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Sonny & Red West, Elvis, Jerry Schilling,
Lamar Fike, Joe Esposito
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Lamar
Fike, Elvis' tour manager, so close to Elvis he even tried to go
into the Army with him, but couldn't.
Jerry Shilling still finds it hard to discuss all the time he
spent with Elvis.
Also Elvis's stepbrother, David Stanley, at Elvis'
Graceland
mansion the day
he died.
Anita
Wood who dated Elvis seriously for years
in the 50's, even lived for a time at
Graceland
. It's
hard to believe it, but Elvis Presley would have been 70 years old, had
he lived. His birthday would have been last week. So, we have got an
outstanding panel, others joining us later, we'll also include your
phone calls. Let's go around first with the Mafia members. Marty
Lacker is in
Memphis
who first met.
Where did you meet? Junior High School?
LACKER: Odd. He was sort of loner. The thing we had in common, because
we weren't that close, I had just moved from
New York
. And Elvis
dressed in very flashy clothes, which was different than the kids back
then. Most of the guys back then wore crew cuts and
Levis
and t-shirts.
And Elvis wore flashy clothes, wore his collar up, his hair was a lot
longer than the rest of the people. And basically, I dressed the same
way, coming from
New York
. And the kids
used to kid us about who was going to out dress who the next day.
KING:
Was he singing then?
LACKER: He sang in a couple of talent shows in
Memphis
. But I mean,
at the school. But it really wasn't known back then except for people
who were close to him.
KING:
Patty, how did you meet him?
KING: Lamar Fike was a member -- a close personal friend. You directed
all the concert tours, Lamar?
LAMAR FIKE, ELVIS PRESLEY'S TOUR MANAGER: No, not really. I travelled
with him, Larry. It was a case of -- I did most of the lights in Vegas.
And when we went on the road, I'd do some of it. But, you know, we were
there mainly to kind of keep everything together. At times we didn't but
it was still fun trying.
KING:
What was he like to work with?
FIKE:
At times, very difficult, but most of the time, he was a lot of fun. You
know, you're around somebody like him 24 hours a day, and you have to
watch what you're doing because you become a little too familiar and you
say things you shouldn't and sometimes you get in arguments. And it was
a constant amount of pressure. It never really stopped. It kept you on
your toes.
KING: Jerry you were a close family friend. Did you call
yourself a Memphis
group, or are
we calling you the Memphis Mafia?
JERRY
SCHILLING: Well, it came about, Larry, I think years ago, we used to go
to Vegas and wear Mo hair suits and carry guns. And the press kind of
affectionately started calling us the Memphis Mafia is back in town. And
we kind of liked it. We were young guys.
KING: How many people were involved in the Memphis
?
SCHILLING: Normally six to seven at one time. Probably over the years,
there's been about 12, 13 guys.
KING: Did you hang out together?
SCHILLING: Oh, we lived together, Larry.
KING: Were there hangers on? Did he support you guys?
SCHILLING: Well, you know, it kind of looks that way from the outside.
But on inside it was very important -- first of all, he didn't go out
and hire people because they were an accountant or a tour manager, he
hired people that he trusted and then you worked into the position.
KING: Oh, so you learned on the fly?
SCHILLING: Absolutely.
KING: David, you were his stepbrother. So, he was how old when you met
him?
DAVID STANLEY, ELVIS' STEPBROTHER: I was just 5 years old. I moved into
the
Graceland
Mansion
in 1960 after
my mother, who was divorced, married Elvis' widowed father. So, when I
met Elvis Presley, I didn't know what a hound dog was, I didn't know
what king was. And it was funny, when I met Elvis, I met most of these
guys. I mean, Marty Lacker and Lamar Fike, I mean, you know, this is
like a little hoe-down down south with the family. And, you know, I
walked in, and I was the little 4-year-old snotty kid who just couldn't
comprehend what was going on.
