Elvis und sein fans

[MARIE]

Elvis and the fan stories? That's an almost endless topic.! I think one of
my favorite incidents happened in Vegas. There was a family that lived in
town-mom and her two daughters-who wanted to see his show but couldn't afford
tickets. They came to the hotel every night just to kind of take in the whole
Elvis atmosphere.

I have no idea how it came to be but one evening they were up in the suite
after the show.
They sat on the couch with Elvis for the longest time talking and I noticed
they were at every show for the rest of the week and they had darn good seats
too. He mentioned (not to them) that he knew what it felt like to want to see
a performance or performer so bad and the only thing holding you back was
money.

This family was SOOO ThRILLED it just gave you goose bumps. You should have
seen them oooh and aaaah at the suite and Elvis was just proud as a peacock
showing them thru every room and then taking them on the balcony so they could
look out over Vegas. He wasn't "bragging" either....he was"sharing" and he
kept hugging them all ! They also went away with albums, scarves, and a ton
of other things! I'm not sure who was happier - the family or Elvis! I took
their photo with Elvis at his request and they were sent copies. If by any
chance that mother and her two daughters are reading this - e-mail me!! :))

I see there's alot of comparison going on between some other performers and
their attitude towards fans. Living in LA it's not at all unusual to come
across celebrities whether you're looking for them or not. Most look right
thru you and heaven forbid you should approach them. Elvis by contrast almost
seemed to seek out the fans at times and was always willing to stop and talk.
On the rare ocasions when he couldn't, he'd apologize. The amount of nonsense
he put up with was amazing sometimes.

Sandi

[MARIE]

I remember a story (the 70s) where there were two "heavyset" women who came to
Vegas, and they saw Elvis in the International Hotel.

Sonny and Red were making fun of the women silently, so the women couldn't hear
them. But, Elvis did. When the got upstairs, Elvis was so mad and humiliated
that he gave Sonny and Red the dress-down of a lifetime. He told Red and Sonny
that they were to never make fun of his fans like that again. Elvis went back
downstairs and gave each woman a kiss and a scarf. He then had Red and Sonny
treat the women to dinner.

Sonny and Red never mistreated the fans like that again

Tom.

[MARIE]

I never really considered Joe Security. Dick, Red, Sonny and a few others over
the years were security. I agree that sometimes they took their jobs a little
too seriously but remember, that WAS their job. I know Dick practically
grabbed my camera out of my hand backstage once telling me photos were not
allowed. Elvis told him to knock it off and that was the last problem I had
with him. Sometimes I think they just liked the drama aspect of their jobs
because Elvis seemed to be perfectly capable of taking care of his own
situations when it came to the fans. Most fans- except for the few that would
get truly hysterical-behaved themselves. The good thing is, whenever Elvis
witnessed unecessary tactics by the security, he stopped it immediately. Did
they ever give you a bad time? Just curious.

Sandi Miller.

[Eva]

Schade, dass ich nichts davon verstehe.............

[Gast-20061113]

Schade, dass ich nichts davon verstehe.............

Da bin ich wenigstens nicht alleine!!!

[MARIE]

Here's another "Elvis & His Fans" story for you. I'm taking this from
Sue Wiegert's book, "Elvis: Precious Memories" (Volume 1), pp. 44-45.
Sue was a "gate fan" in both Memphis and L.A. in the '60s and '70s, and
a longtime president of the Blue Hawaiians for Elvis fan club.

Sue and her friend had spent several weeks in L.A. watching Elvis film
"Live A Little, Love A Little" in Malibu, and they were running short
on money, so they decided to return home to Memphis. Sue's friend's car
had been having brake trouble and the car had been in the shop several
times to be fixed. Elvis was aware of the brake problem, and on the
morning that the two girls were to leave for Memphis, he told them,
"Now, take it easy, there's no reason for you to hurry back there."

They left to head on Sunset Blvd. towards the freeway, and Elvis and
Joe Esposito were in a car behind them, on their way to Malibu. As both
cars neared the freeway, Joe stepped on the gas to pass them. Sue
looked over to the other car, and saw that Elvis was sitting in the
front seat, passenger side. When the cars were side by side, Sue
noticed that Elvis was looking directly at her, with tears on his face!
Sue and Elvis stared at each other for a few seconds; then Elvis
realized Sue was looking at him, and put his hand up to block his face
and turned away from her. Then Joe speeded up the car and they passed
Sue and her friend as they sped down Sunset Blvd.

