Actors From Mississippi

"When Ed made his weekly call to the Trendex ratings service, he confirmed what he had suspected: Allen's show with Elvis had soundly beaten his, garnering a 20.2 rating with a 55.3% share (about 40 million viewers), compared with his own show's 14.8 rating and 39.7 % share (roughly 19 million). Within the week, he called Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker. It was time to make a deal. Colonel Parker, knowing he had Ed where he wanted him, extracted a whopping $50,000 for three appearances, far more than any previous Sullivan guest. On September 9, 1956, the camera would pull up at times to show only his upper torso. Yet the limited camera angle didn't dampen the effect —if anything, his facial expression, the abandon on his face, was more potent than even his gyrating hips. This was untamed beatific energy, the definition of charisma, a bolt of white-hot energy. The all-girl cheering section sounded like it was on the verge of storming the stage. Never before had so much female sexual desire been broadcast into so many American living rooms. The evening was a decisive ratings triumph, garnering a 43.7 Trendex rating, an 82.6% share, translating to some sixty million people, or about a third of the country— the largest television audience to date. Indeed, Elvis' performance of “Hound Dog” that night would be one of a small handful of moments that defined the decade."

"In his Grammy-winning 1986 song "Graceland," Paul Simon reveals his thoughts during a road trip to the home of Elvis Presley in Memphis. In the lyrics, Simon states, “For reasons I cannot explain there’s some part of me wants to see Graceland.” Even though I can't list myself as a dedicated fan, I have always appreciated his tremendous talent and the major impact he had on the world of entertainment. Not only his musical talent crossed many genres, but there's no question that he is one of the cultural icons of the 20th century. So once there, we were impressed by the mansion itself, which continues to have the feel of the 1960s-style residence Elvis developed and loved so much. The original 10,266-square-foot Colonial Revival style mansion was built in 1939 for a Memphis socialite and her husband. The expansive surrounding property includes the “Meditation Garden,” containing the graves of the singer, his parents Vernon and Gladys and his grandmother Minnie Presley. So, do we recommend the Graceland experience? The answer is yes, as the house, property and family cemetery are all definitely worth seeing."

"Yes, I've known him for his music and films, and indeed he is one of my favourites"

"I had not paid attention to Elvis before 1969 but I really hadn't cared about music at all, until I was about 12, so I got into the Beatles and Elvis in my mind, at that time, was always this old dude. And then I heard "Suspicious Minds", "Any day now", and many songs that he did after the movie contracts were over and that is when I really started to love Elvis, and that was all the way to the end."

"Performing a few more classics like "Crossroads" and "Vincent" from his "American Pie" album, he takes a break between songs to talk about setting off from his hometown for the first time to pursue his music in California and witnessing the the MGM Studio auctions in the late 60's. Moving on, he took a step back in time to "And I Love You So", from his debut album, Tapestry, released in 1970. The song became an instant classic at its release, and was covered by many of the greats including "my favorite", McLean revealed, "Elvis Presley", who recorded it and used it in 125 of his live performances from 1975 until his death in 1977."

"My next book is about how the U.S. Army tried to ‘transform’ itself to meet the challenges of the atomic bomb, as well as the American experiment with a large peacetime, short-service citizen-soldier force and conscription. The idea that someone as famous and controversial as Elvis Presley could be drafted and become a symbol of the U.S. military and the nation's commitment to the defense of the free world fascinates me. His exemplary military service was well chosen, for that young man quietly accepted the call to duty, raised his hand and took the oath, wore the uniform and performed soldierly tasks as well as he had cavorted on the stage before adoring teenyboppers. Thus, after years of unremitting effort, the all-volunteer force that many call “the best Army this or any other nation has ever fielded” has come to face new enemies, new challenges with, if not sublime confidence, at least sturdy resolution. In considering the long hard period of transformation, one ponders the profound commentary of Elvis Presley's first sergeant: “By submitting to the draft and entering the Army as an ordinary private, Elvis accepted the discipline of an institution that had come to play a vital role in transforming men from assorted backgrounds into soldiers and Americans. A condensed version of those lines might stand as a pretty good inscription on the Pelvis’ tombstone."

