Baby, Let's Play House Part 12

"I really trusted my mother. I thought that either Elvis or Mrs. Presley was calling calling her and inviting us for the different shows and visits. Now I really regret not knowing more. But dating a rock-and-roll star was like a Southern Baptist becoming Catholic." her and inviting us for the different shows and visits. Now I really regret not knowing more. But dating a rock-and-roll star was like a Southern Baptist becoming Catholic."

Though Marguerite was a good chaperone, Elvis and Jackie had other moments where "he and I got off together and had some time to share with one another."

One such event occurred backstage at the Florida Theatre. Elvis and Jackie sat in a pair of chairs and talked while Elvis's scary cousin, Junior, perched on the stairs nearby. Suddenly, everyone noticed that the strap on Jackie's sundress had slipped down and fallen off her shoulder. "Junior made a smart remark, something to the effect of, 'Yeah, baby, take it all off!' Elvis jumped up out of that chair, grabbed him, shook him, and said, 'Don't you dare talk to her like that! She's my girlfriend and she's a lady!' "

Predictably, they never had s.e.x ("We kissed and hugged, but he never touched me inappropriately"), and chances are they wouldn't have, even if Jackie had been willing. Elvis wasn't having intercourse with June, either.

Already, Elvis's reputation as a s.e.x symbol was becoming a burden. In the 1960s, he would tell Larry Geller, his spiritual adviser and a member of his entourage, that in the early days of his fame, he had relations with so many women that he was hospitalized for exhaustion. Whether that was the reason behind his 1955 hospital visit in Jacksonville isn't known. But according to Geller, the incident taught Elvis that he should not live his life as a s.e.x machine, and that s.e.x without love meant nothing, even though he could not always control himself.

Elvis's label as a s.e.x G.o.d, then, hampered him psychologically. Women a.s.sumed, from his image and his movements onstage, that he was a lover of legendary proportions. But he was insecure about his s.e.xual prowess, and felt inadequate once his lovemaking moved beyond dry humping and other adolescent practices. And since he was brought up to please, and pleasing is part of any entertainer's personality, he feared that he might not measure up to a woman's expectations in bed. His apprehension was so incapacitating that it often made him withdraw from actual intercourse and extend his foreplay instead.

This was also a factor in his gravitation toward thirteen- and fourteen-year-old girls. At that level of s.e.xual development, young teens of his generation were likely to still be innocents, satisfied to simply make out and abstain from intercourse-precisely where Elvis felt most at ease. He wanted virgins-he called them "cherries"-so that he might mold them s.e.xually, but also so they wouldn't have anyone to compare him to as a lover. That way, they would be less likely to critique or pa.s.s judgment on his performance.

But Elvis failed to realize the damage that s.e.xual flirtation could have on young girls, especially coming from someone so famous and charismatic. Though Jackie went on to marry, "Once you'd kissed Elvis, it was all downhill after that. . . . I guess you could say the flame still sizzles." Her sentiment is common among women who enjoyed any involvement with Elvis, particularly if he was the first male with whom they were involved, and the divorce rate among them is high. Jackie herself divorced after nearly forty-two years of marriage.

One of the ironies of her story is that Jackie and Eunice Gooding, Judge Gooding's wife, became good friends. While Jackie could see both sides of the issue, Elvis never did. After his last performance at the Florida Theatre on August 11, according to June Juanico, Elvis had a message for the judge and his cronies in attendance. "You know how Elvis always said, 'Thank you very much'? I heard it just as clear as day. He said, 'f.u.c.k you very much. f.u.c.k you very much.' Everybody was screaming, but all the members of his entourage heard it. He did it twice and he looked over at me and grinned." Once they were together in the room, June asked him if she'd heard him correctly. "You heard correctly," he said.

The tour wound up the next day in New Orleans on August 12. In the Big Easy, where almost anything went, Elvis gave his performance without restraint and even received the key to the city. It had been an incredible ten days, during which he'd made $20,000, plus a $7,500 commission on souvenirs.

As usual, his thoughts turned to Gladys after the show. He knew she always worried about him, even though both Elvis and Gladys had turned June into a surrogate mother. That night he was so exhausted he had chills and a fever. Perspiration gathered in hot beads on his forehead, and then gave way to cold sweats. He was just at the point of collapsing in the bed, but he said, "I have to call my mother before I go to sleep."

When he got her on the phone, as June remembers, "He told her, 'I'll be home in a couple of days. Don't worry about me, Mama. June is right here.' Anytime he called her, he would say, 'Here, talk to her.' So he handed me the phone and she said, 'How is he? Is he getting enough rest? Is he eating? Don't let him run himself crazy, June.' I said, 'Don't worry, I'm right here with him.' "

Still, he was so keyed up and sick that it took its toll. Contrary to his normal routine with June, Elvis was unable to relax and sleep. ("Whenever we went to bed, he just died, he died.") But on this night, he was back to his old restlessness. They had a suite at the hotel, and June moved into the living room so as not to disturb him. But that didn't seem to help, either.

