DATE: Saturday, August 16, 1997             TAG: 9708160051

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  148 lines

VIVA ELVIS: OUR CRITIC EMPTOES NOTEBOOKS FROM YEARS ON THE ELVIS BEAT

WHETHER YOU'RE reverent or irreverent, the Elvis Presley phenomenon is sure to be recorded as one of the more bizarre developments of the 20th century.

It was only a three-column headline in the Virginian-Pilot on Aug. 17, 1977, that read ``King of Rock 'n' Roll Is Dead; Suffered Heart Attack at Home.'' The first paragraph pointed out, simply, that he ``changed American music styles.' ''

But who could have dreamed that 20 years later, on the eve of his death, thousands of fans would still be holding a candlelight vigil on the macadam drive that leads up the hill to Graceland mansion and the Meditation Garden where Elvis, his parents and grandmother are buried?

Anyone who covered entertainment in the era had to be on to the Elvis story and, yes, I reviewed the two big Elvis concerts locally, as well as the Elvis ``comeback'' appearance at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas - the event that started his second career after the dismal Hollywood years.

But the most frequently received question of the week is: ``Did you ever interview Elvis?'' No, but I did interview Priscilla Presley, Vester Presley, Ann-Margret, Elvis' maids, the janitor at his old high school and tried, unsuccessfully, to find his dog, Get Low. Yes, we were on the pursuit.

It's a day to clean out the notebook. Elvis' managers always claimed that Hampton Roads was one of his most active and boisterous markets.

A Personal Diary of Elvis Notes:

The first local Elvis sighting: The mid-'50s when he performed on the bottom half of a billing at the Norfolk Arena. (That's the building on the other end of Harrison Opera House.) His name was misspelled on the marquee.

A Vegas sighting: Those of us who saw Presley perform at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas in the late '60s remember it as an eye-opening experience. After decades of awful movies and an early-'50s Vegas flop, some considered him washed up, but the Hilton performance was electric. (And, surprisingly, it wasn't that difficult to get tickets.)

The only Elvis sighting offstage: The occasion was Nancy Sinatra's opening at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. Daddy Frank had chartered two planes to fly stars over from Hollywood to hear Nancy sing ``These Boots Are Made for Walking.'' By decree, it was a bigger star turnout than the Oscars. Among those in attendance were Barbara Stanwyck, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., William Holden and just about anybody who wanted to be considered a friend of Sinatra's, which was everyone who was smart. Seconds after the lights went down, Elvis, accompanied by several bodyguards, slipped into a side booth.

First coliseum sighting: Elvis' first Hampton Roads coliseum appearance was in April 1972. It resulted in a traffic jam with cars lined up for at least a mile leading to the Hampton Coliseum. The official record showed that 21,600 people paid to see Elvis' two Sunday concerts (afternoon and evening). At that time, that was more than had seen a performer on any single day in Hampton Roads history.

Then 37, Elvis opened with ``Maybelline'' and ``Proud Mary.'' The Virginian-Pilot review stated, ``Still possessed with a good deal of boyish mischievousness, he substituted ad lib lyrics that often set his orchestra members into gales of laughter in mid-performance. He bounded on stage in a red, bell-bottom suit, complete with cape and white shoes that have apparently replaced his by-now-famous white outfit worn at Vegas.''

Only Scope sighting: July 20, 1975, when 22,600 attended his two shows at Norfolk Scope. There was an onstage walk-off by two members of his backup singing group, the Sweet Inspirations, who claimed he had made a racist comment. He gave the Inspiration who remained on stage a diamond ring off his own finger. His entrance music was ``Thus Spake Zarathustra,'' which in the movie ``2001: A Space Odyssey'' heralded the dawn of creation. The Virginian-Pilot review stated that ``the tension among the fans was noticeable. Reports on Elvis' health have been rampant in the past year. Stories that he would never work again because of excessive weight gain have also been printed.''

Best Priscilla Presley quote (interviewed at the Malibu, Calif., home of Larry Hagman, where she attended a ``Dallas'' cast party with the karate teacher for whom she left Elvis): ``I didn't seem to realize how famous he was. The degree of it came to me on the day when I looked out the window and saw some fans taking my discarded eyelashes out of a garbage can. They wanted the eyelashes for a souvenir? I couldn't believe it. That, I think, is when I first realized how famous Elvis was.''

