The MSG press conference

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

Source: msg1972.com


Ladies and gentlemen, I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Vernon Presley, Elvis Presley's father.
Mr. Presley has a friend coming out.

Hello! Thank you.
Thank you very much.
How are you?
Would you like me to sit down?


Yeah!

First of all, I plead innocent of all charges.
Okay.


We love you, Elvis.

Thank you dear, love you too.
Thank you.


Over the years everybody said that you are very shy, what do you think about that?

Oh, I don't know what makes them think that...I...you know... this gold belt and the (laughs)...
The belt is an award from the International for the attendance record...


Why have you waited so long to appear in New York?

I think... I think it was a matter of not getting the building, the pro per building.
We had to wait our turn in order to get the building.
Couldn't get a good building in fifteen years.
No, all kidding aside, we had to wait our turn to get in...into the Garden, you know.
I just hope we put on a good show for everbody.
Oh, I like it.
I enjoy it.


Why do you think you've outlasted every other entertainer?

I take Vitamin E (laughs).
I was only kidding. .. I don't know (laughs)...
I just... embarrass myself, man.
Ah, I don't know, dear, I just...
I enjoy the business.
I like what I'm doing.


I'm reminded of the Ed Sullivan Show.

So am I...that's why I'm sitting down.


You used to be criticized for your long hair and doing all those gyrations on stage, how do you feel about it now.

Man, I was tame compared to what they do now, are you kidding (laughs).
I didn't do anything but just jiggle, you know.


Show us the jiggle!

No (laughs), I can't...
I can't do that.
I'd just as soon save it for the show.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

How do you feel about the way performers act and behave on stage now?

Oh, I...I don't know.
I really can't criticize anybody in the entertainment field.
I think there's room for everybody.
I hate to criticize another performer.


Are you satisfied with the image you've established?

Well the image is one thing, and a human being is another, you know.
So. It's very hard to live up to an image.
I'll put it that way.


What kind of audiences do you find you attract now?

Well I found that in the audiences that we have, that it's mixed.
It's older people, younger people, and the very young.
And all types of people, you know, which is good.
I just made a movie of... of the last tour that I did, it's the first live concert that we ever filmed, so that's my next project that's coming out.
There's so many places that I haven't been yet.
Like, I've never played New York here.
I've never been to Britain either.
I'd like to, yes sir, very much. I'd like to go to Europe.
I'd like to go to Japan and all those places.
I've never been out of this country except in the service.
Yeah, I'd love to go there.
Yeah.


Elvis, what made you decide to finish your movies and continue with live appearances?

I just missed it.
I missed the closeness of an audience... of a live audience.
So just as soon as I got out of the movie contracts, I-ah I started to do live performances again.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

Will you be doing more and more?

I think so.


What is your view on compulsory National Service?

I'd just soon to keep my own personal views about that to myself.
'Cause I'm just an entertainer and I'd rather not say.


Why did MGM film your concert earlier in Boston, Elvis On Tour, when they could have filmed it here?

I don't know.
That's a good question.
Why is that, Colonel (laughs)?
[T.P.] I didn't hear that.
What's the question?
Why did they film the concert in Boston and they couldn't film it here?
[T.P.] To film it here...it could have been outlawed.


What about politics?

I'm not involved in that at all.
I'm just an entertainer.


Why don't you film or write a biography about yourself?

I just don't feel that it's time yet.
Maybe I will someday, but not right now.
I'd like to do something in the way of a movie script, if I can find the right kind of a property.
In fact, we are looking for it now.
You're talking about a nonsinging type of thing.
Yeah, I'd like to do that.
It's hard to find good material nowadays, for everybody.
It's very difficult to find any good hard rock songs, really. If I could find them I would do them.
I think that there's so many companies, everybody becomes independent once they have one hit record, they form their own company.
And there's so many.
And also the people who write them are starting to record their own songs.
And that's why I say it's very difficult to get good material.
I'm in a publishing firm, but I'll take songs from anywhere or from anybody if they're good.
It doesn't have to be at my company.
It could be just completely an unknown person or just anybody that writes a song, if they can get it to me.
If it's good, I'll do it.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

Elvis, what are your feelings about your succes in the fifties?

All kidding aside, it happened very fast to all of us, my mother and my father and all of us.
And everything happened overnight, and so we had to adjust to a lot of things very quickly...
I don't really miss that much about it.
I enjoy it just as much now or more than I did then.
I would like to think that we've improved ourselves over the past fifteen years.


Do you get fed up of people recognizing you and asking for autographs?

No, I got used to it.
I would kind of miss it if it didn't happen, you know.
If nobody saw me or if nobody recognized me or whatever, or asked for an autograph I...to me it's just part of the business, and I accept it.
I think I would miss it.


Will there be a recording made of this concert?

It's possible.
I don't know.
They have RCA Victor's officials here, so I don't know.

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

Which all the records you've recorded, is your favorite song?

"It's Now or Never, " "0 Solo Mio. " (Applause.)
"0 Solo Mio" was the largest selling.
And then the next one too was "Don't be Cruel," I think, then "Hound Dog".. ."Heartburn Motel, " whatever.


(inaudible)

I went to Hawaii to get a tan for New York (laughs), I came in last night very late and I had to go to bed, because we're having a rehearsal now and I go back to rehearsal after this press conference...unless you've got something better in mind (laughs).


Go baby!
Is your wife Priscilla with you?


No she's not.
Will I talk to my father?
I have to (laugh), he handles all my personal affairs.


Well sir...at what point did you realize that your son was more than an ordinair son?

[Vernon Presley] Well, it's kinda hard to say.
You know, it happened so fast its hard to keep up with it.
It just "boom" overnight and there it was.
So I'd say maybe...probably 1956, and the first television show.
I tried to tell him sooner, but he wouldn't listen.
[Vernon] No, I have no regrets of it.
In fact, I have enjoyed it, really.


Elvis, which kind of song do you like doing the best?

No, it's a conscious thing...I, I like to mix 'em up.
In other words, I like to do a song like "Bridge over Troubled Water" or "[An] American Trilogy," or something.
Then mix it up and do some rock and roll, some of the hard rock stuff.
I'm not the least bit ashamed of "Hound Dog" or "Heartbreak Hotel, " or whatever those things were.


Elvis, can you see yourself retiring at all?

Not, not really.
No.
I've got too much energy.
I don't think so.
Not as long as I can.


[Tom Parker] I'd like to live up to my reputation of bein' a nice guy, this is it, folks.

Beautiful baby, beautiful.

I've got to go back to rehearsal, folks, thank you very much.

[Dino78]

Thank you very much.
I saw the whole conference but couldn't understand everything, because the audio quality in one hand and more because english isn't my native tounge. So I got some things wrong. You gave me the possibility to understand the entire conference.
Thank you again!

[elvia7]

OMG - Thnk you, Polk-Salad-Annie!!
'You gave me the possibility to understand the entire conference.
Thank you again! ' because like Dino78 - I have a 'little' problem
with my English
..

[cibetty]

Thanks for sharing this!! I didn't understand everything before either, the sound-quality was really not the best on that footage!! So it was great to read it... For those, whose mother language is not English it really means a lot!! Thanks!!

[Polk-Salad-Annie]

cibetty, elvia7 and Dino78, you are welcome.
It was my pleasure