Elvis Word for Word
 Jerry Osborne
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2000 Harmony Books, NY USA
  ISBN: 0609608037


What he said, exactly how he said it... From his first minor radio appearance to the last letter he wrote before his death. Verifiable Elvis Presley telegrams, letters to fans, his lovers & friends as well quips on rare & unknown photographs.

The dust jacket says this is the story of Elvis that has never been told, a story in his own words, compiled & researched by Jerry Osborne who has been writing & producing Elvis books since 1975. For more than two decades, when someone calls Graceland asking about Elvis collectibles, they are routinely referred to Jerry Osborne & his series of Presley reference books.

In 1965, the International Elvis Presley Appreciation Society made Jerry an honorary lifetime member. Elvis & Jerry became friends in 1967, when they both lived in Memphis, Tennessee. Jerry was a deejay then & won The King's heart by playing his songs the most.

The first time I became aware of an American singer called Elvis Presley was when the film Jailhouse Rock came to the Ladbroke Grove Odeon Cinema in west London. I worked for a week to convince my mother that the Saturday matinee would be a decorous non-event. I got permission to attend on my own - no one I knew wanted to see it & as I triumphantly headed to the cinema it seemed every kid was heading the same way as if hearing the Pied Piper of Hamlin's flute.

It was not an uncommon sight in those days to see queues of people circle a cinema so I simply took my place & slowly sidled up to the ticket booth & headed on in.

I should have known something was up when the program didn't start on time & the noise level was relentless. The audience seemed older than usual for a Saturday matinee. Finally, amid ear-splitting whistles, the manager came out on stage & read us a list of rules & reasons why the film would be stopped if we didn't behave.

All through the trailers & news program the noise was deafening with strange missiles lobbed here & there. Large sections of both the balcony(the smoking section) & ground floor were jammed with young men who couldn't sit still, surrounding flocks of frocked, painted & sweatered girls giggling & shrieking.

Eventually the house lights dimmed, the caterwauling ratcheted up & the first notes throbbed over the speakers. It was impossible to hear anything coming from the film & when Elvis Presley first appeared the pandemonium escalated as the huge black & white image of their hero shimmered on the screen. Suddenly girls were literally swooning & boys were jumping around like chimpanzees spying a leopard. They were ripping up the seats, throwing their beverage cups, anything, everywhere as the bold & throbbing music accompanied them.

It took only 15 minutes before the projector's light dimmed, the house lights came on & the manager marched out on the stage. The roar that greeted him drowned him out & that was when I slunk to a nearby exit & made good my escape. & for blocks I could hear the chaos at the cinema reverberate along the streets as that packed audience burst out.

At home, the only thing I had going for me was that a) I hadn't lingered in the chaos; b)no policeman was with me or chasing me for behavior unbecoming a young lady & c) it was still daylight outside. It was a long time before my mother permitted me to go to the cinema without one of my brothers accompanying me & certainly never again to a rock & roll film.

Still, I did buy the 45rpm of Jailhouse Rock & my youngest brother wanted to see King Creole. I've never been bowled-over by The King. He was interesting & sexy although I thought him not particularly remarkable, you see I was already half in love with Cliff Richards & my passion would come to fruition a little later with the Mersey Sound.

So, when Elvis-Word for Word arrived in my mailbox I was reluctant, after all, Elvis was not noted for his conversational skills however, I have a feeling we didn't know how funny he actually could be. He cracked some deadpan, off-the-cuff quips that you can just hear him drawl.

This has to be for dyed-in-the-wool devotees who want to know every “Thank you” & “Oh Yeah!” & “Yes sir” The King ever uttered or his simple, polite Thank You Notes, congratulatory telegrams & holiday greetings. Sometimes I get the distinct impression that The King just didn't understand what all the fuss was about nor why anyone would want to ask some of the innane questions they did. When he was asked about music, however, he waxed positively poetic!!

In his letters, Elvis did quite well, even has a lilt that comes through & it's surprising to see just who he wrote to. There is also a fascinating photographic history of this Legend's public life - a who's who of show business & movies!

If you know any Elvis fans & want to give them the ultimate present, then Jerry Osborne's Elvis-Word for Word is as good as it gets!
(11/26/00)

Rebecca