What are your medals for?
It is all right to stand up, sir? These medals right here, ma’am, are for expert with a carbine rifle and also tank weapons.
What?
Tank weapon. That’s a ninety-millimeter gun. And this one right here, I didn’t do quite as well. It’s the pistol. I got a sharpshooter over there (pointing to another soldier).
A forty-five?
Yes, sir, that’s right.
Elvis, what do you think about going to Germany?
Well, sir, I’m kind lookin’ forward to it.
Do you speak any German at all?
No, ma’am, I don’t.
Are you planning to learn a little bit?
I’ll probably have to in order to survive in Germany.
What does the “A” in your name stand for?
Aron.
Who was the author of the book you were carrying when you got off the train?
I had just gotten the book, sir. I don’t know.
Where’d you get it? Somebody gave it to you as a gift?
One of the boys gave it to me on the train. The title of the book was (A.L. Alexander’s) Poems That Touch the Heart.
Did any of them touch your heart?
(Laughs).
Have you had a chance to read it?
Yes, ma’am, I read a couple of poems in it. I read one in particular called “Should You Go First”, which is a beautiful poem.
Do you prefer poetry to short stories?
Yes, ma’am, I do.
Do you know by whom the poem was?
The author was unknown in the poem. That’s right.
Elvis, is your dad going to Germany shortly after or at the same time you do?
Yes, ma’am, he is supposed to leave, I think, on the twenty-sixth.
Is anybody else going with you?
My grandmother and one of the boys that used to work for us is going too.
Do you like to go to Germany? I know you have no choice, but ah…
(Laughs). Yes, sir. I’m looking forward to it. In fact, before I came in the Army we were planning a tour of Europe. I’ve never been out of the States except to Honolulu. Rock and roll music is very big over in Europe, in Germany, and all over Europe. It’s very big.
Do they have still very active groups that you hear about, even though you’re in the service?
Yes, sir. In fact, I think my fan club, my fan clubs, probably doubled.
Since you been in?
Yes, sir.
That’s amazing.
And the mail almost drove everybody crazy at Fort Hood.
What happened to all that mail?
It was sent to Colonel Parker to be answered, in Nashville.
How many fan letters do you get each day now?
Well, sir, I suppose I get… probably fifteen thousand letters a week.
Fifteen thousand a week?
Yes, sir.
Do you expect to get a chance to sing over in Germany at all?
Well, sir, I don’t know. I really don’t.
Do you hope to?
Actually, it’s a pretty tough decision. So far I’ve just been soldiering, and I’ve been doing very well at it. So I don’t know exactly what they have planned for me.
March 24, 1960?
Yes, sir.
To keep your career going while you’re in the Army, will you have to give sort of press conferences, you know, as a Paramount star and all that, while you’re in Europe?
I would imagine that there will be quite a few people from the press over there. I really don’t know. I don’t know how it’s gonna be handled over there.
Elvis, at the time you entered the service, I think it was Colonel Parker who said that the federal government was going to lose money by taking you into the service, meaning of course income taxes. Did you share that sentiment with him?
(Laughs). Well, I’ll put it like this. I’ve paid a lot of income tax, I know that. Although the government has a lot of money… I hope.
Can we see your haircut?
Ma’am, it’d be out of uniform, ma’am, I can’t take my hat off.
Did you have a rougher time in the first day at camp or later? What comments did the other soldiers have?
Some of’em wouldn’t look good in print, sir.
Elvis, most people have a song that is sort of special to them. Do you have a favourite song?
My favourite song is a song called Padre. Are you familiar with it, by Tony Arden? And also, You’ll Never Walk Alone was always one of my very favourites.
Elvis, do you think your high school R.O.T.C. did you any good in the Army?
Yes, ma’am, it definitely did. I knew my left leg from my right one and it helped quite a bit (laughs).
Did that colour guard that you outfitted at Humes High School in Memphis give you any going away presents?
Yes, ma’am, they gave me an old musket – one of the old rifles, you know, you had to pack the powder in the end of it.
From the Civil War of before that?
I think it was the Civil War.
Your family’s been here a long time. Were any of your ancestors in the Civil War, or the Revolution War?
Ah, let me see. On which side, let’s see? (laughs).
Do you still have your four Cadillacs?
Three now, sir. I traded one for a Lincoln, sir.
Are you going to take any of your cars with you?
No, ma’am. I’ll get a German… when in Germany, do as the Germans do. I’ll probably get a German car.
Don’t you have one… a Messerschmitt?
I had one. I gave it away, sir.
How is it possible that you’re not in the Special Services?
Ma’am, I don’t know.
It’s not your choice? I mean, no one asked you?
I haven’t said anything. I mean, I guess the Army knows what’s best for me.
