Baby, Let's Play House

by Alanna Nash

  212 “From the age of seven”: Dolores Hart, “Actress Turned Nun Revisits Hollywood,” Associated Press, April 11, 2006.

  212 “I’m positive”: Dolores Hart to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.

  212 “charming, simple young boy”: Dolores Hart, “Actress Turned Nun Revisits Hollywood,” Associated Press, April 11, 2006.

  212 “I couldn’t take myself away from him”: Ibid.

  213 “my ears started getting purple”: Dolores Hart, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 65.

  213 “I’ve always thought”: Lizabeth Scott to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.

  213 “I simply decided”: Lizabeth Scott, quoted in Film Fan Monthly, November 1971, no. 125, by Dan Stanke.

  213 “You couldn’t have”: Lizabeth Scott to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.

  214 “They weren’t of the same mettle”: Ibid.

  214 “a bright gold gown”: Byron Raphael to author, 2005.

  215 “When any girl”: Byron Raphael, quoting Colonel Parker to author, 2005.

  215 “I want to take your picture, honey”: Valerie Allen, quoting Elvis Presley in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.

  216 “I was at a party”: Jeanne Carmen in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.

  216 “She did not look seriously ill”: E-mail, Barbara Hearn to author, 2009.

  217 “It was so obvious”: Lizabeth Scott to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.

  218 “He wanted me”: June Juanico to author, 2007.

  219 “You don’t need any clothes”: June Juanico to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.

  219 “I can still see him”: June Juanico to author, 2007.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  221 “Son, I wish”: Barbara Hearn quoting Vernon Presley to author, 2009.

  222 “every decorator in town”: George Golden, quoted in “The King and I: If Graceland Is Rotten to Decor, Don’t Blame it on Elvis’ Former Decorator George Golden,” Phoenix New Times, July 28, 1993.

  222 “all over poor Gladys”: Ibid.

  222 “the most beautiful house”: Ibid.

  222 “Mr. Golden”: Barbara Hearn to author, 2009.

  223 “would get jealous”: Barbara Hearn, quoted in Essential Elvis magazine, no. 63, 2009.

  223 “There wasn’t”: Barbara Hearn to author, 2009.

  223 “I know it’s your mother and father”: Debra Paget quoting Elvis Presley in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  223 “I wish you could pray”: Lillian Smith Fortenberry, raw interview transcript, Mississippi Room Collection, Lee County Library (MRC), probably from the papers of Elaine Dundy.

  223 “kind of overwhelmed”: Iris Sermon Leftwich to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript.

  224 “the girls from the show”: All quotes from Tura Satana in this chapter come from an interview with the author, 2009.

  226 “He called me about three one morning”: Tempest Storm, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 8.

  227 “Many times there have been”: The telegram from Elvis Presley to Private Hershel Nixon, March 25, 1957, is reproduced in Guralnick, Peter, and Jorgensen, Ernst, Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music. It reads in part: “I got a lucky break in life, and I am very thankful for it, but there are a few people who want to take shots at me. . . . I have talked my way out of trouble so many times that I couldn’t even count them. . . . I’m just like you. If a guy can do something to protect himself, he should do it. . . . I’m sorry the whole thing came up.”

  227 “Honey, I miss you so much”: Excerpt from Yvonne Lime’s diary, originally published in Modern Screen magazine, August 1957. Serialized in Elvis World magazine, nos. 76, 77. All Yvonne Lime quotes come from this source.

  228 “Elvis came out with a rash”: Sam Phillips to Debra Evans Price, raw interview transcript, 1998.

  229 “He said, ‘Pastor’ ”: Reverend James Hamill, quoting Elvis Presley to author, 1977.

  229 “The change had set him”: Kay Wheeler to author, 2009.

  229 “They spent almost”: Gloria Pall, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 59, in an excerpt of her book, I Danced Before the King.

  230 “He watched me”: Gloria Pall, quoted in Elvis International Forum magazine, Fall 1999.

  230 “What are you doing here”: Ibid.

  230 “I’d love to”: Ibid.

  231 “Your wife sure is a sweet one, Byron”: Byron Raphael quoting Elvis Presley to author, 2005. All Byron Raphael quotes in this section come from this interview.

  232 “One day I just put an LP on”: Lamar Fike to author, 1992.

  232 “By now I knew”: Ibid.

  233 “She loved sex”: Bill Lecornec quoted in Davis, Stephen, Say Kids! What Time Is It?: Notes from the Peanut Gallery.

  233 “I would go out”: Bob Nicholson quoted in Davis, Stephen, Say Kids! What Time Is It?: Notes from the Peanut Gallery.

  233 “It really, really upset him”: Lamar Fike to author, 1992.

  233 “Nothing has hurt me”: Elvis Presley to the Associated Press, quoted in Davis, Stephen. Say Kids! What Time Is It?: Notes from the Peanut Gallery.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  235 “ballistic”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  236 “He was effervescent”: Anita Wood, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 58.

