_____________________________________________________________________________ \\\\\___A P A C H E E L V I S___\"-._ /////~~~tinyurl.com/apachelvis~~~/.-' _____________________________________________________________________________ ELVIS PRESLEY BIRTHDAY EVENTS THROUGH THE YEARS ___________________________________________________________________________ * Please Scroll Down for Elvis Chronology - 1893 - 1954 ___________________________________________________________________________ We all know that Elvis was born on this date in 1935; but what else happened in his life on January 8: 1946: On Elvis' 11th birthday, his parents buy him a guitar at the Tupelo Hardware Store. As Gladys Presley letter tells the story, Elvis wanted a bicycle, but she was put off both by the cost and her fears that he might get hurt. Elvis applies himself to learning the guitar all through the year, getting pointers from his uncle Johnny Smith and the new Assembly of God pastor, Frank Smith, who with other East Tupeloans, both children and adults, regularly travels to town to attend the WELO Jamboree, a Saturday afternoon amateur show broadcast from the Tupelo courthouse. There Elvis gets encouragement from local star Mississippi Slim (Carvel Lee Ausborn) whose own Saturday noontime show serves as a lead-in to the Jamboree and whose music falls somewhere between Jimmie Rodgers' and Ernest Tubb'. 1949: Vernon gives Elvis a Paperback book of cartoons by George Price with the inscription: "May your birthday be sprinkled through 'n through with joy and love and good times too. Daddy." The book traveled with him to Germany and was left behind in his rented house at 14 Goethestrasse. 1955: On Elvis' 20th birthday he appears on the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, Louisiana at the Municipal auditorium. Elvis was introduced as the "Memphis Flash" and described to the radio audience by announcer Frank Page as wearing crocodile-skin shoes with pink socks. He performs That's All Right, Hearts of Stone, Blue Moon of Kentucky, and Fool Fool Fool. The bill includes rising country star Johnny Horton, known as the "Singing Fisherman," who will have a huge pop hit four years later with The Battle of New Orleans. 1956: Elvis and Red fly back to Memphis from Shreveport, arriving in the early morning hours. Elvis is asleep when the Colonel telephones to wish him a happy twenty-first birthday. That day Elvis also insures the pink and black '55 Cadillac Fleetwood and a '56 Plymouth station wagon, most likely used by Vernon and Gladys. The '54 Cadillac Eldorado remains insured in Sam Phillips name. 1957: Elvis celebrates his 22nd birthday at home with his parents. The Memphis Draft Board announces at a press conference that Elvis Presley will be classified 1A, meaning he will most likely be drafted within the next six to eight months. While he is home, Elvis stops by to see Dixie Locke, who has recently married. 1958: Elvis is photographed on the stairs inside Graceland's front door with a March of Dimes poster girl, eight year old Mary Kosloski, after keeping her waiting for two hours. Following his 23rd birthday party at Graceland, Elvis asks Alan Fortas to accompany him to California. In a by now familiar scenario, earlier in the week he fired Cliff Gleaves and Lamar Fike after they squabbled over a badminton game. By Friday Cliff will be forgiven, and soon Lamar will be as well. 1959: Elvis celebrates his 24th birthday in Germany, while Dick Clark, with the Colonel's cooperation, produces an American Bandstand tribute at home. 1960: Dick Clark interviews Elvis on his 25th birthday for American Bandstand, with Elvis speaking in general terms of his upcoming recording session, his appearance on the Frank Sinatra television show, and his new Paramount picture, now titled G.I. Blues. A little later in the evening he celebrates at a local recreation center with about 200 invited guests, including Priscilla Beaulieu. Joe Esposito and the gang present Elvis with a trophy inscribed "Elvis Presley. Most Valuable Player. Bad Nauheim Sunday Afternoon football association, 1959." 