Glady's - the saviour of Elvis?

[JamieAKelley]

Wow. Beautifully put.

What do you think about my idea that if Gladys was alive, he may not have taken the interest in Priscilla the way he did. Hard to tell what all that difference would have changed. Except that he'd have married Ann-Margaret or Anita Wood, most likely.

Not to change the subject, and we can talk in PM so as not to disrupt the topic if you prefer. I just get a kick out of your "Elvis life" analasys(sp).

[Guest]

See her signature (or at least Vernons attempt to forge her signature) on the respective contract.

I never heard that Vernon tried to forge Gladys's signature...? What's the story behind that?

[Pete Dube]

With all due respect Pete, if the holes are not there you don't have to depend on drugs to fill them. Removing drugs is not a magic cure all. The problems came first and exacerbated the drug use.

LTB, I never suggested it was merely a matter of removing drugs. It was Elvis' inability to deal with his probelms or "holes" as you put it that led to his drug abuse/addiction. So my point still holds that nothing external was going to save Elvis in the long run.

What would've happened when the novelty and excitement of a world tour or a re-vitalized movie career wore off ? Back to the drugs. He needed to come to grips with and learn how to more effectively cope with the personal demons within him.

If Elvis had quit drugs cold turkey, he still would have faced boredom and a lack of challenges, a divorce, middle age, money problems, a lack of trust in his inner circle, a lack of privacy, the ultimate drug of unchecked money and power. Eventually, it's a Catch 22 where the drugs create a whole set of problems on their own that need to be dealt with before rectifying the whole set. But really if you were totally happy getting up in the morning would you need a pick me up?

No one is totally happy. But Elvis certainly could've been a lot happier if he learned to deal with his problems rather than numb himself from them.
He was an insular person by nature. The drugs were just more insulation.

I don't know if Elvis' mother would have been a factor in curbing Elvis' drug use. Save for a few experiments, all of Elvis' drug use was prescription based. This gave it an air of legitimacy that allowed Elvis to fool himself and probably would have fooled his mother.

Also some have speculated that Elvis' mothers' smothering nature may have kept him from being able to deal with the world. I think in some ways that is 20/20 hindsight and misguided hindsight at that. What could any mother have done to prepare her son, raised in poverty, to deal with being Elvis Presley. One thing that is occasionally glossed over is the fact that Elvis lived his entire adult life under the most extraordinary of circumstances in a world changing faster than even most ordinary people could deal with. Many people have a goal of becoming wealthy Elvis accomplished at 21. Many people have a goal of making a mark in the world at large. Again already done at 21. You could go on and on and most of life's goals Elvis had already accomplished. Then you have the fact that Elvis created a hysteria heretofore unseen in the world creating a violation of his personal and space that eclipsed regular show business performers. Because of that position and power, he is courted by virtually everyone and can trust no one. Most men of power have to deal with this in some way but usually build trusted bonds over time. Conquering the world at 21 and you don't have the time to build those bonds especially for a clannish family like the Presleys. You also don't have the experience necessary to deal with your newfound wealth and power. Even more your position in that league is precarious. You're constantly being told you have no talent. It is a really an unusual circusmtance.

Yes, Elvis was in a unique situation. Which is why I say that he may very well have been doomed the moment he walked into Sun Records for the first time.

[Scatter]

Scatter, Gladys did place her trust in the Colonel, though I accept she may have regretted it or at least didn't trust her own judgement in doing so.

See her signature (or at least Vernons attempt to forge her signature) on the respective contract.

Steve, being talked into placing her sig (and I have heard as well it may have been forged) on a contract by a tagteam of her son and husband doesn't constitute trust. And it certainly doesn't constitute like........I just read an interview somewhere by an aunt or someone who insisted Gladys hated the sight of Parker(as did most everyone else in the family).

Elaine Dundy reports the same in her excellent "Elvis and Gladys".

I see what you're saying, but that doesn't constitute trust to me as much as an inability to withstand the pressure of Elvis and Vernon.

[Scatter]

Yes, it wasn't about other people saving Elvis, but it wasn't about Elvis saving Elvis either. He didn't accept he ever had anything to save himself from. Elvis was living the way Elvis wanted to live and there was nothing wrong with that. who was right ? Elvis - winner of the American Dream and conqueror of the world or all those people who read gossip magazines ?

