Richard Davis Car Accident Mystery

[rjm]

I was talking about Aug. 22 1967. The sessions that were hours away and Elvis and crew were spirited away. Peter and Ernst blamed the Davis incident.

We now know that is beyond unlikely. Something else happened. We do not know what.
There must be a away. The situation is unique in Elvis' career.

And people ask why FECC is so great? Man, this place is like King Tut's tomb. Mighty archeologists here!

rjm
P.S. Can you imagine Vernon's reaction to that half million dollar lawsuit?! No wonder Elvis got so bummed after that matter. But the 67 mystery is a lot more difficult to resolve.

[TJ]

Ok, I'm with you now. Thanks. Just looked and the incorrect claim is made in both "Careless Love" and "Day By Day." How odd. I guess one person got the times and incidents mixed up and gave Guralnick bum info.

But yes, it does raise questions about the real reason for the cancellation. Is it possible that there was no such "Get out of Dodge" mentality and Elvis simply wasn't up for recording?

[zolderopruiming1]

Was there for sure a planned and cancelled session?
Elvis finished another movie on friday and then took his wife on holidays for a week.
Why should Elvis finish a movie and go straight into a regular session?
Going on holidays is more logic IMO.

[Marko]

I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't any real reason for the cancellation. One must remember that Colonel liked to play power games with RCA and other companies. He might have just cancelled the session for some tactical reason. Colonel didn't want RCA have too much recordings on their hands (that's why Elvis did only one recording session during the army). That way he would always have the upper hand. Colonel was always playing mind games and demanding extra payments etc. By keeping Elvis out of recording studio RCA wouldn't have anything to release from their biggest selling artist and thus Colonel could squeeze more money out of them.

Just food for thought.

[Marko]

Was there for sure a planned and cancelled session?
Elvis finished another movie on friday and then took his wife on holidays for a week.
Why should Elvis finish a movie and go straight into a regular session?
Going on holidays is more logic IMO.

Yes. The studio and musicians were already booked. They had list of songs Elvis and the producers Felton Jarvis and Billy Strange wanted to record. It's all told in the booklet of FTD release Elvis Sings Guitar Man.

[EPA4368]

I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't any real reason for the cancellation. One must remember that Colonel liked to play power games with RCA and other companies. He might have just cancelled the session for some tactical reason. Colonel didn't want RCA have too much recordings on their hands (that's why Elvis did only one recording session during the army). That way he would always have the upper hand. Colonel was always playing mind games and demanding extra payments etc. By keeping Elvis out of recording studio RCA wouldn't have anything to release from their biggest selling artist and thus Colonel could squeeze more money out of them.

Just food for thought.

You're probably right - there wasn't any real reason for the cancellation. Just the Colonel's way of squeezing more money out of RCA.

[Liverbobs]

Interesting thread, I was actually born on March 13th 1963, maybe there's a connection...!

[rjm]

Was there for sure a planned and cancelled session?
Elvis finished another movie on friday and then took his wife on holidays for a week.
Why should Elvis finish a movie and go straight into a regular session?
Going on holidays is more logic IMO.

Yes. The studio and musicians were already booked. They had list of songs Elvis and the producers Felton Jarvis and Billy Strange wanted to record. It's all told in the booklet of FTD release Elvis Sings Guitar Man.

If you look at a liitle book called Recording Sessions from 1977 you will find this unique session. Ernst and the two other guys from hs neck of the woods. Zero explanation.

rjm

[jon_burrows]

Interesting thread, I was actually born on March 13th 1963, maybe there's a connection...!

...and I was born on August 23rd 1967

[rjm]

More money for whom? Elvis would not have been paid and so the Col. would not have, either.
Quick layover in Vegas, and then off to Memphis. They seem to have found info for that.
And that a pregnant Priscilla made this journey.

Also, Elvis was in no position to pull an expensive stunt like this on the label and on himself. He needed fresh recordings with a fresh approach. He seemed quite involved, as he needed to be.

Felton could be key here. But what he did come up with did not really work. How could make an argument strong enough to create this? Perhaps my idea of a scary rumor was not so far off. Felto could have planted it. And then . . . off they go. The Wrecking Crew got paid.
Elvis stood to do much better with these guys at that time. And to just not show up. No. Maybe the reason was fabricated, but what did Elvis THINK he was running from?

rjm
P.S. Did your folks know Mac Davis? {grin} "and another little baby child was born . . ."

