day, in public he sounds tired, even a bit downcast. He hasn't eaten since
early morning, he says, but he doesn't feel like he could eat anything right
now. What are his thoughts? he is asked, as the time for departure approaches.
"Well, I'm going to be very honest about it," he says haltingly.
''I'm looking forward to Germany, I'm looking forward to seeing the
country and meeting a lot of the people, but at the same time I'm looking
forward to coming back here, because here is where I started. Here's
where all my friends, my business and so forth..." Would he like to send
any special message to his fans? "Yes, I would. I'd like to say that in spite
of the fact that I'm going away and will be out of their eyes for some time,
I hope I'm not out of their minds. And I'll be looking forward to the time
when I can come back and entertain again like I did." "Well, thank you,
Elvis," the interviewer concludes, with fifteen minutes left before departure.
"I know you want to talk to Colonel Parker, your close friend and
your manager. All we can do is wish you a wonderful trip and all the best
luck in the world and come home soon."
The band played "All Shook Up," "Hound Dog," and "Don't Be
Cruel" as the ship got under way. Elvis stood out on deck handing out
pictures and postcards to his fellow servicemen and throwing kisses back
to the pier but stopped for a moment "to rotate his shoulder, snap his fingers
and buckle his knees. His admirers shrieked," reported the New York
Herald-Tribune. "Colonel Parker beamed. The Department of Defense
man from Washington who had overseen the operation wiped his brow
and sighed." And Elvis waved. And waved again for the cameras. And
again, and again.
O N T H E T R A I N TO M E M P H I S. J U L Y 3-4. 1 9 5 6. (A L F R E D W E R T H E I M E R)
Notes
THE MAJ O R I T Y O F T H E INTERVIEW M AT E R I A L is my own. but Jerry Hopkins' interviews of
various figures for his 1971 biography. Elvis. have been a unique. and invaluable. resource. They
were made available by the Mississippi Valley Collection at Memphis State Universiry (MVCI
MSU) through the kind efforts of Dr. John Bakke. In addition. Stuart Goldman and Adam Taylor
were good enough to share information and interview material assembled for their 1993
film. Elvis in Hollywood. Many other people contributed their time and resources. and I have
tried to indicate my thanks and indebtedness both in these notes and in the acknowledgments
that follow.
P R O L O G U E: M E M P H I S. 1 9 5 0
3 the Mississippi Delta begins: David Cohn. Where I Was Born and Raised. p. 12.
4 The newcomer. Dewey Phillips. is twenry-four years old: Much of the account of
Dewey Phillips' early background comes from " 'Phillips Sent Me' Has Become Vital Part of
Ciry' s Lexicon" by Ida Clemens. Memphis Commercial Appeal. June 9. 1950.
4-5 That is why Sam Phillips: Sam Phillips' early background. as well as his account of his
first meeting with Dewey Phillips. comes from interviews with Sam Phillips. 1979--93. All subsequent
quotes are from these interviews. unless otherwise specified.
5 "Negro artists in the South who wanted to make a record": "Man Behind the Sun
Sound." Melody Maker. c. 1957. as cited by Mike Leadbitter in "Memphis." Blues Unlimited Collectors
Classics 13.
5-6 "genuine. untutored negro" music; "Negroes with field mud on their boots": Robert
Johnson. "Suddenly Singing Elvis Presley Zooms into Recording Stardom." Memphis PressScimitar.
February 5. 1955.
6 The ostensible reason: Interview with Sam Phillips. 1988; letter from Sam Phillips to
"Mr. J. Edward Connolly. June-bug. 8 - 50." published in Kicks 7. 1992. The letter to Connolly
seems to belie Phillips' contention that he was not trying to sell Dewey to Connolly. but this
was at the very beginning of their acquaintance. and by August. Dewey and Sam had their first
(and last) release out on the aptly named "The Phillips" label.
8 "so nervous he was bug-eyed": Vernon quoted in Elvis Presley. prepared by the editors of
TV Radio Mirror. 1956. p. 10.
8 the Presleys gave the impression: "Elvis by His Father Vernon Presley" as told to Nancy
Anderson. Good Housekeeping. January 1978.
8 In February 1949: All information on the Presleys' housing from the time of their arrival
in Memphis comes from Memphis Housing Authoriry records. kindly made available by Rick
Hawks. whose "adoptive aunt" was Housing Authoriry adviser Jane Richardson.
4 9 I
4 9 2 '" N O T E S
T U P E L O: A B OVE T H E H I GH WAY
1 1 "industry rising in the midst of agriculture": Mississippi: The WPA Guide to the Magnolia State.
