TV and Movies

[Jordan2]

I just finished this, it was good. I became an Elvis fan after he died, it was always The Beatles for me. I wonder what his career would have been like if Col. Tom Parker wasn't his manager. Parker looked to Elvis as a money machine, he didn't do what was good for Elvis he was just interested in the money he could make. 

[beach-mom]

Thanks @amyb - I will definitely watch this. I really enjoyed the recent movie about him. Like a lot of others, I obviously knew who he was when I was old enough to appreciate music, but I didn't go out of my way to see his movies.

 I think he could have continued his acting career and been really successful. I can't remember why he didn't. 

[haddon9]

I've mentioned here before that I went to Graceland when Elvis was still alive.  It was the summer of 1970 and I along with a friend was visiting another friend from our neighborhood who had moved to Memphis.

I was fifteen and not driving yet so our friend's mom took us to some places.  Once day she asked if we wanted to go to Graceland and so we did.  Back then it was along a somewhat rural but wide road with nothing around.

We pulled off on the shoulder of the road and took photos of us standing in front of the gate with the musical notes.  There was a man with a golf cart inside of the fence and  my friend's mom started to flirt with him.

He invited us to ride on the golf cart around the property (Elvis wasn't at home then) and he gave us a little tour of the outside.  I can remember it looked like a beautiful home with horses on a side yard.  

I will check out the documentary!

[amyb]

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@beach-mom wrote:

Thanks @amyb - I will definitely watch this. I really enjoyed the recent movie about him. Like a lot of others, I obviously knew who he was when I was old enough to appreciate music, but I didn't go out of my way to see his movies.

 I think he could have continued his acting career and been really successful. I can't remember why he didn't. 

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I definitely think he could have too. I think the story goes...Colonel Tom Parker made him keep doing the dopey girly beach movies, Elvis started to hate doing, because they were commercial successes. Elvis so wanted to do a serious dramatic role but never got to. I think he would have been great. It was tragic that drugs, health, weight, the fame, business handling...all got the best of him, way too young.

[spabar]

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@beach-mom wrote:

Thanks @amyb - I will definitely watch this. I really enjoyed the recent movie about him. Like a lot of others, I obviously knew who he was when I was old enough to appreciate music, but I didn't go out of my way to see his movies.

 I think he could have continued his acting career and been really successful. I can't remember why he didn't. 

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@beach-mom - he got sick of doing movies that were all the same. He wanted to do dramatic parts, but the "colonel" said people only wanted to hear him sing. Barbra Streisand approached him to do, "A Star is Born," but the "colonel" made too many demands, and she changed her mind. He wanted to tour Europe, but colonel wouldn't allow that because he was an illegal, and was afraid of not being allowed back into the US. In my opinion, even though he made Elvis a star, in the end, he was his downfall. Very sad. 😔