Baby, Let's Play House_ Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him - Alanna Nash [235]
Raquel had hoped to find a moment to speak to him, but “there were all those guys to go through. There was no such thing as walking up to Elvis on a set.” And all the official work time was orchestrated and appointed, so “there was never any chance for him to sit and schmooze.” Then one day, all the actresses were called to shoot publicity stills with him, and Raquel was included.
“They lined us all up, and Elvis came in for something like fifty-seven seconds, and he was so charming. He had a smile for everybody—‘Oh, this isn’t too hard to do, all these good-looking girls’—and he kidded around with the guys and the photographer a little bit. Then they said, ‘We got it, Elvis,’ and that was it.”
But later, one of the entourage approached her and invited her to a party at the house. She felt funny about it—she wasn’t sure if it was an invitation from Elvis or from the guys, using Elvis. “I’d had a very strict upbringing, and there was a way that things were supposed to be done. And what would happen if there was someone else there that he was more interested in? I didn’t like the setup, so I didn’t go. I figured if he thought I was that attractive or wanted to see me again, it would have been different.”
She never did get a word with him (“I know people think that I’m very formidable, but I’m really quite shy”), but she watched his every move from the sidelines—how he did his takes, how many takes, what he did in between. “I was just fascinated. And I was so green. I wanted to see how everything worked, and how a real star behaved. He was just so polite, and very jokey in between the takes. You can’t help but think that was the real Elvis, the nice, well-spoken, well-mannered southern guy who was just so hot.”
Photo Insert
Vernon and Gladys Presley, around the time of their marriage, 1933. (Courtesy of David Troedson/Elvis Australia)
Young Gladys, probably late 1940s–early 1950s. (Robin Rosaaen Collection)
When Vernon was incarcerated at Parchman Penitentiary for forgery, Gladys began a letter-writing campaign seeking parole or pardon. In this letter dated November 25, 1938, she pleads, “I have a little boy three years old. Please send [my husband] home to his wife and baby.” (Parchman Penitentiary Archives/Courtesy Roy Turner)
Elvis and Regis Wilson, Humes High senior prom, 1953. (Courtesy of Regis Wilson Vaughn)
Wanda Jackson and the Memphis Flash, first meeting, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, 1955. (Courtesy of Wanda Jackson and Wendell Goodman)
Carolyn Bradshaw during her stint on Hometown Jamboree, late 1954, just before returning to the Louisiana Hayride and meeting Elvis. (Courtesy of Carolyn Bradshaw Shanahan)
Elvis poses with the architects of his Sun career, Sam Phillips and Marion Keisker, in this undated photograph, probably from 1956. (Courtesy of Connie Lauridsen Burk)
During his Las Vegas debut in April 1956, Elvis befriended thirteen-year-old Nancy Hebenstreit (now Kozikowski) and posed for a spooky photo booth picture for her at the Last Frontier Village penny arcade. (Courtesy of Nancy Kozikowski)
Maid of Cotton Patricia Cowden (left) and Memphis Cotton Carnival Queen Clare Mallory gave Elvis the royal treatment just before his performance at Ellis Auditorium, May 15, 1956. (Robert Williams/the Commercial Appeal)
Gladys kept scrapbooks of Elvis’s early press coverage. Here, mother and son peruse a magazine in the living room of their new home on Audubon Drive, probably spring 1956. (Robin Rosaaen Collection)
Elvis’s relationship with his young fans crossed brotherly affection with erotic desire. (Paul Lichter’s Elvis Photo Archives/elvisunique.com)
When fourteen-year-old Jackie Rowland and her mother, Marguerite, visited the Presleys on Audubon Drive, July 4, 1956, Elvis treated her more like a girlfriend than an adoring fan. (Copyright Jackie Rowland 1978. All rights reserved)
Elvis and the