"He sat straight up in his bed and he called, 'June! June! Come in here!' I went in and he was sweating, he was trembling, and he said, 'I had a horrible dream. I was in a coffin and my mother was looking down crying over me!' "

June saw it as more evidence of a premonition he'd had that he was going to die young. He'd mentioned several times, "I'm not going to be here long." Yet the timing was also curious. June had refused a ring, accepting only a radio with rhinestones all over it for her birthday. But it was the first time he'd gotten so close to really committing to a woman. His dream, then, seems more about the death of his lifestyle-about anxiety over marriage, of breaking his bond with Gladys-than about physical demise.

Now, in his fevered state, "He kept saying, 'I can't leave my mother! My mother needs me! I can't leave her! She needs me!' It was a real dream to him."

Things just seemed to be happening quicker than he could absorb them, and there was never any time to think about any of it. He was scared about so many things, scared he might lose it all. He'd even mentioned it to Jackie, a mere child. But he couldn't quit obsessing about it. What if it all just ended tomorrow?

Four days later, on August 16, Elvis would leave for Hollywood to begin his first movie.

Elvis and Debra Paget get better acquainted on the 20th Century Fox ranch during a break from filming Love Me Tender Love Me Tender, late August 1956. "She's the most beautiful girl in the world," he said. (Robin Rosaaen Collection) (Robin Rosaaen Collection)

Chapter Ten.

Hillbillies in Hollywood.

Elvis arrived in Los Angeles with his cousins Gene and Junior, and immediately after checking into his eleventh-floor suite at the Knickerbocker Hotel-a favorite of show business luminaries on their way up or down-the trio went to Long Beach Amus.e.m.e.nt Park, where they reportedly blew $750. It was a huge sum of money to throw away on b.u.mper cars and c.r.a.p carnival food in 1956. But Elvis was hardly a young sophisticate. And Gene, never a smart boy, with a speech impediment that made him seem even dimmer, appeared such a b.u.mpkin as to barely be believed. Together, with the eternally bewildered Junior, they were hillbillies in Hollywood, and the film community would nearly fall over itself to see who could make the most derisive comment or the cruelest joke. after checking into his eleventh-floor suite at the Knickerbocker Hotel-a favorite of show business luminaries on their way up or down-the trio went to Long Beach Amus.e.m.e.nt Park, where they reportedly blew $750. It was a huge sum of money to throw away on b.u.mper cars and c.r.a.p carnival food in 1956. But Elvis was hardly a young sophisticate. And Gene, never a smart boy, with a speech impediment that made him seem even dimmer, appeared such a b.u.mpkin as to barely be believed. Together, with the eternally bewildered Junior, they were hillbillies in Hollywood, and the film community would nearly fall over itself to see who could make the most derisive comment or the cruelest joke.

Vernon and Gladys also had trouble believing where fate had led them, and Elvis was mystified to explain his success. "I don't know what it is," he said. "I just fell into it, really. My daddy and I were laughing about it just the other day. He looked at me and said, 'What happened, El? The last thing I remember is I was working in a can factory, and you were driving a truck.' And I remember how, after something big happened along the way, I was sitting at home and found my mama staring at me. I asked her why, and she just shook her head and said, 'I don't believe it.' We all feel the same about it still. It just . . . caught us up. But I sure hope it doesn't stop."

Elvis had been to Los Angeles before, both for television and show dates, but now the City of Angels seemed to be one big play lot, offering up the opportunity to fulfill every dream he'd ever had. His producer on The Reno Brothers The Reno Brothers was David Weisbart, who had brought one of Elvis's favorite movies, was David Weisbart, who had brought one of Elvis's favorite movies, Rebel Without a Cause, Rebel Without a Cause, starring his idol, James Dean, to the screen. Within four days of his arrival, Elvis would meet Nick Adams, a close friend of Dean and part of a Hollywood clique of talented but troubled young actors who embraced the "live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse" philosophy. starring his idol, James Dean, to the screen. Within four days of his arrival, Elvis would meet Nick Adams, a close friend of Dean and part of a Hollywood clique of talented but troubled young actors who embraced the "live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse" philosophy.

Elvis had cried when Dean died, and now it looked as if he were about to be welcomed by all of the late actor's acolytes and brethren, the "in" crowd that included Dennis Hopper (Adams's roommate at the time), Russ Tamblyn (another movie hood, then married to Venetia Stevenson, whom Elvis would later date), and Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood (who were still teenagers and going to school). It made his head spin, even though he didn't know that the reckless Adams, who was said to use pills, and who was on probation after being arrested for speeding nine times in one year, hoped to trade on the friendship to win a part in Elvis's film. In fact, Elvis had beat Adams out for the supporting actor role, and most of the larger studios were loath to touch him.