[Marko]

More money for whom? Elvis would not have been paid and so the Col. would not have, either.
Quick layover in Vegas, and then off to Memphis. They seem to have found info for that.
And that a pregnant Priscilla made this journey.

Also, Elvis was in no position to pull an expensive stunt like this on the label and on himself. He needed fresh recordings with a fresh approach. He seemed quite involved, as he needed to be.

Felton could be key here. But what he did come up with did not really work. How could make an argument strong enough to create this? Perhaps my idea of a scary rumor was not so far off. Felto could have planted it. And then . . . off they go. The Wrecking Crew got paid.
Elvis stood to do much better with these guys at that time. And to just not show up. No. Maybe the reason was fabricated, but what did Elvis THINK he was running from?

rjm
P.S. Did your folks know Mac Davis? {grin} "and another little baby child was born . . ."

It's not a question of getting paid. Elvis did not get paid when he did sessions. He got royalties of the record sales. You must remember that Colonel was the one who stopped Elvis recording anything but movie soundtracks for almost 3 years and prevented Elvis from recording during the army. Surely they would have made money from royalties but Colonel had his own tactical reasons. He didn't want RCA have a lot of recordings in their hands. RCA was so desperate for new material that by mid '60's they were releasing recordings from 1957 (Tell Me Why) and 1960 (Crying In The Chapel) because that was all they had!

Colonel was always playing games with RCA. It wasn't always even about money. Colonel wanted always to be in charge and he didn't mind showing it. He might have ordered the session to be cancelled just show that. Who knows.

The people in RCA were in fact quite fed up with Colonel's antics. One of the reasons why they bought Elvis's royalty rights in 1973 was to get Colonel off their backs.

Again, I'm not saying this is the reason for the session being cancelled but food for thought.

[rjm]

I'm going with the "Felton Theory" for now.

He created something, real or fabricated, to get Elvis to not show up.

For now . . .

rjm

[rjm]

This is a group endeavor. We need a Halloween party!

Cowboy theme for the Flying Circle G.

Butterfinger cookies, cupcakes, cakes, pumpkin Butterfinger pie . . .

What to do?

rjm

[KiwiAlan]

Does anyone else find it rather strange that this legal action appears only to be reported in the Ocala Star-Banner?

Can't find any mention in the LA Times, Commercial Appeal or any other notable newspaper. $500,000 dollars was a huge amount of money in 1963 and would have been widely reported.

In todays money this was a $3,000,000 lawsuit.

[rjm]

Does anyone else find it rather strange that this legal action appears only to be reported in the Ocala Star-Banner?

Can't find any mention in the LA Times, Commercial Appeal or any other notable newspaper. $500,000 dollars was a huge amount of money in 1963 and would have been widely reported.

In todays money this was a $3,000,000 lawsuit.

It's stunning to me. But that WAS Parker's job, was it not?
It is true that in those days, the media carefully dealt with "sensitive" stuff. They kept {"waste"} files.
Then they could get access and favors.

But, it was a large sum and I'm surprised it got to a filing. I can only think that Elvis didn't tell the Col. Or his dad, who was his business manager. And THAT error may have caused him much grief.
Of course, he felt terrible about the guy. But if it got to a filing before the Col. could take care of things, he erred.

The article in photoplay was clearly framed as though Elvis had suffered a tragedy, instead of the guy's family.
It was on AP, but generally not picked up.
Wonder if it's sill sealed?
Lexus-Nexus legal records would be the place to go.

rjm

[drjohncarpenter]

Does anyone else find it rather strange that this legal action appears only to be reported in the Ocala Star-Banner?

It went out over the AP newswire. The story may be found in other papers on the same date in 1963.

---

Has anyone considered the possibility that a second gardener was killed by Richard Davis in 1967?

This would neatly explain the August 1967 session cancellation.

[rjm]

Aw, Doc c'mon. But heck, didn't Guralnick say he was "Japanese"?
All them Dear Georgie letters from a Japanese dude?

Just kidding. But Peter should not have trivialized it. He would then have gotten it right and maybe searched for info on 67. Or this "error" was not an errror.

rjm

[rjm]

I meant that maybe he misplaced the incident on purpose. So as not to talk about 67.

rjm

[KiwiAlan]

Does anyone else find it rather strange that this legal action appears only to be reported in the Ocala Star-Banner?

