#as much as I hate alanna nash

[doll-elvis]

MARTY LACKER: Beginning about ’70, Elvis started wearing tinted glasses night and day. He had reading glasses, but he’d only wear them upstairs where no one could see him.

LAMAR FIKE: I bought the original ones at a gas station for $3.50. Elvis grabbed ’em right off my face. He said, “I want these. Let me have ’em.”

and I’m so glad he did 🥵

(excerpt from “Elvis and the Memphis Mafia”)

[presleygarden]

“Elvis took care of us.

He protected us.

We went everywhere, saw everything, and we were right with him.

And he made sure my children were cared for. He used to say he’d bring me out of my shell, make me more involved. And he did.

I came to love him very much, and I tell Billy to this day, I think Elvis loved me.

But I’m not sure.

He told me he did.

But I still look back and think, “He loved Billy. Maybe he used me.”

-jo smith

“He may have loved Jo.

Most of the time there’s no doubt in my mind that the man loved me.

But at times, I wonder if he loved anybody.”

-billy smith

“You have to be realistic about him.

If he wanted a lollipop, and it took ten cars, he thought nothing of it.

He got what he wanted.

We were suckered.

But I truly loved him.

There was never any romance between us, of course. That’s not how we were connected.

Part of it was that he had to have a female around, somebody to do the little things that needed to be done.

He just liked a woman doing things for him.

In Palm Springs, where there wasn’t a maid, I washed his pajamas and his sweat suits.

He wanted a woman to baby him, and take up for him, and defend him.

After he accepted me, and we were close, he told me, “You’re deaf, dumb, and blind when it comes to anything that I do.”

And I never told on him.

That’s why he allowed me to go on tour or anywhere they went.

If Billy went, I could go.”

-jo smith

•elvis & the memphis mafia by alanna nash

side note: some of my favorites ep memories & testimonials come straight from the mouths of billy & jo smith. love em or hate em— they spit their truth & help offer unique insights into elvis' world. pieces of the puzzle of understanding

[joons]

Top 5 villains in the real life story of Elvis's life/legacy?

Tom Parker / Andreas van Kuijk

Everyone else pales in comparison. It's hard to convey the extent of his cruelty and control. He stymied Elvis professionally, creatively, and personally, sabotaging his opportunities, relationships, and interests. He knew how to make Elvis doubt himself, and absolutely everything that went wrong in Elvis' life can be traced back to Parker and the very deliberate way he isolated and undermined Elvis. There are no words. Bottomless hatred. Every day a new revelation.

Hal Wallis

Wallis was the producer of Elvis' films for Paramount. Despite being one of the first people to recognize Elvis' acting talent, Wallis made a choice to keep him in horrible roles because he didn't believe audiences would ever take him seriously. In a public interview, Wallis told the press that Elvis films were terrible but that he had to keep making them because they made enough money to finance artistic films for Paramount. It broke Elvis' heart. Wallis also impressed upon Parker that Elvis gaining any amount of weight was unacceptable, thus leading to Elvis developing an eating disorder where he would starve himself for weeks at a time.

Steve Dunleavy and the Bodyguard Book

In the last year of Elvis' life, his dad fired three of his close bodyguards/members of the Memphis Mafia: Dave Hebler, Sonny West, and Red West. Feeling hurt and disrespected, the three agreed to do interviews for a tell-all book by Steve Dunleavy. The three of them would later claim they only went to the press to douse Elvis with cold water about how bad they thought his drug habits had gotten, but even if that was the case, they had no business agreeing to work with someone like Dunleavy. Dunleavy was a favored reporter of Rupert Murdoch, who, I kid you not, hated rock 'n' roll so much that he commissioned a takedown of Elvis while he was still alive. Murdoch believed that taking Elvis down would generate enough discourse to keep some of his struggling papers in business, turning Elvis into a symbol of the lower classes who wasn't worthy of serious consideration as an artist or compassionate understanding as a human being. The bodyguards were paid for their interviews, and Dunleavy proceeded to use their quotes to write what Murdoch wanted: a scandalous, seedy tell-all that turned Elvis into an object of ridicule. Worse, of course, was that Elvis' friends were party to it; it led to so much stress, grief, and anger for Elvis in his final months. He worried constantly about it, afraid of what Lisa and his fans would think of him afterward. Elvis: What Happened? was published two weeks before his death and set the tone for a genre of Elvis muckraking that continues today.

