The Idle American: Uncle Mort and Elvis

Until 1955, before Elvis Presley got a sniff of stardom, he was on the brink of greatness. Months later, his name was marqueed in capital letters nationwide. A 20-year-old credited with making rock 'n' roll music a national phenomenon, he could not have known how short brinks sometimes can be.

About six months after crowding his calendar with smaller venues, he vaulted into stardom.

Leading the way were screaming teenage girls, and millions soon joined him in adoration during his 22 years at the top.

How about this for contrast? On July 4, 1955, he performed in Brownwood, Stephenville and DeLeon, Texas, in a period of 12 hours. It’s a safe bet that tickets were bought with coins; many likely were comps. Some six months later, his Heartbreak Hotel was the first of his 18 songs to crack a million in sales. For a total of 80 months, one of his songs was Billboard’s No. 1.

Elvis starred in 31 movies and two documentaries, with world-wide record sales topping half billion.

He died at age 42 in 1977, his death likely hastened by his use of illegal substances.

The initial chasm separating Elvis lovers and his critics shrank quickly, though some remain critical, feeling that his gyrational performances contributed to his demise. However, few world figures’ names remain so recognizable as Elvis’, who’ll have been gone a half-century in 2027. (One hardliner said his disdain for Jane Fonda was mighty close to Elvis’ critics. Al Capp, whose comic strip Little Abner, ran for years, sometimes joked that he was neutral on Jane. “I’d send her a dozen roses tonight if I knew which jail she was in,” he told numerous audiences.

Elvis’ first movie, Love me Tender, had a different name in the early going, but the song was so popular, they changed the movie name.  

Then, it was an immediate hit, the movie title change probably the genius of Elvis’ longtime manager, the late Colonel Tom Parker. He hitched his wagon to Presley’s stardom, pocketing huge sums of money along the way.

My ancient Uncle Mort, whose home is deep in the East Texas thicket, clearly remembers his first exposure to Elvis in 1956.

That’s when they ballyhooed a makeshift theater some 20 miles from his spread. It was sorta like a twin screen, perhaps a full decade before legitimate two-screen theaters came along. This one had a temporary wall separating the crowd and the screens. A half-dollar paid for admission to either Lassie Come Home, already a classic, or Elvis’ first flick.

You can probably guess the rest. Mort had barely heard of Elvis at the time, and figured he couldn’t go wrong with Lassie.

However, he chose the wrong entrance, suddenly realizing he was watching “an entertainer going to the dogs” instead of a recognized dog hero like Lassie. Knowing that he’d be hearing music no matter which auditorium he chose, he figured he might as well stay seated for the Elvis movie.

Mort was fascinated by “You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog.” Stunned by the star’s gyrations, Mort said, “When our hound dogs act like that, we give ‘em worm medicine.”

Brenda and I were married 60 years ago, Aug. 12, 1966. During our sixth year of marriage, we learned that Elvis was coming to town in June 1972. I figured to gain points by treating her to choice seating among the more than 14,000 fans at the then-new Fort Worth Convention Center.

An Elvis fan since age 10, she was thrilled about seating so near the stage, miffed that some critics called him “Elvis, the Pelvis.”

During the show, he wriggled close enough for Brenda to grab his neck scarf. She didn’t, but managed to catch several drops of his sweat on her arm. It was a magical evening for her.

I preferred his gospel songs.

After all, he got his start hanging around the nationally-famous Blackwood Brothers gospel quartet.

It mattered not that I avoided catching any of his sweat droplets. Brenda didn’t bathe for a week.

Dr. Newbury, longtime chancellor of Howard Payne University, lives in the Metroplex. Email: newbury@speakerdoc.com. Website: www.speakerdoc.com. Phone: 817-447-3872.