The picture, directed by Oscar winner Robert D. Webb, was cast very late, and though Joanne Woodward had originally been slated for the female lead, by now Elvis knew that Debra Paget had won the part. Elvis was ecstatic. Only months earlier, Elvis had told Milton Berle in a television skit, "Really, Mr. Berle . . . the type I dig is someone like that Debra Paget. . . . She's real gone." She, too, had nice things to say about him, even if she gave him a backhanded compliment: "I'll admit that my impression of Elvis, before I met him, was the same as many others who don't know him. I figured he must be some kind of moron. Now, I think the best way to describe his work is to say it's inspired."

They would circle around each other as princ.i.p.al photography began. In Robert Buckner's screenplay, set in Texas at the end of the Civil War, Elvis plays Clint Reno, snared in a love triangle with his older brother, Vance (Richard Egan), and Cathy, the woman they love (Paget).

It was an odd role in which to make his screen debut, but Elvis gave it his all and tried not to be intimidated by his costars, who included the fine character actress Mildred Dunnock, twice nominated for an Academy Award, as his mother. Critics would pan the novice actor-he was, after all, an easy target-but Dunnock was surprised at his solid performance. "When I came back from making the picture, my friends saw it and said, 'Why Millie, this boy can act!' This rather threw me, because I said I had spent twenty-five years trying to learn how to act, and Elvis Presley hadn't spent twenty-five minutes. So I do not in any way depreciate his value as an actor."

The truth was, Dunnock, a fellow southerner, had taken a shine to Elvis, and when he confessed to her that he didn't really know what to do, how to make the lines ring true, she took it upon herself to coach him. First the former schoolteacher had to educate him in the art of theatrical projection.

"Elvis would have a line like, 'Can't do it, Maw, can't do it.' And he would say [it] really pleasant and nice. But I'd tell him to say it like he really meant it. And after a certain number of tries he would finally say [with strong emphasis], 'I can't do do it, Maw, I can't it, Maw, I can't do do it!' And Mr. Webb would say, 'Shoot.' " it!' And Mr. Webb would say, 'Shoot.' "

In one of the film's most crucial scenes, the family was led to believe that the Yankees had killed Clint's brother. "He really hadn't been killed," Dunnock remembered, "but my baby Elvis was upstairs, and I was in the kitchen cooking. There was only one line of dialogue in this scene, and it was mine. All the rest was plain action. I was going to say it firmly, so I rehea.r.s.ed it and rehea.r.s.ed it. The lighting men decided what they were going to do, and we sat down and drank Coca-Colas and waited for about two hours."

As Dunnock told the story, the director finally said, "Everything seems ready, so let's rehea.r.s.e it one time." Elvis said, "Yes, sir, Mr. Webb."

Then the director took Elvis through it, saying, "In this scene, the Yankees come by horse up into the backyard, which you can see from your window upstairs. You come down and go to the window and see those Yankees kill your brother. You go to the sideboard, open the drawer, and pull out a gun. You start across that floor to go meet those d.a.m.n Yankees, and end of scene."

"Yes, sir," Elvis said confidently.

"The Yankees are going to rap on the door," Webb continued. "I'll go, 'Ready, lights, shoot,' then I'll make a knocking sound, and that's your cue to come down those stairs. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

Webb called for action, and rapped out the knock.

In Dunnock's retelling, "Elvis came down those stairs, went to that sideboard, took out that gun, and when I said my line, 'Put that gun down, son!,' well, he dropped it right away. Mr. Webb said, 'Cut! Cut! Oh, my G.o.d, what are you doing? You're supposed to keep on going!' Elvis said, 'She told me to put it down.' "

Most actresses of Dunnock's caliber would have held her head, livid at having to put up with so inexperienced an actor. But Elvis had gotten to the real mother in her, and she chose to frame his blunder as an a.s.set.

"You see, for the first time he heard heard me. Before, he was just thinking about what he was doing and how he was going about it. It's a funny story, [but] I also think it's a story about a beginner who had the first requirement of acting, which is to believe in what you're doing." me. Before, he was just thinking about what he was doing and how he was going about it. It's a funny story, [but] I also think it's a story about a beginner who had the first requirement of acting, which is to believe in what you're doing."