1 1 "Over the years": Dale Dobbs, "A Brief History of East Tupelo, Mississippi," Elvis Presley
Heights, Mississippi, Lee County, 1921-1984, compiled by members of the Elvis Presley Heights Garden
Club.
12 Gladys Presley, everyone agreed: The best printed source for background information on
Gladys and Vernon Presley, and the Smith and Presley family backgrounds, is Elaine Dundy's Elvis
and Gladys. Vernon's employment and financial records, however (made available by the Elvis
Presley Estate), have been illuminating.
13 Aron (pronounced with a long a): This is how Elvis pronounces it at his army press conference
on September 22, 1958.
13 "when one twin died": "Elvis Presley Part 2: The Folks He Left Behind Him," TV Guide,
September 22-28, 1956.
13 Gladys was never able to have another baby: In Elvis Presley Speaks, the book-length bio
by Memphis reporter Robert Johnson that came out in 1956, Vernon says, "That was just one of
those things that couldn't be.... We spent a lot on doctors trying to change it, but there wasn't
anything we could do."
13 The physician's fifteen-dollar fee: William Thomas, "Delivering Elvis Paid SI5 - From
Welfare," Memphis Commercial Appeal, January 6, 1980.
13 "she worshiped him": Jerry Hopkins interview with Faye Harris (MVC I MSU).
13 "Elvis was so sure": Elvis Presley, prepared by the editors of TV Radio Mirror, 1956, p. 6.
13 "My mama never let me": C. Robert Jennings, "There'll Always Be an Elvis," Saturday
Evening Post, September II, 1965, p. 78.
14 "common laborer": This was Elvis' own phrase in a number of interviews.
14 In 1937 Gladys' uncle Gains: Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, p. 72.
14 "when Elvis was just a little fellow": TV Radio Mirror, p. 8.
14 "My daddy may seem hard": Both Cliff Gleaves and Charlie Hodge cited this phrase in
separate interviews, and George Klein alluded to similar conversations.
14 "It was no big disgrace": Interview with Frank and Corene Randle Smith, 1990.
14-15 "afraid that he would get run over": Interview with Corinne Richards Tate, 1990.
15 "crying his eyes out": Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, p. 84.
15 "Though we had friends": "Elvis by His Father Vernon Presley" as told to Nancy Anderson,
Good Housekeeping, January 1978, p. 156.
15-16 "Mrs. Presley would say": Interview with James Ausborn, 1990.
16 "[one time] I asked him": Good Housekeeping, p. 157.
16 " 'When I grow up' ": Recollected by both Gladys (in Martha Lopert, "The Boy with the
Big Beat," Celebrity, winter 1958) and Vernon (in Edwin Miller, "Elvis the Innocent," Memories,
May 1989, from a May 1956 interview). This story combines the two accounts.
16 "an average student," "sweet and average": Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, p. 107; Pat Chism,
"Teacher Recalls Elvis' Favorite Tune While at Lawhon Was 'Old Shep,' " Tupelo Daily Journal,
July 28-29, 1956; Kathy Jarman, "Milam Report Card Reveals Elvis as an:Average' Student," Tupelo
Daily Journal, October 6, 1977.
16 "and we couldn't": Larry Geller and Joel Spector, "If I Can Dream, " p. 288.
16 The picture that you see of him: This picture was in the Tupelo Museum in 1989.
16 'Td tramp all over town": TV Radio Mirror, p. 8.
16-17 In May of 1943 the whole family moved: Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, p. 87; Vernon's em·
ployment records; friendship with Sales and Annie Presley documented in Elvis Presley Heights, p. 47.
N O T E S '" 493
17 On August 18, 1945: Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, p. 108.
17 became a deacon in the church: Ibid., p. 109; Good Housekeeping, p. 157.
17 the Presleys, like every other member: Interview with Frank and Corene Randle Smith.
17 "I sang some": Saturday Evening Post, p. 78.
17 he "trioed" with his mother and father: Army Archerd, "Presley Takes Hollywood,"
Photoplay, December 1956, p. 94.
18 two doors down from the Presleys: Elvis Presley Heights, p. 156.
18 the two couples would share: Ibid., p. 48.
18 The newspaper did not cover: In 1994 Bill Burk discovered a photograph of a ten-yearold
Elvis Presley standing onstage after the contest, wearing glasses and flanked by the first-,
second-, and third-place winners. Elvis, as he always said, had come in an unofficial fifth. The
photograph and accompanying interviews will appear in Burk's Early Elvis: The Tupelo Years.
