The King Remains in the Heart and Soul - Time Out #375

Happy Thanksgiving Week, the best truly-American of all our holidays. It is a time for families and friends to come together for great fellowship, food, and celebrations.

The Covid-19 worldwide pandemic was all-encompassing. It forced us to stay around our homes for an extended period of time, like no other event in our lifetimes, We stayed away from public gatherings for months, including the always-entertaining movie theatres. These venues are now attempting to make comebacks from complete temporary closures, but I wonder if movies will ever be what they were prior to the arrival of the dreaded virus in March, 2020? Not to mention, these entertaining businesses now have to compete with all the video offerings the American public has via the internet. Yes, the movies have tough economic battles ahead of them.

My bride, Lady Deborah, and I have been to a few movies, post-pandemic, and one of them I would like to talk about today, "Elvis"

This entertaining film, starring Austin Butler (Elvis) and Tom Hanks ( Elvis' manager, Col. Tom Parker) is an excellent movie! It certainly brought my childhood and young adult memories back to me, as I sat in the theatre in Our Town, enjoying the show with Ms. Debbie. I remember Elvis' explosion on the entertainment scene in Our Country in the late 1950's and early 60's, as I was growing up in Our Town. I purchased his 45-records, and played them on my older sister, Beverly's, small record player. I also remember being glued to our black and white television set for Elvis' appearance on the Ed Sullivan variety show. I recall the television network's decision not to show his legendary gyrations from his waist down. In those days, the American public was divided on how our society dealt with the new phenomena of rock 'n roll music. I followed his acting in several movies, and remember the famous film clip of him getting his thick, slick, ducktail-type hair get shaved when he was inducted into the army. I enjoyed later watching tv coverage of his activities, while he was on army active duty, stationed in Germany.

Simply stated, Elvis was "IT" regarding entertainment, before the arrival of the Beatles, in the early 1960's. The media sources then, television, radio, newspapers, and magazines, carefully recorded his every movement. If The King (of rock 'n roll, as he was nicknamed) endorsed something, you just knew it had to be good and correct! Young men's hairstyles certainly adapted his classic look, whenever possible. For several years at the Las Vegas Hilton, Elvis was the resort's headline entertainer, and his on-stage performances were always sold out and magical. Also, eye-catching, was his life off the stage, whether it was in Las Vegas, on-the-road, or in his large estate at Graceland, south Memphis, Tennessee. Renting out an entire amusement park or a movie theatre for his own personal use, was commonplace. Unfortunately, also, was his substance abuse problems, and bizarre behavior of staying up all night and sleeping most of the day, a routine pattern.

On a personal note, I did my final year of dermatology training in the huge Memphis medical complex, 1977-78. During my second month there (August, 1977) I was seeing patients inside large Methodist Hospital, located in the health-training complex, the day Elvis was brought into their emergency room via ambulance from Graceland. Word quickly spread throughout the hospital while I was there, The King had passed away at the young age of 42. The city of Memphis was in shock, as was our entire country.

Well, nostalgia set-in a few months ago when my bride and I relived part of our youth by watching the current film about The King, and his complex relationship with his long-time manager, Col. Parker. If the film is a correct history of Elvis, and I believe it probably is, it is almost like Col. Parker used a magic spell on The King to keep Elvis under his tight control. Both actors do academy award type performances, in my humble opinion.

Heck, I have even saved a set of Elvis trading cards, collected from my youth, along with my professional sports cards. As I look over these almost 70-year-old Elvis cards, I wonder if The King "has really left the building?" Just sayin'....