"A Blast Into The Past"
A short while ago I had the pleasure at seeing a film about Elvis that I wish a lot you could have seen. The title: 'ELVIS MEMORIES", written and hosted by one of Elvis' closest friends, George Klein.
For better than a year after Elvis' death, George could hardly be found. As Elvis conventions cropped up all over the United States, many promoters tried to contact George with cash offers if he would consent to appear at the conventions. Always George declined. "I set aside a year of mourning as far as Elvis was concerned." George related to me recently. "Elvis was more than just a friend, he was family."
In the past four years. George has only made four public appearances concerning Elvis Presley. He never charged a fee. The first appearance was in New York City, "I went up there at no charge," relates George. "They paid my traveling expenses only. I never ever charged however, in Memphis last year at the ‘Memphis Mafia Reunion' during the Memphis Music Festival, I was paid. The promoters at the show said he was going to compensate us and I said ‘No, you don't have to'. He said he was anyway and I let it go at that. But, on the New York trip, the promoter paid my traveling expenses only and even then, I didn't submit all of them. I lost money going to New York and as a matter of fact, I lost money going to Houston last week. I didn't charge them either, although they did pay my expenses: The only other time I have appeared in public was at the meeting in Memphis last year on Brooks Road."
What follows is an interview I did with George on May 20, 1981 in Memphis, Tennessee where George went out of his way to meet with me at my hotel, where over lunch George was kind enough to allow his words to be taped for publication in our "Something For Everybody" Elvis Presley fan club magazine. I am both proud and honored to present my interview with George Klein within these pages.
SFE: George, speaking of the very controversial Elvis fan meeting in Memphis last year, that was attended by many of Elvis' so called Memphis Mafia, I noticed that you remained seated in the audience until others insisted that you take a seat on the stage alongside of the people who were close to Elvis. Why weren't you on the stage in the first place?
GEORGE: 'Well, I'll tell ya Bob, when Elvis passed away, like all of Elvis' close friends, it hurt me really bad. I really loved Elvis. He did more for me than anybody in the word did. In a time of need, in a time when my health was bad, he took care of me. Paid my hospital bills, ahhhh, when I was going through some really bad personal problems, he was the first one to come to my aid. So, I never once, while Elvis was alive, used him! I never tried to put him on the spot about coming my TV show, I never put him on the spot about coming to visit my radio show and when he saw me coming up to Graceland he knew that I would never ask him to do anything unless it was something really, really important. I would never put him on the spot about anything. So I felt if I wouldn't use Elvis when he lived, I sure as heck ain't going to use him after he has passed away.. So I try to shy away from giving the opinion that I am somebody or trying to blow my ego up that I was a close friend of Elvis'. So I just kind of sit back, trying to observe and ahhhh….
SFE: George when did you first meet Elvis and subsequently become a close friend to him when he became famous?
GEORGE: "I met Elvis in the eighth grade at Humes High School. At the time I wanted to be in show business too. I wanted to be a disc jockey and Elvis wanted to be a recording artist. So we really had a feel for the same thing."
SFE: Did you run around with Elvis at that time?
GEORGE: -'No. We didn't run around at that time away from school because we lived a few miles from each other. But in school, we were good buddies. However, after we got out or High School, I saw Elvis more than I did any of the other people because we both wanted to be in show business, so to speak. What happened was, I was going to Memphis State College and I got me a part time job at a radio station in Arkansas and one weekend I came home and went by ' 'WHBQ' ' because I wanted to say hello to Dewey Phillips. I had worked with Dewey when I was breaking into radio and....Dewey said: "Come here G.K., tell me who is singing this song. So he put a record onto the turntable and he held his hand over the record label so I couldn't see it. As it played, I said: "I don't know who it is." and he said: "You should, you went to school with him." and I said: "It couldn't be anybody but Elvis." and he said "Yeah man, you won't believe what happened. Sam brought this record over last night and so far I 've played this thing seven times. Man, it's a 'smash'.
SFE: At this point, now that Elvis has started on his way to fame and fortune, how is it you became real good friends? Most people, after school days, drift apart and go their separate ways.
