End of an American Dream

Press, 18 August 1977, Page 14

End of an American Dream

iNZPA-Reuter Memphis, Tennessee 1 Elvis fans wept yesterday, and radio stations throughout the world played his 1 records in tribute to the j man who came out of Amer-, ica’s Deep South in the mid-1 1950 s to become the symbol; of a generation and to begin; a singing career in which! 400 million Presley record;' albums were sold in 22 years. 1 Elvis — just Elvis, every- ; one referred to him just by his first name — fulfilled the , American Dream, from rags I to riches. He was a lorry driver in 1953 when he paid a small sum to record two songs as a gift for his mother. Mr i Sam Phillips, head of the recording company, immedi- i ately signed up Elvis, and ] the first commercial discs — 1 “That’s All Right, Mama,” and ‘‘Blue Moon of Kentucky" — went on sale the i next year. The astute Texas-born i Colonel Tom Parker then i signed up Elvis for a per- i sonal appearance tour as “the Hillbilly Cat.” This was the beginning of a partner- < ship which made millions of dollars for both men. . By 1956, Elvis was a television star, and he signed a i : seven-year film contract ; with Hal Wallis Productions. Elvis’s movie career ended ' : in 1969 after about 60 films ' s all with roughly the same ’ ; plot including “Love Me Tender” (1956) and “Loving i You” (1957). He scored his biggest personal successes, however, with stage appear-ji ances. From the soles of his| blue, suede shoes to the tips i; of his rakish, hair-oiled side-; burns, Elvis was the first I shellburst in a revolution in 1 ; American life in the 19505. j A million enraptured teen-1, agers just let him be their J “Teddy Bear”; and a million! boyfriends, jealous and ad-:! miring, imitated the Elvis 11 look. They grew duck-tail, haircuts and sported black! leather jackets and tried to 1 speak like the sons of Mississippi tenant farmers. The changes were more! than superficial. What Elvis! I did was bring sexuality into ! the open. Maybe parents ’ wondered about the lyrics, ! “Love me tender, love me j true, never let go, for my ; darling I love you” . . . but their children did not need to be told. He took the.

raunchy back beat of the black blues and made them Top 40 fare — with just enough whitewash to give them the patina of respectability. He was born on January’ 18, 1935, and brought up in {Mississippi and Tennessee in 1 a deeply religious family. , His father, Vernon Presley, worked as a cotton farmer, carpenter, and factory worker and built his own home for his family. His wife, Gladys, gave birth to twins, her only children. Elvis’s twin brother died at birth. The Presley family, of Irish descent, attended the! local Church of the Assem-! bly of God, a revivalist denomination, and Elvis sang in the chtfir. Elvis entered an amateur singing contest and was! C laced fifth. For his 12th irthday, his parents gave him a guitar and he taught himself how to play it. He could never read music. As a Southerner, Elvis concentrated on hillbilly music, Negro blues, and Gospel songs. He learned to sing them from listening, with his exquisitely attuned ear, to recordings. Presley’s body gyrations j as he sang gave Him the nickname of “Elvis the Pelvis.” Teenagers swooned at his personal appearances, just as they had done for Frank Sinatra and did later' for Britain’s Beatles and Tom Jones. It is remarkable to note that even after the first {flush of Presley-mania in the fifties and all through the j Beatles era in the sixties, I Women spectators often i became hysterical, prompting an American Roman (Catholic publication to com{ment: “His motions during ' his performance, described {as a strip-tease with clothes on, were not only suggestive but downright obscene.” ! Presley replied later: “I i have never made no dirty {body movements.” j Even while in the army, 'he earned millions of dollars >from his records and films. { Constantly surprised at his continuing success as a {singer, he said about his Las I Vegas home: “Sometimes when I walk into a room there and see all those gold discs (each signifying the sale of one million records) hanging on the walls, 1 think they must belong to another person. Not me. I just can’t believe it’s me.”