What kind of work do they have you doing? What kind of work do you do generally?
Well, for about eighteen weeks I was in the tanks. I was a tank commander. And then the last few weeks I was there I was a truck driver. I drove a truck.
Elvis, should rock and roll die out between now and the time you get out of the service…
… I’ll starve to death, sir (laughs)… I beg your pardon, sir.
… What do you think you might do?
If rock and roll music were to die out – which I don’t think it will – I would try something else. I would probably try… I would really probably go in for the movies then and I would try to make it as an actor, which is very tough ‘cause you got a lot of competition.
Elvis, are you surprised that you’re as big a success and a lasting a success as you are now? Did you think it was gonna turn out this well?
I didn’t know, sir. I was hoping, but uh, I just took every day as it came along. I didn’t anticipate that I was gonna, I was gonna do well, or I didn’t anticipate I was gonna die out.
How many Gold Records do you have, incidently?
Twenty-five, sir.
Twenty-five? That’s tops, isn’t it, in the business? Paramount says eight.
Eight? Sir, they’re behind time.
Twenty-five?
I have twenty-five-million-sellers and two albums that have sold a million each. In fact, the RCA Victor men are here. They can verify that. Isn’t that right?
(Colonel Tom Parker). Mr. Sholes is right here.
They’ve all disappeared, sir. Isn’t that right, Mr. Sholes?
Steve Sholes?
(Colonel Tom Parker) The gentleman with the red badge over there.
Do you plan to make any records while you’re on furlough in Germany? I understand that’s a privilege of all Army personnel.
I beg your pardon, sir.
Do you plan to make any records while you’re on furlough in Germany? I understand that’s a privilege of all Army personnel.
No, sir, I don’t. I don’t think so.
On the rock and roll, Elvis, do you think there’s a sort of developing form of music? In other words, will it stay like it is or do you think it may change its form? Well, there’s been criticism of the wiggling there. Do you think it’s gonna straighten out or something like that? Do you know what I mean?
Sir, the wiggle can’t straighten out (laughs). If you do, you’re finished. It’s like a guy down in Fort Hood… one of the sergeants one day… I was… I was sitting down on my foot locker and my left leg was shaking. I mean just unconsciously. He said, “Presley, I wish you’d quit shaking that leg”. I said, “Sarge, when that leg quits shaking I’m finished.”
You’ve probably seen that your fans brought down the ceiling in London when King Creole was showing last week. Do you plan to go to England at all on furlough from Germany?
I would like to, if I can make it on a three-day pass.
Elvis, what would you like to do the most on your first leave in Europe?
I’d like to go to Paris… and look up Brigitte Bardot (laughter).
Elvis, do you have anything you want to say to your many admirers before going overseas… any farewell word?
Yes, sir, I would. I’d like to say that I’m gonna do my best to keep putting out the records and everything they enjoy, and that I’ll be looking forward to coming back and entertaining them again.
Do you have any records cut that are not released?
Yes, ma’am, I do.
How many?
I have two… or is it three. I don’t know. He (Colonel Tom Parker) says it’s four.
Could you tell me what you think of (Dean Martin’s) Volare, and the Italian singers that have come along?
I think it’s great. I went out and bought the record when I first heard it.
Do you think you might record something like that?
Me record an Italian song? I don’t know if I could cut the mustard (laughs).
While you’re in the service, do you plan to take advantage of any of the educational benefits given by the armed services?
Well, I have heard a lot about the different types of schooling the Army has to offer. And I do know for a fact that a lot of fellows have gone through the service and benefited out in the civilian life, after they come out of the service. A lot of guys that had nothing prior to the time they went in, and they go in the service and they take some kind of schooling for maybe a year or two years and when they come out of the Army, well, they’re qualified for a good job. Now, it doesn’t hurt for anybody to have a profession to turn to in case something did happen to the entertainment business, or something happen to me. I don’t know exactly yet what kind of a school that I would like to go to.
Elvis, on the trip here, on the trip here on the train from wherever you took off from…
Fort Hood, sir…
Fort Hood to here in Brooklyn, you must have some time to yourself. What did you think about?
Well, there were three hundred and fifty guys on the train with me. They didn’t give me much time to think. You know, the boys come around and they talk. They wan to know about Hollywood and different things. They want to know about making movies and things. We pretty well kept occupied. I don’t like to sit alone too much and think.
Have you formed any real close buddies in the service, friendships since you been in?
Yes, sir, I’ve got quite a few buddies in there.
Elvis, are you sorry you never got to college?
Right at the time, we didn’t have enough money to go to college. I would have liked to have gone.
Would you like to go back at some point?
Well, it’s according to what the future holds for me.