd been there before he became famous.
Sure we rode with him to the top, but we weren't Johnny-come-lately's.
We were friends with him when he was a nobody, and he never forgot that.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

As Told By..... MYRNA SMITH

Jerry was probably more aware of the changes in Elvis than I was.
I knew he wasn't himself some nights when he came onstage; he wasn't quite awake yet.
He slept all day and didn't get up 'til late afternoon.
That's when he ate breakfast.
Then he got ready for his show.
And sometimes when he came down, he would still seem half asleep.
Even when he first walked onstage, he'd be half asleep.
But he'd just be doing his show, you know, because he knew it so well.
During the course of his show, whatever he'd had kicked in, and he woke up.
I've seen those times when he was having a hard time, but I'd be pulling for him so hard!
He looked to us for a lot of inspiration.
If you watched his shows you'd sometimes see him looking over at us, pleading with those eyes.
We'd be pulling for him.
We'd make more racket, trying to get him going, you know.
He'd pull it through somehow.
I've seen him sometimes when it was scary; when he was glassy-eyed and not really awake.
It was frightening to me 'cause I thought, "He is gonna fall."



RONNIE TUTT

I saw big changes in Elvis toward the end.
There were nights I sensed he was so tired or so down I felt like I had to physically hit the drums much, much harder than I had before.
There were times I would say to him in my mind, "Let's get up.
Let's get going!" just like he would mentally "say" things to me at times.
Sometimes he'd get my signal and he'd understand, but there were some nights when he just seemed so out of it, so down.
Also there'd be certain nights when the people were either too courteous, or too in awe, or too conservative, or whatever you want to say, but the audience wasn't responding like normal, or like what he was used to.
He'd get frustrated and turn around and say, "Let's get the hell out of here!" I mean, he'd do his show - he always respected the public in that sense - but he certainly wasn't going to stay on and do extra encores or work quite as hard.



TONY BROWN

The band included the rhythm section, about twenty backup singers, and about twelve horn players.
It was a big entourage.
We'd sit around back there in the dressing room and talk about the situation: "Why can't somebody get through to Elvis?"
"We should get Elvis on a health kick."
"I wish we could help him."
We'd say, "Ronnie Tutt, you know him really well.
Why don't you go talk to him ?"
But we all knew it was hopeless because Elvis was surrounded by that little circle of people, you now, all those so-called friends and all those bodyguards.
If you dared to ask, "Can I have five minutes alone with Elvis ?" the answer would be, "Absolutely not!"
They probably figured you were gonna ask him for a Cadillac or something.
If you did get five minutes with him, most likely they'd be opening the door, constantly checking to see what was going on.
It was totally unrealistic to attempt to get thirty minutes alone with him so you could say, "Elvis, man, you could go on a program and clean yourself up, lose some weight.
Man, you'd feel much better."
Those kind of conversations could never have taken place because when we got around Elvis, he controlled the conversation with idle chitchat.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

As Told By..... LARRY NIX

The second time Elvis came to Stax {December 10-15, 1973} it was a lot more upbeat.
Elvis had his daughter and the girlfriend {Linda Thompson}.
They brought a girl just to answer the phone.
We had to keep a line open so Colonel Parker could call, I guess.
One of the things that struck me was when Elvis turned to one of his guys and said, "Hey! Hey, man, tonight's Monday night, right?"
And the guys says, "Yeah," and boom!
The guy leaves.
It wasn't fifteen minutes later, this guy comes in with a big ol' TV - all the tags on it.
He had run down and bought a tv and stuck it up there in the studio to watch Monday night football.
When they left, they left the tv - just got it to watch Monday night football one time.

Another thing that surprised me was if a writer would bring a song in on tape, I would have to transfer it to a disc.
Elvis wanted to review all the songs on record.
That may have been because it was easier to play parts of a record than to rewind a tape, I don't know.
They'd bring the song in, I'd make the acetate {disc}, and then I'd go in the studio while they were cutting it.
Elvis would listen, and he'd go do it.
The song would be done identical to the demo.
That dumbfounded me.
There was no imagination, no "Create a little bit here," you know!
Felton Jarvis was the producer, but all the production was already done on the demos.
They just copied them.

