Anecdotes from Baby Letās Play House
āVernon thought he was a stud,ā remembers Lamar Fike. āElvis used to say that Vernon knew when Elvis was conceived, because afterwards, he blacked out.ā
When things progressed beyond that point, he usually stuck to intense foreplay, sometimes asking a girl to masturbate him, and then ejaculating in her hair. If his partner found it degrading, a complete act of submission and dominance, it also made senseāher head was the farthest point from potential pregnancy. Elvisās first experience of real intercourse, which came at either age nineteen or twenty, was both traumatic and uninformed. He had met the girl only that day, and before long, he was in the hotel lobby, searching for Scotty and Bill, his face a tangle of confusion. āThe rubber busted,ā he said. āWhat do I do now?ā Bill chuckled. āI think you had better marry herāor get the hell out of town.ā They left him on his own to solve the crisis, and the next time they saw him, they asked what he had done. āI took her to the emergency room at the hospital.ā āThe emergency room?ā āYeah, I got them to give her a douche.ā Soon he vowed to ānever break a virgin,ā and to fool around only with experienced girls. In truth, he liked everything that led up to intercourse better than the act itselfā the kissing, the stroking, the darting fingers, the removal of the blouse. He preferred that a girl keep her panties on, though it drove him wild to see the slightest bit of pubic hair poking around the seams of her underwear. But he respected women, and it was always important that the girl receive more pleasure than he.
One night when Elvisās parents came to the Hayride, he walked offstage after taking a number of encores and just about brought the house down. Gladys grabbed him up by the arm and pulled him over to the side of the stage where no one could hear them. āElvis,ā she said sternly, ādonāt you have any drawers?ā He thought fast, and said, āNo, maāam, the only pair I own was dirty, and Maxine wouldnāt wash āem.ā āHoney, God, he was huge!ā Maxine says. āAnd it showed. And then when heād shake his leg, my God! You could tell he had a hard-on. It looked like it. Hell, he knew what he was doing. Bill Black went out and said, āIām going to buy Elvis some shorts.ā And he thought, āIāll play a trick on him.ā He bought him some silk ones, polka dots. He thought Elvis wouldnāt wear them, but Elvis fell in love with them and wouldnāt even take āem off. He didnāt want me to wash them. He was afraid somebody would steal them. I guarantee you, he wore silk underwear for the rest of his life, when he wore any at all. He loved them.ā
When I came back, the other guys were down at the beach, looking for the cute girls. But Elvis was leaning over the grillwork on the balcony, staring at the ocean. I said, āHi, honey, are you okay?ā He said, āMae, I canāt get over this ocean.ā Now, he grew up on the mighty Mississippi, but he said, āItās so vast, just no end to it. Iād give anything in the world if I had enough money to bring my mama and daddy to Florida and let them see the ocean.ā ā It touched her that his priority was his parents, when most twenty-year-olds would think about having fun.
āAs they approached the car, they noticed a stranger glancing out the window and then disappearing. The two increased their speed and ripped open the door. His wife screamed from the passenger side and dove for the petticoats in the floorboard. Elvis fell onto the dirt parking lot, struggling to zip up. The trucker reached down with huge, burly arms and grabbed the skinny frame, shaking the stuffing out of it and driving in a couple of well-placed right hooks. ā āNot my face, not my face!ā the singer yelled, covering the aforementioned location. āIāve gotta go back and play.ā The truck driver got in a few more gut busters, then let his quarry flee back to the club.ā
Then one reporter asked Elvis if he planned to marry. āWhy buy a cow when you can milk it through the fence?ā he said, a comment that would be picked up by the national press and spark outrage, even as it was toned down
Then he took the chance, seeing they were so absorbed. He started shooting, keeping his distance at first, and then moved closer, closer, and closer still, until he was up on the railing of the stairway. He snapped a shot from above, looking down just as Elvis nuzzled the girlās cheek, his arms spread wide, one above her against the wall, the other anchoring him on the railing. It was so sensual, and their bodies so eager, that if the photo were rotated, it would seem as if the two were in bed. The photographer scarcely breathed. He asked to pass them (āMay I get by?ā) but they were so focused they didnāt even care. Al pivoted so that the window was behind him, illuminating his subjects with front-end sunlight and fill lighting from the dangling bulb. āBetcha canāt kiss me, Elvis,ā the girl said, sticking out her tongue. āBetcha I can,ā he teased back. And then he made his move, sticking out his own tongue until the two were pressed together, tongues and noses, his waist pushing up against hers. By now, the girl was leaning back on the stair rail, and anything could happen. Al snapped the shutter, capturing the famous image, a distillation of the rock-and-roll road show, and Elvis at his uninhibited best. The whole thing took a tenth of a second, and then all Al heard was, āWe want Elvis! We want Elvis!ā A minute later, Elvis sprinted onstage to give four thousand people, mostly women and girls, the performance they had paid to see.