Baby, Let's Play House_ Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him - Alanna Nash [297]
Yet in many ways, she held herself back with him. “I loved him with all my heart and soul, but didn’t fall ‘in love’ with him because I really wanted to be with Jim Aubrey. But Elvis was a gift, something good that happened to me.”
From the beginning, he knew about her son, Gerry, who was six years old. He knew, too, that Barbara had given birth to him, that she was a mother. Yet “it never stopped him from wanting to make love with me or be with me. If one doesn’t talk about something then one forgets it exists, and in my case we didn’t talk about my son.” Nor did he mention Lisa Marie, because “I understood what he wanted, and a part of that was fantasy. Having children brings reality into any given situation.”
The only time Barbara was aware of Priscilla was when she saw her things in the bathroom at the Trousdale home. But he did talk of Ann-Margret, mostly in the sense of how jealous he was of Roger Smith. Even though he had chosen Priscilla over the sensuous redhead, “It took him a long time to forget Ann-Margret . . . as Ann had moved on. When he spoke of her, I could tell it hurt his feelings.”
Elvis and Barbara would see each other off and on for two years and keep their affair secret from almost everyone. Elvis bought her a brown 250C Mercedes, gave her guns so she could keep herself safe, and adorned her with beautiful clothes and jewelry. “I loved my little brown Mercedes. But Elvis was the most excited, because he truly loved to give. He loved surprising you when you least expected it.”
Unlike Joyce Bova, she knew Elvis “had a girl for most every night and every occasion. But why not? He was the King. I can’t blame him. It kept his stories fresh. And he loved all women really. He appreciated us all.”
Their relationship was unique for both of them. Soon she would be juggling not just Elvis and James, but also Steve McQueen, with whom she would make the 1972 film Junior Bonner. Elvis never asked her to stop seeing other men, and Barbara was the only woman from whom Elvis tolerated such behavior, otherwise insisting on complete faithfulness. He took pride in stealing James Aubrey’s girlfriend, but he couldn’t stand the idea of Barbara being with McQueen, whom he otherwise admired, as he did Aubrey. Elvis called McQueen “that motorcycle hick,” the tough-guy actor returning the barb with “that guitar hick.”
“What’s ironic,” she says, “is that all three of us were hicks, and I mean that in the most affectionate way.”
On September 9, 1970, Elvis began a pilot tour of six cities—Phoenix, St. Louis, Detroit, Miami Beach, Tampa, and Mobile—to resume his live concerts. With all tickets selling out within hours of going on sale—netting Elvis nearly $175,000 for six nights of work—he knew his rock-and-roll caravan would be on the move for some time. He was healthy, trim, and sexy, though his sideburns had grown into such huge mutton chops that they threatened to envelop his face.
The Colonel advanced the dates, going into each city the day before, and the old gang came back to do their jobs—Joe in overall command, Charlie stage-managing with scarves and water at hand, Lamar running lights, Richard handling wardrobe, and Sonny heading up security. Dr. Nick was now on the payroll as tour physician.
On the first night, Elvis met an attractive, long-haired brunette named Sherry Williams, who turned eighteen in his hotel room after the show. She lived in L.A., but she had a friend who had met Elvis before and wanted someone to make the trip to Arizona with her. Sherry was actually more of a Beatles girl, but she knew Elvis was interested in her, because “he would be talking to someone and glancing at me out of the corner of his