Baby, Let's Play House
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25 “like speaking in tongues”: Peter O. Whitmer to author, 2009.
25 “He couldn’t do it”: Ibid.
25 “Elvis’s thing”: Lamar Fike to author, 1992.
25 “It’s not so much”: Peter O. Whitmer to author, 2009.
26 “Because of this fact”: Ibid.
26 “Back then”: Billy Smith to author, 1993.
27 “vaccinated against work”: Aaron Kennedy, quoted in Mississippi Room Collection, Lee County Library (MRC), probably from the papers of Elaine Dundy.
27 “I remember one night”: Annie Presley, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.
27 “When he was four or five”: Billy Smith to author, 1994.
28 “Elvis used to carry”: Ibid.
29 “Elvis saw the doctor”: Barbara Hearn to author, 2009.
29 “I can close my eyes”: Elois Bedford Sandifur, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.
29 “I picked him”: Elois Bedford Sandifur, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Tupelo Years.
30 “very common clothes”: Ibid.
30 “What I remember most”: Ibid.
30 “I was just about”: Elois Bedford Sandifur, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.
31 “We would walk in the woods”: Magdalene Morgan, quoted in TomBigbee Country Magazine.
31 “We were so close”: Magdalene Morgan, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Tupelo Years.
32 “went and sat”: Annie Presley to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript.
32 “One night one of his uncles”: Bobby Roberts, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Tupelo Years.
32 “I could wake her up”: Elvis Presley, press conference titled “Press Interview with Elvis Presley.” Brooklyn, N.Y. Source: “Elvis Sails” EP, September 22, 1958.
32 “She didn’t walk him”: Annie Presley, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Tupelo Years.
32 “Being a neighbor”: Oleta Grimes, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Tupelo Years.
33 “I always played”: Harold Loyd, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.
33 “My mama never”: Elvis Presley, quoted in the Saturday Evening Post, September 11, 1965.
33 “But he’d climb”: Bobby Roberts, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Tupelo Years.
33 “I remember”: Odell Clark, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.
33 “He said something”: Christine Roberts Presley, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.
33 “We got sun-blistered”: Guy Harris, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.
34 “I used to get”: Elvis Presley, press conference titled “Press Interview with Elvis Presley.” Brooklyn, N.Y. Source: “Elvis Sails” EP, September 22, 1958.
34 “Daddy”: Elvis Presley, quoted in “The Boy Who Would Be King,” by Steve Dougherty, This Is Elvis: Special Collector’s Edition of TV Guide, August 2002.
34 “Is this a dangerous thing?” Gladys Presley, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Tupelo Years.
34 “Son, wouldn’t you rather”: Gladys Presley, quoted in “The Boy Who Would Be King,” by Steve Dougherty, This Is Elvis: Special Collector’s Edition of TV Guide, August 2002.
34 “The papers always said”: Forrest Bobo, quoted in Dundy, Elaine, Elvis and Gladys.
35 “He got the bike”: Billy Smith to author, 1994.
35 “From there”: Reverend Frank Smith, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Tupelo Years.
35 “a real humble”: Annie Presley to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript.
35 “on the hill”: e-mail, Roy Turner to author, 2009.
36 “Elvis would pick up”: Mertice Finley Collins, Mississippi Room Collection, Lee County Library (MRC), probably from the papers of Elaine Dundy.
36 “Elvis’s biggest fantasy”: e-mail, Bill E. Burk to author, 1999.
36 “She would dye”: Whitmer, Peter O., The Inner Elvis.
37 “Anyone wishing”: Dundy, Elaine, Elvis and Gladys.
37 “Oh, no!” Whitmer, Peter O., The Inner Elvis.
38 “They used to play”: Iris Sermon Leftwich to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript.
39 “I want to make it on my own”: Jessie Presley, quoted in Nash, Alanna, with Smith, Billy, Lacker, Marty, and Fike, Lamar, Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations from the Memphis Mafia.
39 “She did all the work”: Lillian Smith Fortenberry, raw interview transcript, Mississippi Room Collection, Lee County Library (MRC), probably from the papers of Elaine Dundy.
39 “Most people”: Unnamed classmate, quoted in “The Boy Who Would Be King,” by Steve Dougherty, This Is Elvis: Special Collector’s Edition of TV Guide, August 2002.
40 “I didn’t expect”: Magdalene Morgan, quoted in TomBigbee Country Magazine.
40 “There’s a story:” Billy Smith to author, 1993.
40 “Elvis would hear”: Gladys Presley, quoted in “The Boy Who Would Be King,” by Steve Dougherty, This Is Elvis: Special Collector’s Edition of TV Guide, August 2002.
40 “There has to be more”: Vernon Presley, quoted by Billy Smith to author, 1993.
40 “It broke my heart”: Magdalene Morgan, quoted in TomBigbee Country Magazine.
CHAPTER THREE
43 “was always hugging”: Billie Wardlaw Mooneyham, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
44 “Daddy and Vernon”: Billy Smith to author, 1993.
44 “I remember”: Ibid.
