Baby, Let's Play House_ Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him - Alanna Nash [355]
His last night of the tour fell on June 26, the Colonel’s birthday, in Indianapolis, where he again wore the Aztec suit, as he had the night before in Cincinnati. He was weary, though upbeat, and afterward on the plane, before the group broke up and went their separate ways, Elvis began giving out gifts, as was his custom at the end of a tour. Shirley, so thin as to appear “almost anorexic,” was surprised when he handed her $750.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“Go buy yourself some chocolate shakes! You’re too darn skinny!”
She wrapped her small arms around him and held him tight. “Oh, Elvis,” she said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he answered, “and I know how much you love Joe.” Then he gave her a kiss.
He was to have six weeks off before the next flurry of shows, and while everyone was glad to have the rest, they threw around the casual banter of what they’d do in the interim before they all gathered again for the end of summer tour. Elvis had performances booked through August, and the general assumption was that he would work right up until the end of the year.
Lamar Fike, who worked the road with the Colonel advancing the dates, knew better. “We were on the airplane, on the ground, and Elvis walked off to accept a plaque from RCA. He was so tired. I said, ‘Boys, I’m going to give you one of my great speeches. He’ll never see the snow fly. I promise you.’ ”
Priscilla had her last conversation with him late in the summer. They talked frequently, as he conferred with her on almost everything, from what color to paint The Lisa Marie to the size of his belt buckle. (“I did say to him, ‘You really shouldn’t be wearing those jumpsuits anymore . . . it’s not looking good.’ ”) Elvis never seemed to have any sense of time, calling her at midnight or two A.M. in California, saying he had a song for her to hear, or a new book he wanted her to read. She complained about the middle-of-the-night calls, but she never refused a visit. She knew he was lonely and needed company.
During their final call, it was wildly apparent how different their lives were now. She was about to go on a safari in New Guinea, while Elvis could barely conceive of such an adventure, let alone allow himself to enjoy one.
The highpoint of their conversation was Lisa Marie’s upcoming visit to Memphis, which was to start July 31. But Elvis spoke obsessively to Priscilla about Red, Sonny, and Dave Hebler’s book, “Elvis: What Happened?,” which was scheduled to be published on August 4. Elvis feared it would be the end of him as a performer, he said.
“He told me he was thinking of changing fields—becoming a movie or record producer. I don’t know if he really would have done it—he was always such a fantasizer—but he was grasping for something.”
Two weeks before Lisa Marie arrived, Elvis did his best to corral Ginger, who continued to come and go. On July 13, he gave her a Triumph sports car, and on August 6, he made a trip to the home of her mother. There he sang hymns “and some of the old songs” at the piano. But his real reason for going was to check out the progress of the landscaping of her home and the installment of a swimming pool, which he had agreed to finance, as well as pay off Jo’s mortgage. Then in the early hours of August 8, he rented out Libertyland, the renamed Fairgrounds, as a treat for Lisa Marie and Ginger’s niece, Amber. Without the old group, the fairgrounds held little allure for him anymore. He started to back out at one point, but Ginger convinced him the kids would be too disappointed.
He was due to start touring again August