Though Elvis hoped he would play the part as a straight dramatic role, and do no singing, Colonel Parker dashed that dream straightaway. Seeing how Hollywood's The Blackboard Jungle The Blackboard Jungle spurred the chart-topping success of Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" the year before, the Colonel insisted that Fox and RCA make the most of a similar opportunity. Parker had no faith that Elvis would amount to anything as an actor and got him involved with motion pictures primarily as a vehicle to sell records. spurred the chart-topping success of Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" the year before, the Colonel insisted that Fox and RCA make the most of a similar opportunity. Parker had no faith that Elvis would amount to anything as an actor and got him involved with motion pictures primarily as a vehicle to sell records.

The Ken Darby Trio was part of the session team that replaced Scotty Moore and Bill Black on the soundtrack-the producers found their Memphis sound far too raw-and Darby wrote all four songs for the film, including "Love Me Tender," a ma.s.saging of the Civil War ballad "Aura Lee," written by W. W. Fosd.i.c.k and George R. Poulton. The Colonel, intending to bleed every penny out of the film, insisted that Elvis be cut in as a songwriter. So Darby officially credited "Love Me Tender," which inspired the t.i.tle change of the picture, to both Elvis and Vera Matson, Darby's wife. The singer hadn't written one bar of it. But he now had a music publishing company administered by Parker's old friends, the brothers Julian and Jean Aberbach.

Critics would point out that Elvis's dance steps during the three remaining songs, "We're Gonna Move," "Let Me," and "Poor Boy," were totally wrong for the period and made the scenes seem out of place. But Elvis fans didn't care-they wanted to see him move. The t.i.tle track became an instant hit, the single lodging in the number one spot for five weeks in November and December 1956, and the accompanying EP reaching number thirty-five. The Colonel was happy, and Weisbart was, too: The film made back its $1 million budget within three days.

Elvis was proud to do the t.i.tle song because it showed a side of him that had all but disappeared. "People think all I can do is belt," Elvis told reporter Army Archerd, breaking into a sample of the song. "I used to sing nothing but ballads before I went professional. I love ballads." But he was ticked about not being able to use Scotty and Bill on the record, though they appeared with him on The Ed Sullivan Show The Ed Sullivan Show on September 9. Sullivan had been injured in a car accident in August, and so actor Charles Laughton filled in for him in New York. Still, it was an amazing opportunity for Elvis, especially since Sullivan had publicly vowed he'd never have such a vulgar personality on his program, all the while negotiating with the Colonel, even calling him backstage at on September 9. Sullivan had been injured in a car accident in August, and so actor Charles Laughton filled in for him in New York. Still, it was an amazing opportunity for Elvis, especially since Sullivan had publicly vowed he'd never have such a vulgar personality on his program, all the while negotiating with the Colonel, even calling him backstage at The Steve Allen Show The Steve Allen Show and shattering the industry price ceiling to get him. and shattering the industry price ceiling to get him.

Since the performance came smack in the middle of filming Love Me Tender, Love Me Tender, Elvis was allowed to appear live from the CBS Studios in Los Angeles. More than 80 percent of the national audience watched him sing "Love Me Tender," "Ready Teddy," "Don't Be Cruel," and two verses of "Hound Dog." Elvis was allowed to appear live from the CBS Studios in Los Angeles. More than 80 percent of the national audience watched him sing "Love Me Tender," "Ready Teddy," "Don't Be Cruel," and two verses of "Hound Dog."

Among them was eleven-year-old Priscilla Ann Beaulieu, of Austin, Texas, whose stepfather, Paul, a career Air Force officer, had bought her Elvis's debut alb.u.m at the PX. "I thought it might be something [she] would like . . . it seemed like music for her generation." But once he and his wife, Ann, heard the music, they didn't have such a high opinion. "Frankly, we forbade her to watch the show," he remembers. But forbidden fruit is that much sweeter, Priscilla would later say. "I cracked open my door just enough to see the television set."

So many extraordinary things were happening for Elvis that he sometimes seemed oblivious to his old way of life. He was having a blast, being a movie star, meeting beautiful women, staying up all hours, and doing and saying whatever he wanted. Nothing inhibited him, or if it did, he didn't act like it. In fact, fame emboldened him. He could be both playful and arrogant and get away with it, even with steely female reporters. Or at least he thought he could. When a young New York journalist came to visit him during the filming, he flirted with her shamelessly.

"A press agent came by to tell me I had had enough time with Elvis," she wrote. "I started to leave and Elvis, who was still sprawled on the couch, darted out his hand and caught my foot. 'Maybe she's shy; maybe she'd like to be alone with me,' he said. The press agent shrugged and left.