GEORGE: "After my summer job in Osceota. ARK., I came back to Memphis to go back to college. As time passed on, I got me a job with another radio station in Memphis and at about this time, Elvis was realty starting to bust open. Personally. I was becoming a pretty 'hot' disc jockey in Memphis at the same time. At the station I was working for, I had the only "Rock & Roll" show a the station. However, you know Bob, in those days, Rock & Roll' wasn't very popular with the old folks. The station eventually let me go because this was the only type of music I was playing. So what happened was I was walking the streets one day, without a job, and I bumped into Elvis. He said: "What's happening?" So I told him that the station had let me go and he said: ' 'Well heck, why don't you come with me? We're going to Canada and in March we're going to Hollywood to do a film called ‘'Jailhouse Rock." So I said: "Well Man! My bags are packed" I was thrilled to death."
SFE: I'm always hesitant to use the words, ‘' Memphis Mafia", because I don't know exactly how people close to Elvis feel about that. Ahhhh…
GEORGE: "I don't mind the tag. We never called ourselves that. It was the media, the press, who called us the Memphis Mafia. We didn't call ourselves that. But, Memphis Mafia......it sounds kinda intriguing. suspenseful and air that, so we didn't care, we thought it was kind of funny, you know
SFE: Many times, during conversations with other Elvis fans we discuss whom we feel were the closest friends of Elvis Presley. Meaning true friends who were with Elvis because they loved him and rot because of what he could give them or do for them. Can you shed a little light on your own feelings about this?
GEORGE: "I would hate to name names. I certainly do not want to hurt anyone's feelings and when you start to name names, you always leave someone out. To answer your question. I'll quote Charlie Hodge. He used to say: "Only Elvis can answer that question."
SFE: George, I don't like to pin you down, but you must have a better answer than that.
GEORGE: 'Bob I'll tell ya. There were many close friends. Many of them. But if you have to have names. I would say that "Billy Smith" was 'the' closest."
SFE: Many of Elvis' fans have asked me for information concerning Elvis' "Solid Gold Cadillac", how it came about and how it ended up in the Country Music Hall of Fame? What can you tell us about it?
GEORGE: "We were out in Hollywood, Joe Esposito, Alan Fortes and I when George Barris a famous Los Angeles custom car maker, came over to the movie set and inquired if we were with Elvis. He was elated to learn we were because he wanted to do a car for Elvis. This was around the mid-6O's and George Barris had taken a photograph of Elvis' Mark II and drew up a conception of flow he could customize it. He asked us to show the picture to Elvis. We did, but Elvis really loved his Mark II and didn't want to fool around with it. But Elvis said: 'I've got an idea for a Limousine'. So ahhhh, Barris came over to Elvis and Elvis told him he didn't want to fool around with the Mark II, but he wanted him to customize his Cadillac. Elvis said: "I want the sharpest car in Hollywood." It took Barris a few months to finish the car and….
SFE: Are the "Gold Records" in the car real?
GEORGE: "No. I don't think so. Those are duplicates. Getting back to the car itself, Elvis couldn't drive it. Everywhere he went, people would stop, it drew a crowd and they didn't even know who was driving it. They just wanted to look at the car and when they realized it was Elvis, this caused double trouble! So Elvis parked the car and wasn't driving it for awhile. Then Colonel Parker came up with the bright idea to sell it to RCA, the Colonel always had an angle. Anyway, the Colonel said: 'Let's let RCA put the car on tour, have a man with it and it will be a great promotion gimmick." So they did that for a couple of years, then it got old. so RCA took the car and parked it. Later on, somebody from the Hall of Fame got with RCA and RCA donated the car to them. Which is very ironic! Because Elvis isn't in the Hall of Fame!'
SFE: Speaking of The Colonel, many of Elvis fans dislike him immensely. Some say Elvis could have gotten along without him. Personally, I always felt that Colonel Parker and Elvis were a team. That one couldn't get along without the other. Do you have any thoughts along this line?
GEORGE: 'You have to give the man (The Colonel) his due. He didn't overexpose Elvis: I'll tell you a good example. Overexposure killed Pat Boone, killed Tom Jones, Johnny Cash and so on. Elvis was never overexposed. They (Elvis and the Colonel) picked the right spots at the right time. The time to do the TV shows, do the concerts… regardless of what you say (about The Colonel), you got to give the man his due! He was a ' genius ' of a manager!