  236 “I said, ‘Sure,’ ”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  236 “Come up”: Ibid.

  237 “his hands moved”: Anita Wood, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 58.

  237 “I just ate that up”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  237 “Little”: “Anita Wood Interview,” the Web site Elvis Presley News.

  237 “He always invited”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  238 “Lamar, look at her”: Ibid.

  238 “the things that went on in California”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  239 “Hey, y’all”: Alan Fortas quoting Anita Wood to author, 1991.

  239 “He had a Pepsi”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  239 “He loved to pull tricks”: Ibid.

  239 “He’d always come to me”: Ibid.

  239 “I love you”: Elvis Presley love note to Anita Wood, reproduced as an illustration in Osborne, Jerry, Elvis Word for Word.

  239 “And gullible me”: Anita Wood to author, 2009.

  239 “That got to be”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  239 “One time Anita went out shopping”: Marty Lacker to author, 1993.

  240 “They were all available”: Anita Wood to author, 2009.

  240 “He called me”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  240 “But really and truly”: Ibid.

  241 “The Colonel had put me on Nipper Control”: From the Playboy article “In Bed with Elvis,” by Byron Raphael and Alanna Nash, November 2005.

  242 “Elvis did not do”: Gordon Stoker, quoted on the Web site Elvis Presley Music.

  242 “far too indecent”: New York Journal-American, quoted in Guralnick, Peter, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley.

  242 “He was on the floor”: Kevin Eggers to author, 2009.

  242 “Sexhibitionist”: Dick Williams, Los Angeles Mirror-News, quoted in Guralnick, Peter, Last Train to Memphis.

  242 “group-fucked 10,000 people”: Kevin Eggers, quoting Ricky Nelson to author, 2009.

  243 “You should have been here last night!” Elvis Presley to the audience, quoted on the Web site Elvis Presley Music.

  243 “I was a goner”: Coplon, Jeff, and Cher, The First Time.


  243 “When I saw him”: Cher to author, 2009. All remaining quotes from Cher come from this interview.

  244 “It’s a duty”: Elvis Presley, as quoted in Guralnick, Peter, and Jorgensen, Ernst, Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music.

  244 “Elvis cried in my lap”: Barbara Pittman, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.

  244 “They could not believe”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  245 “That whole Christmas”: Billy Smith to author, 1993.

  245 “It was a fun time”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  245 “As kids”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  246 “Elvis came over”: June Wilkinson in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.

  246 “He was always asking a lot of questions”: Carolyn Jones, quoted in “El’s Leading Ladies,” by Gerry McLafferty, Elvis: The Man and His Music, issue 83, 2009.

  247 “It was Elvis”: Dolores Hart, interviewed by Trevor Cajiao, “Young Dreams” in Elvis: The Man and His Music, issue 62, 2003.

  247 “like a young animal”: Dolores Hart, quoted in Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley.

  247 “Elvis is a young man”: Dolores Hart, interviewed by Trevor Cajiao, “Young Dreams,” in Elvis: The Man and His Music, issue 62, 2003.

  247 “There were some horses around”: Ibid.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  249 “a chartreuse jacket”: Jimmie Rodgers Snow, quoted in “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  249 “I told him”: Jimmie Rodgers Snow to author, 2003.

  250 “I just remember”: Alan Fortas to author, 1990.

  250 “We was sittin’ ”: Annie Presley, quoted in Whitmer, Peter O., The Inner Elvis.

  251 “The biggest majority”: Billy Smith to author, 1993.

  251 “I can’t see myself”: Lamar Fike quoting Gladys Presley in Nash, Alanna, with Smith, Billy, Lacker, Marty, and Fike, Lamar, Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations from the Memphis Mafia.

  252 “Congratulations!”: Major Elbert Turner, quoted in Osborne, Jerry, Elvis Word for Word.

  252 “My heart was being torn away”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  253 “Good-bye, you long black son of a bitch”: Life magazine, February 10, 1995.

  253 “Let us see him”: Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe. Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  253 “Where’s your hound dog?”: “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  254 “the girls seemed to know”: Ibid.

  254 “We found him”: Ibid.

  254 “We had to have guards”: Ibid.

  254 “They tried to get me clearance”: Lamar Fike, quoted in Nash, Alanna, with Smith, Billy, Lacker, Marty, and Fike, Lamar, Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations from the Memphis Mafia.

  254 “When you come in my house”: William Norwood, quoted in “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  255 “When he got her on the line”: Eddie Fadal, quoted in “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  255 “He would come over”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  255 “He put his foot”: Eddie Fadal, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.

  255 “My father knew all the doctors”: Janice Fadal, quoted in “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  256 “I wish they’d let me pick it”: Elvis Presley on home recordings, quoted in Osborne, Jerry. Elvis Word for Word.

