WORLD'S FAIR: A moment with Elvis to remember

WORLD'S FAIR: A moment with Elvis to remember for Blaine woman
Published: April 23, 2012


0 COMMENTSE-MAILPRINT


Linda Alexander of Blaine bumped into Elvis Presley at the Seattle World's Fair and had him autograph her blood donation card. It's a moment she still treasures.
Linda Alexander — Courtesy to The Bellingham Herald
STORY PHOTOS:

Previous PageNext Page
RECENT HEADLINES

WORLD'S FAIR: A moment with Elvis to remember for Blaine woman
WORLD'S FAIR: California lad visited Seattle, liked area, later retired to Bellingham
WORLD'S FAIR: Bellingham soils engineer gave OK for taller Space Needle
WORLD'S FAIR: Elvis autographed Bellingham man's naturalization envelope
WORLD'S FAIR: Corn dogs created unpleasant memories for Lummi Island man


By LINDA ALEXANDER — COURTESY TO THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

On a crisp September day in 1962, I walked in to the Seattle World's Fair.

I heard a deep voice say, "Good mornin'."

I turned to see my heartthrob, in all his glory, walking alone. He had spoken only to me!

My knees shook. Speech was impossible.

As he smiled at me, all I could imbibe was the sight of this beautiful man, in all his splendor.

Black hair; brooding, soft eyes; tan; slim, in a suit of cerulean blue.

For two days, with awe and wonder, I watched the filming of "It Happened at the World's Fair." On the third day, it was now or never. He was walking on the grounds with his entourage.

I thought, "Here goes, what is the worst thing that can happen?"

I stepped in front of him. His bodyguards proceeded to remove me.

He held up his hand to stop them. My heart as pounding, my mind racing.

What did I have for him to sign? As we made eye contact, my throat was constricting. I grabbed my blood-type card and a pen.

As he signed, I snapped photos. While handing the pen back to me, our fists closed and the pen fell to the ground.

"Uh uh," he said. "That belongs to the little lady."

As I crouched to pick up the pen, my shoulder brushed against the fabric of his suit. Again, as I looked up, my eyes drank in that vivid cerulean blue.

This is the happiest day of my life, I thought.

I am wrapped in the essence of Elvis Presley.

- Linda Alexander, Blaine

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/04 ... rylink=cpy

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Thanks, ian!

Outstanding article and photos.

Thank you very much, ian! Wonderful Photos. How great if Elvis sang in concert live at the fair, but the Colonel refused it.

Great and interesting article Ian, thanks for sharing.

Thanks, ian.

You're welcome everyone and thank's a lot for your responses!!! That would have been awesome for Elvis to do some sort of concert jurasic1968, but with the Colonel... It was great that Elvis came to Seattle to make this movie and being as close as possible to my home of British Columbia, Canada!!

Wonderful story and thread, thank you.

I heard a similar story, btw, from a lady who met our hero, when she was a young girl, while he was filming "Blue Hawaii." The most striking things that she remembered, in addition to his blue eyes, was the way his white suit contrasted with his jet black hair, his heavy accent and his extreme politeness. She was very adamant that she has never seen anyone with such looks and an incredible presence (charisma) combined, before or since, in her entire life. She also said (paraphrased), "it was like he wasn't real."

Many of these fan encounters have a very similar theme and are always fascinating to hear.

Thanks again.


N8

Wonderful story and thread, thank you.

I heard a similar story, btw, from a lady who met our hero, when she was a young girl, while he was filming "Blue Hawaii." The most striking things that she remembered, in addition to his blue eyes, was the way his white suit contrasted with his jet black hair, his heavy accent and his extreme politeness. She was very adamant that she has never seen anyone with such looks and an incredible presence (charisma) combined, before or since, in her entire life. She also said (paraphrased), "it was like he wasn't real."

Many of these fan encounters have a very similar theme and are always fascinating to hear.

Thanks again.


N8

You're welcome and thank's a lot for that story!!! My friend Rita said the same type of thing about meeting Elvis backstage in Vegas!!