"In "Clambake", Elvis was going to do a scene in a bar with Shelley Fabares, and in the back these waiters were wearing —you know, the tasseled cup hats and also wearing vests with gold trim and stuff, so I went and put one of those on, as a joke, and then they put a moustache on me. So I'm cleaning up a table, and Elvis is about 5 or 10 feet away from where I'm cleaning, and as he's talking to her, I'm knocking over glasses and finally they said, “Cut!” And he didn't look around —he just kind of shrugged— but I did it purposely three times in a row, and on the third time he turned around and said, ““What the hell are you doing over there? Well, anyways, I did the next take right, and you can spot me back there. He used to called me “Double Trouble,” actually because they did a movie where he was playing cousins and he had to play a blonde, so his Memphis Mafia kept teasing him: “You look like that guy on The Big Valley! So we used to play tricks on each other all the time. He’d be on stage at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, and I’d come off the other side from where he’s leaning down and singing, and I’d get some scarves and bring ’em out, and he’d hear this roaring over there from the other side of the stage, and he’d see me and go, “What the hell are you doing over there?” We'd do stuff like that all the time. We had a good time and yeah, well, Elvis and I were friends. It's too bad he died so young."

"Elvis took risks by being a pioneer in his adaptation of black culture. He received huge stick for perpetuating what some of his Southern brethren were referring to as “degenerate nigger music” and the threat it posed to the social order by the fact that blacks and whites were digging his music whether listening to it on the radio or live at (segregated) venues. Much has been made of the way in which he conducted his private life, but this had a lot to do with his living within a kind of fame that few humans could comprehend. So many people often remember how well mannered and humble he appeared to be in his interactions. He may not be ‘The King’ to all but his impact on the course of music history cannot be denied and should not be denigrated."

"I always thought that singers have what I call the Elvis Presley syndrome — they think they're Elvis Presley. But they're not Elvis Presley."

"Ever since I was a kid, I was just glued to the record player. I would save allowances to buy Elvis records every week and still remember when I first heard "It's Now or Never". I thought that was the greatest rock 'n' roll record I ever heard. It just blew my mind. But it blew my mind even more when my mom showed me it was actually an Italian aria. O Sole Mio, remains a part of my performance repertoire to this day. It was like, 'There you go. There is a connection with all of this music.' It all started from there.""

"Other than Sinatra, there are only a handful of people who meant as much to the world of film as they did to the world of music, Bing Crosby, Doris Day and Elvis Presley"

"Since emerging in 2003, Chen has become China's highest-profile fashion photographers. Her work regularly appears on the covers of the Chinese editions of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Elle. She is known for her bold, vibrant style that merges Chinese tradition with high fashion; Gender reversal is a central theme in Chen's work, as seen in a series of portraits, where Chen cast the Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, as various pop culture icons, namely Marilyn Monroe, Che Guevara, Superman, Bruce Lee, and Elvis Presley."

"The audience listened attentively as Eric Meola told about the one that got away – a sore spot for every professional photographer. It was catching up with Bruce Springsteen in an airport the day Elvis Presley died. Meola recounted how as he approached, he saw Bruce sitting on some luggage reading a newspaper with the headline proclaiming the end of Elvis. Bruce put the paper down and noticed Meola coming and at that point the moment was gone. "I wasn't about to ask him to recreate it", he said."

"Be like Elvis, go man go"

"The music of Elvis Presley is very lively and popular, and I am glad to know that you are as fond of his music as I am, too."