Elvis' daughter would be in there with him when he would perform.
Most times about ten or eleven o'clock she'd fall asleep, and he'd pick her up and carry her.
You could tell that, man, she was everything.
I mean, nothing else mattered.
He definitely took care of that girl.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

As Told By..... DAVID BRIGGS

Elvis loved and worshipped Lisa Marie.
That pretty well sums it up.
He was crazy about her.
He wanted everybody to really be nice around her.
He really didn't want her to know some of the things that went on in his life.
He was as protective as any dad.
From what I saw, she was the most important thing in his life.



LINDA THOMPSON

Elvis was an enormously loving parent.
I was with Lisa from the time she was four years old until she was nine years old.
Every summer Elvis and I would have Lisa.
Every Christmas she would come and spend time with us.
We spent a lot of time with her.
Elvis gave her, I think, the one thing that is vital for a parent to give to a child, and that is unequivocal love.
She knew, unequivocally, that her daddy absolutely adored her.
Elvis was not always right.
He was not always as strict as he should have been.
He was not always as lenient as he should have been.
But he was always, always as loving as he should have been.
He let Lisa Marie know every waking moment how much he loved her.
He had no hesitation, no qualms about saying, "Your daddy loves you so much," and he would get tears in his eyes telling her.
You know, Lisa was just this little kid; she soaked it up.
She knew that her daddy adored her.
He would laugh with her.
He was very physically demonstrative in his affection, which is also very important.
He was really a loving, wonderfully doting parent.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

As Told By..... GEORGE KLEIN

Barbara Streisand came backstage with Jon Peters to see Elvis {at the Hilton}.
They wanted him to do a lead part in their remake of A Star Is Born.
He liked the idea and Joe Esposito liked it and Jerry Schilling liked it.
I was just sort of on the fringes of the group at that time; I wasn't there every day with him, but I put in my two-cents worth.
I said, "Yeah, great idea."
Then he turns the deal over to Colonel Parker and it gets bogged down in money.
Colonel Parker told Streisand, "We will do it - million up front and fifty percent of the picture."



SHAUN NIELSEN

The Colonel made the demands for Elvis doing A Star Is Born so high, I think Streisand just couldn't afford to give him the part.
I never understood why Elvis didn't just say, "Colonel, these are the things I want to do.
Now if you want to go along, fine.
If you don't, you just go your own way.
I'm gonna do this."
But I think the Colonel had been there for so many years, Elvis was afraid to go it alone.



EDDIE FADAL

Elvis wanted to do some heavy stuff.
He wanted to do a picture like Marlon Brando did.
He would recite some of Brando's lines from The Wild One.
He could remember dialogue incredibly. Just hearing it a few times he could repeat it almost verbatim.
That long speech at the opening of the movie Patton, he could recite that whole speech.
He loved it.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

Elvis had a library of approximately 250 books at Graceland, most pertaining to religion or to the occult.
Some of the books were...

01. The Bible

02. The Face Of Jesus - Frank O. Adams

03. The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran

04. Autobiography Of A Yogi - Paramahansa Yogananda

05. The Secret Teachings Of All Ages - Manly P. Hall.

06. Sun Signs - Linda Goodman

07. Cheiro's Book Of Numbers

08. The Masters - Anne Besant

09. Only Love - Sri Daya Mata

10. The Infinite Way - Joel Goldsmith

11. The Secret Doctrine - Helena P. Blavatsky

Elvis carried two trunks full of books whenever he traveled.
Many of the titles were suggested to Elvis by Larry Geller.
After Colonel Tom Parker finally broke Geller's influece on Elvis, those two trunks and their contents were burned.
Some of those who encouraged Elvis to read were actress Donna Douglas, martial-arts instructor Ed Parker, columnist May Mann, and mentor Larry Geller.
Martial-arts instructor Kang Rhee encouraged Elvis to read books on the martial arts.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