Classiest Ann-Margret quote (interviewed at her Los Angeles home, which is the same house previously occupied by Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall): ``What Elvis and I had remains between us. He has taken it to the grave. I will take it to my grave.''

A rare Vester Presley quote (the uncle who was the gatekeeper at Graceland for years): ``I was down at the gatehouse on the day he died, and they come running to tell me. I lied to the press boys when they asked about who found the body. I told them it was the boys, but, you know, there was a woman there - name of Ginger (Elvis' girlfriend, Ginger Alden). I wouldn't give that woman the time of day, I think she was the one who really found Elvis' body. I never saw that woman smiling but one time in my life and that was when she was showing this diamond ring Elvis gave her. She was on the way out. Elvis told me she was on the way out.''

Most bizarre Graceland sighting: Thirteen-year-old Lisa Marie Presley, future heiress to the estate, playing in the front yard and talking with the tourists solemnly lined up to file around her father's grave four years after his death. (``If anyone asks who she is,'' Uncle Vester said, ``we just tell them she's a neighborhood kid.'')

Second most bizarre Graceland sighting: Aunt Delta Mae Biggs shuffling through the living room in her robe and bedroom slippers, carrying a cup of coffee. She was on the way to the kitchen, and totally oblivious to the tourists who were roaming through her house. She lived upstairs at Graceland.

Most missed Graceland sighting: Get Low, Elvis' dog. He died (of what Uncle Vester called kidney failure) one year after Elvis. He was not a hound dog.

Best Elvis movie: ``Viva Las Vegas.'' the only movie in which he had a musical co-star who stood up to him - Ann-Margret. Also credible were ``Jailhouse Rock'' and ``King Creole.''

Worst Elvis movie: ``Change of Habit,'' in which Mary Tyler Moore played a nun who had to choose between Elvis and the nunnery. A close second was ``Harum Scarum'' with Elvis dressed as an Arabian sheik, opposite Mary Ann Mobley.

The Elvis movie breakthrough performance that never took place: Barbra Streisand wanted Elvis to star in her version of ``A Star Is Born.'' The role would have been as her fading husband, a part that won Oscar nominations for both Frederic March and James Mason in earlier versions. It was an important, dramatic role - something that Elvis had never played. Rumors were that Col. Parker vetoed it, suggesting that Elvis should never play a has-been. There also were fears that Streisand was producing the film primarily as a vehicle for herself. Kris Kristofferson played opposite her instead.

Movie curiosities: Elvis' movie career consisted of dismally routine factory things, churning out an average of three a year. They would have destroyed most careers, but did you know that he was directed, at one time, by Michael Curtiz, the same man who directed the Oscar-winning ``Casablanca''? The film was ``King Creole'' (1958). While most of the films featured nameless starlets, his co-stars included such veterans as Barbara Stanwyck, Angela Lansbury, Walter Matthau, Lizabeth Scott and Hope Lange.

Elvis' Norfolk song: A 1974 recording called ``Promised Land'' had Elvis singing a ballad about how he left his home in Norfolk on a bus headed for Los Angeles. The conclusion of the song has him calling a Norfolk number to tell the unnamed person that the poor boy has reached the promised land.

The final local Elvis sighting: Presley's final local performance was a Saturday night in August 1976 at Hampton Coliseum. Those near the stage passed up flowers, stuffed teddy bears, a cardboard guitar and a purple pillow with yellow fringe in the shape of a heart. The Pilot's review tried valiantly to avoid mentioning the weight, but asked, ominously, ``Can it be that the middle-aged housewives actually are sent into swoons of ecstasy by the 41-year-old paunchy singer who shakes his pelvis in a parody of the self-same act he performed 25 years ago as America's teen idol?''

Near the end of the program, Elvis sang ``How Great Thou Art.''

And the last words Elvis Presley uttered on a local stage? As the audience roared to try to keep him on stage, he said, ``Anytime you want us back, just let us know and we'll provide it.'' Then he was gone, with a group of bodyguards on each side.

A year later, on Aug. 16, 1977, he was dead. ILLUSTRATION: All photos courtesy Archive Newsphotos except Nixon

and Elvis (Associated Press file)

FILE STAFF PHOTO

Near the end of his career, a chubby Elvis Presley appeared at

Hampton Coliseum. KEYWORDS: ANNIVERSARY

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