18 'Til never forget": TV Radio Mirror, p. 26.
19 (the tornado of 1936): Mississippi.
19 "Son, wouldn't you rather": TV Radio Mirror, p. 26.
19 "I always played the guitar": Interview with Frank and Corene Randle Smith.
ZO-Z l the hillbilly star of the station: Background on the Brasfield family of comedians,
Rod, "Boob," and Cyp, from Linnell Gentry's A History and Encyclopedia of Country, Western, and
Gospel Music; The Country Music Story by Robert Shelton; Nashville's Grand Ole Opry by Jack
Hurst; and 1989 and 1990 interviews with Charlie Hodge and James Ausborn respectively.
ZI "He was a good entertainer": Interview with Bill Mitchell, 1990.
Zl Archie Mackey's memory: Interview with Archie Mackey, 1990.
Zl "He was crazy about music": Interview with James Ausborn.
ZZ "He always knew": Elvis Presley Speaks!, p. 16.
ZZ-Z3 Tex Ritter was making a personal appearance: The Tex Ritter story is from a 1990
interview with James Ausborn.
Z3 "I took the guitar": 1972 interview.
Z4 To Ernest Bowen: Interview with Ernest Bowen, 1990.
Z4 "All of us were country kids": Interview with Willie Wileman, 1990.
ZS "It was unbelievable": Interview with Roland Tindall, 1990.
ZS-Z6 "Elvis would bring": Ibid.
Z6 "He brought his guitar": Interview with James Ausborn.
Z6 A classmate, Shirley Lumpkin: Dundy, Elvis and Gladys, pp. I2Q-I2I.
Z6 "All the socializing": Interview with Roland Tindall.
Z7 You walked by the Elks Club: My tour guide for the North Green Street area of Tupelo
was Jimmy Young, a lifelong resident, who was good enough to drive me around and point out
all the sights.
Z7 Several times a year: The basis for this description of a revival on North Green Street
comes from Ernest Bowen, although I have taken the liberty of adapting it and introducing an
eyewitness. In the August I, 1957, edition ofJ et magazine, Dr. W. A. Zuber, a black Tupelo physician,
spoke of Elvis going "to Negro 'sanctified' meetings."
Z8 On his last day of school: Vince Staten, The Real Elvis: Good Old Boy, p. 42; Dundy, Elvis
and Gladys, pp. 124, 132. The date is based on the fact that Elvis' first day in the Memphis school
system, as recorded on his high school record, was November 8, 1948. Also, see below.
Z8 They moved on a Saturday: TV Radio Mirror, p. 9.
Z8 "We were broke, man, broke": James Kingsley, "At Home with Elvis Presley," Memphis
Commercial Appeal, Mid-South Magazine, March 7, 1965·
Z8 According to Gladys: TV Radio Mirror, p. 9.
494 '" N O T E S
28-29 " I told Elvis": Ibid., p. 8.
29 "There were times": Good Housekeeping, p. 157.
M E M P H I S: T H E C O U RTS
33 putting in an application for public housing: This, and all subsequent information on the
Presleys' living situation, is from Housing Authoriry records, as supplied by Rick Hawks, and
Jerry Hopkins' interview with Housing Authoriry adviser Jane Richardson.
33 ("We always found"): Jerry Hopkins interview with Jane Richardson (MVC / MSU).
34 "like we'd come into the money": Interview with George Blancet, 1989.
34 you just did it: Interview with Buzzy Forbess, 1991.
34 Stanley Products (Tupperware-like) parties: Interviews with Barbara Pittman andJimmy
Denson, 1989.
34 "They treated him": Jerry Hopkins, Elvis, p. 38.
35 "He was particular": Interview with Lillian Fortenberry. 1988.
35 "He never spent": "Elvis by His Father Vernon Presley" as told to Nancy Anderson, Good
Housekeeping, January 1978, p. 157.
35 "If one has no scruples": Humes Herald, 1953.
35 At first Gladys: Joseph Lewis, "Elvis Presley Lives," Cosmopolitan, November 1968,
p. 94.
35 "He was a gentle, obedient boy": Robert Johnson, Elvis Presley Speaks!, p. 18. (Miss Susie
Johnson was Press-Scimitar reporter Bob Johnson's aunt.)
35 "He was during his first years": Ibid., p. 18.