Elvis called Schilling Lincoln-Mercury early one morning in 1974 and told him to prepare the showroom for him.
He told the dealer, Percy Kidd, that he would be down in 20 minutes.
Elvis was in a gift giving mood and wanted to buy Lincoln Continental Mark IV cars for his friends.
When the entourage arrived at the dealership, Elvis told each man to choose his favorite car.
He bought seven cars that day.
When he was told the price, he wrote out a check and never bothered to verify anything with the dealer.
When the men got back to Graceland with their new cars, Vernon asked Elvis for the receipt.
After looking it over, Vernon yelled at his son.
He had paid full price and tax for every car.
Vernon told him to go back and get some kind of discount for buying so many cars at once.
When Elvis told Kidd that he demanded a discount for buying seven cars, the man turned him down.
He stated that the deal was done and it was too late for a discount.
Kidd knew that Elvis could afford to pay full price without a discount, and he also knew that he would get a bigger commission that way.
Escorted by police, Elvis returned to the dealership at 3:00 PM to return the cars.
The dealer was stunned.
Because of his greed, he'd just lost a very big sale.
Later, Elvis went to Foxgate Lincoln where he bought the same seven cars - with a $1,500 discount.
When dealer Dewayne Curtis was unable to locate the color cars that Elvis was interested in, he called Percy Kidd and made a secret deal for Elvis.
Schilling Lincoln-Mercury owned Foxgate Lincoln!

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

As Told By... GEORGE KLEIN

Elvis never lost his will to live; he loved life.
He enjoyed the tours.
But he was putting on weight and he knew that he didn't look his best; plus the fact that you can't be good every night - there's no possible way.
He was only human. Elvis, when he'd be feeling sick, he'd have to go out and perform in front of fifteen thousand people.
Only when he was deathly sick or just flat on his back would he cancel.
He went on the stage many times sick as a dog, with a bad cold or the flu or a sore throat.
He hated to disappoint his fans.
He loved those fans.



LARRY STRICKLAND

To me he was just a real simple kind of guy.
I mean, he was always Elvis; he didn't act like "Elvis."
He was very down to earth. He had a very normal side to him.
There was a part in the show where he liked to sing low on a couple of songs.
He would drop down an octave, and it was my job to match tones with him and sing along with him, fill it out down there.
Basically, if nobody looked at me, they would think that Elvis was singing those low notes.
We got to where we could do it right together.
He would never have had to let the audience know that it wasn't really him; but every night after our song, Elvis would walk over and point to me to let people know that it wasn't really him singing that low.
He could have just gone right on and people would never have known.
I think he truly, honestly loved the music and really loved anybody that had any musical talent.



BEN WEISMAN

Elvis invited me to come to one of those parties, you know, the last evening of the season [in Las Vegas].
I went upstairs and I kind of sat there real quiet.
I'm not much of a party guy.
Around maybe six o'clock in the morning he waved to me to come over.
He said, "Ben, why are you so quiet?"
I said, "I haven't got much to say".
He said, "How many songs did I record of yours?"
I said, "Fifty-seven".
He said, "Fifty-seven!"
He grabbed me, stood me up in front of the crowd, and said, "I want you all to meet Ben Weisman who wrote more songs for me than any other writer: fifty-seven.
I want to hear it for this man."
There was a big applause, then he took me over to the piano.
He said, "Ben, I want you to hear this song.
It's called 'Softly as I Leave You'.
It's about a man who's going to die".
That was in 1976, a year or so before he died.
Something wasn't exactly right.
I think he knew it.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

As Told By... EDDIE FADAL

Elvis felt guilty whenever he disappointed his fans.
He really loved them, and if you worked for him and you insulted his fans, that's one thing that could get you fired.



MYRNA SMITH

Elvis was easily angered due to the drugs he was taking.
All the guys got fired at some point or another, but they were usually re-hired - just like Red and Sonny probably would have been.
It wasn't that they were permanently gone.
He would have called 'em back.
They were his friends.
I saw him angry a couple of times.
When he heard about the book Red and Sonny and the other guy was writing he was angry, but he was really more hurt.
He didn't want Lisa to read that stuff.
They say their intent was to ultimately help him, but he said he felt betrayed.



LARRY GELLER

We found out about the book [Elvis, What Happened ?] in the fall of 1976.
It blew Elvis away.
Man, I can't tell you the pain it created.
This was a sensational (and controversial) major blast of an icon.
Months later Elvis dismissed it.
He thought maybe it was not going to actually come out - maybe this was just denial.
But I knew it was coming out; we all knew.



BILL E. BURK

Red has said that shortly after the firing he and Elvis had a telephone conversation, and Elvis expressed disappointment that the book was coming out.
Elvis knew what was going to be in it, but he never did say, "Don't print it".
He just expressed his disappointment.
Near the end of the phone call Elvis told Red, "Do what you've got to do."