  256 “It was the greatest time”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  256 “Simple, I’m kinda proud of it”: “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  256 “It was in the hot summertime”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  257 “He’s working us to death”: “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  257 “He loved the Army”: Rex Mansfield, quoted in “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  257 “One day I looked at her”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  257 “She didn’t want to go,” Ibid.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  259 “We were in the room talking”: Dotty Ayers, as quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.

  260 “Mama”: Billy Smith quoting Elvis Presley to author, 1994.

  260 “I don’t think Elvis”: Billy Smith to author, 1994. The remaining quotes from Billy Smith in this chapter come from conversations with the author, 1994, or from Nash, Alanna, with Smith, Billy, Lacker, Marty, and Fike, Lamar, Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations from the Memphis Mafia.

  260 “They drained”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  262 “We shot over there”: Ibid.

  262 “Eddie”: “Elvis and Eddie: A Special Friendship,” Elvis International Forum magazine, vol. 2, no. 2, 1990.

  263 “He was in pitiful shape”: Harold Loyd, as quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.

  263 “liked they wanted”: “Elvis and Eddie: A Special Friendship,” Elvis International Forum magazine, vol. 3, no. 3, 1990.

  263 “Mama”: Eddie Fadal, as quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.

  263 “Little! Little! Little!” “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  263 “We went in there”: Anita Wood to author, 2009.

  264 “He reacted”: Dixie Locke to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.

  264 “Get all of these people out of here!” Barbara Pittman quoting Colonel Tom Parker in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.

  264 “Please don’t take my baby away!” Harold Loyd, as quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.

  264 “He said, ‘Everything I have is gone’ ”: Ibid.

  264 “When the funeral director”: Freddy Bienstock to author, 1997

  265 “I’ve never seen”: J. D. Sumner to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.

  265 “He put his arms around me”: James Blackwood, quoted in Burk, Bill E., Early Elvis: The Humes Years.

  265 “Mama . . . I would give every dime”: James Blackwood quoting Elvis Presley in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.

  265 “Good-bye, darling, good-bye”: Elvis Presley, quoted in Guralnick, Peter, and Jorgensen, Ernst, Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music.

  266 “They were holding him back”: Barbara Pittman, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.

  266 “He was in a trance”: e-mail, Barbara Hearn to author, 2009.

  266 “I just wrote my heart”: Mae Boren Axton, public appearance at Memphis State University, 1986.

  266 “I can’t go”: Lillian Smith Fortenberry, raw interview transcript, Mississippi Room Collection, Lee County Library

  266 “He walked around”: Arlene Cogan, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.

  266 “People were screaming”: Barbara Pittman, quoted in Clayton, Rose, and Heard, Dick, Elvis Up Close.

  267 “How Elvis loves the snow!”: “Elvis and Eddie: A Special Friendship,” Elvis International Forum magazine, vol. 2, no. 4, 1989.

  267 “Funny”: Elvis Presley to Lloyd Shearer, “Face to Face with Elvis” (CD), August 1962, Hollywood.

  268 “Psychologists call this”: E-mail, Peter O. Whitmer to author, 2009.

  269 “Once I saw”: Janice Fadal, quoted in “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  269 “Girls, guess what?”: Ronnie Anagnosti
s, quoted in “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  269 “things were never”: Rex Mansfield, quoted in “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  269 “I could not believe it”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  269 “I don’t like to sit alone”: Elvis Presley, quoted in Nash, Alanna, with Smith, Billy, Lacker, Marty, and Fike, Lamar, Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations from the Memphis Mafia.

  270 “There wasn’t a dry eye”: “Elvis and Eddie: A Special Friendship,” Elvis International Forum magazine, vol. 2, no. 2, 1989.

  270 “I really feel”: Elvis Presley to Eddie Fadal, quoted in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe. Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  270 “I just feel sad”: Elvis Presley, quoted in “Viva Fort Hood,” by Michael Hall, Texas Monthly, December 2000.

  270 “I’ll starve to death”: Elvis Presley, press conference titled “Press Interview with Elvis Presley.” Brooklyn, N.Y. Source: “Elvis Sails” EP, September 22, 1958.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  273 “the rock ’n’ roll matador”: Look magazine, “Elvis and the Frauleins,” December 23, 1958.

  273 “I’m just a plain soldier”: Ibid.

  274 “Classical music”: Elvis Presley, quoted in Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley.

  274 “When we finally found the house”: Frank Glankler, as quoted in Soocher, Stan, They Fought the Law: Rock Music Goes to Court.

  275 “I could hear Elvis”: “Interview with Charlie Hodge,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, April 9, 2005.

  275 “He didn’t like it”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  275 “looked like”: Red West, quoted in Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley.

  276 “weird hours”: Anita Wood, “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  276 “in a hundred years”: Elvis Presley letter to Anita Wood, October 28, 1958, reproduced in Osborne, Jerry, Elvis Word for Word.

  276 “descended on us”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.