Baby, Let's Play House_ Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him - Alanna Nash [101]
When she got home, there was no sign of him, only a clutch of schoolgirls in her yard. Her mother, May, told her he’d been there, and that he was really ticked because he didn’t have any privacy. He’d left a message for her to call the Sun ’N’ Sand. The whole town seemed to be on the phone, though, and when she finally got through, Elvis gave her grief about it: “You told everybody in Biloxi I was coming!” She tossed it right back: “I didn’t even know you were coming! You arrive in a white Cadillac convertible with a Memphis tag and your sideburns flapping in the wind? C’mon!”
Elvis’s presence escalated the rumor flying around Biloxi that he and June were engaged. A New Orleans radio station, WNOE, picked up on it, reporting it on the air, which sent the Colonel into orbit. Parker ordered Elvis to drive to New Orleans immediately and deny it. Unannounced, Elvis walked into the station and did an on-air interview.
“Elvis, how are you?” the interviewer began.
“Fine. How are you, sir?”
“Wonderful. When did you come into town?”
“Well I just came in a few minutes ago.”
“You drove up from . . .”
“A few minutes ago. [Laughs] Yeah, I was in Biloxi and I heard on the radio where I was supposed to be engaged to somebody, so I came down here to see who I was supposed to be engaged to.” [Laughs]
“Well, just what is the story? Are you engaged to anybody?”
“The girl they were talkin’ about, June Juanico, I’ve dated a couple times.”
“Are you . . .”
“We’re not engaged.”
“Are you serious about anybody?”
“I’m serious about my career right now.”
The interviewer gave it a rest, asked about his next release and his career, and then put him in the hot seat again.
“How old are you, Elvis?”
“Twenty-one.”
“What age do you think might be the best for you to get married?”
“I never thought much about it. In fact, I have never thought of marriage . . . I’ll say this much, I’m not thinkin’ of it right now, but if I were to decide to get married at all, it wouldn’t be a secret. I mean, I’d let everybody know about it. But I have no plans for marriage. I have no specific loves. And I’m not engaged, and I’m not goin’ steady with nobody or nothin’ like that.”
“Well, you know how this whole thing started last night. We got—”
“Excuse me for buttin’ in, but I don’t know how it got started, but everywhere I go, I mean, I’m either engaged or married, or I’ve got four or five kids or somethin’ like that.”
“But you’re not.”
“Everywhere I go. Nah.”
“You’re as free as the breeze.”
“That’s right.”
Elvis’s interviewer then tried to move on.
“Well, Elvis, thank you so very much again, and we wish you lots and lots of good luck in your continued meteoric rise to stardom. . . .”
“Thank you very much. I’ve enjoyed talkin’ to you, and I hope that we got the little rumor cleared up, because it’s just a rumor and nothin’ more. If it wasn’t, then I wouldn’t care for tellin’ anybody. I wouldn’t be ashamed of it.”
“Why don’t you say it just one more time, so people still don’t get the wrong idea?”
[Laughs] “Well, I’m not engaged, if that’s what it’s supposed to be.”
He got the heck out of there then, and he and June and the gang went to the Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park to blow off a little steam before heading back to Biloxi. The next morning, June awakened to a phone call from a reporter from the New Orleans Item. “Did I kiss him good night? What do you think? He’s wonderful!”
A day or so later, they went deep-sea fishing on the boat the Aunt Jennie with June’s mother and her boyfriend, Eddie Bellman. Elvis looked out at the blue water and thought about his upcoming tour of Florida. He still wished he could take his parents to see the ocean, but maybe he could get them to come down to Biloxi now. That way, he could stay down longer with June, too, and not have to worry Gladys. To his surprise, Gladys and Vernon said yes, and the Presleys arrived on Friday, July 13, staying the