LINDA THOMPSON

One day I said to myself, "I could be around here forever, and I could grow old, or I could die an untimely death from exhaustion just trying to take care of this person.
Ultimately it's up to him.
He's the one that's going to have to take care of himself.
I can't do it for him".
So I finally decided, "I don't want to live this kind of life for the rest of my life".



GEORGE KLEIN

I don't think Elvis really knew how sick he was.
I don't think anybody knew.
We knew he wasn't in the greatest of health, but we had no earthly idea that he was as sick as he was.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

On the day that Elvis Presley died, it was rumored that RCA Records was planning to file bankruptcy.
For several months, the company had been having financial difficulties and it seemed there was no way out of the growing sea of red ink.
It has been said by insiders that the executives were actually on their way to court to file the final papers when they received the phone call informing them of Elvis Presley's death.
Company executives went digging trough their files and unearthed a $2.5 million dollar insurance policy on Elvis.
With that money, RCA was able to pay off some of their debts and managed to stay in business.
A few days later, the company received record orders totaling over $4 million - just in Elvis Presley records!
RCA shredded the bankruptcy paperwork.
In the course of that year, they earned $25 million.



Frank Sinatra was performing at the Alpine Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin, in late August of 1977.
During the last half of his show, Sinatra sang some of the more popular Elvis tunes and said to the audience, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've lost a friend.
We've lost a good friend today!
Good-bye, Elvis!"
He then asked everyone for a moment of silence in which to remember the late, great King of Rock-n-Roll.



As many people may know, when Elvis died his father suffered a massive heart attack.
It was reportedly his second heart attack.
Vernon was shocked and completely devastated by the loss of his only son.
He was now all alone in the world.
In August 1978, one painful year after Elvis' death, Vernon ordered a special floral arrangement for his son's grave.
The message on the red ribbon read, "It's been one year since you left us, Son.
It's almost unbelievable still.
Miss you terribly.
I love you so much - Daddy".
Vernon set out for the Meditation Gardens to put the arrangement on Elvis' grave.
He used a walking stick and took baby steps to get outside.
He was determined to pay his respect to his son even though it was painful for him to walk.
After placing the flowers on Elvis' grave, Vernon cried bitter tears.
He never thought that he would outlive his son.
Vernon knelt down beside the grave, holding onto the railing surrounding the grave for support, and cried sorrowfully.
He then slowly got up and staggered back inside the house.
He knew that his son was indeed gone - gone forever.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

I'M JUST TIRED OF BEING ELVIS PRESLEY

As Told By...FELTON JARVIS

I remember Elvis telling me, "I'm just so tired of being Elvis Presley".

LAMAR FIKE

He had to keep working.
Elvis had a payroll that was phenomenal, and he had to keep a lot of people employed.
By all rights, he should have never worked the year before he died.
Everybody kept telling the Colonel: "Hey, back off.
The guy's sick.
The guy's really in bad shape".
But Elvis had to pay his bills, and I suppose the Colonel had to pay his.
I was on the payroll like everybody else.
Today it wouldn't happen.
Who goes to Vegas and works four weeks and does two and three shows a night?
I mean this is unbelievable.
The hotel put in a special, larger concert room that holds four thousand people because Elvis only wanted to work one show a night.
I think Fred Allen put it great when he said, "It's called a treadmill to oblivion".

LOWELL HAYS

Toward the end, Vernon had the staff trained so that when I came on the premises they would call him and let him know I was there.
Vernon would come up there and stay with me the whole time, trying to keep me away from Elvis.
Elvis was having financial problems, you know.
He had really made some bad business moves, and he was also in trouble with those airplanes.
He didn't pay me for a long time.
I never really worried about being paid.
It wasn't nothing for him to be behind one hundred-fifty thousand dollars for months at a time.
That was kind of hard on me, but I banked at the same bank he did, and they knew; so the bank would loan me money when I needed it.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

GEORGE KLEIN

It had gotten to where he didn't want any people up at Graceland.
He went into seclusion.
It had gotten to the point that he couldn't even come downstairs in his pajamas or with his hair messed up in his own home.
So the last six months that Elvis was with us, he said, "Look, guys, I don't have anything against you, but I'm not feeling all that well; so why don't you call and check before you come up to Graceland, to see if everything's cool".