But I did understand one thing, I came from a boarding home and moved
into
Graceland
. And I
thought, this is going to be a great ride. And it really was. It was a
great ride. It was a lot of good friends and a bonding. We stood up for
each other, we took up for each other. And it's so cool to see my
buddies and all of us get together and talk about Elvis and celebrate
Elvis' birthday.
KING: Was he a good big stepbrother?
STANLEY: Oh, yeah. Are you kidding? I mean, I got a lot of attention
being driven to school in a pink Cadillac everyday. I mean, when Elvis
is your big brother, he was more like a father figure. He was 20 years
older than I was. He taught me everything. He taught me music. He taught
me how to be cooling. If there's any cool there, it came from Elvis. He
taught me about girls. He taught me about spiritual matters. And all the
other individuals involved. It just wasn't Elvis. You know, we're like
those veterans, like World War II or Korean Veterans or Vietnam
Veterans, we all experienced this unique thing. And like I said, it's so
cool to get together and communicate on the level that we can about
somebody we knew and loved so well.
KING:
Marty, you must be the same age, right?
LACKER: I was two years younger than him. We both were born in January.
I have got to say this about hangers on. We've been called every name in
the book, but we've been called those names by people who have no
understanding what our relationship was about.
KING: What was it?
LACKER: It was a close brotherhood. Elvis didn't have one best-friend,
he had about 9 of them. And those were basically the guys from the early
years. And we grew up
together. We were like brothers. The people who make statements like
that, I mean, we just smile and laugh, because they have no idea what it
was all about.
KING: Were you the last one to sort of join, Patty?
PERRY: No. Actually, I was there before David and Rickie. They were
babies when they came to the house. I met Elvis when I was 17. He was 25
years old. He just got out of the Army.
KING: He took you in, too?
PERRY: They couldn't get rid of me.
LACKER: We tried.
KING: Were you the only girl?
PERRY: Well, I was the only female. I mean, he trusted me. We were good
friends, there was no romance there.
KING: Did you want a romance?
PERRY: No, no, no, no.
LACKER: We all took shots.
PERRY: No. They were my brothers. They brought me up, they raised me,
you know, they took care of me. They wouldn't let anybody near me,
Larry, unfortunately.
KING: Was he difficult, Lamar? Could he be difficult?
FIKE: Yes. That's probably the nicest thing you could think of. When he
got hard nosed, you knew he was there. He could make it hard on you.
It's just like I said, it's hard to really separate the lines. You're
friends and you're an employee and you're all the above. My thing was we
just fought all the time. And I always lost. I got fired about 500
times. But it's all part of it.
KING: That's weird to be a friend and yet a worker as well.
PRISCILLA PRESLEY: Remember, he was with a bunch of guys at the same
time. So they're all looking in the audience. And there was certainly a
lot of fans out there.
KING: That's another thing about Elvis, he was a guy's guy.
P. PRESLEY: He was a guy's guy.
KING: Well, we know with all the women and everything, but he liked
hanging around with the guys.
P. PRESLEY: Yes, he did. And that was difficult for a woman, especially
a wife. You know, they were still trying to live a single life, and I
was just trying to, you know, have a family life. He wanted the best of
both worlds.
KING: He was extraordinarily?
SCHILLING:
Very generous. The home I live in today, he bought me in '74. You
know, I think, Larry, this is how sensitive he was. He didn't talk about
it. But I think he knew that I lost my mother when I was a year old. We
grew up in the same neighborhood, poor part of
Memphis
. And in 1974,
he said, you know, you never had a home, I want to be the one to give it
to you. And nobody knew about it. The guys knew about it, but you know,
it wasn't for publicity. And I still live there and I'll always live
there.
PERRY: People, you know, they talk about birthdays, and what Elvis --
how he celebrated his birthday and Christmas. Elvis didn't celebrate
just regular holidays. Elvis would give you gifts off-the- cuff. You
know, if he went to the jewelry store, everybody got something. If he
got a car, everybody got one. If he got motorcycles, everybody got one.