36 According to a classmate: Elston Leonard, "Elvis Presley: The New Singing Rage," Tiger,
c. 1956. George Klein, another student in the class, also tells this story to date the beginning of his
friendship with Elvis.
36 "My older brother": Interview with Barbara Pittman.
36 Gladys was working: Elvis Presley Speaks!, p. 17.
36-37 "Paul lived on the third floor": Interview with Buzzy Forbess.
37-38 "The first evening he came in": Elvis Presley Speaks!, p. 17.
38 "With the three of us": Interview with Buzzy Forbess.
38 One time Farley's mother: Vince Staten, The Real Elvis: Good Old Boy, p. 44. The quote
from Jane Richardson comes from Jerry Hopkins' interview.
38 "He even practiced two or three songs": Interview with Buzzy Forbess.
38 In one typical 1951 segment: Air check, Red Hot and Blue, December 2, 1951.
38 "If you have a song": Lydel Sims, "Rocket Becomes Flying Disc, Spins Toward Record
Glory," Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 28, 1951.
38 "Do like me": This is an adaptation of one of Dewey Phillips expert Charles Raiteri's fine
evocations of Dewey's patter and sryle.
40 He had run away from home: Various interviews with Jimmy Denson, 1989-92.
40 made the papers for performing: Rhea Talley, "Early A.M. Audition Needed by Lee Denson,
Guitarist," Memphis Commercial Appeal, August 5, 1956.
40 He didn't want to teach Elvis: Interview with Lee Denson, 1989.
41 Lee's friends Dorsey Burnette and his younger brother, Johnny: Background information
on the Burnettes comes from interviews with Jimmy and Lee Denson, 1989; Johnny Black, 1990,
1991; Evelyn Black, 1993; also Ian Wallis interview with Paul Burlison, 1989.
41 In the summertime there were informal dances: Interview with Jimmy and Lee DenN
O T E S c,.,. 4 9 5
son. This i s supported by interviews with various other Courts residents, including Johnny
Black, 1990, and Evelyn Black, 1993.
41 "We would play under the trees": Interview with Johnny Black, 1990.
41 When he missed a note: Interview with Jimmy and Lee Denson.
42 "She used to come out": Michael Donahue, "Elvis: The Project Years," Memphis Commercial
Appeal, Mid-South Magazine, August n, 1985.
42-43 "Elvis was a great kisser": Bill E. Burk, Early Elvis: The Humes Years, pp. nO-III.
43 "He tried not to show it": Robert Palmer, "Sam Phillips: The Sun King," Memphis, December
1978.
43 He sings Eddy Arnold's: The repertoire was specified in an interview with Buzzy Forbess.
Buzzy also mentioned Bing and Gary Crosby's catchy (and up-tempo) "Play a Simple Melody."
44 ("Wild-looking guys"): 1972 interview.
44 ("It was just something"): Ibid.
44 she was very proud of the job: Interviews with Gladys' physician, Dr. Charles Clarke,
1989, and Ronny Trout, 199I.
44 a 1941 Lincoln coupe: This has been described on some occasions as a 1942 model (and,
more specifically, as a Lincoln Zephyr), but it is specified as a '41 Chrysler in the Housing AuthOrity
report.
44-45 "My daddy was something wonderful": Edwin Miller, "Elvis the Innocent," Memories,
May 1989, p. 13.
45 One time, Vernon recalled: Elvis Presley, prepared by the editors of TV Radio Mirror,
1956, p. 17.
45 "Elvis saw the street": Elvis Presley Speaks!, p. 26.
45 the firemen, who welcomed any diversion: Ibid.
45 "One time we were hanging around": Interview with Johnny Black, 1990.
46 "we don't have any Negro conductors": David Tucker, Lieutenant Lee of Beale Street,
p. 146.
46 "He came down": Interview with Guy Lansky, 1990.
46 "I suppose that was where I saw him": Jerry Hopkins interview with Bob Neal (MVCI
MSU).
46-47 "I mean, we didn't know Elvis Presley": Interview with Jake Hess, 199I.
47-48 Once a month Ellis was filled: A great deal of the background on the All-Night Singings,
and quartet singing in general, comes from extensive interviews with Jake Hess and James
Blackwood; early videos of the Blackwood Brothers and the Statesmen supplied by Mary Jarvis,
James Blackwood, and Jake Hess; various writings by Charles Wolfe (including "Presley and the
Gospel Tradition" in Elvis: Images and Fancies) and The Music Men by Bob Terrell.
47 "the big heavy rhythm beats": C. Robert Jennings, "There'll Always Be an Elvis," Saturday
Evening Post, September n, 1965, p. 78.
