2nd March 1970, Monday

[Graeme]

Day number 12838Site Date Map

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[Alan]

After breakfast on the Monday morning 2nd March we started to wait at the service entrance of the hotel. Everyone seemed to be packing up and leaving. We saw the Colonel and Mr. Diskingo. It was a terrible day, with a full gale blowing and very overcast with occasional showers - the temperature however was 70. There were some other fans with us, about 12 altogether. and we took turns to patrol around the hotel covering all the exits. At 12:30pm Elvis' guard stopped his car and called me over, he said, "I hate to see you standing here in this wiind so I am telling you now, he isn't leaving until after 3pm and it will be by this entrance." (The service one). I said to him, "Now you wouldn't lie to me would you? Because if you do, I'll never trust the Texans again!" I told him it meant a great deal to us to see Elvis leave, as we didn't know when we would ever see him again. I told him we were from England, and we had seen 8 shows in Vegas and 6 in the Astrodome. He seemed very impressed and wrote this down on a card which he put into his shirt pocket. The rest of the fans were surprised that he had spoken to me as he had been "horrible" to everyone so they said. However we must remember he carried a great responsibility. He was always in the car with Elvis when he drove round the arena. Deciding to take him at his word we went for something to eat at Howard Johnsons where we could see both front and service entrances to the hotel. While eating we nearly had heart failure as we saw a flurry of people at the front entrance and thought Elvis was leaving but it was the people who had been at Charlie Pride's press conference.
      
In spite of what the guard had told us, after eating we stayed around the entrances to the hotel, but the wind was so exhausting that we took in turns to rest in the hotel foyer. While I was sitting there Mr. Presly came over to me and said, "Well, is it back to England now?" and I said, "No, we are going to Memphis to see Uncle Vester, Gary Pepper, and all the people there we know." He gave me a little smile, and answering the unspoken question said, "Well, I don't know when Elvis will be back in Memphis." Charlie Hodge came over and asked, "Is Elvis up yet?" and Mr. Presley said, "No." This was at 2:45pm. He added, "The luggage is due down at 3pm." I said to Mr. Presley that Mr. Diskin had said Elvis may not go back to the International in August, as something else had come up, and Mr. Presley replied, "As far as I know he is going." I then said, "Can I ask you the 64 dollar question? Do you think Elvis will ever come to Europe? Do you know there are fans who wait until the very last minute before fixing their holidays waiting to see if Elvis is coming, and I know already this year there are fans who have plans to charter buses to follow him around Europe if he comes this year." "Well," Mr. Presley said, "He wants to, and I think he will one day, but a trip to Europe is a tremendous undertaking. You have seen what has to be done to get him here. It woukld have to be a very big deal, and of course it won't be this year." I told him the European fans would give him a tremendous welcome and from the numbers whom I knew personally who would be flocking to see him they would just have to make it a public holiday!" Mr. Presley then said,"I must go now and make sure all the packing is finished." Shortly afterwards Elvis' luggage came down - all black and initialised EAP in gold. There were racks of suits in zipped covers and even a portable RCA colour TV, also 3 guitars. I counted 20 pieces before I dashed back to the service entrance and they were still bringing it down.
      Suddenly Elvis' guard, the one who had soken to me earlier, came out and lined us all up either side of the entrance, and he said, "You're a good audience. you're not giving me any trouble." Everyone was hoping that Elvis would leave before the kids got out of school, otherwise we might be overwhelmed. Suddenly there was a flurry at the bottom of the entrance, (it sloped down to the basement) and Priscilla, Patsy and Joannie came out. Priscilla was wearing the see-through black Rodeo outfit she had worn the previous day and she had a black Fedora on her head at a very rakish angle. She walked up theslope and a gust of wind caught her hat and she gave a squeal of despair, and caught hold of her hat. Gladys called out, "Hi, Priscilla," and she raised her head and smiled and called back, "Hi,2 and as she did I managed to snap her. She then went into the bus followed by the rest of the girls. Her beautiful hair was streaming out in the wind. Next Charlie Hodge came along and we shook his handand said, "Goodbye Charlie, and Good Luck and Thanks for everything." He then stood on the steps of the bus, and Gladys said, "Go on, snap him," and I felt maybe he did not want me to, but he straightened up and smiled, so I got him too. Someone called out to him, "Please ask Priscilla to sign this piece of paper," and he replied, "I'm sorry, I can't do that."
      As we looked down the slope and into the basement we saw all the staff lined up, and then we saw a pair of very groovy legs moving along and we just knew to whom they belonged! And then, there wa ELVIS shaking hands with all the people down there. In the next minuite he was outside and WOW he looked great. Elvis was wearing a black flared pants with inverted pleats down the outside leg from knee to ankle, (these pleats were in a strong shade of blue) and a magnificent "easy rider" jacket in electric blue suede. The fringe was longer than any I hav ever seen and some of them were weighted with beads. The fringe was right down the sleeves and across the back and in a herring-bone pattern across the front. All the seams were welted and the ends had little fringes in them. There was just a peek of a blue collar, the same colour as the inserts in the pants, and Elvis had a white silk scarf tucked into his neck. He was holding a gold pen in his right hand and a cigar in his left. The cigar was in a white holder. He started to sign pics and shake hands, and then he came along to us. I shook his hand and said, "Thanks Elvis for everything, and Good Luck and Goodbye,2 and he looked at me with his eyes half closed and sad, "Oh, you were in Vegas," but goodness knows how he recognised us as we looked a pair of wind-blown frights. I suspect the guard had primed him up. Elvis signed a picture for Gladys and while he was writing she went to get hold of his right handand he said, "Woah!" She thought it was because he thought she was going to snatch his rings, but I thinkit was because he was holding a cigar and Elvis thought she would get burnt. Gladys didn't even notice the cigar! I took four pics of Elvis while all this was going on. He had by now reached the bus, and Joe Esposito said, "Come on," and Elvis said, "Hold it." There was a fan on the opposite side of the ramp with a three month old baby. Everyone had told her if Elvis spotted the baby he would come over, and sure enough he went over to her and signed her pic. The baby slept throughout all of this. Elvis then went to the entrance of the bus,and stood on the steps for a few seconds and then was gone. All the curtains in the bus were drawn so once inside he was lost to view. The bus quickly drew away. We were told Mr. Kerkorian had sent his own D.C.9 jet to pick Elvis up. Later we heard that Elvis drove home in the airport bus in L.A. and that he and Priscilla were sitting on the back seat and so were the last to come out. Elvis came to the steps of the bus and the fans formed a circle around the bus entrance. He stood on the steps for a few moments grasping the rails and with his head bent down, then he just raised it up and said, "Hello!" The fans asked him if he would come out to talk to them and he said, "I've got to go and see my baby." e late sent word out he would not be coming out, and at the time we heard that news some days later he had not been seen.

[Alan]

Photographer: Maria Luise Davies .	Photographer: Maria Luise Davies .	Photographer: Maria Luise Davies .
Photographer: Maria Luise Davies .	Photographer: Maria Luise Davies .	Photographer: Maria Luise Davies .

[Alan]

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[jackelvis1969]

That footage is February 28, 1970 AS as he is leaving the Astroworld Hotel. You can see the blue tapestry collar peaking out from the jacket.

[Alan]

That footage is February 28, 1970 AS as he is leaving the Astroworld Hotel. You can see the blue tapestry collar peaking out from the jacket.

There's two seperate pieces of footage in the above, but joined together.
I should really split them and put the other on the respective date you mentioned.