"It was a little painful for me to get involved in the 1968 Special. There were two choreographers already hired by NBC, Claude Thompson and Jaime Rogers and although I had danced for Elvis, I wasn't one of their dancers, nor they knew who I was. But either Elvis, director Steve Binder or Joe Esposito suggested I be allowed to dance, so they assigned me to Jaime's dancers. After an embarrasing start, after all, each choreographer prefers to use their own dancers, things were better for me. I was in a scene which Jaime directed but the NBC censors cut, the bordello scene. Now, on the side Lance Legault and I worked with Elvis on some the dancing sequences and we would sometimes give him advice. He was an amazing listener, and one of the best natural dance movers that I ever worked with. He could do everything, an ability to just feel it from the inside out. But the one thing that stood out in my mind on the set was when I was called over to where the guys all hung out, taking a break. And he was talking, seated while giving a donation to a group of nuns that were on the set. And I am thinking to myself, OK, this man makes a very good living, I would assume but he was taking his five minute break to talk to each one of these nuns, and find out where they were all from. And I was just standing there listening. And that meant so much to me. It was unbelievable experience to watch him give like that. To give money is one thing, but to give of his time, and to give of his soul and to care about where all of these nuns came from, that was just such a highlight and memory for me."

"It wag a lead pipe cinch that at the first masquerade party around these parts, some guests were sure to come as Dodger baseball players. Sure enough Harry James, Betty Grable and Mrs. Monte Proser did it first at the "howling" Halloween shindig hosted by Sy Devore and Sol Meadows. Debbie Reynolds was a clown and Eddie Fisher a "teenage" werewolf. Marie McDonald, had no trouble looking like a gorgeous princess on the arm of Harry Karl, her private life prince. Joanne Bradshaw came as "backless" Vikki Dougan. Nat "King" Cole showed up as Elvis Presley, although the original was present. No people in the world love getting dressed up in costume more than actors who spend their lives getting dressed up in a costume for a living, so a large time was had by all."

"This was the plan: we would take a holy and sacred picture of Elvis Presley, to the very summit of the earth; once there, we would place it with sincere reverence amongst the chimerical shimmering palaces of ice and snow and then, accompanied by some weird Zen magic, we would light joss sticks, dance about making screechy kung-fu noises, get off our faces, and that would be it: Planet Earth saved. Simple.”"

"Elvis Presley swam under musical waters where country ballads, New Orleans trumpets and urban and rural blues converged. In the US South, music was not a passtime, rather a way of life, a contradiction which fascinated and transcended the day to day hardships, congregation and the devil's music. Elvis' genious was to absorb it all, then propell the so called rock and roll amalgam into open space, while simultaneouly becoming its only true King"

"It is difficult to imagine two more dissimilar personalities than Elvis Presley and Mahatma Gandhi. And yet the words of Elvis Presley are strangely close to Gandhi's thinking when he said that he dreamt of an India where he would be able to wipe the last tears of the last child, words reminiscent to what Elvis once said and I quote "I figure all any kid needs is hope and the feeling that he or she belongs. If I could do or say anything that would give some kid that feeling, I would believe I had contributed something to the world""

"Actually I wouldn't be here in jail if not for those people you call family. They are the ones who put me here. I didn̪'t want to be seen, just be left alone in the desert. But they said, he is our star. I would have gone ahead and let you bleed an Elvis Presley, you could have HIM for your little dreams, not me. I lived in Elvis Presley’s house, man. He ran me out of the yard. I got mad at him, I was going to throw some rocks at him. I never liked him even a little bit, but everybody else always kow-towed to him because he was rich and everything. To me, I don’t give a fuck how rich you are, I’ll just bust you up anyway."

"I never met him, although I saw his show in Las Vegas, and the great feeling I had after listening to his version of "Somos Novios" ("Its impossible") was always so well known in music circles that the other day I received the main master, in acetate form, from a friend who just passed away. It's without a doubt my most valuable treasure."

"One of the 17 objectives of sustainable development is the reduction of inequality. A listen to Elvis Presley's "In the guetto", about poverty in Chicago, can help focus this strategy, which has no bounds, in view of globalization, of race, color or creed."