Sue and her friend wanted to head right to Malibu--Sue didn't like the
idea of her last look at Elvis being one of him with tears streaming
down his face! But they were running out of money, so they reluctantly
drove on to Memphis.When they arrived in Memphis 3 days later, they
immediately drove to Graceland and called out to Uncle Vester that they
were back in town. Uncle Vester immediately came out of the guardshack
and told them to drive around the corner to Dolan St., where Vernon and
his family lived, and let Vernon know they were home. Sue asked Uncle
Vester why she needed to do this, and Uncle Vester told her to just let
Vernon know they were home.

When they got to Vernon's house, they rang the doorbell and Ricky
Stanley answered the door. Ricky went to get Vernon, and when Vernon
got to the door, Sue told him that they'd just arrived and that Uncle
Vester insisted that they tell Vernon so.

Vernon explained to Sue that Elvis had been calling him every night
from L.A. to see if they had made it to Memphis. Elvis was worried
about them, since the brakes weren't in good condition. Vernon told Sue
that when Elvis phoned that night, he would tell Elvis that Sue and her
friend had made it to Memphis safely.

Just another illustration of the love between Elvis and his fans..

[MARIE]

First of all I want to let you and everyone know that I am not trying to
start a lynch mob. I have my memories and no one is going to take them away
from me. I'll be more than happy to share some of them with you.
I don't know what a typical evening upstairs in the penthouse was like but
I can give you examples of evenings that I experienced upstairs.
For the about the first two years that I was invited upstairs, no one was
ever around. Most of the time, they were all sleeping. Sonny seemed to take
me up there when they were all sleeping or when the rest of them were gone.
I wasn't really an Elvis fan at the time so I didn't really mind at first,
but after a while I started wondering if Sonny was ashamed of me or
something. If I can remember correctly, the penthouse was nothing special
to look at. It was huge and I think I believe it had 3 bedrooms down
the hall from the living room, other than Elvis' main suite. Elvis' suite
had a bed, a sofa in it, an armoir and his little refrigerator. Elvis used
to take
a small refrigerator with him everywhere to keep his "Iddy Cream" in it. He
loved these green popsicles, always kept them in the refrigerator ( I
don't know why he called them this) but I remember him calling them his
"iddy cream". He also had an exercise bike in his bedroom suite and I
will mention this again later in my story.
The living room was huge and I remember that the couch was across the room
after you entered the penthouse from the main entrance(on the east side of
the building) and I think it was an ugly beige color...very boring.
Somewhere behind the sofa was the sliding glass door and through it you
could get to the outside penthouse balcony. The dining room had ugly 70's
casual/formal highback chairs....yuk.... I do remember thinking that they
looked like they belonged in a hotel coffee shop or something. I really
was never impressed with the decor of the penthouse. Elvis wasn't the only
person who stayed in the penthouse. I always wondered why it was decorated
so mediocre. Off from the living room was the hallway with the other
bedrooms. I think there were 3 other bedrooms and of course, they were
decorated in typical hotel/motel furniture too.
As I've mentioned before, I used to pass Elvis with all his entourage in
the employee hallways at the Hilton. It was really kind of wierd to me. I
always wondered what they were guarding him from. He always had 3 or 4 of
his guys and then a couple of Hilton security guards would also come along.
The day came that Elvis and I were to go see Tom Jones together. I was
instructed how to do everything!
I was to arrive at the suite around 3:30 or 4pm. I did that. There was a
young man who let me in. I can't remember who he is, but I have been trying
to figure it out. He was the nicest kid, a few years younger than me. That
would make him around 18 years of age, maybe younger but maybe a little
older. He was a sort of gofer for Elvis. He also used to talk about The
Oakridge Boys and working for them. I just can't remember who he was. If
any of you know who he is, please tell me . I once saw a picture of David
Stanley and I think it was him, but I can't be sure. This kid was kind of
chubby then, with dark brown hair. Anyhow, he answered the door and showed
me to the sofa in the living room. No one else was there. Once again, I was
up in the penthouse and I didn't see a soul. I sat there for the longest
time...didn't really know what to do. I almost left, but then all of a
sudden, here came this young man again and this time he was pushing a
wardrobe rack ( you know, a clothing rack..sort of like the thing that
bellmen load your luggage on when you check into a hotel). He went right
past me and into Elvis' room. Once again, there I sat for awhile and all of
a sudden,
Voila...out walked the King, and I must emphasize "The King". Elvis
sparkled with charisma. He walked right over to me, sat down and there we
were, all alone. He talked to me about gospel music and a little about how
our bodies were only shells for what is inside of us (spiritual stuff). He
talked to me about going to the Tom Jones show and he was in great spirits!
All of a sudden, people started flowing in. Before I knew it, the room
began to get crowded. I didn't really know too many people. I do remember
Sonny was one of the first people to walk in and he kind of ignored me (too
bad as I thought we were friends). Elvis kept saying things and the boys
were all kind of overly laughing. He (Elvis) would look at me after he
would say things and all I can remember is that I thought that what he
was saying wasn't as hilarious as everyone seemed to think, roaring with
laughter. I would look back at him, not really laughing (kind like, yeah,
sure). Sometimes I think that Elvis was testing people. I really feel this
way. The next thing I knew, Elvis was on this stupid stationary bike and
talking about ordering pizza..and he actually had the gall to say to me "If
you get on this bike, you can have pizza too". This I can remember because
I only weighed about 116lbs and I was wearing a long shirtwaist, tight
styled evening gown that my mother had specially designed for me for the
night (I still have the dress). I clearly remember getting annoyed with
Elvis when he said that. I looked at him and said "Hmmm" and walked away.
Curt says to tell you guys that I am eating pizza right now as I tell this
story.Ok, I told them Curt
Everyone crowded around Elvis and he entertained them until it was time for
us to leave on our date.
Beverly (GIRL-FRIEND)

