ELVIS NEVER REALLY LIKED PLAYING VEGAS HE HATED DOING THE DINNER SHOWS COMPETING WITH PEOPLE SLURPING THEIR SOUP AND THE NOISE OF CUTLERY ON PLATES, AND DOING TWO SHOWS TO PEOPLE WHO IN GENERAL WERE NOT HIS FANS BUT JUST HAPPENED TO BE IN VEGAS WAS EXHAUSTING FOR ELVIS, BUT WHAT MOST PEOPLE DO NOT REALISE WAS THAT HIS FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH VEGAS WAS NOT A GOOD ONE, HE MAY HAVE ‘OWNED’ IT IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 70s BUT WHEN HE PLAYED THERE IN THE 50s HE WAS BOOED OFF THE STAGE, AND i AM SURE THAT WAS IN THE BACK OF HIS MIND AND WHY HE HAD SUCH TERRIBLE STAGE FRIGHT THERE
Maila Nurmi in 1956, met Elvis. “I went to Las Vegas to perform with Liberace,” she later said in an interview, “and went with him to see Elvis’ show. I had never seen someone boldly standing on a stage – supposedly a heterosexual male – wearing turquoise eye shadow and grinding his hips like that. The orchestra, one by one put down their instruments. They crossed their arms and refused to play. The audience started booing, and they booed him off the stage. Then a voice said to me – and I wasn’t on any drugs – ‘go around the side of the hotel. There’s a swimming pool and you’ll find someone in a canary yellow jacket.’” And boom – there he was.“He looked confusedly into the darkness,” she continues, “so I said, ‘I’m over here.’ We walked towards each other, sat down and talked. I told him that I was a performer and that what happened was absolutely awful. ’ I told him I admired his courage and they only did that because they’re sheep; one person booed and so then they all did. They’ve never, ever seen anything like you and it frightened them. But, Life Magazine are going to discover you and they will kiss your shoes.”They were words of comfort, certainly, but also very valuable sincere bits of career advice. Elvis felt seen by Maila, and took an instant interest in her.