What made him happy was to see the look on your face when he gave you
that gift, it wasn't the gift itself.
SCHILLING: There's another thing to this that's really important, is
that he also gave you time. You know, you hear about the gifts, you hear
about the monetary. But you could have a problem...
KING: He would spend time with you.
SCHILLING: He'd say, do you want to talk about it? He'd come in your
room. I mean, he was really a friend.
KING: Who helped him with his problems?
SCHILLING: That's the problem.
KING: All right, David, was he generous to you?
STANLEY: He was very generous to me. And I think listening to Jerry talk
about the house that he lives in today, you know, my father was swept
out of my life when I was a kid. My mother and father divorced in '59.
When I moved into
Graceland
with my two
older brothers, I came in with Elvis's new stepmother, Dee, which was my
mother, and Elvis was a little reluctant towards my mother, because he
had just lost his mother. But he looked over at me and he picked me up
and he gave me a hug and he welcomed me into his family. And he took me
in and he shared his life with me. He knew that my dad had been swept
out of my life, and he did that replacement thing. And Jerry is so right
about that. He was so silent about that. He went the extra mile to make
you feel special. You know, there is a few people in the world that can
pat you on the back and you're good for another 10,000 miles. One of
them is a friend of mine, an associate named Bernie Dorman in
Los Angeles
that I work
with. The other, bar none, was Elvis Presley. When he patted you on the
back, you were good for another 10,000 miles, and I'm sure all the guys
on the panel will attest to the same thing.
KING: Marty, was he generous with you?
LACKER: Oh, definitely. But I'll tell you something that, because Elvis
was a complex and contradictory type of person. I mean, he had many
sides to him. Elvis could not really bring himself to say I'm sorry to
anybody. If he got mad at them or did something that he knew he
shouldn't have done, and he'd get over it in 30 minutes. But...instead
of saying I'm sorry, instead of saying I'm sorry, he'd buy you something…
The only time I ever heard him say I'm sorry, is he said it to me
because of an argument, the one and only argument we ever had. And it
shocked me when he did it, because he just didn't do that. He'd go buy
you something.
KING: Lamar, despite all the arguments, was he generous to you?
FIKE: To say the least. I went through a lot of cars. You know, you --
it was, you know, he got on a motorcycle tear. You know, I had a
motorcycle and ran it under a bus. And you know, things like that. And
we -- you know, it was like -- it was like a big playground that really
got serious at times, but you know what? Somebody asked me the other
day, said, would you do it over again, I said, when do we start?
KING: Is it true he would keep movie theaters open all night and take
all you guys to see movies?
SCHILLING: Three movies a night. We'd go at
12:00 o'clock
after it
closed. We would talk out loud. It was interesting, Larry, because I
think about now, and how you sat in the movie theater with Elvis was the
relationship at the time. Is that right, guys?
SCHILLING: It was never spoken, but it just kind of worked that way.
SCHILLING: Elvis studied those movies. I used to wonder, why are we
watching this for three times, you know, and then he would see some
little eclectic thing that he picked up from that movie in his next
movie.
LACKER: One of the things about him, is he'd hardly ever watch one of
his movies.
FIKE: We never watched it.
LACKER: Well, he did a couple of times, but only about two or three that
I knew of over 20 years. He just -- he didn't like to see himself on the
screen.
KING: We'll ask in a minute what you each think might have been his
strangest habit. Quick Elvis Presley story. I never met Elvis, but met
Colonel Parker. Elvis Presley worked in
Miami Beach
once, at the
Miami Beach
Convention
Center
. He flew into
Miami
International
Airport
, a helicopter
brought him over to
Miami Beach
at the helipad.
A limo picked him up at the helipad and drove him 10 blocks to the
convention center, where he performed. He got back in the limo to go
back to the helicopter. When he got back to the helicopter, he said to
the limo driver, "do you own this limo or do you work for the
company?" And he said, "I work for the company." And he
said, "you now own it." The limo driver's tip was the limo.
We'll be right back.
KING: Were you very close to your father?
