Elvis Presley part 3

Sinatra Timex Special

On March 26, 1960, Presley made a guest appearance on The Frank Sinatra-Timex Special, a somewhat ironic move for both stars, given Sinatra's previously scathing criticism of "rock and roll" singers. Also known as Welcome Home Elvis, the show was taped for airing on May 12. Parker had made the deal with the show's producers months before Elvis was released from active duty, and had secured an unheard of $125,000 pay-check for Presley's six-minute appearance. He had hoped that appearing with Frank Sinatra would help to boost Presley's popularity amongst an older audience, as well as reminding the teenage audience that Presley was back. Never one to take chances, Parker had packed the studio audience with 400 members from one of the biggest fan clubs. The broadcast on the ABC network gave ABC-TV a 41.5 share for that evening and dispelled any fears Presley or Parker may have had about his return.

Charity concerts 1961

In November 1960 Parker announced that Presley would be giving two charity shows in Memphis to raise funds for twenty-four local charities. Shortly afterwards he read an article that stated no "...permanent memorial stands in salute to the dead of Pearl Harbor". Promptly he also announced a March benefit to raise funds for the memorial. The Memphis shows took place on February 25, 1961, and raised over $60,000. During a luncheon organised before the concert, Presley was awarded a plaque by RCA that recognised worldwide sales of over 75 million records.

The following month, on March 25, Presley arrived in Hawaii to give his benefit concert at Bloch Arena in aid of the USS Arizona Memorial Fund, which was $50,000 short of its target. The benefit raised over $62,000 and was to be the last public performance Presley would give for seven years.

1965: "The Fab Four" meet "The King"

During filming of Paradise, Hawaiian Style, Presley returned to his Bel Air home. The Beatles were at the end of their second U.S. tour. Colonel Parker had been negotiating a meeting for some time, through The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein, though Parker simply saw it as a valuable publicity opportunity. The group arrived in Bel Air amid a flurry of elaborate security arrangements, made by Parker, at 10 pm, on August 27, 1965. The visit lasted about four hours. Many of Presley's closest and trusted friends— members of the so-called "Memphis Mafia"—were present, including school friend and bodyguard Red West, Marty Lacker, Jerry Schilling, Larry Geller and their girlfriends.

Biographer Peter Guralnick maintains that Presley was at best "lukewarm" about playing host to people he did not really know, and it took a while for everyone to feel comfortable. Paul McCartney later said: "It was one of the great meetings of my life. I think he liked us. I think at that time, he may have felt a little bit threatened, but he didn't say anything. We certainly didn't feel any antagonism. I only met him that once, and then I think the success of our career started to push him out a little, which we were very sad about, because we wanted to coexist with him."

Marty Lacker recalls Presley saying: "'Quite frankly, if you guys are going to stare at me all night, I'm going to bed. I thought we'd talk a while and maybe jam a little.' And when he said that, they [The Beatles] went nuts." The group told stories, joked and listened to records. The five of them had an impromptu jam session. "They all went to the piano," says Lacker, "and Elvis handed out a couple of guitars. And they started singing Elvis songs, Beatle songs, Chuck Berry songs. Elvis played Paul's bass part on "I Feel Fine", and Paul said something like, 'You're coming along quite promising on the bass there, Elvis.' I remember thinking later, 'Man, if we'd only had a tape recorder.'"

Ringo Starr played pool with two others that night; George Harrison "looked to most of the guys to be stoned" on arrival and allegedly smoked a joint with Larry Geller and talked about Hinduism. Parker played roulette with Epstein. However, Guralnick claims The Beatles were, overall, disappointed by the visit. They still reciprocated with an invitation for Elvis to visit them, but only some of Presley's "Memphis Mafia" accepted. "John Lennon went out of his way to tell Jerry [Schilling] how much the evening had meant to him" and asked Schilling to tell Presley, "'[I]f it hadn't been for him I would have been nothing.'" Schilling says that when he told Presley he did not say anything, but "just kind of smiled.

Marriage to Priscilla

Elvis and Priscilla met in 1959 at a party in Bad Nauheim, Germany, during his stay in the army. She was 14 at the time, while he was 24. They quickly began a romantic relationship and were frequently together until Elvis left Germany in 1960. In her autobiography, Elvis and Me, Priscilla says that Elvis refused to have sexual intercourse with her until they were married. However, biographer Suzanne Finstad writes that Priscilla and Elvis slept together on their second date, and that she wasn't a virgin when she met him. Priscilla later won a lawsuit against Currie Grant, a former Army buddy of Presley's, for his claim in Finstad's book that he had sex with her in exchange for introducing her to Presley. Grant, whom Priscilla had sued for at least $10 million, was ordered to pay only $75,000. However, neither Finstad nor her publisher were a party to the lawsuit.

Priscilla and Elvis stayed in contact over the phone, though they would not see each other again until the summer of 1962, when Priscilla's parents agreed to let her visit for two weeks. After another visit at Christmas, Priscilla's parents finally let her move to America for good. Part of the agreement was that she would be privately educated, to complete her senior year, and live with Elvis' father and his wife, Dee, in their home—due to Presley's difficulty with accepting his stepmother, he arranged for them to live in a separate house on the Graceland estate. Priscilla's parents allowed her to live at Graceland only if Elvis promised to eventually marry her. However, it wasn't long until Priscilla was moved into Graceland to live with Elvis.

