God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by The fool »

God Is My Refuge
by Louis F. Larkin
Photoplay, July 1957
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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by Mississippi »

Thanks, The fool.


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

Another fascinating piece, and also happens to be written by Hollywood scribe Lou Larkin. I say also because today you shared another vintage article "by Debra Paget, as told to Lou Larkin." Unlike the cute Paget PR piece, this one seems to be an actual visit with Presley, probably at the Beverly Wilshire in late June 1957, as he was finishing up "Jailhouse Rock" for MGM.

And it offers some CRUCIAL confirmation of the fabled first visit to the Memphis Recording Service on July 18, 1953 and being helped by Marion Keisker.

Elvis makes very clear that this FIRST time, "Sam wasn't in but his secretary told me it would cost me four dollars to hear myself sing. I made a record, took it home and listened to it." Then he goes on and says "... when I got enough money together I went down to see Sam again and make another record. This time he heard me ..."

This is CRUCIAL information about the January 4, 1954 visit to the Memphis Recording Service, and the presence of Sam Phillips.


570700_Photoplay_Marion Keisker confirmation.jpg
Photoplay - July 1957
Page 100 ... DETAIL

---

Elvis biographer and rock historian Peter Guralnick is currently working on a Phillips biography, and has always been ... ambivalent at best on whether he agrees with Phillips' contention that the owner was there for that first visit. I have always stood by Marion Keisker's words that Sam was out that Saturday afternoon in the summer of 1953. Seeing more than one example of Elvis' long-standing appreciation of Keisker as the one who first promoted him to Phillips is yet more support for that view. Now we have what appears to be first-person testimony on this point.

I hope Peter is a reader of this forum.

Thank you, The fool, for a VERY IMPORTANT share!
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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by PiersEIN »

drjohncarpenter wrote:Another fascinating piece, and also happens to be written by Hollywood scribe Lou Larkin. I say also because today you shared another vintage article "by Debra Paget, as told to Lou Larkin." Unlike the cute Paget PR piece, this one seems to be an actual visit with Presley, probably at the Beverly Wilshire in late June 1957, as he was finishing up "Jailhouse Rock" for MGM.

And it offers some CRUCIAL confirmation of the fabled first visit to the Memphis Recording Service on July 18, 1953 and being helped by Marion Keisker.

Elvis makes very clear that this FIRST time, "Sam wasn't in but his secretary told me it would cost me four dollars to hear myself sing. I made a record, took it home and listened to it." Then he goes on and says "... when I got enough money together I went down to see Sam again and make another record. This time he heard me ..."

This is CRUCIAL information about the January 4, 1954 visit to the Memphis Recording Service, and the presence of Sam Phillips.


570700_Photoplay_Marion Keisker confirmation.jpg
Photoplay - July 1957
Page 100 ... DETAIL

---

Elvis biographer and rock historian Peter Guralnick is currently working on a Phillips biography, and has always been ... ambivalent at best on whether he agrees with Phillips' contention that the owner was there for that first visit. I have always stood by Marion Keisker's words that Sam was out that Saturday afternoon in the summer of 1953. Seeing more than one example of Elvis' long-standing appreciation of Keisker as the one who first promoted him to Phillips is yet more support for that view. Now we have what appears to be first-person testimony on this point.

I hope Peter is a reader of this forum.

Thank you, The fool, for a VERY IMPORTANT share!
Unbelievably Guralnick skips over this point completely in his new book!
He just mentions Sam remembering about "the kid that walked in and recorded the acetate".

While PG does note that Keisker kept reminding SP about Elvis he does not say that it was Marion Keisker who recorded that famous acetate in the first place.

PS - THANKS for this great article.

Cheers
Piers



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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by George Smith »

PiersEIN wrote:Unbelievably Guralnick skips over this point completely in his new book!
He just mentions Sam remembering about "the kid that walked in and recorded the acetate".
Thank you for confirming this, Piers. I've read and re-read the relevant section of the book but thought I was missing it somehow.



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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by PiersEIN »

George Smith wrote:
PiersEIN wrote:Unbelievably Guralnick skips over this point completely in his new book!
He just mentions Sam remembering about "the kid that walked in and recorded the acetate".
Thank you for confirming this, Piers. I've read and re-read the relevant section of the book but thought I was missing it somehow.
I am like you, I was very surprised.
If it referenced somewhere later in the book, I haven't found it!