SFE: George, recently in Houston, you allowed a select few Elvis fans an opportunity to view a film you recently finished titled: 'Elvis Memories.' Before I voice my opinion about the film, what can you tell us about it?
GEORGE: 'It is a one hour television documentary special about Elvis containing twenty stars, people like Dick Clark, Wink Martindale. Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, David Frost, Jerry Reed and others. All at then saying beautiful things about Elvis some of them actually never even met Elvis, but they were inspired by Elvis.
SFE: 0f all the different stars in your film, they all said wonderful things about Elvis, do you think any single one of them wasn't sincere in what they said?
GEORGE: " Nooooo. I'm sure they were all sincere. Let's face it, I'm an expert on Elvis Presley and they all knew they couldn't con me. I think they were all sincere. The one thing that I noticed, especially with Jerry Lee Lewis, is that they were all very careful with the words they used. They did not want anything to even look like it was going to be bad against Elvis. And the day that I interviewed Jerry Lee Lewis, I interviewed him for about 20 minutes (in the film he speaks for about 30 seconds), but he was so slow and deliberate with his word's, when he was talking about Elvis, that it didn't really come off well because he was kinda sad when I interviewed him because it brought back memories of Elvis. He really loved Elvis! Regardless of what happened or came down. He loved Elvis Presley and because he was so precise with his words, so careful to not say something that would be looked upon as being bad he was a tough interview.
SFE: What kind at unreleased film footage is in "Elvis Memories?"
GEORGE: 'Footage like the Rosewood Park concert, in color, black suit. red tie. Footage of the time Elvis came to the radio station to visit me with Nick Adams and Barbara Hern. Different camera angles of Elvis when he was in the Army ….'
SFE: And to keep the film roiling along, you have made certain that Elvis himself is on screen every few minutes
GEORGE. ' Exactly! Elvis is in the film about half of the time, yet often enough to hold anyone's attention.'
SFE: Before I had the rare opportunity to see "Elvis Memories", which I thank you for, I attended the film premiere of Warner Brothers new film, 'This is Elvis' . As mentioned in a review I have written for our fan club magazine I thought Warner Brothers, David Wolper & Macon Leo did a magnificent job of telling Elvis' story. However, since seeing your film. "Elvis Memories" I feel in one short hour you have done a slightly better job than they did. Your turn has more warmth and even presents Elvis in a better light.
GEORGE: "Well Bob I thank you for that. We tried to present Elvis in a positive manner. There is nothing bad about Elvis in our film. Nothing! "Elvis Memories"' is 100 percent positive. I wouldn't have it any other way. "Elvis Memories" was a labor of love and when I saw that "rip-off"' Geraldo Rivera presented to the American public a while back. I knew that "Elvis Memories" had to be filmed."
SFE: When can we expect to see 'Elvis Memories' on television?
GEORGE: 'Honestly Bob, I don't know. The TV networks have screened the film and as yet there hasn't been any commitments made. Fact is, they are going to have to be assured of an audience before they'll run it. If they don't get that assurance we will have to try and sell it into syndication."
SFE: As far as I am concerned you shouldn't have to try to sell it. The networks have presented Elvis fans with so much trash lately, I would think they would want to run a positive show about Elvis.
SFE: George we are about out of time, or should say space, for our magazine. I want to thank you for taking time out of your day to talk with me. Our next issue of our fan club magazine will certainly benefit because of your kindness and I can't thank you enough.
GEORGE: "Well Bob, Elvis is my favorite subject. I always enjoy talking about Elvis to people who genuinely liked him or loved him. I think if Elvis were still with us, that he would really appreciate what just happened recently in Houston (the Elvis convention) that he would really appreciate what happens in Memphis every August since he has passed away that they (the fans) haven't forgotten him. That they still support his records, his movies. I am sure he appreciates that they went to see ‘This Is Elvis'. Elvis always loved his fans and I am sure that he would appreciate the pain and the hurt everyone feels since he has passed away but I believe he would rather they remember all the ‘good times', the happy moments, rather than to dwell upon the sad." END
George Klein spent better than three hours with me. I'm sure I could write a complete book if I would try to relate everything that he said to me. I've tried to include here a good representation at our conversation. Words alone could not begin to say what I feel towards this man's kindness in sharing a few memories with us. Since 1981, the "Elvis Memories" film has been presented on TV and released on video tape and Laser Disc.
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