48 "He went about as far as you could go": Interview with Jake Hess.
48 "Oh, no, not again": Interview with Johnny Black, 1990.
48 "I moved everything": Interview with Lillian Fortenberry, 1988.
48 He sang quite a few: Elvis' musical repertoire is supplied from interviews with Buzzy
Forbess, Lee Denson, Johnny Black, and Ronald Smith, as well as various published interviews
with Paul Burlison.
48 Some evenings Vernon and Gladys: "Elvis by His Father Vernon Presley" as told to
Nancy Anderson, Good Housekeeping, January 1978, p. 157.
4 9 6 c,., N O T E S
48 "He grabbed i t out of my purse": Billie Wardlaw quoted in Bill E. Burk. The Young
Elvis, pp. III-II2.
48 Occasionally Buzzy and the other boys: Interview with Buzzy Forbess.
49 According to a teacher, Mildred Scrivener: Mildred Scrivener, "My Boy Elvis." TV
Radio Mirror, March 1957.
49 "It got so hard on him": Elvis Presley, prepared by the editors of TV Radio Mirror, 1956.
p. 10. Actually Gladys went back to work at St. Joseph's in August. but the same principle applied.
50 "I really felt sorry for him": Red West et al., Elvis: What Happened?, p. 17.
50 "He would wear dress pants": Interview with Ronny Trout.
51 One time he got a home permanent: The "permanent" was described in various manifestations
in interviews with Ronny Trout, Jimmy Denson, Barbara Pittman, and "Mary Ann,"
a neighbor in the Courts, who is quoted in Jane and Michael Stem's Elvis World, p. 151.
51 he stopped by St. Joseph's: Interview with Ronny Trout.
51 Perhaps he attended the Midnight Rambles: Interviews with Ronny Trout, George
Blancet, George Klein, et al.
B-52 "the same place," he later recalled: 1972 interview.
52 "We just thought he was pretty": Interview with Evelyn Black.
52 Rabbi Alfred Fruchter and his wife, Jeanette: Staten, The Real Elvis, p. 61.
52-53 On April 9, 1953: Interviews with George Blancet, George Klein, Buzzy Forbess,
Ronny Trout, and Red West, as well as the program of the event.
53 "I wasn't popular in school": 1972 interview.
53 "While other students were dashing around": Scrivener, "My Boy Elvis," TV Radio
Mirror, March 1957.
53 Toward the end of the school year he took: "Elvis's Prom Date Remembers a Shy Guy
in Blue Suede Shoes," People, 1989; also The Young Elvis by Bill E. Burk and "Elvis: Wallflower at
Own Prom," Fort Lauderdale News and Sun Sentinel, May 23, 1989.
54 "we are reminded at this time": Humes Herald, 1953. p. 33.
" M Y H A P P I N E S S
All quotes from Sam Phillips and Marion Keisker are from the author's interviews, 1979-93
(Phillips) and 1981-89 (Keisker), unless otherwise noted.
57 On July 15, 1953: Clark Porteous, "Prison Singers May Find Fame with Record They
Made in Memphis," Memphis Press-Scimitar, July 15, 1953. Further information on the Prisonaires
from interviews with Sam Phillips; "The Prisonaires," Ebony, November 1953; and Colin Escott's
liner notes. and research for, Just Walkin' in the Rain, the Prisonaires' album on Bear
Family, and his own history of Sun (written with Martin Hawkins), Good Roclein ' Tonight: Sun
Records and the Birth of Roc Ie 'n' Roll.
58ff Sun Records, and the Memphis Recording Service, were a two-person operation:
Background on the Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records stems. primarily, from numerous
interviews with Sam Phillips and Marion Keisker over the years and Escott and Hawkins'
Good Roclein' Tonight.
58 renting for S75 or s80 a month: Interview with Sam Phillips, 1990. Vince Staten sets it at
SI50 a month in The Real Elvis: Good Old Boy, and various other figures have been suggested.
59ff Marion Keisker would have been: Background on Marion Keisker from interviews
and conversations, 1981-89; obituary by Colin Escott, Goldmine, February 9. 1990.
59 and where Jake Hess (later to join the Statesmen) got his start: Interviews with Jake
N O T E S "-' 4 9 7
Hess. 1991. 1994. Jake continued to cross paths with the Phillipses and in Memphis sang on
WREC with the Daniel Brothers Quartet. whichJud managed. Hess was so impressed with the
warmth and kindness of Sam's future wife. Becky. who was working at WLAY when he first
met her. that years later he named his daughter for her.
