@Shawn has heard this story so many times that he is probably tired of reading about it, Lol. I'll try to give you the short version. My mother and I were huge Charlie Rich and Elvis fans. She found out that in August of 1975 Charlie Rich would be closing his Las Vegas residency at the Hilton Hotel (known as the International previously and in the movie) and Elvis would be opening his residency the next night. My father had good political connections in Nevada as his best friend in the airline business was a lobbyist. He made arrangements for the whole trip and assured my father he had everything taken care of himself through his friend, a U.S. senator or Congressman, IIRC. We got to the hotel and we did not even have hotel room reservations, let alone show reservations. Luckily, the Hilton was the largest hotel in the free world at that time, so we got two rooms for my parents and my brother and I. My father walked over to showroom reservations and we had absolutely no reservations for either show (no tickers back then, you had a reservation and tipped your way at the theater for a good seat). Well, luckily for us it was Charlie's closing night and he was not completely sold out for that dinner show yet, but Elvis the next night was his Opening Night show. My dad tried his best to tip the guy at reservations, but he explained to my father that it was completely sold out and by invitation only. No amount of money was going to get us in that show. We did get to see Fats Domino in the lounge twice as my older brother took me back the second night we were there. I still don't know how he got us in the second night without our parents as my brother was only about 19 years old. We had to settle for Bobby Vinton at the original MGM hotel the second night. To this day, my best friend loves to tell people when we are together at an event or party, "This guy could have seen Elvis Presley's opening show in Las Vegas in 1975, but chose to see Bobby Vinton instead," Lol.
That's high praise indeed! Nothing in it for Denzel either. In interviews and things I've read, Denzel comes across as a principled, disciplined, and fine man.
Thank you @RSteven, awesome story! I don't know why but it always blows my mind reading about people who've had experiences like yours. Somewhere in the forum there's a thread about Altamont and a couple of posters were actually there. Fascinating stuff! You were there! And you saw Charlie Rich perform! And Fats Domino walking around! And... ah yes, Bobby Vinton too
Most every divorced female friend I have on FB and before keep their married name. Intially for the kids, after that because it's just less hassle, because over time that's what people get used to. I never had any issue with Priscilla. Even if she had her own financial interests in mind, oh well. She was the mother of his child, his former wife or girlfriend for at least 10 years in person and 13 years total. She moved into Graceland as a teenager and became everything he wanted her to be. She saved Graceland and respectfully promoted his image and maintained his legacy for decades. If anyone deserves to have benefited from his name it was her. I mean she left Germany and her family at 17 years old and was expected to be Elvis' possession for 10 years of her young life. He was banging Ann Margret and others while she sat home as an 18 to 21 year old girl. Elvis had a no wives policy on the road. I get that it would probably be impossible to be married to Elvis Presley, but she did try. The Colonel manipulated a young naive Elvis and Elvis did the same to a young naive Priscilla.
I’ve not known any divorced women who kept their married name, so surprised to read this. Still, you make good points. But regarding his image, Elvis has been the butt of all jokes / his image has been ‘in the toilet’ for the past 45 years, and only the current movie - which she had little if anything to do with - is changing that. But again the rest of what you bring up is valid.
Until Michael Jackson died, Elvis was the top money making dead celebrity every year after his own death and has maintained number 2 since Jackson. His legacy mainly took a hit with the spread of lies on the internet in this century, which is difficult to combat. Sure there were jokes before, but you can only do so much to battle those when he did indeed gain too much weight, abuse pills and die on the toilet.
My father tipped the maître d' forty bucks so we got seated in a front row booth right next to Charlie Rich's wife, the lovely songwriter Margret Ann Rich. Playmate of the Year and Hugh Hefner girlfriend Barbie Benton was Rich's opening act and she almost sat in my brothers lap during her show, Lol. She was an inspiring country singer. The year before at his inaugural opening stand, Charlie's opening act was Olivia Newton-John. We actually saw Fats perform in the theater twice. My favorite part was the end of the show when Fats would push the piano off the stage with his belly while playing it. My brother could not get enough of his music. Al Hirt also attended one of those shows we were at. I also remember having breakfast in the coffee house at the Hilton and as we got up to leave my father pointed down at a table beside us and it said, "Reserved for Colonel Tom Parker." Great memories, but the closest we got to Elvis was hearing the band play when we were just outside the showroom in the casino. We were so close, yet so far!
I love hearing this story! There’s always a part of me where I hope the ending changes and that you did get to see Elvis. One thing I’m wondering, were you able to hear Elvis/the band outside of the showroom itself? EDIT - seeing your post immediately above right now I see you were able to hear! Also, that you were able to see Fats Domino twice (in addition to Charlie Rich) is awesome - I always wanted/tried to see him but each time there was an opportunity it either conflicted with something or would have involved multi-state travel. My loss, he was a legend.
My brother and I became lifelong Fats Domino fans after those two concerts. I remember hearing my brother play "Walking to New Orleans" over and over again in his room when we got back from our trip. That theater was really intimate and luxurious and Fats had a great band with a five or six piece horn section.
I have a question. Has anyone else caught slightly different versions with different viewings? On a different online group some folks have said they've heard the word buttercup and not fairy used, like in the trailer, but in actual viewings of the movie. Someone else said they saw a scene were Vernon is asking for more food, when they're sitting at the table, just before Elvis begins talking about going on tour with the Colonel. Someone else asked me if I saw on the end credits that it said that Elvis never performed If I Can Dream again after the 68 special but that it's sold a million copies. I've only heard the word fairy in my four viewings at the cinema and digital video, I've never seen Vernon wanting more food scene, and I havent seen credits that Elvis never performed If I Can Dream again.
I saw it at the very first possible opportunity, in a Dolby Cinema theater, and I've seen it twice since, most recently a week ago, and honestly didn't notice any variations. The heckler called Elvis a "fairy" in every case. On the other hand, it's so easy to distribute changes to the digital servers that every theater uses these days, that if Baz wanted to tweak the film, he could.
Going by the unreleased shots, my guess is it is Elvis recording Suspicious Minds at Graceland. Perhaps another one of Baz's infamous conflation of facts. Elvis was going to cut his new record in Memphis his hometown, but to Baz why not make it literally his home??