LISA-MARIE PRESLEY: Yes.
KING: It was a daddy-daughter kind of thing?
LM. PRESLEY: Yeah, very much.
KING: What was he like as a father?
LM. PRESLEY: Very adoring, very sweet. Very -- I mean, I knew that he
was crazy about me.
KING: Did you know what he was to the world at 9?
LM. PRESLEY: Yeah. You know, in some weird way I definitely got sort
of grooved into the whole idea early on. So I don't know how that
happened. It just kind of -- it just was -- that was my life. I didn't
know any different.
KING: Joining us now is Anita Wood. She's in
Jackson
,
Mississippi
. She dated
Elvis for several years from 1957 to 1962. In fact, it was Lamar Fike,
one of our other guests, who arranged that, is that right, Anita, for
you to meet him?
ANITA WOOD: Yes. Lamar called me, he did, for Elvis.
KING:
And what did he say?
WOOD: Well, I was working on a teenage show there in Memphis. And when
the show was over, Lamar said, Elvis would like to meet you tonight.
Well, I had a date, and so I wouldn't break it. And Lamar went
ballistic. I will never forget that, Lamar. You won't go with Elvis
Presley? Break your date. But I couldn't do that. So I didn't go. And I
didn't think I would ever hear from him again, but I did.
KING: What was the first date like?
WOOD: Well, it was a little unusual. There was Lamar and George and
Allen Fortess and Cliff Glaves, and
Louis and they were all in the car. George Klein came to the door and
the lady I lived with at the time made Elvis come to the door and pick
me up. We were a Southern family. You know, so he came to the door to
pick me up. We went out in the limousine. And Elvis was driving.
And we drove around
Memphis
a lot, we
stopped by a hamburger place, and sent Lamar in for I don't know how
many dozens of hamburgers, Lamar, lots of them, and they ate every one
of them. And then we went to
Graceland
. He had just
bought
Graceland
, and he wanted
to show me
Graceland
, and we went
out there.
KING: Did he try to lure you the first night? Did he make a move?
WOOD: He tried. He wanted me to go upstairs and see his bedroom and his
big magnificent bed, which I did. And we walked in the bedroom. And it
was a huge bed, I mean, the biggest bed I've ever seen, bar none, even
now. A huge bed. And then he tried to make a little move on me. And I
said, no, really, I have to go home now. So he took me home. And that
was the first date we had. He was a gentleman about it. He took me home.
KING: What was it like to be in love with? I imagine you were in love
with him?
WOOD:
I was. He was my first love. I met him when I was 19 years old, and I
came from a very conservative family and I'd never gone steady or
anything. So of course when I met Elvis, I did fall in love with him,
and he did with me. We had a wonderful time, great fun together. I loved
the guys. And it was just a great, like a family. You know, and I
remember when David and Ricky and his brother, Billy, came there. I was
there, and I remember all about that. You all were just so little back
then.
LACKER: Larry, I got to tell you that Elvis' mother wanted Elvis to
marry Anita.
KING: Why didn't it happen, Anita?
WOOD: He went to
Germany
, and while he
was there, of course he met Priscilla, who was a beautiful, l
pretty young girl at 14. But when he came back, we still
continued to date. And of course, you know, Elvis could make you believe
anything in the world, so he had me believing that she was just a friend
and her daddy was in the Army with him, and there was nothing to it
whatsoever.
KING: Elvis cheated on every woman he was with. Both of the women we
interviewed who were with him talked disgusted, he had one woman in one
hotel and another one next door. And they all loved him and they all
understood. So, Lamar, you explain that to me.
FISK: Larry, it's called the lure!
KING: It didn't bother people.
FISK: Look, can I tell you something? There was a lot to go around. You
know, he wanted to keep everybody happy. But it was the lure, Larry.
KING: It was the lure. He obviously did.
The panel will be completed by Kathy Westmoreland, who also dated and
fell in love with Elvis, even wrote a book about it called "Elvis
and Kathy." And she's got -- we're going to talk about Elvis'
passing away as well, and again I'll get back to strange things about
Elvis.