[MARIE]

It was December 22, 1963 and Mrs. Brock and her daughter Rodonna were
staying with me and my parents and at the movies the night before they
had asked Elvis if they could come up to the house and see a bedspread
they had made him the year before on his bed, well, I was shocked, but
Elvis said sure and told them to come to the gate the next evening. On
the evening of December 23, 1963, I drove them to the gate, which was
only around the corner since I lived behind Graceland at that time.
Vester was working the gate that night. When we got there Mrs Brock
told him what Elvis had said and he called the house. When he got off
the phone he said it would be a few minutes that Elvis was eating. So
we waited. I guess it was about an hour later when the phone rang ,
Vester picked up the phone. I heard Vester say, "There's nobody here
but me, Mrs. Brock, Rodonna and Shirley, ....okay". When he got off the
phone he turned to us and said "He said it was okay, let's go". They
got up and I just sat there, because I had not asked Elvis if I could
come with them, I was just their transportation, but Vester looked at me
and said "Come on Shirley, he said for you to come too". Well, you
don't have to ask me twice. We walked in the front door and Vester took
us to the living room where we sat down on the long white couch. I
asked Vester if I could make a call and he took me to the music room
where I called my mother, I called my mother the first time I was there
too, oh well. I was so thrilled to be there. I was talking to her when
I heard Elvis say "Hello everybody" I said to my mother "He's here" and
hung up on her. I turned and walked back into the room and said "I had
to use your phone, hope you didn't mind" and he just smiled. I went
over barely had sat down on the couch when he said "Let's go". We all
got up and followed him up the stairs. He was in the lead then, Mrs.
Brock, Rodonna, Vester and me. He kept looking back at me and smiling,
anyway, we got to the top of the stairs, made a turn to the left and we
were in his office. ( he had a desk there at that time and told us it
was his office) then we turned to our right and went through his bedroom
door. It's funny how those doors were at odd angles, or at least I
thought they were. The bedroom had tufted gold walls with black
oriental looking furniture ( I think it was oriental) there was a TV
hanging from the ceiling and the biggest damn bed I had ever seen with a
mirror behind it going all the way to the ceiling. There was an air
conditioner in the window and a chair with a pair of powder blue pants
laying over the back, the pants laced up the crotch. The bedspread was
on the bed, you could tell it had been packed away, but that didn't
matter to them, what other superstar would have done that? He then took
us down the hall to a room on the right, which, at that time was a
conference room, later became Lisa's bedroom. There was a big
conference table in the room, then he led us down the hall to a room on
the left, which was his closet, There were approximately 7 dept. store
sized racks of clothes. He pulled out a coat someone had sent him from
Alaska and made the comment that he would probably never wear it. ( I
have since seen pictures of him in that coat). He handed Rodonna and
Mrs. Brock a Christmas present and told them Merry Christmas, they
turned and started back down the hall with Vester following them, I
walked out into the hall and started walking slowly back when I heard
"Shirley", I turned walked back to where Elvis was standing and he said
"This is for you, Merry Christmas" and handed me a Christmas present. I
thanked him profusely, until I made myself sick. We walked back to his
bedroom where they were waiting, as we walked he said "Now, don't open
it until Christmas and don't tell anybody at the gate I gave this to
you, because I don't have enough to give one to everybody" I assured
him I wouldn't. Once back in his bedroom The Brocks continued to talk
his ears off, I finally got a chance to ask him if I could bring my
high school annual to the movies and have him autograph it and said
"Sure honey, bring it tonight, I'll be glad to sign it". I remember
standing in the bedroom looking at the drapes over the windows and
thinking about the times I had stood at the gate looking at these
windows from the outside and now I was seeing them from the other side.
Finally, it was time to go and we said our good-byes, I thanked him for
letting me come too and he said "Anytime". Right, anytime, just come up
and knock on the door!!! He really thought he was accessible. Of
course as soon as I got hom I opened my present to find an RCA
transistor radio with carrying case and earplugs, which I still have
today.

