The Party Years

Facing the television, on a huge built-in sofa, the King would be enthroned with his feet up on a cocktail table. Flanked by a couple of his men and surrounded by a bevy of young women, he would be watching TV. No matter who arrived, even if she were the most famous or beautiful star in Hollywood, Elvis mould not rise to greet her. "Get her coat... find out what she wants to drink." With such boss-man orders, Elvis would beckon Tuesday Weld, Joan Blackman or Connie Stevens into the circle around him.

Elvis had a very sarcastic and vulgar sense of humor that would emerge when he settled down at ease and removed the phony mask of Southern gentlemanliness that he wore in public. From years of listening to the local wits in his hometown--that type of Southern joker who responds to every situation with a proverbial line and a snap of his extended fore and middle fingers — Elvis had developed quite a patter of Memphis jive. As the aspiring young extras and starlets sitting at his feet constantly looked back and forth from the silent video screen to the immaculately groomed and carefully dressed star, they would be treated to an endless stream of witticisms.

Watching Jerry Lewis caper on the screen, Elvis would sneer and drawl: "That's about as funny as a turd in a punch bowl." Or perhaps he'd say "as funny as a Smitty on a hearse." (A Smitty was the Memphis name for a device designed to make a teenager's motor roar.) Every time Elvis got off one of these gags, the Guys would roar with laughter. Their response would encourage Elvis to continue his commentary.

As there were perhaps forty or fifty girls in the house and only eight men, it would have been natural for the Guys to start hitting on some of these chicks, This was a practice that was sternly forbidden. Elvis considered any such advances highly improper, an act of lese majesty, until he had exercised his prerogative to make the first choice. Allowing Elvis what was called "the pick of the litter" was an obligatory act of deference. To behave differently would be to invite some terrible explosion.

Elvis' temper and his overbearing manner had gotten much worse during his years in the army. The boys who had known Elvis for long said that the army had made him "mean." His ugly traits were greatly exaggerated by the presence of women. When girls were around, Elvis felt obliged to play the big shot, the Boss. He would put one of his little cigars in his mouth, his Hav-a-Tampa Jewels or Rum Crooks, and hold it there a moment. If one of the boys didn't jump up and give him a light, Elvis would explode: "Goddamn it to hell! Am I gonna sit here all night like this, or is one of you lardasses gonna gimme a light?" That sort of behavior was supposed to impress the girls. Elvis didn't stop at just being overbearing. Sometimes he would humiliate his men so grossly that even these faithful flunkies were compelled to rebel.

Sonny West recalls a night when Tuesday Weld came to visit Elvis, bringing along a very attractive friend named Kay. As Elvis and Tuesday got deep into conversation, Sonny started promoting Kay, while preparing a drink at the bar, in the middle of Sonny's pitch, Elvis pops up suddenly between them, stares provocatively at the girl and says admiringly, "You're really pretty!" Then, he flits off to continue talking to Tuesday. Sonny resumes his efforts to woo the young woman and is starting to make progress when Elvis appears again, gives the girl one of his patented heavy-lidded stares and murmurs, "My man!" Just as Sunny is recovering from this fresh intrusion, Elvis swings back for a third pass at the target. This time, he gives the girl a little peck. When she doesn't object, he kisses her firmly on the mouth. She kisses him back. Sonny gives up in disgust and retreats to the other side of the room, where Alan Fortas and Gene Smith are watching the scene.

"He's smooth as silk," rumbles the admiring Fortas. "Yeah, he shot me right outta the saddle," concedes Sonny. Gene leans in confidingly at this point and, nodding his head toward the two women, he says: "Sonny, if you had your pick, which would you take?" Sonny replies without hesitating, "Tuesday--she's got some body on her!"

Elvis, who is always scanning the room, spots Gene and Sunny with their heads together. Instantly, he assumes that they're bad-mouthing him. Jumping up and walking over to the boys, he says, "What the hell are you two whispering about?" Sonny is dumbfounded. He's too embarrassed to repeat the conversation. His confusion confirms Elvis in his conviction that he was the topic of conversaiion. "If you don't tell me," he warns Sonny, "you're in big trouble." Sonny, exasperated, hurt, angry, looks at Elvis and exclaims; "Man, you have changed! I quit!"

In a flash, Elvis grabs a Coke bottle. Sunny barks, "You're not gonna hit me with no goddamn bottle!" Elvis backs down and relinquishes the bottle, but he can't control his anger. The moment Sonny starts walking out of the room, Elvis plants himself in the big boy's path. "You're not quittin'," snarls Elvis, "cause you're fired!" "Call it anything you want!" shouts Sonny. "I'm gettin' outta here!" Nobody could talk back to Elvis and get away with it. Flashing red, Elvis swings from the floor and hits Sonny squarely on the jaw.

If Elvis had been on a movie set, where he was always punching guys out, Sonny would have flown halfway across the room, smashed into a wall and come sliding down onto the floor like a stiff. Instead, he simply twisted his head with the blow and then tamed back to stare at Elvis in shock and pain. As the tears started coming to his eyes, Sonny gasped; "I never thought you would hit me, Elvis!" Then, he turned and left the room.