"Pistol was the Elvis of Basketball"

"William and Harry remembered Diana listening to Elvis and them all singing "Hound Dog.”"

"While Archbishop Justin Welby has denied statements about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s secret wedding that took place three days before their publicized royal wedding in 2018, pictures have proven otherwise, showing Welby dressed as Elvis in the secret ceremony, with a quiff that represented the famous rock singer’s hair, sideburns, and shades. Archbishop Welby also held and strummed a red guitar in tribute of Meghan’s love for the late Elvis Presley."

"He was ahead of his time because he had such deep feelings and had the privilege of deep feelings because he was deeply loved by his mother, Gladys. He was able to appreciate profound beauty in sounds and he started a musical revolution. In fact, they say all revolutions start from love."

"If any individual of our time can be said to have changed the world, Elvis Presley is the one. In his wake more than music is different. Nothing and no one looks or sounds the same. His music was the most liberating event of our era because it taught us new possibilities of feeling and perception, new modes of action and appearance, and because it reminded us not only of his greatness, but of our own potential. As to his comeback in 1968, it was the finest music of his life. If ever there was music that bleeds, this was it.The second edition of my book came out after Elvis died, and I was asked to put the whole Elvis chapter in the past tense, and I said no. The reason was that Elvis' presence was so powerful, I felt he's always in the present tense. When you listen to anything that says Elvis Presley to you, whoever you are, whether it's "Long Black Limousine" or "Jailhouse Rock" or "Milkcow Blues Boogie" or "Any Day Now" — I could go on forever — but the physical presence is so strong that death walks away. There's an obscene Elvis outtake of "Stranger in My Hometown". Elvis is singing and suddenly it becomes completely autobiographical, and he explodes — he says "I'm gonna start driving my motherfucking truck again. All them cocksuckers stopped being friendly, but you can't keep a hard prick down." He just goes off, yet it's completely musical, not just breaking down and screaming. He's right there. Every one of his greatest performances is in a way unfinished, because the emotion in them is so rich and so strained, in the best way, trying so hard to say what you mean emotionally, though you can never say everything, so as you listen, you add to that, you're engaged, you're taking part in the dialogue. So that will always be the present tense."

"Elvis made more girls cry than anyone so the reference ( to flip the script there with a song about making boys cry), was irresistible. It was important that the song could represent empowerment without being divisive, because that's how Elvis was. In fact, I didn't know a lot about him until I visited Graceland recently. Beyond his music, I'm moved by how much he cared for people. I've been telling my friends and fans some of the things I learned about it, and I'm excited that some of them are discovering him for the first time because of my video for ‘Boy Cry.’””"

"Critiques of the Ed Sullivan program assumed that the Presley appeal was strictly telegenic—not vocal. His vocal style, in fact, was every bit as mobile as his hips. Since most of the journalists on the Elvis beat denied him any artistry, his two-and-a-third-octave range was never mentioned and the music itself was rarely analyzed."

"i) The biggest thing Elvis had was the command he had on stage, how he could control the crowd and the band. There’s a performance where he does ‘Hound Dog" and at the end he slows it down, and – to me – it looked like an improv moment, not like something they rehearsed. It was like Presley saw girls in the audience freaking out and said to himself: ‘Watch me slow it down – and then really go nuts.’ And he slows it down at the end and then starts his little dance.....ii) impersonating Elvis at the age of four is when I first realized I wanted to become a performer."

"Many artists are taking pictures of Elvis Presley, for example, and flipping them to create various iterations of color or texture. A lot of what Pop-Art has become is solely based on the familiar image and very little behind it. With my work, I want to talk about why Elvis or Audrey Hepburn will live on forever. Icons of mid century American history are still so prevalent today because they had interesting stories and immense talent, not just great marketing skills. Warhol said it best, that everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes. The important aspect is having something positive to say."