KING: Cousin Elvis would have been 70 years old. Our panel. In
Memphis
,
Tennessee
, Marty Lacker,
Memphis Mafia member, best man at Elvis' wedding, first met him in high
school. Lamar Fike, another member of the Memphis Mafia, close personal
friend of Elvis, directed all of Presley's concert tours, did the
lighting, he was the man. In
L.A.
, Jerry
Schilling, Memphis Mafia member with Elvis through the King's during
happy times and at the sad as well. In Dallas, David Stanley, Elvis
Presley's stepbrother. Here in
Los Angeles
is Patty Perry,
honorary member of the Memphis Mafia, the only female who knew the King
for 17 years and was one of her best friends. Anita Wood has joined us
from
Jackson
,
Mississippi
. She dated
Elvis for several years, stayed at the
Graceland
for a time.
Joining
us in
Los Angeles
, Kathy
Westmoreland. Kathy dated and fell in love with Elvis, wrote a book
about their relationship called "Elvis and Kathy." Why did you
break up?
KATHY WESTMORELAND, SAYS SHE SLEPT WITH ELVIS PRESLEY: I didn't have too
much of a say in it.
WESTMORELAND: A B flat! Someone asked me to give them a B flat. I dated
him for about six months on a regular basis. Then it became obvious to
me that there were other women. It just -- you know how that is.
KING: What was he like as a date?
WESTMORELAND: He was fabulous. Oh, it was fun. He was very thoughtful.
Almost motherly.
KING: He didn't sleep, right?
WESTMORELAND: No. He suffered from insomnia. He was very much -- I think
a lot of geniuses are like that, just can't turn it off is what he would
say.
KING: Miss him?
WESTMORELAND: I miss him terribly.
KING: Let's discuss eccentricities. What, Jerry, was different about --
what was weird about Elvis? All great men have eccentricities.
JERRY: I met Elvis when I was 12 years old, he was 19. It was before he
even had a hit record in
Memphis. There
was five older guys -- this is how unpopular he was -- trying to get off
a football game. So they let the kid in grade school, they let me play.
I remember walking to the huddle. I was really into James Dean and
Brando, I walked into the huddle. He looked so -- he was them and
everything else. It was just the look. It was like he was a rebel but he
had a lovable smile. He was like a lovable rebel.
KING: What, Patty, to you was eccentricity?
PERRY: Everything about Elvis was an eccentricity. He was a baby boy, he
talked baby talk, loved his mommy.
KING: Marty, what was weird for want of a better term.
MARTY LACKER, ELVIS PRESLEY'S SECRETARY: I'll tell you something that
was weird about him. If he watched a football game on TV, he wore a
helmet. If he watched the guys on TV riding motorcycles, he would have
his motorcycle helmet on. You'd walk in and it looked funny. I mean, you
walk in, Larry, he's sitting with a football helmet on. You say, good
lord, Elvis, what are you doing? I'm watching the game.
KING: Lamar, would he have been a good guest on this show?
LAMAR FIKE, ELVIS PRESLEY'S TOUR MANAGER & LONGTIME CLOSE FRIEND:
He'd have been hilarious. If he had had the group around, that's when it
really got funny. He needed that sort of support. When he had it, it was
every man for himself.
KING: What, Lamar to you, was eccentric?
FIKE: I think the most eccentric thing about Elvis is the way he treated
people. He treated everybody equal. There was no up or down with him. It
was essentially, you know, like, I think like God loves a buzzard as
much as an eagle and I think it was a case Elvis treated everybody like
that. I'm almost positive that was it. If it's an eccentricity, I don't
know.
DAVID
STANLEY, ELVIS PRESLEY'S STEP-BROTHER: I think the interesting thing
about Elvis, being around him all the years I was, and I think all the
guys can relate to this was watching Elvis be Elvis.
KING: What do you mean?