Great point Steve. I agree entirely.

[Scatter]

Joe. Doctors today hand out pills like they are going out of style.Elvis must have known the effect the pills had on him, they were effecting his train of thought and his appearance, and you know that Elvis always liked to look good.

C'mon Barry.........it was the friggin'50s-60s. Elvis knew that he was shutting down his digestive system?? He knew he was initiating chronic insomnia?? He knew he was enlarging his heart?? He knew that his personality type lent itself to addiction??

Hell man, the DOCTORS didn't know the long term ramifications.............how could Elvis?? By the time the symptoms began appearing, he was already hopelessly dependent with nowhere to turn.

[Hav-A-Tampa]

I don't know if Elvis' mother would have been a factor in curbing Elvis' drug use. Save for a few experiments, all of Elvis' drug use was prescription based. This gave it an air of legitimacy that allowed Elvis to fool himself and probably would have fooled his mother.

Very good point, and actually one of the good ol' Stanley brothers (forget which one) for once had something worthwhile to say about Elvis's drug habits; that he might have been better off if he had been hooked on alcohol or "street" drugs instead, because of the shame, because of the risk of being caught. That "air of legitimacy" was probably more dangerous for Elvis than the drugs themselves. And he probably would have tried to fool Gladys just as he did Vernon (and himself).

It is interesting to speculate what would have been different if Gladys had lived longer; I guess Elvis must have felt a lot of guilt about her dying so young. Not that it was his fault, of course, but knowing how close they were and how bad Gladys felt when Elvis was away on tour and in the army. He thought his success would make her happy, instead it seemed to make her miserable and start drinking, eating diet pills.

Gladys death and the time he spent in Germany could have made Elvis take more control over his life, and his career. Instead, rather the opposite was true.

I agree with Scatter, Dundy's "Elvis and Gladys" is an excellent book, one of the few books on Elvis I find essential.

[chris c]

The problem with this whole area is that we all feel we know a lot about Elvis and that our personal viewpoints (colored by our own personalities) are the correct ones. But as someone just said, Elvis was apparently a person who kept a lot of things to himself, so it's impossible to state accurately what he thought, what he knew, what he realised, what he felt about his achievements, etc. Also, there is that thing about so many members of his family having problems with addiction, early death and suicide - it could well be that what was going to happen was going to happen, without some heavyweight intervention.

[Scatter]

The problem with this whole area is that we all feel we know a lot about Elvis and that our personal viewpoints (colored by our own personalities) are the correct ones. But as someone just said, Elvis was apparently a person who kept a lot of things to himself, so it's impossible to state accurately what he thought, what he knew, what he realised, what he felt about his achievements, etc. Also, there is that thing about so many members of his family having problems with addiction, early death and suicide - it could well be that what was going to happen was going to happen, without some heavyweight intervention.

Fair enough Chris...........but to suggest that "Elvis knew what he was doing" just doesn't wash.

The medical community was clueless, but Elvis had full knowledge??

[Juan Luis]

Elvis knew who/what ruled him!

[Barry]

Well Scatter, Elvis was not a foolish man, so i would have to think that he knew full well what the drugs were doing to him, and how many times did he end up in the hospital because of the drugs, or do you think this was just a normal reaction. I don't recall Elvis wearing Rose Colored Glasses, anyway that is my opinion.

[Scatter]

Well Scatter, Elvis was not a foolish man, so i would have to think that he knew full well what the drugs were doing to him, and how many times did he end up in the hospital because of the drugs, or do you think this was just a normal reaction. I don't recall Elvis wearing Rose Colored Glasses, anyway that is my opinion.

Actually Barry, I agree with you entirely if you are referencing the '70s. Where we diverge (unless I'm misinterpreting you) is that I don't believe that Elvis had any idea of the ramifications of what he was getting into through the 50s and 60s.

As I said, even the medical community was in the dark, and there simply were no long range studies available to draw upon. By the time the 70s rolled around, and Elvis had become aware of what damage he had inflicted, it was too late. He was hooked, and there was nowhere to go.

[Barry]

Scatter Tragic at that time, and still today. Elvis was such an awesome talent.

[Scatter]

Scatter Tragic at that time, and still today. Elvis was such an awesome talent.

"Tragic" is a good description of it...........