What Made Elvis Presley Tick

[cibetty]

Really great questions Tommy!

[Tommy]

Really great questions Tommy!

Thanks

[Wendy56]

Why do you think Elvis grew up wanting to sing?
By listening lot's of music when he was a young boy, especially blues and gospel. He started with gospel anyway, right? :]

Why did Elvis become so fascinated with a 14 year old girl?
Cause she was beautiful?

Why did Elvis always have to have a group of guys around him?
Maybe he liked playing the "boss" part. And boys were not forced to be with him they decided to be with him and who wouldn't? Elvis was (is) so interesting.

Did Elvis' career finally control him, instead of him controlling his career?
I blame Parker of all charges, lol.

[Getlo]

Do you then believe Elvis had a sad life for the most part?

For the most part, no; his life was generally happy. But it was a sad, undignified ending to it.

i do my own reseach and do not just repeat gissip out of the yellowpress books.

Good for you. Now share with us your research that led you to conclude that Vernon was an alcoholic - a man who was never photographed drinking in public. A man who was healthy until the mid-seventies. A man of whom no one has previously made this claim.

you have to be the most astute person on here Getlo

Well, I don't have to be ... but thank you.

[hounddog]

Why do you think Elvis grew up wanting to sing?
His childhood was musically based, church, radio, etc. And i think he wanted to sing because he knew could do it.

What made Elvis so close to his mother?
A factor has to be his father do jail time. But some children are just closer to one parent than the other. Also i think the media has boosted into more than what it was.

Why did Elvis want to be an actor rather than a singer?
I think in his movies he'd rather have not sung because that's what he thought would happen

Why did Elvis become so fascinated with a 14 year old girl?
I don't know, I think he was lonely and extremely sad when he meet Cilla.

Why do you think he came out of the Army and after he didn't get to just act in the movies, he didn't stop making them?
Contracts were a factor and he did have some acting challenges, Wild In the Country, Flaming Star, i think he was hoping for better roles.

How many loves to you believe Elvis had?
I think Elvis loved the women he had realtionships with.

Why did Elvis always have to have a group of guys around him?
Security, power, a sense of order. He was boss in a part of his life.

Did Elvis' career finally control him, instead of him controlling his career.
outside of the music yes, I think Elvis made very few decisions about his career. The only one that springs to mind is telling the Col he wouldn't do the Singer special as a christmas show. But it's very hard to compare todays stars to Elvis who seems to have a lot more input into their careers.

[MissyM]

I disagree with Vernon going to jail being a huge impact on Elvis. He wasn't gone that long. And lots of children had their fathers away due to their jobs, military and such.
I think that was only one tiny area in which Vernon did not provide a sense of security for Elvis as a father. His mother was his security. She was there, she worked, and she didn't run aroung with other men.
Of course he was there for him later in life.

[Teddy]

I disagree with Vernon going to jail being a huge impact on Elvis. He wasn't gone that long. And lots of children had their fathers away due to their jobs, military and such.

But perhaps the impact on Elvis had less to do with Vernon's absence at this time and more to do with the affect which the sentence was having on Gladys.

[Diane]

But perhaps the impact on Elvis had less to do with Vernon's absence at this time and more to do with the affect which the sentence was having on Gladys.

I agree with this, I think a lot of Gladys' fears and worries impacted on Elvis all of his life. I think generally she was a great mother but didn't realize how she was affecting her son emotionally.

Diane

[KPM]

Why do you think Elvis grew up wanting to sing?
I think he loved to sing-started in church and it spoke to him.
Everyone says make a living at what you like to do-find a connection thats half the battle. Elvis loved to sing.
On a personal note-I love to sing because I feel free and happy when I do it.

[KPM]

What made Elvis so close to his mother?Only child-mother worshiped him-and the connection between them became what it was super closeness.

[KPM]

Why did Elvis want to be an actor rather than a singer?I think he wanted to be the "superhero" and actors were 30 feet tall on the screen. He wanted to be bigger than life and movie stars seem "bigger than life"
I also think he thought-my music may not last, but great actors and movie stars seem to go on and on.

[KPM]

Why did Elvis become so fascinated with a 14 year old girl?He was very insecure-and a 14 year old girl could not question as easily the path of life he lived or chose-but also I think he just plain old fashioned fell in love.
Then they were on opposite sides of the world when he came home-and you want what you can't have-it seems even more important.

[KPM]

Why do you think he came out of the Army and after he didn't get to just act in the movies, he didn't stop making them?I truely think he signed contracts-and did not really ever understand what he signed. His few "dramas" were not making the money of the musicals and the Col., Hal Wallis other producers could show him the grosses and point to the difference in profits and his contracts were already signed and he was commited. By the time he was out of the long term deals-he had lost the fire of the "acting bug" he had made so much fluff he had a bad taste in his mouth for the profession. In other words-his creative drive for better roles had been tromped on-and he lost desire.

[hounddog]

i guess that's what i was meaning, Teddy and Diane. That Vernon being gone kind of resulted in Gladys became even more protective of Elvis.

I don't think it was a huge impact just a factor in why Elvis and Gladys became close.

[KPM]

How many loves to you believe Elvis had?Physical loves or "loves"?
Physically I will quote Johnny Cash "He did pretty good"
But emotional love-I have no idea-I would say less than 4.

[Donut]

Why did Elvis always have to have a group of guys around him?

I've never found that weird at all. He had to be away alone working for long periods of time so they kept him company and protection at the same time. He had fun with them and since he led a relatively reclusive life what could be better for him than having them at home too. I can't picture Elvis racing golf carts with Dodger and I get the impression that he didn't have much in common with Priscilla neither.

[KPM]

Why did Elvis always have to have a group of guys around him?
I think Elvis kept the guys around him for the same reason he liked younger woman-he was insecure on a lot of fronts and they helped him feel more secure, more himself.
He needed them for a comfort zone (which he controlled to a great degree).

[KPM]

Did Elvis' career finally control him, instead of him controlling his career?
I do not feel Elvis ever had control of his career-nor wanted control of his career. IMO he knew he had no business experience, he had no management experience and he was an average student in school-in short he was very insecure on these matters.
He knew he loved to sing-and people loved to hear him sing-that was his expertise.
He left all other things to someone else-people he trusted to do the right things by him and his career and it was not always to his betterment.
I can understand that he trusted others-we all do at one time.
In Elvis's case he just never gave the idea of his career much thought-it fell out in front of him and when he should have decided to take a stand on direction and focus-the insecurities took over.
Insecurity and self doubt-IMO kept him from acting on the bad moves his career took and from taking action to correct them.
Anytime he actually followed his own instincts-he triumphed. IMO

[MissyM]

I agree with this, I think a lot of Gladys' fears and worries impacted on Elvis all of his life. I think generally she was a great mother but didn't realize how she was affecting her son emotionally.

Diane

__________________

I don't know. I just figure that Elvis being 3 years old, and his daddy being gone for 9 months, and Elvis living with his grandparents just wouldn't have had much of an impact. But that's just my opinion.

[Tommy]

__________________

I don't know. I just figure that Elvis being 3 years old, and his daddy being gone for 9 months, and Elvis living with his grandparents just wouldn't have had much of an impact. But that's just my opinion.

I'm sure it had an impact, even at 3 yrs. old.