STANLEY: When
people talk about him and how big he is, here we are on his 70th
birthday, all these years after he passed way, he was such a magnet,
people were just drawn to him. He had a hard time being that. I mean,
he was being Elvis Presley. I think in the end that's what caught up
with him. How do you become a person that everybody loves? How do you
become a person everybody adores and follows and wants to be around and
wants that pat on the back. Watching him being Elvis, cool Elvis, up
Elvis, down Elvis, sad Elvis, the great entertainer he was, watching
him do that and towards the end, watching him go through that. Many
times he would sit down by himself and say why me? Why I do have these
phenomenal gifts? He always wanted to share it but he always had that
problem of why has this been bestowed on me. I think Marty brought up a
great point. Elvis loved to love people but it was difficult for
letting people love him or us love him. He would just go inside himself
and try to figure out who we was. PIKE: Let me tell you a real funny
story, Larry. This is a fact. Among the group, we would have parties.
After a while, when Elvis would come, all the attention would go to him
so we wouldn't invite him. Really! One night he came in and said, let
me ask you a question, why don't you invite me to these parties? I
said, are you crazy, nobody's got a chance with you there. He really
got upset about it. He said, well I'll just fire all of you. I said,
then from now on you can come to every party.
KING: He also was extremely liberal in the ghetto, amazingly
progressive black-white songs. I heard. Color-blind, right? What was
strange to you, Anita, about him?
ANITA WOOD, DATED ELVIS PRESLEY FOR YEARS: Patty mentioned a little
bit, the baby talk. My nickname was "little" because I was
real small at the time and he called me "little." I had real
small feet. He loved my feet. I don't know what it was but he liked
small feet.
PERRY: There were like two Elvis Presleys. When Elvis was at home he
was Elvis Presley. But when on stage, that was a different Elvis
Presley. That's what he loved to do. Talking about he liked people to
notice him. We'd drive down Sunset Boulevard at rush hour and he'd
drive the car just to see the look on people's face when they would see
him driving.
KING: Did all of you know about the drug problem? Did anyone try to
help him? Did you see it coming? Why did he let himself go so much,
though, the weight?
FIKE: Think that goes back to what I was saying a minute ago, Larry.
Watching Elvis be Elvis. Many times in Elvis' life, he felt he didn't
deserve the money and fortune and fame he got. Sometimes as a result of
that he went into that self-destructive spirit. The prescribed
medication is what it was absolutely. But that medication eventually
caught up with him.
STANLEY: It scared us all to death.
KING: Marty, did you ever say to him, Elvis, you're gaining a lot of
weight, you're losing control.
LACKER: Let me be honest with you. I was almost as bad as he was, as
far as the pills. And the fact of the matter is, is that you know, you
mentioned the weight. The weight really came just in the last year. And
that had more to do... with
his body, illnesses, than anything else. Of course the pills
contributed to it.
KING: He got sick a lot?
SCHILLING: But, Larry, I think you have to go to the cause, not just
the effect. And Elvis Presley was a real genius. He was the most
underrated producer in music history. He really wanted to do films. I
sit in a walk-in closet with Joe Esposito, Elvis Presley, Barbra
Streisand and John Peters for three hours when she told him about that
film, and he wanted to do that film.
KING: "Star Is Born"?
SCHILLING: "Star Is Born." He accepted to do that film.
KING: No kidding?
SCHILLING: Oh, absolutely. And they take -- they take those things
away.
KING: What happened? Why didn't he do it?
SCHILLING: Well, you know, if it doesn't coming through, management,
there's...
KING: Did he work on the production of his own records? What killed him
doing "A Star Is Born"?
FISK: Colonel Parker killed that deal.
KING: Marty Lacker knows my father-in-law, Carl Anchorman (ph), worked
with him on producing records. Kathy Westmoreland knows my
mother-in-law, Gerri, worked with her, right?
WESTMORELAND: Wonderful person.
KING: You have thoughts about Elvis' passing?
