Elvis Part 2

1958 to 1965.
Late January- Early March, 1958.
Elvis films and records for his fourth motion picture, King Creole.

March 24, 1958.
Elvis Presley is inducted into the U.S. Army at the Memphis Draft Board and is assigned serial number 53310761.

March 25, 1958.
Elvis gets his famous G.I. haircut at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.

March 29, 1958.
Private Presley arrives at Fort Hood, Texas for basic training and is stationed there for six months. His parents soon move to a temporary home near the base.
June 10, 1958.
After basic training, while on his first leave, Elvis has a recording session, his last until 1960.

July, 1958.
King Creole, Elvis’ fourth motion picture opens nationally and the reviews are the best he will ever have for his acting. Its impressive list of co-stars and supporting cast includes Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dean Jagger and Vic Morrow. It becomes a top five film at the box office. This Michael (Casablanca) Curtiz-directed movie, set in New Orleans and based upon the Harold Robbins novel, "A Stone for Danny Fisher," will come to be regarded as Elvis’ finest film, his greatest acting performance, and proof positive of his potential to have become a respected serious actor, though the realization of this desire will remain forever out of his grasp.

August, 1958.
Gladys Presley becomes ill and returns to Memphis to be hospitalized with acute hepatitis. Elvis is granted emergency leave and arrives in Memphis on the afternoon of August 12th. He visits her that night, and the next day and night. A few hours after Elvis goes home to Graceland to rest, she dies in the early hours of August 14 at age 46. Her body lies in state at Graceland that afternoon. Services are at the Memphis Funeral Home on the 15th, with the Blackwood Brothers singing "Precious Memories" and "Rock of Ages," two of Gladys Presley’s favorite hymns. She is laid to rest at Forest Hill Cemetery, a few miles down the road from Graceland. Elvis is devastated.
August 25, 1958.
Elvis reports back to Fort Hood.
September/October 1958.
September 19, Elvis boards a troop train to New York, later boards the USS. Randall and sails to Germany, arriving on October 1. He will be stationed in Friedberg for 18 months, maintaining an off-base residence in Bad Nauheim, shared with his father and grandmother, and some friends from Memphis. He finds the fans in Europe to be as enthusiastic as those in America.


January 8, 1959.
Elvis is interviewed off-camera via trans-Atlantic telephone by Dick Clark on his American Bandstand show on ABC-TV. The show commemorates the star’s twenty-fourth birthday. (Elvis never performed on American Bandstand.)
On a two-week leave, Elvis visits Munich, then goes clubbing in Paris, which includes a visit to the Lido.
Colonel Parker continues to keep Elvis’ career alive with promotions and hit record releases.

November 1959.
Captain Joseph Beaulieu is transferred from Texas to Weisbaden Air Force Base near Friedberg, accompanied by his wife and children, including his fourteen-and-a-half- year-old stepdaughter, Priscilla Ann. (Priscilla is the only child from Ann Beaulieu’s marriage to her first husband, James Wagner, a Navy pilot who was killed in a plane crash when Priscilla was an infant.) Through a mutual friend, Priscilla is invited to a party at Elvis’ home soon after her arrival in Germany. They meet, and the rest is history.

1958 to 1965.
January 20, 1960.
Elvis is promoted to Sergeant.
March 1960.
Elvis leaves Germany on March 1, arriving in New Jersey the next day for a press conference, and is officially discharged from active duty on March 5, 1960. He boards a train for Memphis, arriving on March 7. Press and crowds of fans are everywhere for this historic series of events. He holds a press conference at Graceland in his father’s office behind the mansion on March 8.
He has served his country just like any other GI, with no special privileges his celebrity status might have afforded him. These two years away from his career have been a time to mature. He has also worried constantly that his lengthy absence might have damaged his career progress. But, he has yet to see his greatest stardom.
Late March, 1960.
Elvis has his first post-army recording session. Some of the recording work is for the album Elvis is Back!, which will hit number two on the Billboard pop chart. (Sessions will continue in early April.) On March 21 he receives his first degree black belt in karate, an interest he developed while in the army. On March 26 he tapes a special "Welcome Home, Elvis" edition of Frank Sinatra’s ABC-TV variety show, for which he is paid $125,000, a record sum for a variety show appearance at the time.

