Hundreds faint
Roses for Elvis
wilt in the sun
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - The
bouquet of red roses, meant to
adorn the coffin of Elvis
Presley, wilted in the sun.
“The girl standing next to us
originally brought flowers,"
said Margaret McCasland of
Memphis. “We picked them up
and decided to deliver them
when she fainted.”
Hundreds fainted Wednesday
as they waited in stifling heat
outside Graceland Mansion for
a last glimpse of the king of rock
’n’ roll. After treatment by
paramedics inside the mansion
gates, many doggedly con
tinued their pilgrimage to Pres
ley’s seamless copper coffin.
Police said 25,000 to 30,000
people passed the open coffin
just inside the doorway of Pres
ley’s white-pillared home for a
Authorities deny
• signs of drug abuse
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -
Authorities discount reports
that Elvis Presley had a serious
drug problem before his death.
“I can’t say he was taking no
drugs at all,” said Dr. Jerry
Francisco, Shelby County medi
cal examiner, “because his own
doctor has said he was taking
appetite depressants.”
But Francisco, who con
ducted a three-hour autopsy on
the entertainer’s body, emphat
ically denied Presley showed
any sign of drug abuse.
“There was no evidence of
any abnormal, illegal drug
use,” he said.
In Beverly Hills, Calif., two of
Presley’s ex-bodyguards,
Delbert “Sonny” West and Da
vid Hebler, said on Wednesday
he was a “tormented man”
pushed into heavy drug use by
the weight of his own legend.
The bodyguards were fired
just before they started writing
“Elvis: What Happened?,” a
book touted by publicists as de
scribing a grim side of Presley
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two-second glimpse of the sing
er.
Presley was to buried today
after a private funeral.
At 5:55 p.m. a policeman an
nounced over a megaphone that
“gates will be closed at 6:30. No
one will be admitted after that.”
No one moved.
At 6:30 sharp, another an
nouncement: “The family has
requested the gates be closed
They are sorry you couldn’t
make it.” Still no one moved.
“It is not our doing,” pleaded
the policeman. “The family has
asked us to stop the visitation.”
The huge crowd responded
with a chant: “One more hour,
one more hour.” But the gates,
adorned with.dancing musical
notes and writhing Elvis fig
ures, opened only to admit a
that was “brooding, violent, ob
sessed with death, strung out,
sexually driven.”
West and Hebler emphasized
that their book, which describes
Presley as a reclusive drug ad
dict, was written more than a
year ago.
It was released two weeks
ago.
The bodyguards said Presley
started taking pills during his
two-year stint in the Army and
continued taking them to get up
for his heavy concert and film
schedule.
Francisco said if Presley had
been taking drugs in the amount
suggested by West, visible
evidence would have shown on
the body.
Francisco said he found no
needle marks — which would
have been apparent had Presley
been taking drugs with a
hypodermic — and he said there
was no sign of damage or
change in his tissues and organs
which would have shown
evidence of heavy drug abuse.
last-minute surge of children
and fainting women.
Thousands were turned away.
“I think it’s terrible. I’ve
waited six hours,” said Ms.
McCasland, holding the wilted
bouquet.
“We came all the way from
New York,” said Donna Gaffin.
“We stood there for five hours
and they shut the door in our
faces.”
One man denied entry said he
had flown from Switzerland.
Another said he had come from
Baltimore. A woman said she
had come from California.
Sheriff Barksdale said he had
been in law enforcement in
Memphis for 27 years “and I’ve
witnessed many events, in
cluding the assassination of
Martin Luther King,” he said.
“I’ve never seen anything like
this.”
Presley’s body was dis
covered Tuesday afternoon.
News of 42-year-old singer’s
death swept the country.
“I heard on the radio that he
was dead and then they started
playing, ‘I Can’t Help but Love
You,”’ Rita Hambrick of Des
Arc, Ark., said.
“I couldn’t help it — I broke
out crying and cried until I went
to bed. And I woke up crying
again to the radio playing,
‘Love Me Tender.’”
• Miss Hambrick and her
friends drove 130 miles to
Memphis Wednesday morning
and spent six nightmarish hours
waiting in the heat.
“Seven people fainted around
us... The lady in front of me and
the lady in back of me had to be
carried out on stretchers.
“It was horrible,” she said,
“but I’d do it again, because it
was our last chance to see him.”
100 Atlantans
fly to Memphis
ATLANTA (AP) - About 100
Atlantans will be among those
paying their last respects to
Elvis Presley today, as the king
of rock ’n’ roll is entombed in
Memphis, Tenn.
About 100 of Presley’s Geor
gia fans boarded a special air
plane Wednesday to go to Mem
phis’ Graceland Mansion to
view the body that once gyrated
and rocked on stages across the
nation.