DR. GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

There were times I think Elvis really enjoyed being a recluse.
There were other times he had no choice.
He couldn't go out even if he wanted to because the crowds at the gate would follow wherever he went.
He did a lot of meditating.
He also enjoyed reading, watching tv, and not having somebody hovering over him all the time, like it was on the road.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

ELVIS WAS MISCHIEVOUS

As Told By...BOBBY OGDIN (musician)

When he was onstage, Elvis was always on somebody, teasing and playing.
He got me with a big cup of water one night - one of those big cups of water he kept up there.
Every now and then he'd look around at somebody onstage, and he'd look just like a mischievous little kid; then all of a sudden, he'd throw water all over you.
He did it to me.
He did it to the girls.
He would fake it sometimes with an empty cup.
He loved clowning, something to break the monotony a little bit.
At some point in the show, Elvis always leaned forward and pulled a scarf from around his neck and threw it to some lady up front in the audience.
Charlie Hodge would immediately wrap another scarf around his neck.
Elvis would be on the front edge of the stage and it would just freak out the women.
They'd be hysterical with excitement.
But before he did that, Elvis would always take off his rings, those big, really expensive diamond rings, and hand them to Charlie Hodge for safekeeping.
One night he got mixed up and handed Charlie a scarf and threw his big diamond ring into the audience.
He did it totally backwards!
I have no idea what that ring was worth, but I'm sure it was worth a small fortune.
Elvis was real cool about it when it happened, though.
He didn't say a thing or let on that he'd goofed.

SHAUN NIELSEN

Elvis got sick onstage in Baltimore.
He had to leave the stage, and we all had to fill in.
When he came back, some people in the audience booed him, but they were certainly outnumbered by the ones who were just happy he was back.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

THE LAST SESSION AND SONG

As Told By...CHIP YOUNG

I played on just about all of Elvis' records from 1966 on.
Once he knew you, really knew you, he was real friendly.
He'd walk into a session and hug my neck.
The last session that I did, down at his house [Graceland, October 29-31, 1976] was kind of a fiasco.
The production truck was set up outside and wires were run into the house.
We did cut "Way Down" and "He'll Have To Go".
But you know, it just wasn't technically good and I don't think Elvis was in the right frame of mind, either.
Fact is, I never understood why he wanted to record at home.
He did two albums there.
All the mikes were set up in that little den area in the back part of the house, the jungle room.
All we did was move furniture around and set everything up there.
The drums were right out in the open room.
Unfortunately, their sound was bleeding into the other mikes.
Elvis was standing in the middle of it all, so all the instruments were bleeding into his voice mike, too.
They put up clear plastic material, but it just wasn't enough to keep the sounds separated.
Elvis never paid attention to technical things like that.
He was just not technical minded.
When we all finished the sessions, he went upstairs and gave each of us one of his personal shirts - the kind with a big collar and blousey sleeves.
He hugged my neck and said, "Next time we record, I'll come to your studio in Murfreesboro and do it."
But he never recorded again.
So other than his concert recordings, the last song he completed was done at that session at Graceland - November 1, 1976; the song was "He'll Have To Go."

LARRY STRICKLAND

When we'd have time off from Elvis, we'd book out as The Stamps Quartet.
So we had a date booked over in North Carolina, but we were going to miss that date because his recording session [at Graceland] in Memphis was running overtime.
Well, Elvis wouldn't hear of us missing a date.
He loaned us his Lear jet and had us flown from Memphis to North Carolina to make our little ol' booking.
It probably cost ten times more money to fly that Lear over there and back than we made by performing.
We came back to Memphis and finished up the album, but we didn't have a way home to Nashville.
We were going to have to fly home, which we couldn't afford. "Y'all just take my limo", Elvis said.
"I'm getting a new one anyway".
Just like that, he gave us the limousine.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

ELVIS and LINDA: THE BREAKUP

As Told By...JO ALDEN (Ginger Alden's mother)

Elvis had bought Linda {Thompson} a house.
That was his way of providing for her.
Linda was hanging in there as long as she possibly could.
She tells it that she just couldn't take it anymore; but even Sam Thompson said it was over.
I think Elvis just couldn't bring himself to say it.

LAMAR FIKE

I think Elvis came closer to being in love with Linda than anybody.
He cared for Linda a lot.