Late April, 1960.
Elvis begins filming and recording for his first post-army movie, his fifth film, "GI Blues" for Paramount, the first of nine to be produced (not consecutively) by Hal Wallis. "GI Blues" co-stars dancer/actress Juliet Prowse.
May 8, 1960.
ABC airs Frank Sinatra’s Welcome Home, Elvis edition of his variety show, which attracts a 41.5% share of the national television audience.
July 3, 1960.
Vernon Presley marries divorcee and mother of three sons, Davada (Dee) Stanley, an American whom he met Germany, where she had been stationed with her military husband. They live at Graceland briefly, then move to a home nearby.

August/September 1960.
Elvis records and films for his sixth movie, Flaming Star, a drama with limited music. Elvis plays the son of a white father and a Native American mother, torn between the two cultures in the 1800's. The film co-stars Barbara Eden.

October, 1960.
The soundtrack album for GI Blues enters the Billboard album chart and soon goes to number one. It remains number one for ten weeks and stays on the chart for 111 weeks. It is to be the most successful album of Elvis’ entire career on the Billboard charts. (In terms of total record sales over time, it is uncertain which album stands as the most successful.)
November 1960.
Elvis begins recording and filming for his seventh film, Wild in the Country, which will be completed in January. GI Blues opens nationally to warm reviews and big box office sales and is among the fifteen top-grossing films of the year. It is a light comedy melodrama with lots of singing by Elvis, who is seen in uniform for most of the movie.

Late December, 1960.
Flaming Star opens nationally to warm reviews, but unlike GI Blues, this dramatic film with little singing does not set the box office on fire. However, Elvis earns recognition from a tribal council for his positive portrayal of a Native American in this racially charged drama. The film is banned in South Africa due to its interracial theme.

February 25, 1961.
Elvis appears in Memphis at a luncheon in his honor, and numerous recent awards Elvis has received are shown to the press and others attending. A press conference follows. Then, Elvis performs one afternoon show and one evening show at Ellis Auditorium to benefit around thirty-eight Memphis-area charities. Other than the Sinatra television show, these shows are, so far, Elvis’ only live performances since his army discharge. “Elvis Presley Day” is proclaimed by Tennessee Governor Buford Ellington. Every year after this, Elvis donates money to a list of Memphis-area charities, eventually reaching fifty or more, usually around Christmas time. Within a few years, to show their appreciation the city gives him a massive plaque listing fifty charities.

1966 to 1969.
February 1, 1968.
Priscilla gives birth to Lisa Marie Presley nine months to the day after her marriage to Elvis. It is a time of great happiness.
March 1968.
Stay Away, Joe opens to mixed reviews and doesn't do well at the box office, though like all of Elvis’ films, it makes a profit.
Soundtrack recording and filming for Elvis' twenty-eighth movie, Live a Little, Love a Little. It is a sexy, more adult kind of comedy/ melodrama. It, like Stay Away, Joe is a real departure from the typical Presley film. It is yet another breath of fresh air.
June 1968.
Speedway is released nationally and doesn’t do very well. The soundtrack album goes only as far up the chart as number 82.
Mid-to-Late June, 1968.
Elvis rehearses for the taping of his first television special. A press conference is held on June 25th. Videotaping is done June 27, 28, 29, and 30. Commonly referred to as The ‘68 Special or The ‘68 Comeback. the actual name of this landmark television special is Elvis.
The sixties have brought about great change in music and pop culture. Change for which Elvis helped pave the way over a decade earlier when he exploded onto the scene with his unique blending of pop, rock, country, R&B and gospel influences. Focusing on his Hollywood movie career in the sixties, Elvis has become less a part of the current pop cultural scene. He has been making one movie after another, and many of the records he has put out in these years have been movie soundtrack albums. In the fifties and early sixties, the films and film-related records were wonderfully successful, but as the sixties have worn on, the movies and records, though still profitable, have not been nearly so successful as they were before. Elvis has reached the supreme level of frustration with the state of his career and all its limitations on his creativity and artistic expression. He had hoped to become a serious actor, but Hollywood had other ideas and Elvis went along with them. His opportunities to show his true talents as an actor have been few. He is beyond ready for a change. By now, it has been more than seven years since Elvis has appeared in front of a live audience. Elvis has missed the closeness of his audience, the energy and excitement of live performing.