60 He was inspired equally; Interview with Marion Keisker. 1981.
60 Hoyt Wooten. who had started the station; Robert Johnson. "Wooten Sells T-V. Radio
Stations." Memphis Press-Scimitar. November 3. 1958.
60 he remained quiet and reserved; This surprising self-description of a young Sam Phillips
was borne out in interviews with Marion Keisker. Biff Collie. Jake Hess. and T. Tommy
Cutrer. among others.
60 "some of [the] great Negro artists"; "Man Behind the Sun Sound." Melody Maker.
c. 1957. as cited by Mike Leadbitter in "Memphis." Blues Unlimited Collectors Classics 13.
60 "As word got around"; Robert Johnson. "Suddenly Singing Elvis Presley Zooms into
Recording Stardom." Memphis Press-Scimitar. February 5. 1955.
62 the partnership with Jim Bulleit; Interviews with Sam Phillips and Marion Keisker; Escott
and Hawkins. Good Rockin' Tonight.
63 "to surprise my mother"; March 24. 1956. interview.
63 "I just wanted to hear"; RobertJohnson. Elvis Presley Speaks!, p. 8.
63 "we had a conversation"; Jerry Hopkins interview with Marion Keisker (MVC/MSU).
64 "sounded like somebody beating on a bucket lid"; Time, May 14. 1956, and passim.
64 "We might give you a call sometime"; C. Robert Jennings. "There'll Always Be an
Elvis." Saturday Evening Post, September II. 1965. p. 78.
64 He even had Miss Keisker; This is a combination of Marion's story as related in Jerry
Hopkins' biography (here Sam comes in after the recording is done) and Robert Johnson's account
in TV Star Parade (September 1956). where it is Sam who takes the boy's name.
It must be noted that this is one scenario. and one scenario only. Over the last twenty years
there has sprung up a raging controversy. The nub of the controversy consists of a dispute between
Sam Phillips and Marion Keisker over who actually recorded Elvis Presley that first time.
which in essence boils down to who turned on the tape recorder when he walked in off the
street to make a "personal" record for his mother. The first detailed published version that I am
aware of. Bob Johnson's 1956 Elvis Presley Speaks!, based on extensive reporting by Johnson since
early 1955. was clearly Marion's version. In it she had Sam Phillips coming in "before the record
session was completed. It took about fifteen minutes." Subsequent stories by Johnson (and
other newspaper and magazine stories) fudged the issue with language that could have indicated
the presence of both parties. Marion's account remained the same. however, until her death.
with minor variations. which occasionally offered explanations for Sam's absence and. in her
well-known interview withJerry Hopkins. had her making a tape copy of the young singer partway
into his performance so that she could play it for Sam afterward. As she said to me in 1981.
disclaiming credit for anything other than thinking of Sam; "I knew nothing about r&b. I knew
nothing about country. and I didn't care whether I did. I was totally enamored of Sam. All I
wanted was for Sam to do whatever would make him happy." And it clearly hurt her. as she
said. to be branded a liar.
I knew Marion for the last ten years of her life. In our friendship I knew her to be a truthful
person. always. but Marion would have been the first to tell you that memory is a creative function.
and many aspects of her story contradicted others; for example. if the waiting room was
full of people and she got acquainted with Elvis while others were taking their turn. who was
recording the others? These internal contradictions in no way disprove her story; they only indicate
the difficulties of ascertaining "the truth."
4 9 8 ", N O T E S
Sam didn't weigh in with his version until 1979, when he broke what amounted to two
decades of silence and spoke first to Robert Palmer, then to me and, subsequently, to many
others. Sam's version, essentially, claimed credit for the recording (he didn't need to claim
credit for the discovery, since that was not the issue here) and registered first disbelief, then
indignation, that Marion's story should indicate an ability on her part to operate the delicate
disc-cutting machinery, let alone Sam's permission to do so. Marion, who referred to herself as
a "mechanical idiot," described to me just how she operated the lathe when I first met herbefore
I ever spoke about it with Sam or was fully aware of the controversy, though not before
Marion and Sam had discussed the matter thoroughly between themselves. Marion said, "Who
do you think recorded Buck Turner [Sam's first partner, who had a daily radio show that was
frequently transcribed in the studio] when Sam wasn't there? You know, everything didn't just
Дата добавления: 2015-09-29; просмотров: 37 | Нарушение авторских прав
| <== предыдущая лекция | | | следующая лекция ==> |