Baby, Let's Play House

by Alanna Nash

  277 “I have been dating”: Elvis Presley letter to Alan Fortas, postmarked November 14, 1958, reproduced in Fortas, Alan, and Nash, Alanna, Elvis: From Memphis to Hollywood. London: Aurum Press, 2008.

  277 “She’s blond”: Elvis Presley, quoted in Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley.

  277 “Well, I can’t blame you”: Elvis Presley letter to Anita Wood, postmarked November 14, 1958, reproduced in Osborne, Jerry, Elvis Word for Word.

  278 “He is shy”: Margit Buergin, quoted in Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley.

  278 “He’s so different”: Margit Buergin, quoted in Look magazine, “Elvis and the Frauleins,” December 23, 1958.

  278 “She went and got herself”: Red West to Antony Terry, quoted in Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley.

  278 “Elvis dated her”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  278 “Don’t get me wrong”: Elvis Presley to Keith Sherriff, transcript, Osborne, Jerry, Elvis Word for Word.

  278 “I feel mad”: Margit Buergin, quoted in Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley.

  278 “I’m a corporation”: Margit Buergin quoting Elvis Presley in Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley.

  279 “Boy . . . she stalked him like prize game”: Lamar Fike to author, 1993.

  279 “All the GIs”: Elisabeth Mansfield, “Rex and Elisabeth Mansfield,” by Piers Beagley, on the Web site Elvis Information Network, August 2002.

  280 “voluptuous”: Joe Esposito, quoting Elvis Presley to author, 2009.

  280 “Everything was ‘Yes, ma’am’ ”: Elisabeth Mansfield, “Rex and Elisabeth Mansfield,” by Piers Beagley, on the Web site Elvis Information Network, August, 2002.

  280 “He was hurt”: Ibid.

  280 “I assure you”: Elisabeth Mansfield, quoting Elvis Presley in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  280 “I can be there in one week”: Elisabeth Mansfield, in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  281 “We hit it off”: Ibid.

  281 “he was going to see on a regular basis”: “Elvis and Elisabeth,” by Bob Graham, The [London] Sunday Times Magazine, August 3, 1997.

  281 “He was the man I adored”: Elisabeth Mansfield, in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  281 “There would be at least a couple of girls each week”: “Elvis and Elisabeth,” by Bob Graham, The [London] Sunday Times Magazine, August 3, 1997.

  282 “mostly when he would say harsh things”: Elisabeth Mansfield, “Rex and Elisabeth Mansfield,” by Piers Beagley, on the Web site Elvis Information Network, August 2002.

  282 “I said, ‘Elvis’ ”: Ibid.

  282 “Elvis . . . had”: Rex Mansfield, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 65.

  282 “above normal capability”: Look magazine, “Elvis and the Frauleins,” December 23, 1958.

  283 “It like to drove her crazy”: Lamar Fike to author, 1993.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  285 “a bitch and a half”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  285 “gold comes out of his hot throat”: Look magazine, “Elvis and the Frauleins,” December 23, 1958.

  286 “Get away from me”: Elisabeth Mansfield, in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  286 “Truck drivers”: Rex Mansfield quoting Elvis Presley, in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  286 “After taking my first pill”: Rex Mansfield, in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  287 “Beautiful girls”: Elisabeth Mansfield, in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  287 “he just let loose sexually”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  287 “Sometimes”: Rex Mansfield, in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  287 “I don’t know”: George Klein, quoted in Guralnick, Peter, Last Train to Memphis.

  287 “Who in the hell”: George Klein, quoting Elvis Presley in Guralnick, Peter, Last Train to Memphis.

  287 “That December, she came to Germany”: Jane Wilbanks, who met him at the “Elvis Train,” as the girls called it, visited Elvis at his hotel for the holidays, and was his Christmas Eve date in 1958. Having just lost his mother in August, “He was sad and cried a lot, and I didn’t know what to say,” she told an Associated Press reporter in 2002. In January 1959, she gave him a royal blue velvet robe for his birthday. A teen beauty queen, Jane dated Elvis for about ten months in Germany, and also a few times when they returned to the States. “It was kind of Cinderella-ish,” she said. “I think he liked talking with me because most of the time he had all these Hollywood starlets around. Of course, I was from New Albany [Mississippi], which was only about thirty miles from Tupelo.”

  287 “instantly jealous”: Elisabeth Mansfield, in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  288 “They had handwritten notes”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  288 “somehow they were missing”: Vera Tschechowa, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 69.

  288 “We took these horrible pictures”: Vera Tschechowa, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 69, and in Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley. All Tschechowa quotes come from these sources.

  289 “Vera was a strange girl”: Elvis World magazine, no. 69.

  289 “Red and I”: Elvis World magazine, no. 69.

  290 “Elvis was after her, all right”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  290 “the answer to a question”: Dave Marsh, quoted in Fortas, Alan, and Nash, Alanna, Elvis: From Memphis to Hollywood, London: Aurum Press, 2008.