WESTMORELAND: Yes, I do, well, because of what he told me and what
doctors who saw him while I was with him told me... he told me that he
knew exactly how much time he had, that he thought he was going to die
at the age of 42, close to the age of his mother, her -- it was in her
family, her father, grandfather, her whole family is not -- they were
born with a heart that was twice the size on one side as it was on the
other, and he also told me that he had bone cancer.
LACKER: He didn't have bone cancer.
WESTMORELAND: And he...
KING: He didn't?
LACKER: No, he didn't have bone cancer. Let me tell you where that came
from. After Elvis died, there was a lot of stuff being leaked out of
Graceland
. And Elvis'
father asked Billy Smith to tell a couple of the guys that Elvis had
cancer to see if it came out. And that's what happened. And I believe
that's where Kathy...
KING: But she said Elvis told her he had it.
WESTMORELAND: He told me when I first met him.
LACKER: Elvis had a good imagination, Kathy.
KING: By the way, tomorrow night we're going to repeat the Kevin Spacey
interview on Bobby Darin, and Jerry told me that Elvis was a big fan of
Bobby's?
SCHILLING: Elvis was a huge fan of Bobby Darin. In fact, when Bobby
changed his style there, Larry, as you remember...
KING: Became a folk singer.
SCHILLING:
Elvis met with Bobby, and said, Bobby, that's not you, man. Man, I want
to hear "Mack the Knife" when I see you. I want to see you on
stage. And Bobby went back. I don't know if it was right after that,
but it was amazing.
CALLER: My question is, do you think Colonel Tom Parker had Elvis'
father buffaloed, and if so, who do you think Elvis' father would have
rather had manage his son?
SCHILLING: Well, I don't think there's anybody that can manage Elvis,
when you really look at it, outside the colonel. The colonel did a
great job, you know. And you know, maybe there was a few creative
things, but he really -- these guys loved each other, actually. And
Elvis had respect. I mean, Elvis would have eaten anybody else up. He
had...
KING: Was the colonel honest?
SCHILLING: I think so.
KING: Did you like him, Marty?
LACKER: No. No, I...
KING: Anita, did you like -- did you know him?
WOOD: I did not like him, no.
KING: So far, we're two to one.
WOOD: He was the one that stopped me from going to
Germany
.
WESTMORELAND: The colonel had -- that was his thing. He loved...
KING: He had a hold on him?
WESTMORELAND: Yes, he loved to try to buffalo people. That was the way
he operated. But underneath it, he was a really sweet...
KING: David, did you like him?
STANLEY: I liked Colonel Parker, and I think he did a phenomenal job.
But I have to quote my brother, Ricky, who unfortunately missed out
tonight. The great quote is this: "If Colonel Parker made Elvis
Presley, then why didn't he make another one?"
KING: Lamar, did you like him?
FISK: Off and on. You know, off and on. I can't -- I am being totally
honest, sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't.
LACKER: I think we all felt that way.
KING: Patty, did you like him?
PERRY: Well, you know, actually, the colonel didn't really hang out
with us personally a lot in
Los Angeles
. I met him a
few times. But as far as I'm concerned, Elvis trusted him and that was
his manager and I have nothing to...
KING:
The colonel didn't hang around with the group, did he?
PERRY: He didn't hang out at the house, no, not personally.
CALLER: This question is for Jerry Shilling. I saw you in
Memphis
for the 50
years of Elvis at Sun Studio. And I was wondering how often do you
visit
Graceland
? Is it hard
for you to go back and relive the memories, or do you enjoy visiting
Memphis
?
SCHILLING: I enjoy visiting
Memphis
.
Graceland
is
bittersweet. My best memories in life is living at
Graceland
. And I loved
the way it is. But you know, it's an emotional thing to go back there.
And I loved
Memphis
, it's my
hometown. I came out here with Elvis many years ago. But I think they
have kept
Graceland
just as it was
when we lived there.
KING: You like it, Patty?