The '68 Special opens with Elvis singing a hot new version of the gutsy "Trouble", from his 1958 film King Creole. This segues into Guitar Man, which, with its semi-autobiographical lyrics, becomes the underlying theme of the show. Then, Elvis is reunited with two of his original fifties band members, guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer D.J. Fontana. (Bass player Bill Black has been deceased for several years by this time.) They sit together on stage in the round, along with several other friends and associates of Elvis for an informal session of singing, jamming, and swapping stories. Parts of this jam session are woven throughout the show. There are also sequences of Elvis taking the stage alone and performing many of his greatest hit rockers and ballads, and he introduces a new song, Memories.

One can surmise that he pours out years of career frustration and pent-up creative energy into the performance of these songs. His natural talent, charisma, sensuality and stage presence have not been diminished by the years in Hollywood. In fact, he looks, sounds, moves and grooves better than he ever has. At 33, he is better than he has ever been. Better than anybody in the business. For the group jam session segments and solo stage performances Elvis wears a two-piece black leather outfit specially designed for the show by Bill Belew, who also designed all the other wardrobe Elvis and the cast wear in the show. The look evokes the era of James Dean and the Marlon Brando type motorcycle films of the fifties, the era when Elvis was first proclaimed the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

In one of the jam session segments, Elvis speaks of the gospel origins of rock and roll. This segues into the gospel music portion of the show, which has Elvis wearing a two-piece burgundy suit, singing "Where Could I Go But to the Lord," "Up Above My Head" and "I’m Saved," backed by the female vocal group, The Blossoms, and accompanied by a troupe of dancers - all of this for a rousing gospel production number.

Toward the end of the special Elvis appears in a lengthy production number that, through song, dance, karate, and various situations, traces a young man’s journey from a struggling guitar player, through the challenges, dangers and compromises on the path to his dreams of success and superstardom. Something is lost along the way. Once the dream is achieved, the man realizes that he remains unfulfilled, that he has abandoned his true self. He decides to return to his roots, doing what made him happiest, what he does best. He sings “I’ll never be more than what I am... a swingin’ little guitar man.” The parallels to Elvis' own life are clear and deliberate, and his doing the ‘68 special represents his own return to his true self, to his roots. Free from the confines of his Hollywood grind, this is Elvis the singer, the performer, the musician, the man - the real Elvis.

At the end of the special, Elvis appears alone wearing a simple white two-piece suit, standing in front of the towering backdrop of red lights that spell ELVIS. He sings a brand new song, "If I Can Dream," especially written for the show. The writers created the song based in part upon conversations with Elvis about his own thoughts on what was happening in the turbulent sixties. It seemed appropriate that he close the show with some sort of personal statement. His powerful and passionate performance of this song of hope for mankind is one of the most brilliant moments of his singing career.

1970 to 1977.
January/February 1970.
Some say it is a mistake to go back to Vegas so soon, especially during the slowest season for the city. Can he fill the seats? But, Elvis returns to the International Hotel for another month-long engagement. This time he breaks his own attendance records. Another live album is recorded, On Stage, February 1970.
February/March 1970.
A press conference in Houston on the 27th. Elvis performs afternoon and evening shows at the Houston Astrodome. Two more shows follow on the 28th. Two more follow on March 1. A closing press conference and banquet follow, and Elvis is presented an armload of recent gold record awards. The six shows attract 207,494 people and set records. There is speculation among the press and the public that Elvis might tour in concert for the first time since the fifties.
June 1970.
Elvis has recording sessions in Nashville.