  291 “Sure, I’ve got a new girlfriend”: Elvis Presley, quoted in Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley.

  291 “Foghorn”: Elisabeth Mansfield, quoting Elvis Presley in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  292 “I have hated Dee ever since then”: Anita Wood quoting Elvis Presley, “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  292 “When they started banging”: Lamar Fike, in Nash, Alanna, with Smith, Billy, Lacker, Marty, and Fike, Lamar, Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations from the Memphis Mafia.

  292 “Chinese coolie”: Rex Mansfield, quoting Red West in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  293 “going in and out”: Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley.

  294 “glittering clouds of sequins”: “Margaret Kelly, 94, Founder of the Bluebell Girls, Is Dead,” by Margalit Fox, New York Times, July 26, 2005.

  294 “without batting an eyelash”: Rex Mansfield, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 67.

  294 “We went through”: Lamar Fike, in Nash, Alanna, with Smith, Billy, Lacker, Marty, and Fike, Lamar, Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations from the Memphis Mafia.

  294 “But you don’t understand, monsieur!”: Rex Mansfield, quoted in Elvis World magazine, no. 67.

  295 “Nevertheless, Elvis felt snubbed”: Rex Mansfield in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  295 “His hobby”: Ingrid Sauer, quoted in Schroer, Andreas,
Private Presley.

  295 “In Germany”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  297 “I knew this would be difficult”: Paul Beaulieu, quoted in Elvis by the Presleys: Ritz, David, editor.

  297 “I was crushed”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Elvis by the Presleys: Ritz, David, editor.

  297 “didn’t want to be part of the Elvis mania”: Ibid.

  298 “One afternoon”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Elvis by the Presleys: Ritz, David, editor.

  298 “I’m going over there”: Presley, Priscilla, with Harmon, Sandra, Elvis and Me.

  299 “Hi, . . . I understand you know Elvis”: Priscilla Presley to Currie Grant, as quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  299 “just in overdrive”: Currie Grant, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  299 “Currie was taking pictures of her”: Lamar Fike to author, 2004.

  300 “If you could have seen his face!”: Currie Grant, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  300 “I told Elvis”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  300 “She’s young enough”: Rex Mansfield quoting Elvis Presley in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  301 “What are you”: Presley, Priscilla, with Harmon, Sandra, Elvis and Me.

  301 “You”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Elvis by the Presleys: Ritz, David, editor.

  302 “I felt like Cinderella”: Presley, Priscilla, with Harmon, Sandra, Elvis and Me.

  302 “She reminded me of a painting”: Elisabeth Mansfield, quoting Elvis Presley in Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

  302 “He had Priscilla backed up against the wall”: Currie Grant, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne. Child Bride.

  303 “been looking for”: Rex Mansfield, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  303 “He looked at me”: “Interview with Charlie Hodge,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, April 9, 2005.

  303 “she was so beautiful”: Joe Esposito to author, 2009.

  303 “It’s amazing to me”: Peter O. Whitmer to author, 2009.

  303 “There was definitely a pull there”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  304 “the sort of little girl”: Suzanne Finstad to author, 2009.

  304 “She was kinda like a little honeypot”: Mary Clements, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  305 “My father was very strict”: Priscilla Presley, “An Interview with Priscilla,” by Bill E. Burk, Elvis World magazine, no. 23, based on the RUR show on Veronica TV in Amsterdam, Holland, probably 1992.

  305 “a great guy, a fun guy”: Colonel Eugene Desaulniers to author, 2009. All Colonel Eugene Desaulniers quotes come from this interview.

  305 “He said Priscilla said”: e-mail, Marty Lacker to author, 2009.

  306 “I had this unbelievable feeling”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  307 “That’s just an incredible kind of displacement”: Suzanne Finstad to author, 2009.

  307 “It was like kissing a table”: Currie Grant, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  308 “It actually started”: Ibid.

  308 “May God strike me dead”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  310 “He just played with her”: Currie Grant, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  310 “I felt more comfortable”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  310 “Don’t play coy with me!”: Currie Grant, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  310 “not necessarily for sex”: Joe Esposito to author, 2009.

  311 “I was terrified”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  311 “I don’t think he was prepared”: Priscilla Presley, “An Interview with Priscilla,” by Bill E. Burk, Elvis World magazine, no. 23, based on the RUR show on Veronica TV in Amsterdam, Holland, probably 1992.

  311 “I enjoyed speaking”: Paul Beaulieu, quoted in Elvis by the Presleys: Ritz, David, editor.

  312 “When we met Elvis”: Ann Beaulieu, quoted in Elvis by the Presleys: Ritz, David, editor.

  312 “Elvis could talk anyone”: Esposito, Joe, with Oumano, Elena, Good Rockin’ Tonight.

  312 “It was not a question”: Currie Grant, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  312 “to consummate our love”: Presley, Priscilla, with Harmon, Sandra, Elvis and Me.

  312 “She’s a beautiful girl”: Esposito, Joe, with Oumano, Elena, Good Rockin’ Tonight.