"I asked Elvis to take his hand off my foot. 'Okay,' he said, looking up under heavy lids. 'Ah'm just spoofing you.' I asked Elvis how he felt about girls who threw themselves at him. Again the heavy-lidded look. 'Ah usually take them,' he said, watching my face for the shock value of his words. He grinned. 'h.e.l.l,' he said, 'you know, Ah'm kind of having fun with you because you're so smart.' "

Colonel Parker had used William Morris to broker Elvis's movie deals, building on his relationship with Abe Lastfogel, the diminutive head of the respected talent agency, from his Eddy Arnold days. Lastfogel had a.s.signed Leonard Hirshan directly to Elvis, since as Hirshan puts it, "The three of us negotiated the [ his relationship with Abe Lastfogel, the diminutive head of the respected talent agency, from his Eddy Arnold days. Lastfogel had a.s.signed Leonard Hirshan directly to Elvis, since as Hirshan puts it, "The three of us negotiated the [Love Me Tender] deal with Fox, so I considered that my deal as well as anybody's." But though Elvis was Morris's client, and not Parker, the Colonel never let the agency deal directly with his star, insisting that everything go through him. Parker particularly didn't trust Hirshan, fearing that he would make himself too powerful with Elvis and get in the Colonel's way. Parker all but banned Hirshan from Presley's movie sets and then went about finding a mole within the agency to report on their plans.

Byron Raphael was a twenty-two-year-old agent-in-training at the Morris Agency in Beverly Hills in 1956, working his way up in the mailroom. One day, he delivered an envelope to Elvis's outsized manager on the Fox lot. The Colonel sized up the small, affable young man and immediately appropriated him ("Tell your bosses you're going to work for me"), and made Raphael his spy-both within the Morris office and inside Elvis's camp. Since Raphael was only a year older than Elvis, and obsessed with music, it was an easy alliance.

On September 10, midway through the shooting, Nick Adams-also believed to be a sentry for the Colonel, reporting on Elvis's comings and goings-arranged for eighteen-year-old Natalie Wood to visit Elvis on the set. Elvis, who had gotten so caught up in her Oscar-nominated performance in Rebel Without a Cause Rebel Without a Cause, t.i.ttered like a schoolboy at the thought of meeting her. Natalie, attracted to bad-boy types and dark personalities, was just as intrigued with him.

But Elvis didn't know she was a deeply disturbed girl, or that she was tormented by the conflict between her real self (born Natasha Zakharenko to Russian immigrants) and the alluring persona of Natalie Wood, a cocreation of Hollywood and her ambitious mother, Maria. Wood learned early to please the grown-ups, and the teenager, who had begun working in films at the age of six, had a wild-child reputation, drinking, casually falling in and out of relationships (like Elvis, she couldn't stand to be alone), and using her s.e.xuality to further her career. Elvis would eventually come to dub her "Mad Nat."

The Colonel asked Byron to walk Natalie over to the soundstage, and "I could tell they were hot for each other the moment they met," Raphael remembered. A devilish grin crossed Elvis's face, and he invited Natalie to visit him in his suite at the posh Beverly Wilshire Hotel that night.

Although Elvis had been in Hollywood only a matter of weeks, his parties, attended by movie royalty and young fans alike, were becoming legendary, whether at the Knickerbocker or the more staid Beverly Wilshire, at the corner of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard. Glen Glenn, an aspiring California country singer who became good friends with the band, found that "every time you went to see Elvis up at the Knickerbocker, there would always be two hundred or so girls out in front. They had a special guard that made sure that girls could not get inside the hotel unless they were actually staying there. They were standing out front, hoping Elvis would come out."

Among them were sisters Sharon and Mary Jo Sheeley of tony Laguna Beach, California, both rabid Elvis fans. Sharon, the older of the two, looked at her sister one day "and just told her that we were going to Hollywood. It was very matter of fact with me." Mary Jo remembered it the same way: "When she got her driver's license, she came into my room and said, 'Josie, come on! We're going to meet Elvis.' "

When they arrived, they were surprised to find that "thousands" of girls had the same idea. "It wasn't quite as easy as I had planned it out to be," Sharon realized. "So I took [Mary Jo] home and said, 'I've got to think of something better than this.' "

The following week Sharon put her hair up, slathered on a generous amount of makeup to look older than her sixteen years, and checked into the Knickerbocker Hotel, sneaking her sister in later. Now, with the first part of their mission accomplished, the Sheeley girls had only to meet Elvis. Sharon again led the way.

"On a very lucky occasion, when there was no guard on his floor, we knocked on his door and they opened [it]. The first thing I saw through the crack was Elvis sitting backward in a chair, straddling it. I looked into those gorgeous blue eyes of his, and I couldn't believe that I was staring eye to eye with Elvis Presley. And he said, 'Well, don't just stand there. Come on in.' "

Sharon strode right into the room, but when she turned to her sister, Mary Jo "was paralyzed behind me. Her legs wouldn't move. And he literally got up and walked over and picked her up."

