Boze Hadleigh - Elvis Forever: Looking Back on the Legacy of the King

Elvis was the survivor of twin boys, a fact that strongly influenced his life. Mother Gladys, fearful of losing her only child, kept him close. The mother-son bond intensified when father Vernon was away working, seeking work or in jail. Growing up and in school, Elvis was a loner, often shunned by classmates due to poverty, the way he dressed and his longer hair. As his parents marriage deteriorated, Gladyss sole focus became her son, whose fondness for singing she encouraged. She steered him away from his interest in guns, which would later prevail, and helped young Elvis pay for his first guitar.

The Presley family was poor to the extent that Vern couldnt pay for the $3 marriage license, and public relief provided the $15 delivery fee for Elvis birth. The trio was evicted from their home more than once and Gladys was mortified when they temporarily had to take welfare. At different times both parents worked or one did or both were unemployed. Eventually teenage Elvis took a job while in high school, but his grades suffered and he was falling asleep in class. His mother, at any rate, convinced him to stop working and remain in school. He became the first Presley to earn a diploma.

Initially Gladys was pleased with her boys singing success. Until his career expanded to the extent that he was often or usually away from home and becoming involved with his (female) fans and strangers (business associates). The burgeoning publicity intimidated Gladys and media criticism of her too-sexy son embarrassed and angered her. Her fragile health worsened as she gained weight and developed a drinking habit. Elvis stardom did not make her happy, and a primary reason he bought Graceland was to afford Gladys privacyneighbors and strangers used to stare when she was outside and fans would steal articles of male clothing off her clothesline.

The death of Gladys Presley at 46 was the biggest tragedy in Elvis life and impacted his health. Doctors had to prescribe pills, commencing a growing and eventually fatal habit. Additionally, Elvis developed a sexual hang-up whereby he was averse to sleeping with women whod conceived (later including his own wife). For Elvis there were three types of females: virgins, bimbos and mamas.

His parents were near-indigent, it wasnt a happy childhood, etc. But I dont feel too sorry for him because by 21which was the midpoint of his lifehe achieved fame, fortune and adulation such as few human beings ever do.

Broadway star, Patricia Morison ,
who lived to 103

He was a lonely boy. Lonely in only the way somebody poorer than their neighbors can be. Even for Tupelo, Mississippi, the Presleys were poor.

Local hardware store manager, F.L. Bobo

Vernon Presley didnt have the money to pay the $15 birth-delivery fee. Welfare went and took care of it.

Travis Smith , Gladys Presleys brother

Some say Elvis was lonesome because he was an only child. That wasnt it. And it wasnt like he didnt have relatives and cousins. He was just apart. By circumstance and by choice.

Classmate Leroy Green

He was a sad, shy boy.

Classmate Kenneth Holditch

Elvis was a loner. He liked people. But he was quiet.

Classmate from the second

through fifth grades Elois Bedford

Elvis always seemed to me to be very, very sad.

Ann Finch , friend of EP from 1960-62

His mother Gladys was the one person who made him feel he was special. Elvis Aron was born half an hour after his twin brother Jesse Garon was born dead. Gladys willed Elvis to live and she willed him to believe in himself.

Columnist Joyce Haber

The doctor didnt know Gladys was pregnant with twins, but she did. Shed picked out the rhyming names for her boys As Elvis grew up she often told him that the twin who survived inherited all the strength of both.

Cousin Billy Smith

Gladys intended his middle name as Aron, and thats what it says on the birth certificate. But Elvis had a fear of being unusual. He wanted to be special, not unusual. So, he later changed the spelling to the more conformist Aaron.

Author C. David Heymann

Apparently he was an adorable child. At two he clambered up onto the church choirs platform and tried to sing along without knowing the words. At three when his father was in jail for check-forging Elvis would comfort his mother by climbing up and patting her on the head and saying, There, there, my little baby.

Magazine editor Ingrid Sischy

Elvis often took me to visit Jesses grave. The idea of twins captured his imagination. Maybe it made him feel less alone We would go there, and Elvis would talk a little to Jesse, and after the visit he was always lifted in his spirits.

Childhood friend James Ausborn

The family structure of a strong-willed, dominant mother with a quiescent, soft-spoken father, from a working-class, deeply religious background, with little money to spare is the same basic framework, albeit played out in different social settings, which produced Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams, Johnnie [sic] Ray and Elvis Presley.