It went out over the AP newswire. The story may be found in other papers on the same date in 1963.

---

Has anyone considered the possibility that a second gardener was killed by Richard Davis in 1967?

This would neatly explain the August 1967 session cancellation.

Going out on an AP wire one would expect reputable newspapers to publish it. Can anyone find any other reports beyond a cheap Santa Monica rag.

Real strange. Col Parker could not have bought off every newspaper, TV and radio, magazine across the whole world to supress an AP wire if it existed.

[rjm]

Parker would be concerned about the major papers. Lots of stuff was sent to "the {stinkyStuff}" files until the 1990s, really.

The others can't be googled, I guess. It can be hard to unearth pre-90s wire stories. I know from experience many years ago.

It was well silenced thereafter. Hopkins was unaware. And then it came out over 25 years after Hopkins, but sorta mangled.

rjm
P.S. And Davis was the only "guy" he interviewed!

[JimmyCool]

Has anyone considered the possibility that a second gardener was killed by Richard Davis in 1967?
This would neatly explain the August 1967 session cancellation.

In that case, maybe Richard Davis wasn't too happy with his garden...

[rjm]

These lines have creeped me out for years . . .

"As I walked in the mystic garden
On a hot summer day, hot summer lawn

Excuse me ma'am, I beg your pardon
There's no one here, the gardener's gone"

"Ain't Talkin" Bob Dylan

rjm

[Daryl]

Again, do we or do we not have any confirmation that Elvis was in Las Vegas on August 22-23, 1967? In Ernst's "A Life In Music" book he mentions that Harry Jenkins of RCA informed Felton and engineer James Malloy that the session had been canceled. Was Jenkins, Jarvis or Malloy ever interviewed regarding this matter.

"On the afternoon of August 22 engineer Jim Malloy arrived at RCA's Hollywood studio from a vacation at his parents' home in Des Moines; Felton followed, from Nashville, shortly thereafter. Before they even had a chance to get settled though, Harry Jenkins joined them in the studio with the astonishing news that the sessions had been canceled. Richard Davis, one of Elvis' men, had accidently killed a pedestrian, a Japanese gardener, while driving one of Elvis' cars. Always determined to keep his boy away from bad publicity or legal trouble, the Colonel had put Elvis on a plane to Vegas immediately, putting him safely out of state -- and throwing cold water over RCA's recording plans." (Page 233)

It would seem that Malloy must have been interviewed regarding this matter. I don't think Ernst would make up some story about Jim Malloy being on vacation visiting his parents in Des Moines. Maybe Ernst can shed some light on that. Not trying to be disrespectful...but Harvey Henslin doesn't sound like a Japanese name. So maybe Doc is onto something that possibly there was a second gardener killed. I know Elvis had some problems earlier in the year right before the start of "Clambake" with pills that led to the Colonel drawing up new paperwork meaning a 50/50 split. Right now, without any confirmation that Elvis was even in Las Vegas on August 22-23, 1967, I tend to think that the sessions got cancelled because Elvis overindulged in pills again. I hate having to say that but what else is there? Has anyone questioned Red West, Sonny West, Jerry Schilling, Joe Esposito, Billy Smith, Larry Geller, Marty Lacker or one of the other guys working for Elvis at the time about this? If we had photographic evidence that indicated that Elvis was indeed in Las Vegas around the time of the cancelled sessions, we would at least answer whether even a portion of the story was true about going to Las Vegas. We know that Elvis had just been to Las Vegas a few months earlier for his wedding to Priscilla. Was there some loose ends that needed tied up there? Or did Elvis indeed go to take in a few shows and gamble a little bit.

Daryl

[Daryl]

Not trying to be demeaning...but Richard Davis mustn't have been the sharpest knife in the drawer...first he kills a gardener by accident...and in 2004 he dies himself at around the age of 63 or 64, leaving his wife Kim with triplets (age 2) to raise. How people have children that late in life, knowing there's a possibility they might croak before their children reach adulthood?

Daryl

[rjm]

Depends on the person.
I think Dave Letterman will be there for his son.

But Richard . . . if he died at that age, what was his life like. Cause?

rjm
Oh. Larry had been forced out and Red had left in a huff. By that time.
And I agree about drugs perhaps being involved in some way.