45 “so nervous he was bug-eyed”: Vernon Presley, quoted in Guralnick, Peter, and Jorgensen, Ernst, Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music.
45 “I was ashamed”: Elvis Presley to Wink Martindale, “Top 10 Dance Party,” June 16, 1956.
45 “He stayed there”: Billy Smith to author, 1993.
46 “very nice”: Vernon Presley, quoted in Guralnick, Peter, and Jorgensen, Ernst, Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music.
46 “I have this”: Billy Smith to author, 1993.
47 “Man, we really”: Buzzy Forbess, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
47 “I grabbed”: Farley Guy, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
47 “Farley said”: Doris Guy Wallace, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
47 “knocking him”: Buzzy Forbess, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
47 “It’s a wonder”: Ibid.
48 “None of us”: Ibid.
48 “Finally one night”: Betty McMahan, quoted in Guralnick, Peter, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley.
48 “Now, Billie”: Unnamed Wardlaw relative, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
49 “All the kids”: Billie Wardlaw Mooneyham, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
49 “I opened”: Billie Wardlaw Mooneyham, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
49 “Elvis was a great kisser”: Billie Wardlaw Mooneyham, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
49 “Elvis didn’t like that”: Farley Guy, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
49 “I think she just thought”: Doris Guy Wallace, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
50 “We really”: Billie Wardlaw Mooneyham, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
50 “Look at that”: Unnamed relative of Billie Wardlaw Mooneyham, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
50 “About every time”: Fannie Mae Crowder Caldwell, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
51 “We were never doing”: Billie Wardlaw Mooneyham, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
51 “He may not”: Billy Smith to author, 1992.
52 “My daddy”: Elvis Presley, quoted in
Guralnick, Peter, and Jorgensen, Ernst, Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music.
52 “was having some kind of party”: Farley Guy, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
52 “not then”: Billie Wardlaw Mooneyham, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
52 “He grabbed it out”: Billie Wardlaw Mooneyham, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
53 “I finally had to tell him”: Billie Wardlaw Mooneyham, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
53 “at an unconscious level”: Kasl, Charlotte Davis, Women, Sex, and Addiction: A Search for Love and Power.
54 “rather flashily dressed playboy type”: Interviewer notation from Elvis Presley’s work application, Tennessee State Employment Security, 1953.
55 “There were a few laughs”: George Klein to Scott Jenkins, “Interview with George Klein,” on the Web site Elvis Australia.
55 “There’s three guys outside”: Elvis Presley, quoted in West, Red, and West, Sonny, and Hebler, Dave, as told to Dunleavy, Steve, Elvis: What Happened?
55 “look of real fear”: Red West, et al., Elvis: What Happened?
56 “They did it”: Red West, “Interview with Red West,” on the Web site Elvis Australia.
56 “I never thought”: Red West, et al., Elvis: What Happened?
56 “crazy”: Buzzy Forbess, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
56 “We got a piano”: Billy Smith to author, 1994.
57 “He was moving”: Fannie Mae Crowder Caldwell, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
57 “At first”: Red West, et al., Elvis: What Happened?
57 “It was amazing”: Elvis Presley, quoted in Guralnick, Peter, and Jorgensen, Ernst, Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music.
57 “Not again!”: Billie Chiles Turner, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
57 “a gentle soul”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to author, 2009.
57 “I thought he was cute”: Regis Wilson Vaughn, People magazine, July 17, 1989.
57 “He was a loner”: Regis Wilson Vaughn, People magazine, May 27, 1996.
57 “I didn’t have anybody”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to author, 2009.
57 “I knew I wanted to see him”: Regis Wilson Vaughn, People magazine, July 17, 1989.
57 “the poorest Catholic school”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript.
58 “Growing up”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to author, 2009.
58 “My mother had”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to author, 2009.
58 “He used to say”: Ibid.
58 “His humor was the type”: Ibid.
58 “He sang it”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript.
59 “He was a very simple, sweet person”: Regis Wilson Vaughn, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
59 “If you were”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to author, 2009.
59 “and I wanted to see for myself”: Ibid.
59 “The nuns”: Regis Wilson Vaughn, People magazine, July 17, 1989.
59 “About two in the morning”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript.
59 “Some of those spirituals”: Elvis Presley, quoted in the Saturday Evening Post, September 11, 1965.
59 “I would look at him”: Regis Wilson Vaughn, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
59 “Sometimes”: Guy Coffey, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
60 “I got the impression”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript.
60 “It was the most exciting thing”: Regis Wilson Vaughn, People magazine, May 27, 1996.
60 “I felt like Cinderella”: Regis Wilson Vaughn, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
60 “Just think”: Regis Wilson Vaughn, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
60 “he would show up”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to author, 2009.
61 “That’s all right”: Regis Wilson Vaughn, “On His Prom Night, Elvis Didn’t Know How to Boogie,” by John Hughes, Fort Lauderdale News & Sun-Sentinel, as run in the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger, May 24, 1989.
61 “I jumped at the chance”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to author, 2009.
61 “girls didn’t call boys in those days”: Regis Wilson Vaughn, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
61 “I’ve always regretted that”: Regis Wilson Vaughn to author, 2009.
