‘King Elvis’ -- R.I.P.

Today, Elvis Presley would be marking his 76th birthday.
He came from the small town of Tupelo, Mississippi, and there are many accounts of his strong devotion to his mother. In fact, his legendary first recording at ‘Sun’ Records in Memphis was a gift for her.
As a young singer, he worked hard to achieve his meteoric rise to fame, first in the South and later internationally. It was said that here was a ‘white singer who could sing black songs.’ He could do this because he visited many music clubs and mingled easily with black musicians, despite some of the notorious racial divisions and stereotypes of his day and age.
Music veterans who worked with him during his early career often remarked that he carried on the positive values of a Southern gentleman.
-- He was unfailingly polite to everyone: men of any age were addressed as ‘sir’, while ladies were addressed as, ‘ma’am.’
-- He took a big chance, placing his music career on hold in 1958, by enlisting in the U-S Army and ‘doing his hitch.’
-- He worked hard at his craft, and acquired new skills when necessary. In 1956, while he prepared to begin work on his first movie,
Love Me Tender, critics wondered if the singing star would be able to demonstrate any acting skills. The producers gave him the script, which he took home to study.
On the first day of shooting, he showed up at the studio knowing all his lines ... and EVERYONE ELSE’S ... for the entire movie!
-- He was a ‘nice guy.’ A friend of mine in Boston once told me that he had lived in Seattle, Washington, during the early ‘60s and had worked as an extra in one of Elvis’ next movies,
‘It Happened at the World’s Fair.’
Seattle’s symbol for the Fair was the ‘Space Needle’ -- which is still a major tourist attraction, today.
One afternoon, during a 60-floor descent in an elevator after shooting a scene, the mechanism jammed, and the group, which included Elvis, was stuck in the air. There were fears for their safety, and, of course, the ‘down-time’ was delaying the shooting schedule and costing the film company money.
My friend reported that, although some of the passengers became nervous and started to fret, Elvis remained calm, cool, supportive and reassuring throughout the entire hour-long incident.
Today, we remember Elvis Presley-- just a small-town Southern boy, who overcame tremendous odds to become ... ‘the King.’