Later that night at the movies I took my annual and he autographed it
"To Shirley, my best always, Elvis" That was my favorite autograph of
all I have and it was stolen from me, they even took the annual. He was
wearing the powder blue pants that were laying across the back of the
chair at the movies that night, I have pictures of him from that night
and my mother is in the background holding my annual.


Shirley Connell

[Eva]

[MARIE]

November, 1960 my father took me and girlfriend from school to the gate.
Vester was working that evening. My Dad talked to Vester for a few
minutes then he got into the car to take a nap as he had to be at work
at 11:00 that night. There were several people there just hanging out.
I struck up a conversation with this couple who informed me they were
going up to the house later, Elvis was having a party.
I asked her how did they get to go and she informed me that someone from
the house would come down and pick out the crowd and if they knew you,
you could go. Well, I knew no one knew me, so I asked her would she
consider letting me and my girlfriend go with them up to the house. She
kinda looked at me for a minute and then agreed. I couldn't believe it,
I felt like screaming, but I didn't. I was so excited.
Finally, a car came down and a man got out and sort of picked through
the group of people. Next thing I know, I'm on my way to the house. I
was so nervous.

When we got into the house the girl and her friend told me and my
girlfriend not to be wandering around then they left us standing in the
hallway. I walked into the living room where there was an extra long
white sofa, white carpet, red drapes. I just kinda walked around in a
dream state. Then I saw Travis. He came up to me and welcomed me. I
asked him if I could use the phone and he took me to a phone in the
hallway. I called my mother to tell her where I was. (she knew where I
was, but my father was asleepin the car). At any rate when I got off
the phone I decided to walk around a little bit and found myself at the
back of the staircase where I saw stairs so I started down them. There
were mirrors on each side of the steep staircase and I could hear
voices. There were several voices, taliking, laughing. When I reached
the bottom I turned to the right where I immediately saw Elvis playing
pool. I froze in my tracks and just stood there. I could not believe
my eyes, he was beautiful. I remember George Klein and Gene Smith and
Lamar Fike were there, I know there were others, but I don't remember
who, anyway with Elvis in the room there was no one else. I finally
turned and went across to the den where there were several couples
listening to music. The room was dimly lit, there was a circular couch
with tiny rose tea lights that went around the top of the couch. We got
a drink from the bar (served Pepsi or Orange Crush) I got an Orange
Crush and sat down on the couch. I had to sit down or fall down. My
brain was mush and my blood pressure was probably at stroke level. I
just could not believe I was there and Elvis was in the next room. I was
so nervous. Finally , I went back upstairs and went into the dinning
room, at that time there were two antique buffets on each side of the
door going to the kitchen. He had pictures of himself and Anita Wood.
I talked to Travis and Loraine for a while then I went over and sat down
at the table. Elvis' scrapbooks were on the table and I started
thumbing through them when I felt like someone was watching, I looked up
and there stood Elvis in the doorway when I made eye contact with him,
he smiled and walked back into the kitchen. About that time Vester
barged into the room and said "Oh there you are Shirley, your Dad's
looking for you". I could have crawled under the table. I went over and
he informed that I had to go and he ushered me out of the house. I was
so upset. At any rate when we got to the gate my Dad was waiting. It
was 10:00 and he had to be at work at 11:00. We got into the car and
started home when my girlfriend remembered she left her coat at