Shortly before Christmas 1966, Elvis proposed to Priscilla. They married on May 1, 1967 at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas after an eight-year courtship. In typical fashion, Colonel Parker had arranged a photo session and press conference to be conducted shortly after the ceremony. According to Finstad, this marriage was part of a mastermind for fame hatched by Priscilla and her mother.

1968–73: Comeback

'68 Comeback Special

Priscilla Presley gave birth to Elvis's only child, Lisa Marie, on February 1, 1968. There was little happy news professionally, however. His most recent movie soundtrack albums had performed dismally compared to those he had made earlier in the decade; Speedway, released in May, died at number 82. Of the eight Presley singles released between January 1967 and May 1968, only two charted in the Top 40, and none higher than number 28. He had not topped the singles chart since "Good Luck Charm" hit number 1 in February 1962.

Presley was, by now, "profoundly" unhappy with his career. Colonel Parker's plans once again included television, and he arranged for Presley to appear in his own special. The singer had not been on television since Frank Sinatra's Timex special in May 1960. Parker shrewdly maneuvered a deal with NBC's Tom Sarnoff which included the network's commitment to financing a future Presley feature film—something that Parker had found increasingly difficult to secure.

The special, taped in late June, aired on December 3, 1968, as a Christmas telecast called simply Elvis. Later known as the '68 Comeback Special, the show featured some lavishly staged studio productions. Other songs however, were performed live with a band in front of a small audience—Presley's first live appearance as a performer since 1961. The live segments saw Presley clad in tight black leather, singing and playing guitar in an uninhibited style reminiscent of his early rock and roll days. When the ratings were released the next day, NBC reported that Presley had captured 42 percent of the total viewing audience. It was the network's number one rated show that season. Its success owed much to director and coproducer Steve Binder, who worked hard to reassure the nervous singer and to produce a show that was not just an hour of Christmas songs, as Colonel Parker had originally planned. Jon Landau of Eye magazine remarked, "There is something magical about watching a man who has lost himself find his way back home. He sang with the kind of power people no longer expect of rock 'n' roll singers. He moved his body with a lack of pretension and effort that must have made Jim Morrison green with envy." The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock And Roll refers to it as "a performance of emotional grandeur and historical resonance."

By January 1969, one of the key songs written specifically for the special, "If I Can Dream", reached number 12. The soundtrack of the special also broke into the Top 10. Jerry Schilling recalls that the special reminded Presley about what "he had not been able to do for years, being able to choose the people; being able to choose what songs and not being told what had to be on the soundtrack. ... He was out of prison, man." Steve Binder said of Presley's reaction, "I played Elvis the 60-minute show, and he told me in the screening room, 'Steve, it's the greatest thing I've ever done in my life. I give you my word I will never sing a song I don't believe in.'"

Return to live performances

Buoyed by the experience of the Comeback Special, Presley engaged in a prolific series of recording sessions at American Sound Studios, which led to the acclaimed From Elvis in Memphis (Chips Moman was its uncredited producer). It was followed by From Memphis To Vegas/From Vegas To Memphis, a double album. The same sessions lead to the hit singles "In the Ghetto", "Suspicious Minds", "Kentucky Rain", and "Don't Cry Daddy".

In 1969, Presley was keen to resume regular live performing. Following the success of Elvis, many new offers came in from around the world. The London Palladium offered Parker $28,000 for a one week engagement. He responded: "That's fine for me, now how much can you get for Elvis?" By May, the brand new International Hotel in Las Vegas announced that it had booked Presley; he was scheduled to perform from July 31, after Barbra Streisand opened the new venue.

Presley duly delivered 57 shows over four weeks at the hotel, which had the largest showroom in the city. He had assembled some of the finest musicians—including an orchestra—and some of the best soul/gospel back-up singers available.

Despite such a prestigious backing, Presley was nervous; his only other engagement in Las Vegas (1956) had been a disaster, critically. Parker therefore promoted the singer's appearances heavily; he rented billboards and took out full-page advertisements in local and trade papers. The lobby of the International displayed Presley souvenirs; records, T-shirts, straw boaters and stuffed animals. Parker intended to make Presley's return the show business event of the year, and hotel owner Kirk Kerkorian planned to send his own plane to New York to fly in the rock press for the debut performance.

Presley took to the stage with no introduction. The audience of 2,200—which included Pat Boone, Fats Domino, Wayne Newton, Dick Clark, Ann-Margret, George Hamilton, Angie Dickinson, and Henry Mancini—gave him a standing ovation before he sang one note. After a well-received performance, he returned to give an encore, of "Can't Help Falling in Love", and was given his third standing ovation Backstage, many well-wishers, including Cary Grant, congratulated Presley on his triumphant return which, in the showroom alone, had generated over $1,500,000.

Newsweek commented: "There are several unbelievable things about Elvis, but the most incredible is his staying power in a world where meteoric careers fade like shooting stars." Rolling Stone magazine declared Presley to be "supernatural, his own resurrection", while Variety proclaimed him a "superstar". At a press conference after his opening show, when a reporter referred to him as "The King", Presley pointed to Fats Domino, standing at the back of the room. "No," he said, "that’s the real king of rock and roll."

The next day, Parker's negotiations with the hotel resulted in a five-year contract for Presley to play each February and August, at a salary of $1 million per year.