"Elvis Presley was an explorer of vast new landscapes of dream and illusion. He was a man who refused to be told that the best of his dreams would not come true, who refused to be defined by anyone else's perceptions. This is the goal of democracy, the journey on which every American hero sets out. That Elvis made so much of the journey on his own is reason enough to remember him with the honor and love we reserve for the bravest among us. Such men made the only maps we can trust."

"I don’t know what President Trump’s future holds, but I think Elvis rock ’n’ roll music’s still playing"

"His was the one voice I wish to have had, of all those emanating from singers in the popular music field."

"Singer Lloyd "Lonzo" George (of the "Lonzo and Oscar" C&W duo), was visiting his relatives, so his teenage nephew, Jim, invited all his friends to his house to meet his famous uncle. But there was one quiet 15-year-old boy whom Jim's parents would not allow to come inside their house. He was poor so they called him “white trash” and treated as if he was from a lower class. When Jim told Uncle "Lonzo" that the boy outside had a guitar but didn't know how to tune it, he gladly offered to show him how. Since he not allowed inside the house, they arranged to meet outside. It was obvious to "Lonzo" that the boy was embarrassed and felt out of place in a rich neighborhood. The boy's guitar was old, cheap, and hung around his neck with just a piece of string. After "Lonzo" showed the shy teenager how to tune his guitar, he offered to teach him some songs. The boy was so surprised and happy that Lonzo spent two whole hours playing and singing with him that he started feeling confident in his own ability to play and sing. "Lonzo" never met that boy again, at least not face to face. That boy was Elvis Presley."

"Well, it started when I saw him was as a little kid at a 1957 concert at LA's Pan Pacific Auditorium concert. 'Then, I became a hairdresser, so the first time I cut his hair, which was in 1964, it took about me 45 minutes to finish it and the whole time Elvis didn't say a word, but his eyes would follow every move I made. I was then already working with people like Warren Beatty & Paul Newman and the most handsome guys of the movies, but I can tell you Elvis eclipsed them all. He had the face, the voice, the career, the fans, the fame, the money and he had.... the hair, which was unbelievable to work on. He insisted that I trim his animated and eccentric moustache."

"What thrills is that people are still getting upset by a bunch of herberts larging it and carrying on.That’s exactly what rock ‘n’ roll is there to do: Elvis, Little Richard, the Sex Pistols Kneecap. Music is meant to shake things up"

"The inspiration for my career came from Elvis Presley. I heard him singing ‘My Way" and that somehow gave me the strength to start a painting business. I knew it was time, as they say, to take the bull by the horns, create my own job. Almost fifty years later, I am still painting, still doing it my way."

"The thing is, I've always wanted to be a star. I've always wanted to be an Elvis Presley or a Tupac – like, a huge icon."

"What makes Elvis such a phenomenon well after his death ? This question is best answered by resorting to a more socio-anthropological approach concerned with Elvis’ significance within a wider cultural ensemble.It seems to me one key to understanding Elvis is to first recognize that his figure is paradigmatic of an important cultural shift that occurred in America in the post-War days and the advent of consumerism, as philosopher Charles Taylor has abundantly argued. Acknowledging this makes the heuristics of comparisons with Christian apostleship analytically ill-fated. Second, Elvis can probably best be understood in relation to the ‘civil religion’ of the United States of America as developed since the second half of the twentieth century. Elvis arose in the glory days of America, with the birth of rock’n’roll and the feeling of the becoming of a new golden era — an era of which Elvis fans today are probably somewhat nostalgic.Elvis is intimately tied with a certain feeling and idea of ‘America’.Elvis is a mythical figure in the pantheon delimiting the American Dream : he is a model, and Elvis fans confess finding his life a source of moral lessons: ‘work hard, use your talent, follow your star and be a star’. Furthermore, Elvis confirms the individualist Self-Made Man myth of American Capitalism: “even a boy raised in poverty in Mississippi could make it big” . Elvis is a perfect deity for post-radical transcendence culture: as all stars, he is both unreachable in stardom yet an ordinary guy. This duality without seizing what is at stake, is precisely the reason given by impersonators for what they do (p. 183). These are just a few hints, but it seems to me undeniable that the Elvis phenomenon is potentially rich for religious studies investigation. Rather, Reece’s conclusion is that there is religiosity in Elvis, but that Elvis is not likely to spawn religious movements. (However), Elvis, through this special connection to consumer society’s air du temps and mythological foundations, provided one of the most vivid and enduring templates for rock-star mythology for the past half-century, and probably for decades to come."