PERRY: I loved
Graceland
when I went
there the first time. It was peaceful, it was beautiful. But now to me
it's like
Disneyland
, you know
what I mean?
KING: Did Elvis have a home out here?
PERRY: He had many.
SCHILLING: Well, he leased homes out here, Larry, and over the years he
did buy one in
Palm Springs
.
PERRY: And he had one, he also had one in
Monterey
(ph) that he
had bought also.
NARRATOR: Elvis Presley weds Priscilla Ann Beaulieu. And one of
America
's richest
teenage singing idols promises to love, honor and obey. The couple
first met in
Germany
. Both are
Memphis
natives, and
Elvis, 32 gave Priscilla Ann, 22 a wedding ring with 21 diamonds. Why
did the Pelvis desert bachelorhood? Said he, it's about time.
KING: By the way, "Jailhouse Rock" we played it a couple
times tonight. It was re-released in
England
in connection
with Elvis' 70th birthday. It's the No. 1 song in
England
. And it's his
19th No. 1 song in
Great Britain
. And Kathy
was telling me he thought he wouldn't be remembered.
WESTMORELAND: That's right. He said no one -- how are people going to
remember me. No one is going to remember me. I have never done anything
lasting, never done a classic film.
KING: Boy, was he wrong.
CALLER: Hi, Larry. I'm a big fan. My question is for the panel. I grew
up with the Beatles, but I always had great respect for Elvis Presley.
And I'm wondering if anyone on the panel thinks that his death, such as
it was, could have been prevented?
LACKER: Yes. It could have been, but that would have been up to Elvis.
STANLEY: At the end of the day, a lot of things have been said about
Elvis' death and what happened and those responsible. But Marty's
right, Elvis was ultimately responsible for himself. We could only take
care of him as much as we could. And on that tragic day on August 16,
when I walked in that bathroom and saw him gone, nobody hurt as much as
I did or the people on this panel. But the fact is, we couldn't stop
him. I'm working on a film project and the premise is we protected the
King from everybody but the King himself. And that's the tragedy. You
know, we miss him so much. Here's his 70th birthday. But the only way
it could have been prevented, Marty, it's so right on, Elvis could have
made the choice and unfortunately, he made the wrong one.
KING: Let's find out what you do. Anita, what are you doing now?
WOOD: I am director of our kindergarten day-care at our church and I
also teach in
Pittsburgh
,
Mississippi
. Larry! I
want to tell you my name is Anita Brewer now. I'm married to fabulous
football player, an ex-football player.
KING: Anita Brewer.
WOOD: Right.
KING: Where did he play?
WOOD: When or where? He played for the New Orleans Saints and Cleveland
Browns, Ole Miss first.
KING: That was Elvis' favorite team was the Cleveland Browns. All
right. Let me go around here, Patty?
PERRY: I'm semi-retired, but I work in
Beverly Hills
. I cut hair
for mostly men at Salon on
Cannon Drive
.
KING: What are you doing, Kathy?
WESTMORELAND: I am appearing on January 29 in
Parumph
,
Nevada
, Area 51. So
if I disappear anybody, I'm in an UFO. And I just finished an HBO
special with Dick Dale, king of the surf guitar.
KING: What are you doing, David?
STANLEY:
I have a company called Impello Films here in
Dallas
,
Texas
. I'm working
on an independent film called "The Head Hunter," that the
nickname Elvis gave me about a 16-year-old kid in high school.
KING: Marty, what are you doing?
LACKER: I'm semi-retired and basically do some consulting work in the
music business.
KING: Jerry?
SCHILLING: I managed the Beach Boys and Jerry Lee in the past.
Currently I'm doing a show for CBS on Elvis, called "Elvis by the
Presleys." It's a family look at Elvis.
KING: And Lamar, what are you doing?
FIKE: I'm a consulting agent for a collector in the midwest who has
Elvis memorabilia, and just everything else, presidential articles,
everything. He has a big collection, so I'm happy.
KING: You've given us all a great hour, and I thank you very much.
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