CHAPTER FOUR
63 “Negro artists of the South”: Guralnick, Peter, and Jorgensen, Ernst, Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music.
63 “There had never been”: Marion Keisker to Jerry Hopkins, from the Jerry Hopkins Collection, Special Collections, the University of Memphis. Unless noted, all Marion Keisker quotes come from this raw interview transcript.
63 “Somehow or another”: Sam Phillips to Debra Evans Price, raw interview transcript, 1998.
64 “Some of my best friends”: Ibid.
64 “real alive”: Sam Phillips to Constant Meijers, raw interview transcription from the documentary Looking for Colonel Parker, 1999.
64 “the worst thing”: Sam Phillips to Debra Evans Price, raw interview transcript, 1998.
64 “None of these people”: Sam Phillips to Constant Meijers, raw interview transcription from the documentary Looking for Colonel Parker, 1999.
64 “I got off my back”: Sam Phillips to Debra Evans Price, raw interview transcript, 1998.
65 “worked as an assembler at the M.B. Parker Company”: One of the oft-repeated fallacies in Presley lore is that Elvis drove a truck for Crown Electric when he first set foot in the Memphis Recording Service. The notion now appears rooted in the American consciousness. A press release from RCA/Legacy Records announcing the 2010 release of Elvis 75—Good Rockin’ Tonight, a four-CD, one-hundred-song collection, repeats the error, saying the set “begins in 1953, when an eighteen-year-old truck driver fresh out of a Memphis high school recorded a self-financed performance of ‘My Happiness.’ ” Elvis did not begin working for Crown Electric until April 20, 1954. He recorded “My Happiness” in the summer of 1953.
66 “He tried not to show it”: Sam Phillips, quoted in Peter Guralnick’s liner notes for Elvis: The King of Rock ’n’ Roll: The Complete ’50s Masters.
67 “He was the most gorgeous”: Dixie Locke, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 71.
68 “I had tried to tell”: Dixie Locke in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.
68 “My parents”: Dixie Locke in the documentary Young Elvis in Colour.
68 “adored him”: Ibid.
68 “almost a baby talk”: Dixie Locke to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.
68 “We knew almost immediately”: Dixie Locke, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 71.
69 “Oh, I just do that”: Linda Thompson, quoting Elvis Presley to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript.
69 “kind of lost himself”: Dixie Locke, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 71.
69 “It was serious right away”: Dixie Locke to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.
69 “We knew that that was what was supposed to be”: Dixie Locke in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.
69 “I got out of school”: Elvis Presley, quoted in Guralnick, Peter, Last Train to Memphis.
69 “I came out of Tech”: Billie Wardlaw Mooneyham, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
69 “If it was okay”: Dixie Locke to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcripts, 1994, 1995.
70 “how high I was up in the church”: Dixie Locke to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript 1995.
70 “She told us several times”: Ibid.
70 “But I don’t know”: Ibid.
70 “Sometimes they
would let me help wire”: Elvis Presley to Robert Carlton Brown, March 24, 1956, from the LP Personally Elvis.
71 “You had to keep your mind”: Ibid.
71 “So many”: Dixie Locke in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.
71 “Man, . . . that sonofabitch”: Guralnick, Peter, Last Train to Memphis.
71 “She and I were real close”: Dixie Locke to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.
72 “I no more”: Sam Phillips to Debra Evans Price, raw interview transcript, 1998.
72 “He sang it well”: Ibid.
72 “There is not”: Ibid.
72 “You’re doing just fine”: Sam Phillips quoted in Guralnick, Peter, Last Train to Memphis.
73 “If you make a mistake”: Sam Phillips to Debra Evans Price, raw interview transcript, 1998.
73 “just a lot of hair”: Scotty Moore, from the LP Elvis, Scotty and Bill: The First Year, Sun 1007, 1983.
74 “Well, the boy sings pretty good”: Ibid.
74 “The door to the control room”: Scotty Moore, from various sources, including his interviews with Jerry Hopkins and with the author, and from the LP Elvis, Scotty and Bill: The First Year, Sun 1007, 1983.
75 “Hell, that’s different”:Sam Phillips, early take, “Blue Moon of Kentucky.”
75 “We just sort”: Scotty Moore, quoted in Peter Guralnick’s liner notes for Elvis: The King of Rock ’n’ Roll: The Complete ’50s Masters.
75 “I think we all knew”: Scotty Moore to Jerry Hopkins, from the Jerry Hopkins Collection, Special Collections, the University of Memphis, raw interview transcript.
75 “I was totally stunned”: Dixie Locke to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.
75 “It was almost”: Dixie Locke, quoted in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, January 5, 2004.
76 “My wife, Steve”: Charlie Fisher, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.
76 “My daughter dates him”: Dixie Locke in the documentary Young Elvis in Colour.
76 “Why don’t you put him on the bill?” Bob Neal quoting Sam Phillips to author, 1977.
77 “When Elvis came on”: Ibid.
77 “But still he made”: Bob Neal to Jerry Hopkins, from the Jerry Hopkins Collection, Special Collections, the University of Memphis, raw interview transcript.