1962: Elvis celebrates his 27th birthday at the Sahara in Las Vegas, with a cake supplied by Milton Prell, the casino's owner and a friend of Colonel Parker's. 1964: Elvis celebrates his 29th birthday quietly ay home. 1965: Numerous newspapers and magazine articles note the passing of an era with the arrival of Elvis' 30th birthday, but Elvis celebrates quietly at home. It is only two months later than some of his reflections on growing old find their way into print in an extended interview with James Kingsly of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "I can never forget the longing to be someone," he says in the March 7 newspaper story. "I guess if you are poor you always think bigger and want more than those who have everything." 1966: Elvis celebrates his 31st birthday by attending It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World at the Memphian. He will continue to screen films approximately every other night while he is at home, with fare varying from The Virgin Spring to Die Monster Die. Elvis received a ceremonial telegram from ninety CA executives, declaring in what seems like more a statement of hope than of history: "Your understanding and cooperation made 1865 the biggest of all the ten years you have been with us." 1967: Elvis' 32nd birthday is spent at Graceland, with Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires paying his a visit. 1968: Elvis celebrates his 33rd birthday at Graceland, attending the movies at the Memphian later in the evening. 1969: Elvis celebrates his 34th birthday at Graceland. 1971: Perhaps as a birthday gift to himself, Elvis has a police radio installed in his Mercedes and buys an array of police equipment, including revolving blue lights, shoulder holsters, chemical weapons, and hand cuffs. Over the next few days he will purchase a number of Smith & Wesson pistols as well as additional police equipment. 1972: Joyce Bova comes to Memphis for Elvis' birthday. 1974: The two mayors of Memphis, city and county, declare Elvis' 39th birthday to be Elvis Presley Day, and both march in a parade down Elvis Presley Boulevard to Graceland. In Georgia governor Jimmy Carter issues a similar proclamation, in deference to Elvis' five Atlanta performances in 1973. 1975: Elvis celebrates his 40th birthday "in self-imposed seclusion" at Graceland, writes the Memphis Commercial Appeal. His uncle Vester, who, the story notes, "has worked as a security guard at Graceland since 1957, has not seen his nephew since Christmas." 1976: Elvis spends the evening of his 41st birthday in a rental home of the slopes of Vail with Jerry Schilling and Myrna Smith, who have been living together for more than a year and will eventually marry. There have been a good deal of tension on this vacation, largely stemming from Elvis' fluctuations of mood, and Elvis in a subdued state until Myrna reveals that she has not seen one of his favorite films, Across 110th Street, starring Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Quinn. This s the catalyst for him to recite, in character, every line of dialogue from the picture. _____________________________________________________________________________ * Elvis Chronology - 1893 - 1954 _____________________________________________________________________________ June 17, 1893 - Elvis's paternal grandmother, Minnie Mae Hood Presley, born. June 26, 1909 - Colonel Thomas Andrew Parker born. April 25, 1912 - Elvis's mother, Gladys Love Smith Presley, born. April 9, 1916 - Elvis's father, Vernon Presley, born. June 17, 1933 - Vernon Presley and Gladys Love Smith married in Pontotoc, Mississippi. January 8, 1935 - Elvis Presley born at 4.35am in East Tupelo, Mississippi. A twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley, was stillborn. January 9, 1935 - Jesse Garon Presley buried in the Priceville Cemetery northeast of Tupelo, Mississippi. June 1, 1938 - February 6, 1939 - Vernon Presley served a term of imprisonment for forgery in the Parchman Mississippi Penitentiary. May 25, 1945 - Priscilla Ann Wagner (Beaulieu) born. October 3, 1945 - Elvis won second place in the talent show of the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show. January 8, 1946 - Elvis received a $7.86 guitar - his first - for his eleventh birthday. September 12, 1948 - The Presleys moved from Tupelo, Mississippi, to Memphis, Tennessee, and obtained a one-bedroom apartment at 572 Poplar Avenue. September 13, 1948 - Elvis enrolled at the Christine School. February 1949 - Vernon Presley began working for the United Paint Company. June 17, 1949 - Mrs. Jane Richardson, an advisor from the Memphis Housing uthority, interviewed the Presleys to see if they qualified for financial assistance. They did. September 20, 1949 - The Presleys moved from 572 Poplar Avenue to a two-bedroom apartment in the Lauderdale Courts at 185 Winchester Street. 