Before the plane took off, an
airline spokesman said, it was
“eerily silent.” The plane was
added when the number of per
sons wanting to go to Memphis
began growing shortly after
Presley died Tuesday.
Many of those who went to
Memphis had tickets to Pres
ley’s sold-out concert in Mem
phis this weekend.
■
> B
A Al
fl
MEMPHIS — An unidentified woman at right shouts “My God, Let Her Be Alive” as she
looks at a young girl that had just been struck by an automobile that crashed into the crowd
in front of Elvis Presley’s mansion in Memphis early Thursday. Police reported two killed
in the incident. (AP)
She was a fanatic
LOS ANGELES (AP) -1 was
an Elvis Presley fan.
Not just an admirer who cas
ually bought records, but a fa
natic.
One of my clearest memories
is the day in 1956 when I, a pre
teen, first heard “Heartbreak
Hotel” on the radio.
Soon, all the girls in penny
loafers and poodle skirts were
talking about this “dreamy
guy,” Presley.
My junior high school girl
friends in Bradley Beach, N.J.,
elected me president of our own
Elvis Presley Fan Club. We had
nine members and held
meetings in my basement.
Our local record store, stock
ed with Glenn Miller and Frank
Sinatra, placated us by ordering
some 45 records by this
southerner with the strange
name — Elvis.
We collected his pictures, lis
tened to his music and danced
because Elvis just made you
feel like dancing.
Then, something miraculous
happened. We wrote to a Mem
phis address found in a movie
magazine, and — fantastic! —
we received in the mail pink
membership cards signed by
“The King” himself.
Ours was now an “author
ized” Presley fan club in a list
circulated by the singer’s man
ager. The mail began to pour in.
We had Presley pen-pals as far
away as England, Germany and
New Zealand.
Elvis had given us an identity.
No matter our age, we were now
“teen-agers.” Better yet, we
were rebels.
Our teachers hated Elvis. Our
parents didn’t understand.
Some of the memories bring
smiles: my parents watching in
befuddlement as “the fan club”
screamed at a TV screen while
Elvis sang on The Ed Sullivan
Show. The tears when my par
ents forbade me to travel in a
snowstorm to see soldier Elvis
arrive at Ft. Dix.
Once, a friend’s mother,
yielding to cries that we would
“just die” if we didn’t see Elvis
in person, rode a bus to Phila
delphia with three giggling 13-
year-olds to attend an Elvis
Presley concert.
We climbed to the top bleach
ers of an arena holding 25,000
frenzied kids. Flashbulbs ex
ploded; the building shook with
screams. Way down on the
stage all we could see was a tiny
wiggling speck. We couldn’t
hear him, but we knew it was
Elvis.
“He looked at me!” shouted
my trembling girlfriend.
We screamed. Kids fainted.
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Page 7
Doctors and nurses rushed
around reviving them. Our
mother-chaperone was terri
fied. We loved every minute.
I never stopped liking Elvis’
music. But times changed. My
best friend in high school car
ried a picture of Van Cliburo
and wanted to be a nuclear
physicist. She “tolerated” my
Presley passion.
Years later, when I came to
California as a journalist and
covered the music industry, I
had fleeting thoughts of trying
to interview “The King.” I nev
er did; perhaps I didn’t want to.
When he died Tuesday, it was
like losing an old friend who had
shared my youth and my
dreams.
I realized I could still sing all
the words to “Hound Dog,”
“Blue Suede Shoes” and “Love
Me Tender.”
For the first time in my life, I
felt old.
— Griffin Daily News Thursday, August 18,1977
Elvis
Army buddy:
Elvis wondered about
how to handle life
ATLANTA (AP) - Elvis
Presley spent a lot of his time in
the Army wondering how he’d
be able to handle his life, says a
man who bunked above him.
“He’d say, ‘ln later years, am
I going to be able to carry this
thing? Do I really want this?
One of these days I’m going to
get out of this rat race,”’ said
Richard Nee, a warehouse
manager from Atlanta.
The men went into the Army
together in March, 1958, and
both did two-year hitches. Nee
said he buddied with Presley at
Ft. Hood, Tex., and in Germa
ny, and kept in touch with him
afterward.
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There were advantages to
having the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll
in the barracks, Nee said.
Presley once bought 214 pairs
of shower shoes for the com
pany and power mowers so the
men could finish the Saturday
afternoon grass-cutting detail
quicker and start their weekend
leaves.
Nee also said Presley once
paid him $75 to get out of KP,
but the singer pulled KP many
times and his buddies respected
him for putting up with the
same routine they did.
“Elvis kind of won them over.
He didn’t put on airs — he was
lonesome, tired and sick, just
like everyone else,” Nee said.
