American Icon: Visiting Elvis Presley's Life
by Joe Volz
The rags-to-riches story of how Elvis Presley, turned American icon, swivel-hipped his way to fame begins in a small farming community a few hours south of Memphis. Presley, a shy farm boy, lived his first 13 years dirt poor in the deep south in Tupelo, Mississippi.
The story ends in Memphis, at Graceland, the mansion where Elvis lived from the age of 22 to his sudden death in 1977. The aura of Hollywood and the '50s and '60s music scene permeates the 13-acre estate. Green shag rugs, multicolored fabric and mirrors speak of the character of the times.
The glittering aisles of gold records spotlight the public Elvis most people have heard about; the celebrity, the partygoer, the man who gave cars away.
But it's in Tupelo, where a heifer sale would pack Main Street, that one sees how Elvis was less the King and more like anyone else.
Tupelo (1935 to 1948)
Even though industry has outgrown agriculture and the city's population has swelled from 10,000 to 40,000, people downtown still remember Elvis. And you can wander the area and listen to the memories.
"Elvis couldn't bring more than 65 cents at the door of the night club," says Charlie Watson who owns the Ice House Club, a few blocks from the hardware store where Elvis bought his first guitar.
At Tupelo Hardware Company, Inc., the owners sell Elvis post cards and records right along with industrial parts. The store is run by the same family that sold Elvis' mother, Gladys, a guitar for $12.50 for the future King's 10th birthday.
The guitar was an accident. Elvis came in looking for a bicycle, then saw a .22 rifle on the wall and got "pouty" because he wanted it, Vice President Howard Hite recalls. An employee, Forrest Bobo, reached in and handed Elvis a guitar.
"Elvis strummed it. says Hite. "We like to say the rest is history."
Elvis' First Home
Until he was 3, Elvis lived in a barren two-room shack. Visitors can see it but it is not exactly a palace. Inside is a room with a double bed. Elvis slept with his parents. A table with four chairs and a counter for cooking is in the second room. There are no utilities. The house was repossessed when Elvis' family couldn't make good on a $180 loan taken to build it.
The Elvis Presley Museum
The museum is next to his first home. Its collection spans Elvis' life through the personal lenses of one of his close Tupelo friends, Janelle McComb. Photos and items display his budding days with Sun Records when Sam Phillips listened, unimpressed, to "My Happiness." Elvis spun into another song, "That's all Right, Momma," and that won Mr. Phillips' heart launching Elvis's career.
In another case is a microphone Elvis used to record. In one early picture, he's hiding behind a curtain about to open.
Graceland (1957 to 1977)
Elvis' family moved to Memphis to start a new life when Elvis was 13. But the family lived in public housing. It wasn't until Elvis's career took off that the family's lifestyle improved. Fortunately for the Presleys, that wasn't long in coming.
Nine years later he'd earned enough from his recordings to buy a doctor's mansion for $100,000.
The tour through the 15,000-square foot Graceland home is larger than life. Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis' daughter, owns the property and a shuttle takes visitors to the front door. Everyone aboard receives earphones that occasionally blare Elvis tunes.
A windowless kitchen was "grand central" in its heyday, the recording informs tourists. Across an aisle is the famed, "jungle room," so named by the public because of its fur-trimmed chairs and jungle animal carvings.
The grounds includes a garage where Elvis kept his cars, including a pink Cadillac. One of the houses in the back is a trophy building. The earphones talk about Elvis' five gold records, of which Hound Dog was one. He won Grammy Awards for gospel music and made 31 films between 1956 and 1959.
Resources
Elvis Presley Center and Museum, Tupelo
Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., Memphis
Tupelo, the Place to Go - A publication of the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau, P.O. Drawer 47, Tupelo, MS 38802 or call 888-273-7798 or 800-533-0611
Books
Find these books online at Barnes and Noble.com.
- Elvis Presley (The Penguin Lives Series). Bobbie Ann Mason. Penguin Group. September 2002
- The Truth about Elvis Aron Presley: In His Own Words. Donald Hinton. American Literary Press. July 2001
- Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. Peter Guralnick. Back Bay Books. September 1995