LOWELL HAYS

When Elvis and Linda Thompson broke up [in November 1976], I think that's when he really went downhill.
He was miserable after that.
He had been miserable after he broke up with Priscilla.
A lot of those songs he did, they were for her, you know.
He never got over her.
And then, I think he really loved Linda, but he just couldn't bring himself to marry her.
When he broke up with her it was downhill from then on.

LINDA THOMPSON

It was incredibly difficult for me to make the decision to leave, but I thought, "God forbid, if anything serious should happen to him.
I have adored Elvis so deeply that it would be completely devastating for me to watch him die."
So I had to sort of wean myself away from being that close, that bonded to him.
It took eight months.
When I left, I knew it was going to be rough for him.
I had cared for him like he was a newborn baby; he was that needy.
I thought, "Nobody else is going to do that.
Nobody's going to know him that well; nobody's going to take care of him."
But I had to go.
For my own sanity I had to go.
It was time.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

DO WHAT YOU'VE GOT TO DO

As Told By... EDDIE FADAL

Elvis felt guilty whenever he disappointed his fans.
He really loved them, and if you worked for him and you insulted his fans, that's one thing that could get you fired.

MYRNA SMITH

Elvis was easily angered due to the drugs he was taking.
All the guys got fired at some point or another, but they were usually re-hired - just like Red and Sonny probably would have been.
It wasn't that they were permanently gone.
He would have called 'em back.
They were his friends.
I saw him angry a couple of times.
When he heard about the book Red and Sonny and the other guy was writing he was angry, but he was really more hurt.
He didn't want Lisa to read that stuff.
They say their intent was to ultimately help him, but he said he felt betrayed.

LARRY GELLER

We found out about the book [Elvis, What Happened?] in the fall of 1976.
It blew Elvis away. Man, I can't tell you the pain it created.
This was a sensational (and controversial) major blast of an icon.
Months later Elvis dismissed it.
He thought maybe it was not going to actually come out - maybe this was just denial.
But I knew it was coming out; we all knew.

BILL E. BURK

Red has said that shortly after the firing he and Elvis had a telephone conversation, and Elvis expressed disappointment that the book was coming out.
Elvis knew what was going to be in it, but he never did say, "Don't print it".
He just expressed his disappointment.
Near the end of the phone call Elvis told Red, "Do what you've got to do."

LINDA THOMPSON

One day I said to myself, "I could be around here forever, and I could grow old, or I could die an untimely death from exhaustion just trying to take care of this person.
Ultimately it's up to him.
He's the one that's going to have to take care of himself.
I can't do it for him". So I finally decided, "I don't want to live this kind of life for the rest of my life".

GEORGE KLEIN

I don't think Elvis really knew how sick he was.
I don't think anybody knew.
We knew he wasn't in the greatest of health, but we had no earthly idea that he was as sick as he was.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

DISSOLUTION OF OUR RELATIONSHIP

LINDA THOMPSON

There were a number of things that led to the dissolution of our relationship.
The primary one was just watching Elvis slowly self-destruct.
It got to be too painful for me.
I tried so many things - so many ways to get him to take better care of himself - to stop using so much prescription medication.
Nothing seemed to work.

DR. GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

Linda was pretty much on every tour with Elvis.
Occasionally he'd make up some story (when he'd met someone else on a tour) to get Linda out shopping or something and bring this other person in.
Linda and I were both striving for the same things; we wanted to see Elvis happy.
We wanted to see him involved, out of his depressed states.
We were trying to keep him away from certain situations.
Linda was very helpful as far as letting me know what was going on.
We had a good relationship.
I discussed with her telling the cooks what food to give him and how much, but the cooks wanted to mother him, so they would just load him down.
Breakfast was a pound of bacon with maybe eight or nine or ten biscuits, some eggs, and some cereal.
He would not eat all that, but it was there if he wanted it.
It was much easier to control his diet and food intake on the road than it was at Graceland.

