The year was 1956. I was 16 years old when I first heard the name Elvis Presley. After work, I always met up with friends to do a few laps on our mopeds. Suddenly someone started singing a song with completely incomprehensible lyrics. Of course we asked what it was that he was saying. “Yes, don’t you know Elvis Presley with ‘Blue Suede Shoes’?” was his astonished answer. Neither of us had ever heard the name before. In the evenings we often went to amusement arcades or ice cream parlors, where there were jukeboxes everywhere and they played non-stop. I noticed that the song “Tutti Frutti” by Pat Boone played there a lot. When I took a closer look at the title selection of a box, I saw the song “Blue Suede Shoes” by Elvis Presley for the first time. Of course I chose this title to finally know what our friend was always saying. To my amazement, I found that the back was called “Tutti Frutti,” which is the song I used to love hearing from Pat Boone. When I heard Elvis sing this song, I had to admit that at first I liked Pat Boone’s version better. Only later did I prefer the Elvis version. However, Elvis’ “Blue Suede Shoes” had me totally hooked right away.
Another English-language title that I really liked at the time was Johnny Duncan’s 1957 Last Train To San Fernando. Although I didn’t have my own record player at the time, I had bought the Johnny Duncan record anyway, which I then played over and over again on a music chest at my newly married sister’s house until she vomited. But now there was this Elvis Presley that I couldn’t get out of my mind. So I was soon running through the record stores in my hometown of Bochum to ask about Elvis. Today I know that at that time I gradually bought all the songs from “RCA” that had previously been released under the “Sun” label in Memphis. At the beginning of 1958 I saw my first Elvis film “Loving You” in the cinema. These songs – especially the title track “Loving You” – totally hooked me. From then on there was only Elvis for me!
I founded an Elvis fan club and worked closely with Fritz van den Boogard, who ran a great Elvis club in Düsseldorf. He published the “Elvis Presley Post” monthly, which we were allowed to use as a club newspaper. My enthusiasm for Elvis had grown so great that in 1959 I wanted to go to Bad Nauheim on a moped with a friend to see Elvis. Unfortunately, the vehicle gave up the ghost a few days beforehand and we couldn’t drive.
An unforgettable experience was for us Elvis fans a few years later when we were invited to a meeting by the “Paramount” film company in Düsseldorf. We drove around town in a truck and threw flyers advertising the new Elvis movie “Blue Hawaii” off the truck!
Another unique experience for me was my farewell from Bochum to Schleswig-Holstein. I moved near Kiel for professional reasons. At the end of November 1963 it was time to say goodbye to Bochum. I had an Elvis cellar where I celebrated farewell with friends from noon until night with Elvis music. But the absolute highlight was when everyone took me to the train station at night. My train to Kiel left at midnight. From 11pm until boarding the train, Elvis was played on the platform using a record player that ran on batteries. When boarding the train, I heard “Do I have to go out to the town”. I couldn’t hold back my tears and cried uncontrollably.
In Kiel, I took over the management of one of my brother-in-law’s electronics stores and expanded the range of records in the department there with numerous Elvis records. One day a 16-year-old girl came into the store and wanted to buy a record by the then well-known Freddy Quinn. But I said that Freddy didn’t really fit such a young girl and instead gave her the Elvis EP “Flaming Star”. A few days later I met her again on the Baltic Sea beach and asked her if she had heard the record. She replied that she quite liked the song “Summer Kisses, Winter Tears”. She never became a real Elvis fan, but later she became… my wife! But our son has become a big Elvis fan.
Also in Kiel I met another huge Elvis fan named Holger in those years. In 1966 he traveled to Memphis with his wife. At the front gate of Graceland he asked a guard to tell Elvis that he and his wife had come from Germany especially to see him. The guard actually went into the house, came back and s
Said that Elvis was inviting the two of them to a midnight movie in Memphis at midnight. (Today it is well known that Elvis often rented a cinema for himself privately). When the two arrived at the cinema at 11:45 p.m., nobody was there. My friend checked with the only person seen and explained that he had been invited by Elvis. However, he was informed that there was no more performance today. Disappointed, the two turned around to go back to the hotel. They drove only a few meters when they suddenly saw a convertible with Elvis and Priscilla sitting in it. So it still worked! In the cinema shortly afterwards my friend and his wife were sitting a few rows behind Elvis and Priscilla and when Elvis got up during the film to go to the toilet accompanied by his guards he followed and ended up facing Elvis. He plucked up all his courage and asked Elvis why he was making such irrelevant films himself. Elvis is said to have bowed his head and not answered. I still have the postcard my friend wrote me from Memphis at the time, very sorry I didn’t see it. One small comment: My friend’s wife was anything but an Elvis fan at first. But after seeing him in person, she became a huge fan! Unfortunately, my friend is no longer alive today, only his wife.
I first heard about Elvis’ death on August 17, 1977 in the morning on the car radio. In the evening, when the news appeared on the “Tagesschau” TV, I let my tears run free. My great youth idol was no longer with us. Elvis’ death affected me deeply. My youth with Elvis is one of the most beautiful memories of my life.
Finally, I would like to say that I am still a huge Elvis Presley fan at the age of 77. To this day, my respect for Elvis has not lost. He was a good and helpful person who was always there for his fans and people in need. I’ve been living with Elvis for over 60 years now. I own all of his released vinyl records from singles to EP to LP. There are also many CDs that I bought for the car. I like going to concerts with Elvis actors or the Elvis musical with Grahame Patrick. I’ve also managed to visit Bad Nauheim in the meantime. Otherwise, I visit the very informative Elvis website of “The King’s World” every day, for which I would like to thank you very much. You have my great respect for the daily work around Elvis!
Werner Kuberka (Nortorf)