Baby, Let's Play House_ Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him - Alanna Nash [214]
The reason, offers Joe Esposito, is not because Priscilla’s parents promoted this relationship more than Priscilla, as some suggest, but because “they knew that the two of them were in love. And Elvis loved the military. He was a very patriotic guy, and he had a lot of respect for the captain, and the captain could tell that. So that made him feel good, too.”
When the arrangements were in place, Elvis spoke with Patti and the other girls who regularly partied at the house. “I want you to know something,” he said, sounding serious. “I met this girl in Germany and we’ve been talking on the phone a lot. I’m bringing her here.” But during Priscilla’s visit, the house would be family-oriented: the guys who were married, including Joe, would bring their wives over each night, and the parties would temporarily stop.
Still, there was the problem of Anita. Elvis always spent the Fourth of July in Memphis, but the holiday fell during Priscilla’s trip to the States. So Joanie Esposito, Joe’s wife, who was pregnant with their daughter, Debbie, was assigned the task of keeping Anita occupied. If Joanie went to Memphis, Elvis figured, Anita would think he and the guys weren’t far behind. He could deal with the fallout later.
When Joe picked Priscilla up at LAX that summer day, he found a nervous teenager who had no idea what to expect. He gave her a short tour of Los Angeles, taking her by the film studios where Elvis made his movies, and then speeding along Sunset Strip to the wrought-iron gates of Bel Air and on to the mansion on Bellagio Road. In Joe’s memory, “She pretty well didn’t say too much. Whatever Elvis said was right, and she did it. Remember, Priscilla was young, naïve, and shy, didn’t know too much about the world, and was in awe of Elvis and of the life he was leading.”
Indeed, even the airport seemed beautiful to her after the drabness of Germany, and when Elvis’s butler, Jimmy, met her at the door (“Mr. P is in the den”), Priscilla could hardly believe such opulence. Joe led her downstairs, where she heard loud music and people laughing, and then she saw him, leaning over the pool table, ready to make a shot. His face lit up, and in dark trousers, a white shirt, a dark captain’s hat on his newly black hair, he looked thinner and even more breathtaking than ever.
“There she is!” he shouted, and threw down the pool stick. “There’s Priscilla!”
He picked her up and kissed her and then gave her a wide smile. “Let me look at you,” he said. “You’re all grown up!”
She was embarrassed that everyone was watching—Patti Parry saw fear in her eyes—and she hoped when Elvis looked her up and down that he hadn’t noticed the five pounds she’d gained, or that he didn’t think her ponytail made her seem too much like a little girl. But he did seem overjoyed to see her, even if he went right back to his pool game.
He was different, though, than he’d been in Germany—mischievous and cocky, with a quick temper. When a girl warned him to look out for a glass teetering near the edge of the pool table, he shot her a nasty look, as if to say she should have taken care of it herself. And a few days later, when he played Priscilla some of his new songs and asked her what she thought, he “flipped out” when she told him she loved his voice, but she preferred the raw rock and roll to his new brand of polished pop.
“I didn’t ask you what style I should be singing,” he charged. “I just asked about these songs.” Then he called her an “amateur” and stormed out of the room, slamming the door. His moods would continue to be erratic, but she knew his true nature was kind, generous, and romantic.
That night, he sent her alone to his bedroom.