CHERYLE JOHNSON

For awhile people were willing to say, "Well, you know he's not feeling well.
He's tired.
The schedule is too much for him".
The audiences really blames it on his physical problems, overwork, the Colonel.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

ELVIS WAS FEELING HORRIBLE

As Told By...LARRY GELLER

Near the end of March 1977 we were in Baton Rouge.
Elvis was feeling horrible.
I was in my bedroom, and at seven in the morning my phone rang.
Elvis wanted me to come to his room.
I went in and he was sitting propped up in bed.
He kept shaking his head: "Lawrence, man, I'm sick.
I don't feel good.
There's something wrong.
I can't sleep and I've got to be onstage tonight".
That afternoon he still felt rotten, and he cancelled the tour.
When he did that, I knew I had to give him some information he did not want to hear.
No one was speaking the truth to him.
Everyone was just placating him - being obsequious.
In Elvis' mind, a book [Elvis, What Happened?] was coming out, but he wouldn't admit it was really coming out.
But I knew for sure it was.
When I think about it, I just cry.
I cringe within myself.
We went into the bathroom.
Two grown men are standing there crying - tears rolling down our faces.
I said, "Elvis, I love you.
I'm only telling you the truth because you need to know it".
He said to me, "What is my little girl going to think when she grows up?
What is she going to think of her daddy?"
I said: "Wait a minute, Elvis, what the hell are you saying, man?.
What do you mean, what is she going to think of her daddy?
You're going to be there with her.
She'll be by your side.
She'll know the truth".
He said: "And my fans will be my fans.
They are not going to believe lies.
All I'm concerned about is my daughter and my daddy.
The book is going to hurt them.
That's the only thing I give a shit about.
The fans are not going to believe it".
Elvis went into the hospital the next day, but he did not let the doctors do any extensive testing.
He should have.
He knew the end was near.
There's no doubt about it.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

ELVIS WANTED ANOTHER CHILD

As Told By...DR GEORGE NICHOPOULOS

Elvis had expressed to me on many occasions that he would like to have another child.
He had gotten over his financial stresses and some other problems he'd been having, but he was still having girlfriend problems.
Probably the biggest stress was Ginger.
He was very wrapped up in her 'cause apparently something about her eyes or facial expressions reminded him of his mother.
He wanted her to be around more.
He'd want her to go on the tours, and sometimes she did, sometimes she didn't.
Her behavior just kept him in emotional turmoil.
I don't think he'd ever been faced with a female companion that he didn't have the upper-hand with; it really got to him.

LARRY GELLER

In either March or April of '77 we were in Elvis' bedroom - him and I - on the floor.
There were two large trunks filled with his favorite books, over a hundred of them, and we were looking at a book or two.
We were talking, and Elvis stood up and said, "Come with me a minute".
As we were approaching the living room, he stopped in the doorway and stood toe to toe with me.
He put is arm on my shoulder.
He said, "Lawrence, the fans, they know 'Elvis' but they don't know me.
They have no idea of the truth.
If you don't tell the story, my story, to the world, they'll never know it.
They'll never know the truth.
I want to know right now, are you with me?
Are you going to do something?"
Well, in my mind I figured we were going to write a book together, to offset that bodyguard book.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

THE ELECTRICITY WAS ALWAYS THERE

As Told By...BOBBY OGDIN

Even on his final tour, Elvis Presley's shows created the strongest audience electricity of anybody I've ever worked with.
When Elvis walked onstage it was like an explosion of response and screaming and flash bulbs and everything.
It was probably just caused by the limited access to him.
People stored up all that desire and excitement.

JANELLE McCOMB

Elvis made every member of an audience a part of all he acquired.
When he stepped on that stage, that little secretary became the office manager, and that little intern became chief of staff.
He gave hope and inspiration to all those kids who dared to dream some impossible dream.
In Elvis they saw a kid born in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, who rose to fame and stardom, and it gave them hope.

BOBBY OGDIN

During the time I worked for Elvis, we never did a sound check, never did a rehearsal either, as I recall.
We had scheduled rehearsals in Memphis during that last year - scheduled 'em before four different tours.
Everybody flew in from all directions, and we'd go down and set everything up at Graceland in the racquetball court.
We'd get it all ready, check out all the microphones, and wait about an hour or two.
Then Elvis would decide he didn't want to rehearse and call it off.
We'd all go back to the hotel or go out to eat.
We'd do that for about three nights in a row, and then we'd just take off on tour, no rehearsal, no sound checks.
One time Elvis scheduled a rehearsal on the road.
There was some song he wanted to work up.
The entire band came in that afternoon, set up and waited, but Elvis didn't show up.
There was an Elvis impersonator there that Felton knew, so he just called the guy down on the stage and got him to run through a few songs - songs we never did on the regular shows.
It was just kind of spinning wheels.
Then we all went back to the hotel.
The show was pretty well set as it was.