It would have been nice for PG to give Marion the credit.
(not that the book isn't a fabulous read)

Cheers
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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

George Smith wrote:Thank you for confirming this ... I've read and re-read the relevant section of the book but thought I was missing it somehow.
As I have noted on another topic dealing with Peter's new book, his omission is deeply disappointing, given the fact that I know he was sent the above information, among other things. The bottom line appears to be that Guralnick is loyal. Or perhaps beholden is more appropriate.


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by mike edwards66 »

drjohncarpenter wrote:
George Smith wrote:Thank you for confirming this ... I've read and re-read the relevant section of the book but thought I was missing it somehow.
As I have noted on another topic dealing with Peter's new book, his omission is deeply disappointing, given the fact that I know he was sent the above information......
Leaving aside the question of who discovered Elvis Presley, it was Marion Keisker. As impressive and interesting as the 1957 article is, if Peter Guralnick was sent the above information, in the above form, he may have justifiably questioned its veracity. There are some pretty un-Elvis like quotes in there. Not to mention factual error.


drjohncarpenter wrote:The bottom line appears to be that Guralnick is loyal. Or perhaps beholden is more appropriate.
Ergo, your bottom line is flawed. Your insinuation uncalled-for.


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

mike edwards66 wrote:Leaving aside the question of who discovered Elvis Presley, it was Marion Keisker. As impressive and interesting as the 1957 article is, if Peter Guralnick was sent the above information, in the above form, he may have justifiably questioned its veracity. There are some pretty un-Elvis like quotes in there. Not to mention factual error.
You need to read with care, and possess a solid knowledge base, before making conclusions about what was written. Unfortunately, this is something you are not too good at, whether the subject is Elvis, or some other significant historical event.

There is no way Louis Larkin had any previous knowledge of Presley's pre-RCA history, certainly nothing beyond the most superficial. Yet, we read many of the names, places and events from the Sun era we all take for granted now, fifty-eight years and many biographies later. These specifics could not have been made up after the fact. This indicates the journalist took copious notes of his visit, and returned to his home or workplace and wrote his piece for the July issue of Photoplay using these notes. That he misremembers an exact statement, or the cadence of Elvis' words as we are familiar with them, is not crucial. What is crucial is the content of what was said that day.

And Peter Guralnick was more than capable of assimilating this information, which was sent to him. Thus, my disappointment in what we see in his new book.


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by mike edwards66 »

drjohncarpenter wrote:You need to read with care, and possess a solid knowledge base, before making conclusions about what was written. Unfortunately, this is something you are not too good at.......
Bit harsh.


drjohncarpenter wrote:Unfortunately, this is something you are not too good at, whether the subject is Elvis, or some other significant historical event.
Some other significant historical event? Ah yes. The three men you admire the most, Lennon, Kennedy and the Holy Ghost.


drjohncarpenter wrote:And Peter Guralnick was more than capable of assimilating this information, which was sent to him. Thus, my disappointment in what we see in his new book.
So, it was you that sent it to him. In that case, you've only got yourself to blame.


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

mike edwards66 wrote:
drjohncarpenter wrote:And Peter Guralnick was more than capable of assimilating this information, which was sent to him. Thus, my disappointment in what we see in his new book.
So, it was you that sent it to him.
Wrong again. Please think before posting. It's fun. :smt023


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by mike edwards66 »

drjohncarpenter wrote:
mike edwards66 wrote:
drjohncarpenter wrote:And Peter Guralnick was more than capable of assimilating this information, which was sent to him. Thus, my disappointment in what we see in his new book.
So, it was you that sent it to him.
Wrong again.
In that case, what are you moaning about (no question mark). You had your chance.


drjohncarpenter wrote:That he misremembers an exact statement........
Where would you be without 'misrememberings' (no question mark). They are your Get Out Of Jail Free Card.


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

Again, instead of trolling yet another topic, please think before posting. Sure, it actually takes effort, but you can do it. :smt023


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by George Smith »

PiersEIN wrote:
George Smith wrote:
PiersEIN wrote:Unbelievably Guralnick skips over this point completely in his new book!
He just mentions Sam remembering about "the kid that walked in and recorded the acetate".
Thank you for confirming this, Piers. I've read and re-read the relevant section of the book but thought I was missing it somehow.
I am like you, I was very surprised.
If it referenced somewhere later in the book, I haven't found it!