Now Elvis turned his full attention to fifteen-year-old Mary Jo. "He looked at me and he said, 'Are you a goody-goody girl?' And I said, 'What's a goody-goody girl?' He said, 'Never mind,' and with that he gave me the longest, most pa.s.sionate, memorable kiss I've ever had. Then he looked me straight in the eyes and said, 'There. If that gets you pregnant, I'll marry you.' "

He invited the teenagers to stay and have hamburgers, and said if they were in town the following week to come back up again. From there, "It just became a regular thing," said Sharon. "Every weekend, we would go and hang out with Elvis Presley." Sharon later parlayed her music contacts into a songwriting career, starting with Ricky Nelson's first number one, "Poor Little Fool." But the thrill of being around Elvis never diminished, at least not for Mary Jo. "Just walking into the room, he had that presence that he had onstage. He was gorgeous, kind, [and had a] great sense of humor." The visits continued for years. In 1957, "He used to put me on his lap and sing 'Young and Beautiful' to me," Mary Jo remembers, "which not many people can say."

When Natalie Wood arrived at the Beverly Wilshire about nine o'clock on the night of September 10, she found more than a dozen people in the living room, ranging from Elvis's cousins and their dates to the young girls he'd invited up from the fan huddle downstairs. Elvis had just gotten out of the shower after heavy petting with one of the more willing fans, and he was wearing a white smoking jacket with the letters E.P. E.P. embroidered in gold. He immediately gave Natalie a hug and asked if she'd like to see some of the dailies from the film. She said yes, recognizing the code, and they disappeared into the bedroom. embroidered in gold. He immediately gave Natalie a hug and asked if she'd like to see some of the dailies from the film. She said yes, recognizing the code, and they disappeared into the bedroom.

Twenty minutes later, Byron was surprised to see a furious Natalie storm out the door. "What's the matter with your boss?" she demanded, glaring at him. "Doesn't he know how to screw? He's all hands and no action." Byron fumbled for excuses, but Natalie kept raving. "I thought he was supposed to be the king of the sack! But he doesn't want to screw me!"

Elvis's guests began to scramble, leaving only Gene sitting there as Natalie continued her rant. "What's Elvis going to do, tell his buddies I'm not s.e.xy enough for him?" Byron a.s.sured her Elvis wouldn't do any such thing. Natalie glanced back at Gene with a smirk on her face and taunted him. "I think all you guys are h.o.m.os," she said.

Then, to Byron's amazement, the Hollywood star propositioned the agent-in-training, and he took her up on it. Suddenly, he was on top of her, frantically pulling off her pedal pushers as she worked to remove his pants. She guided him into her, and he pumped fast and furiously, and she did, too. In seconds, they were both glistening with sweat. But she criticized his performance, and he worried that he hadn't used a rubber. Natalie pushed him out of her and quickly dressed.

"You're okay," she said matter-of-factly. "But tell Elvis if he wants to go out with me again, I want to go all the way. You can also tell him I'm the best f.u.c.k in town." And then she left. Byron glanced over at the bedroom and saw Elvis standing in the doorway. He didn't know how much he'd witnessed, but the singer simply closed the door and never mentioned it. Later, Elvis made a crude remark to the guys about Natalie's feminine odor-and began exhibiting more tendencies toward voyeurism.

A s.e.xpot like Natalie naturally would have intimidated a man as s.e.xually immature as Elvis, but there was another reason he had not had intercourse with her. Aside from his deep romance with June Juanico and his serious relationship with Barbara Hearn (he was also getting cozy with a female wrestler, Penny Banner), he had fallen hard for Debra Paget, his physical ideal. "She's the most beautiful girl in the world," he told Photoplay Photoplay magazine. magazine.

Many accounts of his infatuation with Debra hold that he couldn't get to first base with her, that she found him the "moron" she alluded to in print, and that his love was unrequited. But in truth, they both fell in love.

Debra, reserved and quiet, found him sweet, kind, and funny. And Elvis was entranced with more than just her perfect cheekbones and fragile beauty. She had two more qualities he admired-she was religious, from a Jewish background, and a virgin. Because Gladys told him to end up with a girl who was pure and untested, "He always said he'd marry a virgin," Debra remembered.

But like Elvis, Debra had a strong, unbreakable bond with her mother, Marguerite Gibson, who was also heavyset and redoubtable like Gladys. The similarities were obvious to both Elvis and Debra, and Elvis even saw a facial resemblance between Debra and the youthful Gladys. To Elvis, who was looking for a virgin who embodied both his mother and his physical twin, Debra became a prize beyond all imagining.

He talked to Gladys about her all the time, going on and on, and she could see he was overwhelmed with her, calling her "Debbie" with a smile in his voice. When a reporter asked if he had a favorite female star, he said, "I love 'em all, but I've got one special gal-and she's the only gal for me. But she keeps me 64,000 miles away!" And who was that? "Debbie!" Elvis blurted.