Thanks Ian

Thanks, Ian. Interesting that the photos are almost all severely creased. I wonder what happened through the years.

rjm

Thanks, Ian. Interesting that the photos are almost all severely creased. I wonder what happened through the years.

rjm

You're welcome! Sometimes no matter how much you cherish something, stuff happens to your collectibles!

For years, even decades, cities like Tupelo, Memphis, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Killien, New Orleans, Bad Nauheim, Paris, Munich, Las Vegas, not to mention Nashville and several places in Hawaii and even in Florida where Elvis either grew up, lived, toured significantly, spent some time vacationing, or recording, or even was making movies on location, have been the venue of stories, usually heartwarming, about women, young or old, even of child age, having a once in a lifetime encounter with Elvis, as this story confirms.

Lesser have been the cases in which the remembrances came from either men or women who ALREADY knew him well, then had again a once in a lifetime encounter with him BUT under entirely different circumstances. And of those, the first one that comes to mind is one which decades later developed into a totally different, yet surely touching remembrance on its own right. A movie could be made of it, actually. I'm referring to the one told by the bereaved family of one of Elvis' G.I buddies who, a couple of years later and on a warm Friday night in 1962, hosted Elvis at his home in, yes, again, Seattle. Because he knew him from the Army days, there was no need for Elvis to be accompannied by any of the members of the so called Memphis Mafia. In fact, his buddy picked Elvis up at Sea Tac, then took him there for a talk about the Army days. As it turmed out, the visit was longer than envisaged, so Elvis slept there, then returned to Tic Tac on the next morning.

Below, are the two main links. Now, the only information the two articles fail to mention is the fact that the plaque was commissioned by the family of the now deceased GI buddy of Elvis, as a "thank you" gesture to the Chambliss family for allowing them to enter the home and film the place so that, in his last dying days, Elvis' Army buddy could see a video of a home he'd chersished long after his having no longer lived there. The house Elvis slept in...Touching story...


http://beachdriveblog.com/2007/05/45_years_agoelv.html

http://www.rosenblog.com/2004/11/22/elv ... tairs.html

For years, even decades, cities like Tupelo, Memphis, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Killien, New Orleans, Bad Nauheim, Paris, Munich, Las Vegas, not to mention Nashville and several places in Hawaii and even in Florida where Elvis either grew up, lived, toured significantly, spent some time vacationing, or recording, or even was making movies on location, have been the venue of stories, usually heartwarming, about women, young or old, even of child age, having a once in a lifetime encounter with Elvis, as this story confirms.

Lesser have been the cases in which the remembrances came from either men or women who ALREADY knew him well, then had again a once in a lifetime encounter with him BUT under entirely different circumstances. And of those, the first one that comes to mind is one which decades later developed into a totally different, yet surely touching remembrance on its own right. A movie could be made of it, actually. I'm referring to the one told by the bereaved family of one of Elvis' G.I buddies who, a couple of years later and on a warm Friday night in 1962, hosted Elvis at his home in, yes, again, Seattle. Because he knew him from the Army days, there was no need for Elvis to be accompannied by any of the members of the so called Memphis Mafia. In fact, his buddy picked Elvis up at Sea Tac, then took him there for a talk about the Army days. As it turmed out, the visit was longer than envisaged, so Elvis slept there, then returned to Tic Tac on the next morning.

Below, are the two main links. Now, the only information the two articles fail to mention is the fact that the plaque was commissioned by the family of the now deceased GI buddy of Elvis, as a "thank you" gesture to the Chambliss family for allowing them to enter the home and film the place so that, in his last dying days, Elvis' Army buddy could see a video of a home he'd chersished long after his having no longer lived there. The house Elvis slept in...Touching story...


http://beachdriveblog.com/2007/05/45_years_agoelv.html

http://www.rosenblog.com/2004/11/22/elv ... tairs.html

Interesting story, but I don't like the "ahem" part as it sounds like he's ignorantly implying something!?!

Thanks Ian

You're welcome Ken, it's great to hear from you again!!!

Elvis does not look happy in any of those pics???