Elvis would have turned 90 today. Can you pass this quiz?

by Pam Harris, "blind" writer

This is Elvis at a concert I attended in 1975. No, I wasn’t this close, but a friend was and sent this photo to me.

I’ve been an Elvis fan, but not an Elvis fanatic, since I was six or seven. My brother, nine years older than I was, had his records, and his girlfriend took me to see his movies. My family likes to razz me and say I had a crush on Elvis, but I really didn’t. I thought he was gorgeous in his younger years, but as a little girl, I was captured by his charisma and all I knew was I wanted to be his friend. The innocence of youth. My celebrity crushes were Kurt Russell, Lee Majors (think Heath Barkley in “The Big Valley”), and others. I did want to grow up and marry Heath Barkley, though. Not Lee Majors. And definitely not Elvis.

But I was fascinated with the Elvis rags-to-riches story. The poor Southern culture in which he was raised was all too familiar, and the fact that he lived in my home state just added fuel to the fire. He was a local guy. He was one of us.

Needless to say, I learned a lot about this man, both the bad and the good, and I thought you might have fun testing your own knowledge of the man known as the King of Rock and Roll.

  1. Where was Elvis born?
  2. What high school did Elvis attend? (side note: a local woman lived in Memphis at the Tim and had Elvis as a student in last period study hall. She told me he used to skip study hall every day, walking by her room and glancing her way and laughing. She thought he was a thug.)
  3. What record was Elvis’s first national hit?
  4. Put these movies in the order they were released: Loving You, King Creole, Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock
  5. In what year was he drafted into the Army, and where did he do basic training before being sent to Germany?
  6. Elvis bought Graceland in 1957. How much did he pay for it? (multiple choice) a.Was it? $245,300? $175, 300? $102,500? $210,500?
  7. What car did Elvis buy for his mother even thought she didn’t drive?
  8. What was Elvis’s favorite music?
  9. What percentage of Elvis’s earnings did Col. Parker draw as his agent? 10%, 15%, 25%, or 50%?
  10. Which of these members of the Memphis Mafia, Elvis’s group of bodyguards, is still alive? Joe Esposito, Jerry Schilling, Red West, or Sonny West?

Answers:

  1. Tupelo, Mississippi
  2. Humes High School in Memphis (the family moved to Memphis when Elvis was 13)
  3. “Heartbreak Hotel” on RCA. “That’s All Right, Mama” was on Sun and a regional hit.
  4. Love Me Tender, Loving you, Jailhouse Rock, King Creole
  5. 1958, Fort Hood, Texas. I lived in Killeen, a town near Fort Hood, part of 1967 and 1968. One day I was at my friend’s house and saw a framed picture of a pretty young woman with Elvis. Of course, I asked who and what? It was her older sister. Her dad was Army, and one day when they were eating on base, Elvis was seated alone at a table near them. Jeanie’s sister kept looking at him, and he finally winked at her while she was bringing a glass of tea to her lips. It flustered her so much, she spilled tea all over herself and on the table. He burst out laughing and came over to talk. They went on a few dates.
  6. $102,500
  7. a pink Cadillac (wonder if that’s where Mary Kay got the idea?)
  8. gospel. His true desire was to be a member of a gospel quartet.
  9. 50%–the man took advantage of simple country folks
  10. Jerry Schilling. He was several years younger. Elvis bought him and his wife a house in California, and that is where he lives to this day.

How did you do?

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