But there was a larger problem, aside from the fact that Elvis had already publicly declared that he had two girlfriends, Barbara Hearn and June Juanico. Debra's bra.s.sy mother, who managed her daughter's career and had been in the theater-some said burlesque, inspiring Debra's routine on The Milton Berle Show The Milton Berle Show-wanted her to have nothing to do with him. Elvis couldn't figure it out. His conversations with Debra, both on the set and at her house in Beverly Hills, where he sometimes played with the pet chimpanzee (he'd later get one himself), revolved largely around the topic of G.o.d. Yet her father, likewise, found Elvis not up to Debra's standards.

"There were stories going around about him," the actress told Suzanne Finstad, and her mother, fearing the worst, would not let Debra leave the house unchaperoned. Try as he might, Elvis could not convince Debra's parents that he was not the h.e.l.l-raising hooligan that some of the press made him out to be. As with so many of Elvis's younger love interests, Debra had never been on an actual date, which made her even that more irresistible to him. But because of her parents' virulent reaction, Debra dared not let Elvis know for certain that she returned his affections. "I was very very shy then," she continued to Finstad. "I hardly talked . . . I'm not sure I ever told him how I felt, but he could feel it." shy then," she continued to Finstad. "I hardly talked . . . I'm not sure I ever told him how I felt, but he could feel it."

Elvis could, indeed, feel it, but he didn't know what to think think: Talk had it that Debra was seeing Howard Hughes at the same time, and from the cars that came and went at Debra's house, Elvis believed it was true.

A week after the disastrous episode with Natalie Wood at the Beverly Wilshire, Nick Adams took Elvis out to a hotel in Malibu, where Natalie was enjoying a getaway with her bis.e.xual boyfriend, actor Scott Marlowe. Natalie and Scott had spent the time talking, as they had before, about marrying. But both Warner Brothers, where Natalie was under contract, and her mother, Maria, strictly opposed the idea and forced them to break up. Now Elvis, Natalie, and Nick, also rumored to be bis.e.xual, were "almost a threesome, having a lot of fun together," Natalie told newspaper columnist Louella Parsons. They were seen that week at the Iris in Hollywood, watching the trashy B movies Hot Rod Girls Hot Rod Girls and and Girls in Prison. Girls in Prison.

Tab Hunter remembers how taken she was with him. "Natalie and I were in New York doing The Perry Como Show, The Perry Como Show, and we were walking back to her hotel. She was staying at the Ess.e.x House, and . . . she was going on and on about Elvis, and I was getting a little annoyed and a little jealous here. and we were walking back to her hotel. She was staying at the Ess.e.x House, and . . . she was going on and on about Elvis, and I was getting a little annoyed and a little jealous here.

"The hotel sign spelled out E-S-S-E-X H-O-U-S-E all over Broadway, but the lights were out of the first two letters, making it read S-E-X H-O-U-S-E.

"I said, 'Don't tell me he's going to come and visit you at the s.e.x HOUSE!' And she took her purse and went wham!, wham!, and just hauled off and belted me. Natalie was crazy about him." and just hauled off and belted me. Natalie was crazy about him."

But deep down, Natalie also found Elvis desperately lonely, a lot like herself, even as so much about him mystified her. He acted more like a concerned older brother around her than anything else, and as she told Presley biographer Albert Goldman, he was a little too conventional, almost square.

"He was the first person of my age group I had ever met who said to me, 'How come you're wearing makeup? Why do you want to go to New York? Why do you want to be on your own? Why don't you want to stay home and be a sweet little girl? It's nice to stay home.' We'd go to P.C. Brown's and have a hot fudge sundae. We'd go to Hamburger Hamlet and have a burger and a c.o.ke. He didn't drink. He didn't swear. He didn't even smoke! It was like having the date that I never ever had in high school. I thought it was really wild!"

Natalie's mother encouraged the relationship, even as Natalie herself was still dissatisfied with him in bed. Elvis didn't feel it was any big romance and continued to see as many women as he wanted. Around the same time, he and Nick spent a Sunday afternoon with Judy Spreckels, and later, the trio went horseback riding at Judy's ranch. Among her many pictures of Elvis is a photograph that freeze-frames the day. "He was laughing. It was just such a fun time." She and Elvis loved each other, all right. "But it was just a really terrific friendship."

Still, no matter what Elvis was doing with anyone else, Natalie was thinking about him. As proof, she had her seamstress make two big, blousy velvet shirts for him, one in romance red and another in heartbreak blue.

The shirts would become iconic as the ones Elvis wore on September 26, 1956, at his homecoming appearances at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, the blue for the afternoon performance, and the red for the evening. However, the blue one almost didn't make it to Tupelo. his homecoming appearances at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, the blue for the afternoon performance, and the red for the evening. However, the blue one almost didn't make it to Tupelo.