It would have been nice for PG to give Marion the credit.
(not that the book isn't a fabulous read)

Cheers
Piers
Found it, near the end. PG makes a reasonable case, but my heart says it was Marion.



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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

George Smith wrote:Found it, near the end. PG makes a reasonable case, but my heart says it was Marion.
And let's not forget Elvis was nothing if not a "heart" singer. ;-)


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by George Smith »

She was important to him. He was never less than definite about that.



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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

George Smith wrote:She was important to him. He was never less than definite about that.
This fact has always been striking. Never once, whenever Elvis was asked about her, was he anything less than emphatic about Marion Keisker MacInnes' importance to his career. And each time they crossed paths, be it in Friedberg in March 1960, or at the Jaycees luncheon in Memphis in January 1971, he made a point of telling people with him who she was, and what she meant to him. And every instance is framed by a loving adoration of her.


Image

Air Force Captain MacInnes and Sgt. Presley - Tuesday, March 1, 1960, HQ Co, 1st Bn, 32nd Armor, Friedberg, Germany


It is such a shame we lost Elvis before someone could have conducted an intelligent, career-spanning interview, perhaps for some kind of oral biography. So many areas of his early work and relationships could have been clarified, and many new facts would doubtless have been learned. He spoke of an autobiography in casual terms to friends, saying he would have wanted to call it "Through My Eyes."


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by mike edwards66 »

drjohncarpenter wrote:The bottom line appears to be that Guralnick is loyal. Or perhaps beholden is more appropriate.
George Smith wrote:PG makes a reasonable case......
Ah, that's better. Thanks, George, reasonable is so much more a reasonable word then say, beholden.

Help me out, gents. I forget who it was that said, it was wrong to suggest that Peter Guralnick had been bought off, quieted and/or compromised.

Oh yeah, now I remember. It was me.


drjohncarpenter wrote:Again, instead of trolling yet another topic.....
Pebbles at a tank, buddy. Pebbles at a tank.
drjohncarpenter wrote:....please think before posting. Sure, it actually takes effort, but you can do it.
Right back at ya.


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

mike edwards66 wrote:... it was wrong to suggest that Peter Guralnick had been bought off, quieted and/or compromised.
No one made that specific argument. Quit trolling topics and start contributing. It takes effort, but there's a first time for everything.

Thanks. :smt023


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by mike edwards66 »

drjohncarpenter wrote:
mike edwards66 wrote:... it was wrong to suggest that Peter Guralnick had been bought off, quieted and/or compromised.
No one made that specific argument.
http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=88576


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by George Smith »

mike edwards66 wrote:
drjohncarpenter wrote:
mike edwards66 wrote:... it was wrong to suggest that Peter Guralnick had been bought off, quieted and/or compromised.
No one made that specific argument.
http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=88576
Apologies if my musing aloud has caused dissent.

It was never my intention to call into question Peter Guralnick's integrity.

Peter is a gifted writer with great insight: I was simply alluding to the compromises that all writers are obliged to make be it consciously or not.

Several readers have questioned his portrayl of Parker. Now, it may well be that his vision of the Colonel is the true one but who knows?

Sometimes, meeting the subject of your writing is not always a good thing in terms of objectivity.

His biographical works on Presley and Phillips remain at the top of the pile and they are to be celebrated and applauded.



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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

George Smith wrote:Apologies if my musing aloud has caused dissent.

It was never my intention to call into question Peter Guralnick's integrity.

Peter is a gifted writer with great insight: I was simply alluding to the compromises that all writers are obliged to make be it consciously or not.

Several readers have questioned his portrayl of Parker. Now, it may well be that his vision of the Colonel is the true one but who knows?

Sometimes, meeting the subject of your writing is not always a good thing in terms of objectivity.

His biographical works on Presley and Phillips remain at the top of the pile and they are to be celebrated and applauded.
Thank you.


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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by jurasic1968 »

I am not afraid to said this: Peter vision of the Colonel is full of huge compromise. I cannot ignore this, especially in Careless Love.



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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

Revisiting this wonderful share today, I found a little more about the interview.