1950 - Memphis Recording Service founded by Sam Phillips. June 3, 1951 - Elvis began working at Precision Tool, lasting just one month. September 1951 - Elvis attended a few football practices at Humes High. March 1, 1952 - Sun 174 ("Blues In My Condition" / "Sellin' My Whiskey" by Jackie Boy and Little Walter) became the first release for Sun Records. April 17, 1952 - Elvis obtained a part-time job at Loew's State Theater. He was fired when he punched a fellow usher for telling the manager that Elvis was getting free candy from the girl at the concession stand. August 6, 1952 - Elvis began working at Upholsteries Specialities Company. September 1952 - Elvis began working for MARL Metal products next door, but soon had to quit when his mother discovered he was falling asleep in school. January 7, 1953 - The Presleys were evicted from 185 Winchester and moved into an apartment house at 398 Cypress Street. April 9, 1953 - Elvis appeared in the Humes High Talent Show. April 1953 - The Presleys moved from 398 Cypress Street to a two-story apartment house at 462 Alabama Street. June 3, 1953 - Elvis graduated from L.C. Humes High School. He took the General Aptitude Test Battery at the Tennessee Employment Security in Memphis. July 1953 - Elvis began working for Crown Electric Company. August 1953 - On a Saturday afternoon, Elvis recorded "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" on a ten-inch acetate record at the Memphis Recording Service. He left with the original. January 4, 1954 - Elvis recorded "Casual Love Affair" and "I'll Never Stand In Your Way" on a ten-inch acetate at the Memphis Recording Service. He met Sam Phillips. Early June 1954 - Sam Phillips had Elvis try to record "Without You." It wasn't the sound Phillips was looking for, so he had Elvis sing several other songs that Elvis knew. None of them suited Phillips. June 27, 1954 - Elvis first met Scotty Moore and Bill Black at Moore's house. They rehearsed several songs before recording the following week at Sun Records. July 5, 1954 - Elvis's first commercial recording session at Sun Records. The first song out on tape was "Harbor Lights" followed by "I Love You Because." "That's All Right (Mama)" was recorded that evening. July 6, 1954 - Elvis recorded "Blue Moon of Kentucky." July 7, 1954 - Disc jockey Dewey Phillips of Memphis radio station WHBQ became the first person to play an Elvis Presley record on the air when he played "That's All Right (Mama)." It was played on his program, "Red Hot and Blue," shortly after 9.30pm. Later that night, Elvis gave his first media interview on Phillip's program. July 12, 1954 - Scotty Moore became Elvis's first manager when Elvis and his parents signed a one-year contract with Moore. July 19, 1954 - Sun 209 ("That's All Right (Mama)" / "Blue Moon Of Kentucky") became Elvis's first commercial record release. July 28, 1954 - Elvis's first newspaper interview (by Edwin Howard) appeared in the Memphos Press Scimitar. Friends Through Elvis Pete _____________________________________________________________________________ COMMENTS ON THE ABOVE: _____________________________________________________________________________ Hi Pete, Interesting stuff. Now I'm really not picking holes - but in every Elvis chronology there has to be errors. Just a quick look & I spotted a) Elvis did not win second place in the talent show of the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show. (he may or may not have come fifth) b) The first Sun release in March 1952 is sometimes said to be SUN 175 "Drivin' Slow" by Johnny London, as SUN 174 was never released commercially due to negative criticism to Sam Phillips. c) Elvis' first record is "That's All Right" - have we ever seen an Elvis pressing with 'mama' in it? d) As far as I know the exact release date of 'That's All Right' is not known more than 'mid-july' Sorry if this is too picky but I just had to notice HAPPY NEW YEAR Hope all is well Cheers Piers piersb@aapt.net.au _____________________________________________________________________________ Friends Through Elvis Pete "Helping the Memphis Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Centre" Please make a large or small donation @ URL: http://www.the-med.org/ _____________________________________________________________________________