|
|
|
|
|
Vernon Presley was known to Elvis always as, "Daddy", and Vernon often referred to Elvis to everyone as the boy. Vernon took care of financial matters throughout Elvis' life. He was scared that they would lose the money and end up broke again. This is why he was so scared of the Memphis Mafia, because Elvis wanted to share his riches and give the Mafia gifts all the time. Cautious, Vernon believed the guys were hangers-on, but nonetheless, did form bonds with different members of the Mafia.
Vernon died of heart failure not long after his son's death in 1979. When he heard the news that Elvis was dead he kept crying, They have killed him, they have taken my son. We are under no doubt that Vernon loved his son to death and the two shared a special bond. Many people have remarked that Elvis was more of the father figure to Vernon than Vernon was to him. They shared an intimate relationship and one of trust
A lot of Elvis' wit and abilities came from his dad. The humor, the dry humor - That's Vernon Presley. Most people smile with their lips, but he laughed with his eyes. Elvis got an awful lot of that from him.
Elvis and Vernon At Graceland
The Father of a "King"
Elvis Presley's father, Vernon Elvis Presley, was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1916. According to the New York Times, he was the son of Jessie D. McClowell Presley, who had five children. After Vernon Presley married Gladys Love Smith on June 7, 1933, they moved to Tupelo. It was hard for him to find a well paying job because he lacked in the area of education which is probably the result of dropping out of school when he was in eighth grade. Because he lacked in education, he held various odd jobs which included being a farmer, truck driver, and a painter. Elvis followed in his father's footsteps and also held odd jobs before he signed a contract with Sun Records!
Vernon Presley was not exempt from feeling the effects of the long bitter Depression especially after serving his jail sentence. During the time of the Depression, he was serving a nine month sentence in the Parchman Penitentiary for forgery. After being released from the Parchman Penitentiary, Vernon began working for the Works Progress Administration which was started under the Roosevelt Administration. Contrary to popular belief, Elvis Presley also committed forgery, but he never had to serve time in prison for this act. Elvis Presley did not forge a check or other documents--his forgery was in a different manner. Elvis deceived his listeners with his voice making it seem like he was a black singer. Elvis's forgery seems to prove, to some extent, that there is some truth in the saying "like father, like son."
Steve Tamerius stated that Vernon Presley was not always underpaid for the work that he did. At the time of Elvis' death in 1977, Vernon Presley was being paid $75,000 a year by Elvis, for being his business manager. Vernon tried to do an adequate job and tried to get Elvis to stop spending his money foolishly.
Gladys Love Smith, Vernon's first wife, died of a heart attack on August 14, 1958, and is buried beside her son. Two years after the death of Gladys, Vernon married Davada (Dee) Elliot Stanley. Elvis never attended the second wedding of his father, which shows that he probably did not approve of the it. In the end, Vernon's second marriage ended in a disastrous divorce in 1977 after three years of separation
 
