13th September 1956, Thursday

[Graeme]

Day number 7920Site Date Map

Yesterday << 13th September 1956, Thursday >> Tomorrow

[Alan]

From Rebel With A Cause
      

Above: Louella Parsons’ home, a two-storey French-style colonial building set on the 28-acre estate known as Marson Farms in Northridge, Los Angeles. Elvis — with Natalie Wood, Nick Adams and Gene Smith — visited the house for his interview.

Elvis’ Visit To Louella Parsons’ Home        The interview between Elvis and Hollywood reporter Louella Parsons took place at her home in the presence of Natalie Wood, Nick Adams and Gene Smith. Elvis first entered the home on his own, leaving his friends outside. Parsons asked him: “You say a girl in Los Angeles gave you the sapphire ring — was it Natalie Wood? What is all this talk about you and Natalie going steady?” Elvis answered: “No, ma’am — Natalie didn’t give it to me. She’s sitting in the car out front now — Natalie and Nick Adams, he’s her real friend, not me, and also my cousin, Gene Smith, the one I told you was drafted.” Parsons then invited Elvis to fetch his friends into her home. Parsons wrote a detailed description of Elvis’ appearance: “A picture of sartorial splendour! He was wearing a combination sports coat-shirt of black trimmed in white, and white shoes trimmed with black sketches of Elvis and his guitar, and of course his trademark sideburns. Several weeks of location on his first movie, Love Me Tender, had given him a becoming sun-tan.” The date of this interview was most likely Thursday, September 13, 1956. A big clue can be found in a question that Parsons asked Elvis: “What are your feelings about the item in the papers today quoting the chief of police of San Diego [Elmer Janson] as saying he will not allow you to perform there again unless you clean up your act, and clean it up good?” This article was first published on the identified date. Reference was also made to Elvis’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show four days before the interview. Louella Parsons’ condensed article on Elvis, featured on the opposite page, was not published until November 29, 1956. A transcript of the full interview was included in the January 1957 issue of Modern Screen magazine.

      

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Elvis Presley Gets Praise From Writer
By Louella Parsons
The Orlando Sentinel
November 29, 1956
      
      
The controversial Elvis Presley, panned from coast to coast by adults, praised all over the United States by teenagers, became such a problem in my life that I decided to find out what the real Elvis Presley is like — so I invited him to pay me a visit. I say he became a problem to me because I almost had to hire an extra secretary to answer all the letters of blasts from the teenagers sent to me for calling ‘the wiggly one.” Let me say at the very outset that I can’t believe that Elvis has any wickedness in his heart. He is bewildered at all this sudden fame thrust on him. He is only 21, with a lot to learn, but he is learning fast.
      
When Elvis came to my home, he was starved. During our interview he devoured practically everything in sight, including four cokes, 10 small hamburgers, and countless cheese and crackers. His outfit was something for the books. I later found out he had dressed up especially for me. His shoes, white with black pictures of himself on them, are called ‘Elvis Presley Shoes’ and are made by the Presley Enterprises. When I admired them, he promptly said he would have a pink pair made. “With your picture or mine?” I laughed. He had on a modified sport shirt of black, trimmed with white, and black slacks carried out the color scheme. On his right hand he wore two rings — one a band of sapphires and the other was a horseshoe of diamonds and pearls. When I asked him about the rings, he said that he had three, but he had broken the other one playing baseball. “I bought the horseshoe one myself,” he said, “and a girlfriend gave me the sapphire.”
      
“What are you going to do, Elvis, about the San Diego police chief banning all of your personal appearances unless you clean up your act?” I asked him. “I don’t actually know what I could do,” he said. “I have never considered my act as being vulgar or filled with sex. I sing as I feel and, when I sing a song, I put all my feeling in it. I could never get up in front of a bunch of teenagers and do anything that wasn’t right. Maybe the movements are unusual, but I get carried away when I sing and move about with my guitar. I never deliberately put any wrong meaning in it.”
      

“How do your mother and father feel about all this criticism?” I asked him. “My mother says as long as I know what is in my heart, people cannot hurt me. The only thing she says is, if don’t slow down, I won’t live to be 30,” he said.        “What did you feel about the Life magazine article quoting a preacher about you?” I asked. “I feel that preacher was just looking for publicity,” he said, “and he picked me out because I am on top now. I belong to the First Assembly of God Church and have gone to church since I could walk. My mother was very upset about this article because it hit at my religion and I had to telephone her not to worry about it.”        In other words, Elvis doesn’t believe his contortions are erotic — I doubt he even knows what the word ‘erotic’ means. He is a simple soul who believes that Santa Claus has unexpectedly appeared for him.

Journalist - Louella Parsons