Barbara Hearn was Elvis's date, and early that morning on Audubon Drive, where the Presleys were having remodeling work done, "Elvis handed me something on a clothes hanger with a laundry cover on it. He said, 'Hold this.' There was a bit of confusion, and lots of people around, and I stood there holding it until I thought, 'Gosh, I'm not a closet rod here,' and I laid it on the sofa."

They rode down together in Elvis's new white Lincoln Mark II, and when they arrived at the dressing tent, Elvis suddenly turned to Barbara.

"Where's my shirt? Do you have my shirt?"

"What shirt?"

"The shirt I gave you to hold this morning."

Oh, gosh! She didn't know he meant to bring that shirt! Barbara felt really bad, but Elvis "was very sweet about it. They just quickly called somebody in Memphis who hadn't left yet, and they brought it on down."

Elvis came to Tupelo at the invitation of James Savery, the fair a.s.sociation president. It was a day right out of Horatio Alger, a b.u.t.ton-busting, local-boy-makes-good story, with a jubilant parade (the city feared a riot, so Elvis wasn't actually in it), a banner across Main Street (TUPELO WELCOMES ELVIS PRESLEY HOME), and the Rex Plaza, the nicest restaurant in town, serving up "Love Me Tender" steak and "Reddy Teddy" pork chops. Governor J. P. Coleman read accolades from a scroll, calling Elvis "America's Number One Entertainer," and Mayor James Ballard even presented him with a guitar-shaped key to the city. Elvis returned the favor and then some-he signed his $10,000 check back over to Tupelo. "The last time I was here," he mentioned, "I didn't have a nickel to get in."

Some fifty thousand folks came to town for the festivities, the biggest turnout anyone could remember since Franklin Roosevelt visited during the Depression. Twenty thousand attended the evening show, twelve thousand more than the entire population of Tupelo. (Fourteen-year-old Virginia Wynette Pugh, later to gain fame in country music as Tammy Wynette, was in the front row for the afternoon performance.) At one point in the matinee, it all became too much for sixteen-year-old Judy Hopper, who'd traveled from Alamo, Tennessee, and jumped the five-foot stage. ("What did I want want? I wanted Elvis Elvis!") Later, she got to go back and hug and kiss him. She giggled until she almost hyperventilated, and the two had their picture made together. She already had some leaves out of his yard, and now she had his autograph, too. "It was a thrill, thrill, it really was," she gushed to the press in a drawl as wide as the Mississippi. "I'd like to go to Hollywood now!" The Tupelo it really was," she gushed to the press in a drawl as wide as the Mississippi. "I'd like to go to Hollywood now!" The Tupelo Daily Journal Daily Journal captured the mayhem in full. " 'Elvis,' the girls shrieked, tearing their hair and sobbing hysterically, 'Please, Elvis.' " captured the mayhem in full. " 'Elvis,' the girls shrieked, tearing their hair and sobbing hysterically, 'Please, Elvis.' "

Local police, county sheriffs, Highway Patrolmen, and even the National Guard stood ready in case there was trouble, but there wasn't any, not really, which was surprising, given the size of the crowd, the intensity of their love for Elvis, and the heat. Though it was late fall, the temperature had risen to such a ghastly degree that Barbara and Gladys melted in their folding chairs, Gladys sweltering in a brocade dress and stockings, a locket with a picture of Elvis around her neck. "It made me feel bad," she later told a friend, "to go back there like that and remember how poor we was."

But clearly the Presley family, nearly run out of town in the late 1940s, had returned in triumph. Eleven years earlier, Elvis had lost the talent contest with "Old Shep" on practically this very spot. And now his first motion picture was due out in November, and his double-sided single, "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog," was number one and two on the charts.

"I've been looking forward to this homecoming very much," he said in a press conference before the afternoon show. "I've been escorted out of these fairgrounds when I was a kid and snuck over the fence. But this is the first time I've been escorted in." A voice called out: "How about Natalie?" "I worry about her when I'm not there where she is," he said, casually. "I don't think about her when I'm not." The newspaper reported that Mrs. Presley appeared "a little bewildered by all the commotion . . . but smiled pleasantly for photographers."

For Gladys, "Elvis Presley Day" was the validation that her son was just as special as she always knew he'd be. And for Vernon, the ex-con forced to leave town to find work, the moment was sweet revenge. He was standing outside the big tent in back of the stage when he saw Ernest Bowen, his old boss at L. P. McCarty and Sons, the wholesale grocer. Vernon had a delivery route when he worked for Bowen, and it was his last job before leaving Tupelo. Now Bowen was general manager of the radio station WELO and trying in vain to get into the tent to see about an interview for his announcer, Jack Cristil.