July/September 1970.
Back to Las Vegas for rehearsals for another month-long engagement at the International. He opens on August 10 and closes on September 7. MGM is on hand to shoot a documentary film called Elvis -That’s the Way It Is that will show Elvis off stage, in rehearsals, in the recording studio, and on stage. RCA will also release an album with the same title.
September 1970.
From the 9th through the 14th Elvis takes his show on a nine-city tour. It is a smashing success, the first tour since 1957, only these days the show is much more elaborate . MGM films portions of the first show on this tour for use in Elvis - That’s the Way It Is.
Elvis has a recording session in Nashville.
November 1970.
Elvis, That’s the Way It Is, Elvis thirty-second film, opens in theaters to good reviews and good box office. Documentaries traditionally do not do well at the box office, but this one makes a respectable showing. It, like other Elvis movies will go on to have a life on television and home video in years to come. An album of the same title is released, but only one song, I Just Can't Help Believin', is actually from a stage performance included in the film. The other songs are studio recordings, some of which Elvis performs live on stage or in rehearsal footage in the film.
Elvis does a successful eight-city concert tour.
December 1970.
Elvis’ famous visit with President Richard Nixon at the White House occurs.
January 16, 1971.
Elvis attends a day of functions culminating in an evening awards banquet. He and nine others accept the honor of being named One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce (The Jaycees). He is nervous about his acceptance speech. He is touched, excited and deeply proud. This national honor has been given each year since the late 1930’s and recognizes young men who have made great achievements in their field of endeavor, illustrating the opportunities available in the free enterprise system. It also applauds humanitarianism and community service. Scientists, inventors, performers, film makers, politicians bound for the Presidency, and men of greatness in all fields, have been selected for this award over the years. For Elvis, a man who grew up poor, and, in his early career knew the sting of ridicule from the Establishment, who, through the years has known criticism of his work, this is one of his proudest moments. It is a sign that he has achieved acceptance, recognition, and respect for his work and for the kind of person he is.
Late January/February 1971.
Elvis plays another month-long engagement at the International Hotel in Las Vegas.
March 1971.
Elvis begins a recording session in Nashville, but cancels it due to pain and inflammation in an eye. He is treated at a Nashville hospital where he is diagnosed with secondary glaucoma. This eye condition will plague him from time to time in varying degrees for the rest of his life.
May 1971.
Elvis is featured on the cover of Look Magazine, which carries an installment of the forthcoming biography on Elvis by Jerry Hopkins. Many books and articles have been written over the years, but this is the first in-depth, serious biography. The book Elvis : A Biography will be released in October.
Elvis has recording sessions in Nashville. Much of the work is for his forthcoming album Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas.
1970 to 1977.
January 1973.
Elvis makes television and entertainment history with his Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii - Via Satellite special. Performed at the Honolulu International Center Arena on January 14, 1973, broadcast live at 12:30 AM Hawaiian time, beamed via Globecam Satellite to Australia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Phillipines, South Vietnam and other countries. It is seen on a delayed basis in around thirty European countries. A tape of the show will be seen in America on April 4th on NBC. The live broadcast in January attracts 37.8% of the viewers in Japan, 91.8% in the Philippines, 70% in Hong Kong, and 70-80% of the viewers in Korea. The April showing in America will attract 51% of the television viewing audience, and will be seen in more American households than man’s first walk on the moon. In all, it will be seen in about forty countries by one billion to 1.5 billion people. Elvis commissions an American Eagle design for his jumpsuit for this show, his patriotic message to his worldwide audience.* Never has one performer held the world’s attention in such a way. Elvis is in top form physically and vocally. This is probably the pinnacle of his superstardom, one of the all-time great moments of his career.
Audience tickets for the January 14 concert and its January 12 pre-broadcast rehearsal show carry no price. Each audience member is asked to pay whatever he or she can. The performances and concert merchandise sales are a benefit raising $75,000 for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund in Hawaii. (Kui Lee was a Hawaiian composer who had died of cancer while still in his thirties.)
On stage with Elvis is an orchestra and his current show cast: Joe Guercio (conductor), J.D. Sumner & the Stamps (vocals), The Sweet Inspirations (vocals), Kathy Westmoreland (soprano vocals), Charlie Hodge (guitar/vocals/on-stage assistance), James Burton (lead guitar), John Wilkinson (rhythm guitar), Jerry Scheff (bass guitar), Glen D. Hardin (piano), and Ronnie Tutt (drums).
The soundtrack album is soon released and goes to number one on the Billboard pop album chart, and stays on the chart at various positions for 52 weeks. The show will later have continued life on television and eventually home video.