  313 “I was leading two lives”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Elvis by the Presleys: Ritz, David, editor.

  313 “My Dearest Darling ‘Little’ ”: Elvis Presley letter to Anita Wood, postmarked November 6, 1959, reproduced in Osborne, Jerry, Elvis Word for Word.

  315 “he assured me”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  315 “Anita was a known entity”: e-mail, Peter O. Whitmer to author, 2009.

  315 “It’s upstairs on the table”: Unknown girl, quoted in Schroer, Andreas, Private Presley.

  315 “when he leaned over”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Elvis by the Presleys: Ritz, David, editor.

  316 “had pores big enough to hide a tank in”: Lamar Fike to author, 1993.

  316 “We just played all night and slept during the day”: Joe Esposito to author, 2009.

  316 “Well, I’ll tell you”: Elvis Presley to Johnny Paris, Armed Forces Radio, March 1, 1960.

  316 “He stayed in that dressing room”: Lamar Fike to author, 1994.

  316 “It gave him permission”: Ibid.

  317 “They thought I couldn’t take it”: Elvis Presley, quoted in Guralnick, Peter, and Jorgensen, Ernst, Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music.

  317 “It was a time of grief for me”: Hill, Wanda June, We Remember Elvis.

  317 “cheerfulness and drive”: Guralnick, Peter, and Jorgensen, Ernst, Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music.

  317 “a box of twelve bottles”: Joe Esposito to Peter Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.

  318 “We swore undying fidelity”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Elvis by the Presleys: Ritz, David, editor.

  318 “Little One”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Elvis by the Presleys: Ritz, David, editor.

  318 “He was in love with Priscilla”: Joe Esposito to Peter O. Whitmer, raw interview transcript, 1994.

  318 “You think my father”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  319 “in a dream world”: Priscilla Presley, quoted in Finstad, Suzanne, Child Bride.

  319 “It was literally the smoking gun”: Suzanne Finstad to author, 2009.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  322 “Have two years of sobering army life”: press conference, Fort Dix, New Jersey, March 3, 1960.

  322 “Are you leaving any special girl”: press conference, Brooklyn, New York, September 22, 1958.

  322 “It was a very difficult parting”: Priscilla Presley, “An Interview with Priscilla,” by Bill E. Burk, Elvis World magazine, no. 23, based on the RUR show on Veronica TV in Amsterdam, Holland, probably 1992.

  322 “Now, gentlemen”: Elvis Presley, press conference, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee, March 7, 1960.

  323 “He was standing right there”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  324 “I want you to do it”: Rex Mansfield, quoting Minnie Mae Presley in “Rex and Elisabeth Mansfield,” by Piers Beagley, on the Web site Elvis Information Network, August 2002.

  324 “I was directly behind him”: Mansfield, Rex, and Mansfield, Elisabeth, with Terrill, Marshall, and Terrill, Zoe, Sergeant Presley: Our Untold Story of Elvis’ Missing Years.

&nb
sp; 325 “Daddy, . . . are you sure you want to do this?”: “Interview with Anita Wood,” on the Web site Elvis Australia, November 25, 2006.

  325 “She seems pretty nice”: Elvis Presley, quoted in the Memphis Press-Scimitar, July 17, 1960.

  325 “He kept asking me”: Leticia Roman, from the Web site Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen.

  325 “Man, I’ll tell you”: Sonny West quoting Elvis Presley in West, Sonny, and Terrill, Marshall, Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business.

  326 “You don’t have to put”: Norman Taurog, quoted in the Saturday Evening Post, September 11, 1965.

  326 “A few days being around him”: “Interview with Sonny West,” by Scott Jenkins, on the Web site Elvis Australia, May 13, 2005.

  326 “Elvis would open that door”: Sonny West in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.

  326 “He said Juliet”: Lamar Fike to author, 1993.

  326 “He’s really”: Juliet Prowse, quoted in the Saturday Evening Post, September 11, 1965.

  326 “He had a wonderful sense of humor”: Juliet Prowse in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.

  327 “Man, you gotta meet Marilyn Monroe”: Byron Raphael quoting Gene Smith to author, 2005. Portions of the Byron Raphael material originally appeared in the Playboy magazine article “In Bed with Elvis,” by Byron Raphael and Alanna Nash, November 2005.

  328 “No . . . I’ve got to go to sleep”: Sandy Ferra Martindale, quoted in People magazine, August 18, 1997.

  328 “I said, ‘Elvis, she is only fourteen’ ”: Mary Lou Ferra in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.

  329 “In school the next day”: Sandy Ferra Martindale, quoted in People magazine, August 18, 1997.

  329 “He loved my mom”: Sandy Ferra Martindale in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.

  329 “I want to ask you something”: Mary Lou Ferra quoting Elvis Presley in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.

  329 “Elvis was quite surprised”: Sandy Ferra Martindale, quoted in Elvis World, no. 44.

  329 “I was making $100”: Ibid.

  329 “What a great life”: Sandy Ferra Martindale in the documentary The Definitive Elvis: The Many Loves of Elvis.