Vertis is a huge Elvis Presley fan, so when the new "Elvis" movie came out, she insisted we go on one of our rare movie outings.
So last Sunday afternoon we went to see what I thought was a rather long rendition of the life of the swinging singer from Tupelo, Miss. If you grew up in the late 1950s and '60s he was just Elvis--no one ever said Elvis Presley--and it stayed Elvis until his death in 1977.
I'm certainly not a movie critic, but thought "Elvis" was relatively good, and Tom Hanks might win an Oscar for his portrayal of Col. Tom Parker, the cigar-puffing, fat, bald co-star who has a slit for a mouth. He's just great. I didn't believe it was Tom Hanks until I looked closely.
Colonel Parker was Elvis' manager and supposedly his friend, but he used Elvis to make money and did almost anything to keep Elvis on stage. The movie does an excellent job of explaining that complicated arrangement.
Austin Butler, who plays Elvis, does such a good job that he and Hanks may fight it out for an Oscar for best actor in a leading role. He's especially good when interacting with Black singers, who had a great impact on Elvis' style.
The Black church scene when Elvis is a boy of around 12 is worth the price of the ticket. The influence of Memphis' Beale Street is a feature of Elvis' style, and the singers, with whom Elvis identifies, give the movie a feeling of how he progressed.
Butler not only gyrates like Elvis, but in the early part of the movie he does the vocals. In later scenes, Elvis' voice is used along with Butler's on some songs. I found myself starting to believe I was watching the real Elvis.
Although the time I saw Elvis in person in 1970 the girls were milder, in his early career women rushed toward the stage, but not quite as wildly as the movie indicates. Some of the early performances show the audience sitting quietly, not knowing what to expect from the young nobody. Then as Elvis takes off with hip gyrations, the girls go wild.
Vertis came away with comments such as "Fabulous! Wonderful! The best movie I've seen in a long time." She would probably give the movie a 98. I'm a little more conservative when it comes to hip-swinging men, and although some of Elvis' songs still ring a bell, I wouldn't go higher than 85.
But Elvis, especially in the South, is more than a historic music figure. Vertis said she remembers where she was when she heard on the radio that Elvis had died. I think you need to be a Southerner to really understand the impact Elvis had on rock and roll music.
I was in college when Elvis hit the big time; I had heard all the hit singles such as "Blue Suede Shoes," "Hound Dog" and others. As he grew more and more popular, he became both a legend and a target for ultra-conservative preachers who cautioned their flock about watching and listening to Elvis.
In the late 1950s, big time meant being on "The Ed Sullivan Show," and I joined almost everyone in the basement of our college dorm to watch Elvis' first appearance there in 1956.
All of us had seen Elvis many times, and when he started singing and the camera only showed him from the waist up, we booed. In the movie, when Elvis tries to become the New Elvis to please his critics, it comes off similarly. The whole Elvis package is what makes Elvis Elvis.
When Vertis and I lived in Texas in 1970, Elvis was booked into the then-new Astrodome (opened in 1965) in Houston. That brought on a road trip with our close friends George and Marilyn.
Elvis put on a good show, and as it ended he rode around the Astrodome, standing up in the back of a slow-moving pickup. Vertis and Marilyn joined a flock of women who squealed and screamed as Elvis eased by. Vertis claimed she and Marilyn didn't scream, but George and I didn't believe her.
Back when Elvis was getting started, he was performing at the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport and was booked to do a concert on the stage of El Dorado High School. The old high school was located where South Arkansas University's main building is now (the high school building with the stage and auditorium was leveled in the 1970s, and a college administration building was erected).
I didn't make the concert, but talked with folks who did. Evidently, Elvis put on a wild show. One of the men who attended said that Elvis parked his Cadillac across the street behind what was then Woody's, and when the concert was over he slipped in the back door for one of Woody's famous hamburgers.
The person who told me about the visit said Elvis was very polite and didn't want to be noticed. He finished his hamburger, slipped out the back door, and headed back to Shreveport. I'm sure that since Elvis played several venues around south Arkansas and Shreveport, he was seen by a lot of Arkansas folks.
As Vertis said, as we left the theater last Sunday afternoon, "There will never be another Elvis."
Email Richard Mason at richard@gibraltarenergy.com.