In the special, Elvis' recording of the theme song from his 1965 movie Paradise, Hawaiian Style plays over the opening credits and scenes of Elvis' helicopter arrival at the airport and his walking among the fans who are there to greet him. The concert opens with Elvis' band playing his traditional introduction for his seventies concerts, Theme from 2001. He sings See, See Rider, Burning Love, Something, You Gave Me a Mountain, Steamroller Blues, My Way, Love Me, Johnny B. Goode, It’s Over, Blue Suede Shoes, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, I Can’t Stop Loving You, Hound Dog, What Now, My Love, Fever, Welcome to My World, Suspicious Minds, I’ll Remember You (A Kui Lee composition Elvis sings after announcing the sum raised for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund.), Long Tall Sally/Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, An American Trilogy (Elvis tosses his belt into the audience), A Big Hunk o’ Love, and Can’t Help Falling in Love (Elvis tosses his cape into the audience). The show is one hour, including commercials. After the show, Elvis and his bandmates come back out on stage in the empty arena and videotape performances of the songs Blue Hawaii, Ku-u-i-po, and Hawaiian Wedding Song which he had first done for his 1961 hit movie, Blue Hawaii, plus Early Morning Rain and No More. All but the song No More will be inserted into the American broadcast with Elvis seen on a montage screen with footage of Hawaiian scenery.

A Little History on Elvis' Costume: Elvis told Bill Belew he wanted the jumpsuit for this special to say “America” to the worldwide viewing audience. Bill told Elvis that, except for the American flag, he could think of nothing other than the American Eagle. Elvis said “I like it.” And that’s how one of Elvis' most famous costumes came to be. Elvis had been wearing jumpsuits on stage since 1970, and they had become quite elaborate by the time of this show. For the past year or two he had been wearing studded, hip-length capes and heavy studded leather belts with his jumpsuits. For the American Eagle jumpsuit, Bill first designed a huge calf-length cape. During preparations for the show, Elvis tried working with this cape, but it was just too cumbersome to use. So, out went the emergency order for another cape in the usual size.
January 26 to February 23, 1973.
Elvis plays an engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton.
March 1973.
Elvis and the Colonel sell RCA the singer’s royalty rights on Elvis’ entire recording catalog up to that point.
April 4, 1973.
The Aloha special is seen on American television for the first time.
Late April 1973.
Elvis goes on an eight-city concert tour.
May 4 to 16, 1973.
Elvis plays an engagement at the Sahara Hotel in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
May 1973.
The Aloha from Hawaii concert album hits number one on the Billboard pop album chart. It is his first number one album since Roustabout soundtrack album in 1965. It will also be his last number one album on the pop chart.
June 20 to July 3, 1973.
Elvis goes out on concert tour.
July, 1973.
Elvis records a few songs at the Stax Recording Studio in Memphis - his first time to record in Memphis since 1969.
August 6 to September 3, 1973.
Back to the Vegas Hilton for another engagement.
1970 to 1977.
December 2 to 12, 1976.
Elvis plays the Hilton in Vegas for what will turn out to be the last time.
December 27 to 31, 1976.
Elvis tours in concert, ending with a special New Year’s Eve concert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
February 12 to 21, 1977.
Elvis tours in concert.
March 23 to 30, 197.7
Elvis tours in concert.
April 1 to 5, 1977.
Elvis is hospitalized in Memphis and tour shows scheduled for March 31-April 3 are canceled.
April 21 to May 31/June 1 to 2, 1977.
Elvis tours in concert.
June 17 to 26, 1977
Elvis tours in concert. Shows on June 19, 20, and 21 are recorded by RCA for an upcoming live album and are videotaped for an upcoming CBS-TV television special. (Footage from the show on the 20th is not used in the special.) The special will be called Elvis in Concert. It will first air on October 3 after Elvis’ death in August. The camera gives a shocking picture of Elvis’ poor health in his final days, but his voice is strong.
June 26, 1977.
A concert at Indianapolis, Indiana’s Market Square Arena. This will turn out to be his very last concert performance.
June 27 to August 15, 1977.
Elvis relaxes in Memphis and prepares for the next leg of touring for 1977.
August 16, 1977.
Shortly after midnight Elvis returns to Graceland from a late-night visit to the dentist. Through the early morning of the 16th he takes care of last minute tour details and relaxes with family and staff. He is to fly to Portland, Maine that night and do a show there on the 17th, then continue the scheduled tour. He retires to his master suite at Graceland around 7:00 AM to rest for his evening flight. By late morning, Elvis Presley is dead of heart failure. It is announced by mid-afternoon. In a matter of hours the shock registers around the world.