|
|
|
Vernon Presley, in 1971, on Elvis' Early Days
Q. What was it like for Elvis in those first days. He was kind of different from the rest of the guys, wasn't he?
Vernon: Well, in some ways, some of the clothes he wore was different. The way he wore his hair was quite different than what there was back then, you know. And he was criticized quite often about it. But it didn't really bother him. He didn't change it. He went on like he was anyway
Q: When he first decided to go into show business, did you have any inkling?
Vernon: No, he called me into his room one day. I believe it was shortly after he got out of high school, and he said, "I want to be an entertainer." And I said, "Well, you know I don't know much about that sort of thing, but you deal with quite a few people in the business, I see. Why don't you talk to some of them to see what you got to do to get into it, you know." At that time, he was more interested in the gospel singing, the quartet singing. So he tried for two or three different of the young groups, to get in with them. They was either full or didn't think he could sing good enough, I don't know what happened. Then after he made this record, quite a few of the quartet groups wanted him then. So he talked to me again, said what would you do. He said, "I can get into the quartet singing now, the gospel field," and of course, my reaction was, "I wouldn't do it. I'd just keep what I got. Because you tried that before, and they wouldn't take you in." I said, "I'd just stick to what I got." So he did.
Q: What did people think about him when he first turned up on television?
Vernon: Well, there was different reactions about it. But it seems like most of the people liked it, you know, the way it went over.
Q: How did you feel about it?
Vernon: Oh I was quite proud of it. The movements didn't really bother me, because I knew there was nothing really wrong with it. I could tell that. So it kind of worried me what other people thought at the time. 'Course it created a little fear, him traveling so much. What some people might try to do, you know. But it worked out real good, and everything.
Q: What was it like touring in the early days?
Vernon: It was wild. Wild in the early days. I have seen his clothes completely tore off. His shoes gone. Just scratched all over. Bleeding. Just wild fans, you know. Really don't mean to hurt him, just wanted a part of his clothes, or something that belonged to him... Quite a few times he got into pretty narrow escapes like that. He never did get really bad hurt, but he got scratched up quite a bit. But he seemed to enjoy it. It didn't bother him. You know. Didn't scare him, like it scared me when I was him, you know, on the tours and see it happen. It scared the life out of me. 'Cause I didn't know… 'Course it got better because they learned that they had to have tighter security because it could have gotten out of hand many times if they hadn't had the right security.
 
 
|
|
Vernon Elvis Presley (April 10, 1916 - June 26, 1979) is Elvis' "Daddy", born in 1916 in Fulton, Mississippi. Vernon Married to Gladys Love Smith when he was 17 (and she 21) and settled in East-Tupelo, Mississippi, where Elvis was born on January 8, 1935. Vernon worked as sharecropper, handyman and truckdriver until 1938, when he was convicted of forgerey and served a nine month stretch at Parchman Penitentiary (because he changed a check from $4 to $40). In 1948 Vernon moved his family to Memphis, hoping to get a better life there. After Elvis' career exploded Vernon devoted himself to his son's personal business. After his wife's death in 1958 he went to Germany with Elvis and met Dee, his second wife. They got married in 1960 and got separated in 1975. He got a major heart-attack in 1975, obviously caused by Elvis' determination. After Elvis' death in 1977 it was only waiting for the moment Vernon would break because of the tragedy.
     
Billy Stanley is the step-brother to Elvis Presley and this is his tribute to him.
  
   
StanleyBrothers behind the gates 1960
 
|
|
 
 
  
 
|
'The Intimate Life and Death of Elvis Presley' by Dee Presley Out Now:
Written in 1991 but rejected by publishers, Dee Presley's 'The Intimate Life and Death of Elvis Presley' is now released via E-Books. In this unbelievable book Dee Presley claims, among other things, that Elvis had an incestuous relationship with his mother Gladys, that Elvis had a homosexual affair with his friend Nick Adams, and that Elvis committed suicide because he had been suffering from bone-marrow cancer.
The content of the manuscript is well known as a summary of these accusations was published in the National Enquirer in 1993.
- EIN wonders what her sons would say?
Elvis' good friend Ann-Margret is quoted as saying "Towards the end of his life, Elvis may have been self-destructive by taking all those drugs. But no way did he consciously end his own life.. Dee Presley was no longer living in Memphis at the time. All her claims are lies and based on hearsay."
*************************************************
 Backstage in Lake Tahoe
|
|
|
|
|
|
  
  
Vernon Presley & Colonel Parker Graceland 1978
August 22, 1977. Vernon leaving the court after filing Elvis' will.
   
|
|
 
BILLY SMITH
Elvis'first Cousin Interview
 
HAROLD LOYD
&
VESTER PRESLEY
|
 
 
  
 
Vester ("Uncle Vester") Presley (September 11, 1914 – January 18, 1987) is Vernon's brother, married to Gladys sister Cletus. He became famous as guard at the music gate of Graceland. He co-authored A Presley Speaks in 1978.
Cause of death: heart failure Burial: Forest Hill Cemetery-Midtown Memphis Shelby County Tennessee, USA
 
|
|
|