Graceland, so we had to turn arond and go back. Vester took us back up
to the house and when we walked in there stood Travis. I immediately
walked up to him and asked him to introduce me to Elvis. He said
"Sure, follow me". I followed him down the little hallway around the
back of the stairs into the kitchen where I saw Elvis in all his glory
with black pants, grey sweater, black suede shoes and a spatula in his
hand flipping hamburgers, yes folks, he was cooking. He had six
hamburgers cooking. Travis walked up to him and said "Elvis, I've got
someone I want you to meet". Elvis walked up and took my hand, I almost
passed out. Travis introduced us and Elvis looked down at me and said
" Hi, it's nice to meet you". I said "It's nice to meet you too. He
said "Are you having a good time". I said "Yes, but I've got to go home
my daddy's gotta go to work" Elvis said " Oh, that's too bad, well, you
come back and see me anytime ". I said: "Okay, I will". Of course,
I didn't know that I could reach the President of the United States
quicker than I could Elvis. At any rate I left floating on air, vowing
to never wash my hand The funny thing is, I don't remember a thing my
girlfriend did or said. I don't remember ever seeing that couple again
either.

You have to realize, I had just turned 13 and was scared to death.
Sorry, if this is too long.

Shirley Connell

[MARIE]

Elvis was always great with the fans ... before Elvis filmed the 68 NBC
Special, he was worried that no-one would attend the tapings (hard to
believe!!) He took a handful of tickets and proceeded to hand them out to
the fans - he did that on two seperate occasions that I know of. Needless
to say, he did not need to worry....there weren't any empty seats at any
of the tapings that followed!

After the tapings he grilled everyone on their opinion of the shows- so
much so that a bunch of fans decided to make up a "report card" for him.
They made a large white cardboard "card" for him and "graded" him. (Can't
remember the different catagories listed, but there were about 7 or 8).
They took the card and hung it on the gate so he'd see it when he drove
up. No-one was there when he arrived and the sign was gone the next day
and he naver made any referene to it. A few days later the "card" was
back up on the gate. he had taken the original card, turned it over, and
had written a "report card" for the fans. Both sides passed with flying
colors!!

He made some comment about "next thing I know, there's gonna be a
suggestion box nailed to my gate" -
Sandi Miller.

[MARIE]

I think it was Christmas of 1971, but I could be wrong. You know they
say the mind is the second thing to go.
We had gone to the movies the night before Cristmas Eve, but we
figured he wouldn't go on Christmas Eve. I called the house at about
9:00pm, just to make sure. I talked to Charlie and he said, yes they
would be there.
We got to the theatre at about the same time as usual. After waiting
about an hour, there was still no sign of Elvis. I was on my way to the
phone to call the house again when Elvis pulled in. We would get to see
something this night that we never got to see. Elvis got out of the car
and he was wearing jeans. I can't remember if Shirley was there, but I'm
sure she either saw it or heard about it. He also had on a UT football
jersey. I could tell that this was a real game jersey. I had played for
UTC, and knew what the real ones looked like. It had the number 31 on
it.
When we got into the lobby Elvis told everyone that he was sorry for
being late. He said he had been putting toys together for Lisa. He said
he had, had a hard time with a tricycle. He said, when she gets on it
parts may go everywhere. We all knew that he had probably just been
supervising.
This is the only time that I can remember him wearing jeans to the
movie. The night before he had worn white boots, white pants, the red
shirt, from "That's The Way It Is", and a white vest. He also had on a
white shoulder holster. All night he kept telling everyone that he
looked like Santa, because he was in all red an white.
Steve