"One time, Elvis was in town and invited folks to his suite for a party. His idea of a party? Eating food and having his backup singers belt out gospel songs..."

"First of all, I admire Elvis, not just as a singer but as a creator of a style, a personality. What he has achieved is worth of respect. Regarding the rivalry between Rock ´n Roll and Bolero, there are enough fans for both styles."

"I started my first job in 1977 at the age of 14 as a carhop at an A&W Root Beer restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. The day I was hired, I was promoted to lead carhop when a radio DJ interrupted the music and broke the news that Elvis had died. The lead carhop took off her money belt and announced ‘I must go to Memphis.’ She drove off in her Ford Pinto and was never heard from again. The money I saved that year definitely helped pay for tuition and college expenses and it was a super fun job and a great experience. I learned the value of a dollar and how to make a seriously delicious root beer float – all thanks to Elvis Presley."

"The Elvis tattoo on my chest? I started listening to 'Jailhouse Rock' and loved it."

"Elvis, and that was it"

"Elvis let you know that he cared about you, that he noticed you. He made you feel good. No other entertainment stars ever took the same effort Elvis did, to be honest. They didn't. He took that extra step. Elvis took good care of us, man, I swear to God. Bonuses at the end of tours, also (on top of the regular paycheck). I mean nobody treats musicians and the people that were with him the way Elvis did. Nobody.""

"I am an angry man, so angry I burn myself and I heat up the air around me. This is the nuclear fuel I use to make my music. In a world so full of pain and madness we need to be better than ever, to evolve not devolve, to become masters of our fate and stop listening to the snake talkers who would steal our last breath. It's time to go Elvis and shoot the cursed TV."

"I was appearing at the Sands and a friend of mine, a fellow comedian working with Elvis, told him I'm a black belt. So I got a call from one of Elvis' buddies. He traveled with this massive entourage. So this pal tells me, "Would you be interested in doing Elvis Presley the honor of sparring with him?" I said, "Sure, I’ll give the kid a break." *Laughs*. He rented a hall and arrived with this huge group of people. We looked at each other and he calls me "sensei," which means "teacher." I said, "Oh Elvis, you don’t have to call me that because we’re of equal rank." And he says, "OK, sensei." Then he goes, "Do me a favor, please. Don’t hit me in the face because I have a show to do tonight." And I said, "Well, don’t hit me in my face because I, too, have a show tonight." He responds, "Sensei, if I hit you in the face, it would be an improvement." I said, "I’m going to kill you. You know that, right?" Then we spar. But he was wonderful. He was very, very good in fact. I've sparred with a lot of people and not many were as good as he was. But when we weren't sparring, he was a gentleman at all times."

"I have a great respect for him and I have to say that "Viva Las Vegas" was the very first job I ever had, so he was the first person I worked with in a movie. It really was a big influence on me. Maybe it was me that made it up, but I thought, he's a person, I'm a person. If he can do it, I can do it. And he made you feel like that, too. You know, he made you be an equal. And, of course, it wasn't true, but as I said I lived in a big fantasy world and still do, but he made you feel like you were the same. And I think that really was an incredible catalyst for me. I mean, you're working with Elvis Presley and he thinks that you guys are alike so maybe, if he can do it, you can do it. So then something like that, it's a subliminal subconscious incredible influence he had on me."