First off, Louis Larkin's regular job was as a Los Angeles Mirror-News reporter. And it's clear that he certainly did interview Elvis the last week of June 1957. The singer had completed "Jailhouse Rock" for MGM and was getting ready to return to Memphis. The hotel room was his usual suite at the Beverly Wilshire.

But there are a few funny things. Research shows the only newspaper I could find that featured the two noted scathing Presley articles on the same page ("never born" and "morally insane") appeared in ... the Los Angeles Mirror-News.

And they were not page 1 headlines, they showed up on page 4. And the paper date is actually from ... December 1956. Elvis was in Memphis then. Hmm. See the articles below.

So what does it mean? The most favorable explanation is that Larkin brought that old paper with him when he interviewed Presley the following June. And it doesn't change the crucial early information Elvis shares in the course of the chat. So that's good.

And because the singer talks to Photoplay about driving back home in a "little red racer" that "seats one" it may be the little vehicle he's sitting in below, and the photo taken when he got to Graceland.




570627_in BMW Isetta at Graceland_01.jpg



570700_Photoplay_p101_DETAIL.png



570627_in BMW Isetta at Graceland_02.jpg
At Graceland in his new BMW Isetta - (probably) Thursday, June 27, 1957
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Re: God Is My Refuge (1957 article)

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

Here are the two page 4 articles from December 1956 in the Los Angeles Mirror-News:


561203_Los Angeles Mirror-News_p04.jpg


'ELVIS HAIRCUT A NARCOTIC BADGE'

Youths with "Elvis Presley haircuts" are freaks who ought to have their heads shaved, according to Superior Court Judge Burnett Wolfson.

In addition, the judge said, such haircuts are a mark of the narcotics users.

Speaking to a shaggy-haired, teen-age boy suspected of peddling marijuana, and also to the boy's father, during an automobile forfeiture case, the judge declared:

"I can't understand it -- these youngsters that come up here day in and day out, these marijuana smokers -- I don't mean to imply that every youngster that has gone a little berserk with these fancy haircuts is a marijuana smoker, but it is rather a strange situation that without exception every one of these youngsters has one of the famous Elvis Presley haircuts."

"I wish he had never been born," Judge Wolfson remarked.

"I hope some day the courts can find the right to shave the heads of these punks who wear Elvis Presley haircuts."

Wolfson's statement came as he ordered the car, which had been found with marijuana in it, forfeited to the state.

Police testified the youth had raised marijuana in his back yard without his father's knowledge. Officers spotted the growing "joy weed" and waited for it to be harvested.

When they saw it had been cut, they arrested the boy and found the narcotic in his father's car.

The father pleaded with Judge Wolfson, but was told there was no alternative under the law but to turn over to the State the ownership of any car discovered with narcotics in it.

He told the tearful father, however, to try to buy back the auto at a State auction. "I understand if you don't have the money, I will lend it to you," the judge said.

"I don't understand why youngsters do so much to hurt their parents," Wolfson continued. "They lose all sense of proportion. They become freaks and act like freaks."

The judge added, "You struggle to bring them up in the world. You do your best to do what is right. You try to give them a lot of things you never had as a youngster."

"You try to give them an education but then they become 'smart.' They start smoking marijuana and then they go on to heroin and -- you know the rest of it without my telling you."

Narcotics charges against the youth will be handled in juvenile court.


----------

Pastor Finds Presleyism Road To Ruin

DES MOINES, Dec. 3 (AP) -- The Rev. Carl E. Elgena, pastor of Grand View Park Baptist Church, said In a sermon last night that "Elvis Presley is morally insane" and "by his actions he's leading other young people to the same end."

He told his congregation "the belief of unholy pleasure has sent the morals of our nation down to rock bottom and the crowning addition to this day's corruption is Elvis Presleyism."

"When I was a boy," he said, "if a person had done things like this he would have found himself in jail."

"This spirit of Presleyism has taken down all the bars and standards ... we're living in a day of jellyfish morality.

Frankly, I think Presley is a fad that will pass in time."


Los Angeles Mirror-News - Monday, December 3, 1956
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/694167653/




Insane reports from a hectic time in the life of 21 year-old Elvis Presley.

Must have been hectic for Lou Larkin as well.
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