[MARIE]

I feel the time has come to tell my story. I'm sure that there are
many on here who do not care to hear it. For those people all I can say
is don't read any further.I tell it for two reasons. First and formost
to show what an idiot Marty Lacker is.He needs to realize that his
blanket denial of anyone knowing Elvis needs to stop. The second reason
is,I love to share Elvis stories and I know there are those here who do
want to hear it.
This story is long so I will divide it into two parts.
Remember,everything I write,I can prove.
When I was eight years old I saw Elvis on t.v. and became an
instant fan. Being so young I didn't realize how far away Memphis Tn.
was. I asked my dad,who would have given me the world,to take me to
Memphis to meet Elvis. One day he surprised and said,"We are going to
Memphis tomorrow to meet Elvis." My dad was working third shift at the
time.So,the next morning when he got home from work,my mom,a female
cousin,and myself piled into the car for a six hour ride to Memphis.
When we arrived we stopped at a gas station,changed clothes,got
directions and headed for Audubon Drive. When we got to the house,a few
fans were standing around the fence.The traffic was at a steady
stream.After having worked all night,and driven all day,I'm sure my dad
was worn out.After sitting in the car for about an hour my dad said "I
didn't drive six hours to look at a house." He got out of the car,opened
the gate and started walking toward the house,with us following.He
knocked on the front door and Vernon stepped out. He appeared to be
wearing old clothes with paint on them.My dad said "I brought my son to
meet Elvis,is he in?" Vernon said "no ,he's out on the road". We started
to take pictures while Vernon and my dad made small talk. He asked my
dad,what he did for a living? Dad told him he was a carpenter. Vernon
said,"You're just the man I've been looking for." He said they were
doing some remodeling,and he wanted dad to show him something. (Years
later my dad learned that Vernon was a carpenter also,but had never
mentioned it that day.) He took us into the house.Gladys was in the
kitchen cooking,and Vernon called for her to come and meet us. He took
us into a room,that they were putting trim up in.While my dad and Vernon
were discussing the project,I was looking out into the back yard. My
cousin was facing the hallway,when all of a sudden her eyes lite up and
her mouth came open.I turned around and there stood ELVIS. He smiled and
said,"How are you fine folks today." Vernon seemed alittle
embarrassed,and said, I have to tell people he's not home.After telling
Elvis what big fans we were,we talked for about fifteen minutes. Dad
told him that he had been up all night and Elvis said,"I have too." He
talked about the house and then he,along with Gladys,showed us around.
You could tell they were all proud of the house.My dad,not wanting to
over stay his welcome,said "we have to be going." I was on cloud nine
and could not wait to get back home and tell everyone I had met Elvis
Presley.
I remained an Elvis fan,and would tell everyone who would
listen,my story.
I went through life buying every Elvis record,seeing every Elvis
movie and remembering what a nice person Elvis was.
In 1958 my dads cousin was drafted and served in Texas and
Germany with Elvis. I sent a letter, through my cousin, to Elvis. I
wrote about our meeting at his house,which I was sure he had forgotten.
I was playing college football and living life to the max,seldom
thinking about this meeting on Audubon Drive.
After leaving college I entered the police academy. I had been on
the force for about a year,when another officer,a friend and myself were
watching t.v. when something came on the news about Elvis. I told them I
had met him and showed them the photos from Audubon Drive. The other
officer said,"why don't we go to Memphis and meet him?' Within an
hour,with photos in hand, we were off to Memphis.
Very shortly, Elvis and I would meet again. This time I would be
around a while.
As Paul Harvey would say, next post I will tell " The rest of the
story". And yes, I did come to know Elvis.
TOP COP (steve kelly)

[MARIE]

Hier sind die fans zu sehen

http://members.aol.com/flatelvistour/

[michael grasberger]

wo kommen denn die stories her, marie?