Dee Stanley and Sundry

Dee was Elvis' stepmother, who married his father Vernon shortly after the death of Elvis' beloved mother, Gladys. There was always going to be friction between the two just based on the speed of the remarriage, but it didn't help that Dee had originally tried to seduce Elvis (nothing doing) before turning her attentions on his dad. Elvis never liked Dee, and the feeling became mutual. After his death, Dee published a memoir that was a near-complete fabrication, writing anything that she thought would disgrace Elvis. The worst claim she made was that Elvis and Gladys were incestuous. Several of Elvis' friends nearly punched her when they appeared in a room together for a television interview. Her sons were heavily influenced by Dee's perspective and have kept up the same escalating, baffling claims to make money.

Alanna Nash

Unfortunately a widely cited and respected Elvis researcher, Nash has such a willingness to entertain "new" stories about Elvis that she falls for hoaxes and lies on a regular basis. Sometimes she escapes criticism by presenting her books as "oral histories," essentially raw interviews with people who knew him, which at least mostly allows the reader to decide the veracity of each account for themselves. But she bolsters her other books with sketchy psychoanalysis and innuendo intended to smear her subjects, or at least generate some rumors that will grab headlines. For instance, she claimed to have unearthed a theory that Col. Parker left Holland because he committed a murder there. Sounds exciting and even plausible given his reputation, but digging into it, the evidence is so slim and sketchy that it could really only be published by someone like Nash, and only after his death. Another example is how credulously she treats Byron Raphael, a serial liar who claims Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley (who spoke for a total of three minutes in their lifetimes) had sex (which Byron got to witness, of course!) and that Natalie Wood had sex with Byron in the next room after Elvis couldn't "do" it for her. When a longtime Elvis researcher questioned the article Alanna wrote with Raphael for Playboy, she said, "If Bill Burk was critical of [Raphael's] integrity, I'd say that's because Bill was jealous he didn't find Byron first." Uh-huh.

About gossip involving Parker's possible murder, she said, "I want to be clear in saying that there is no hard proof that he committed this murder, [but] in my heart of hearts, I believe he did." In another interview, when questioned, she snapped that anyone who says she "accused him of murder can't read."

The biographer Albert Goldman is a lot worse than her, like, on every level, a truly vile, insane person who wrote screeds (they are not biographies, they are a cry for help) against both Elvis and John Lennon. But Alanna loves Goldman and cites him a lot, and she irritates me more because she has a better reputation than she deserves, while Goldman is widely considered to be a disgusting hack.

I could probably include a few others, but as much as I might dislike other people in the Elvis story, they get the benefit of the doubt from me because at least they aren't these folks.

[mooodyblue]

Thanks for the advice. I haven’t seen as much bad stuff lately and try to stay off l sites where I did come across it. I think the reason I just hate Alanna Nash is because the stuff she’s written and said about Elvis has caused a lot of damage to his legacy and yet she parades herself as an Elvis biographer in the media and is considered so credible. I’m tired of her. It’s the same thing with Priscilla. I don’t understand how the fans can support people like that.

yeah, i don't either. i see people praise baby let's play house and im just like....did we read the same book? that book is awful. not sure if i'll ever read any of her other books (if i do.....🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️)

feel like with anyone who writes or says anything about elvis...you just have to take it with a grain of salt. even if they were a past lover or friend, could just be a cash grab. "i saw elvis presley at a laundromat on october 12th 1972 so here is a 300 page book on my experience with elvis presley"

there are a lot of things i don't understand when it comes to some elvis fans praising certain people 😫 man i just love elvis and that's it

[septembersghost]

I don't mean to pry or anything, but I've heard you hate Alanna Nash and consider her books unreliable. Why is that? (I'm fairly new here so I don't know much about her).

oh bestie...short version: she's just awful and she doesn't have any credibility or depend on reliable research, she will literally call anyone who gives her a juicy story a "source" even if there's evidence that they're lying or their memory is faulty or their recollections are directly contradicted by others' (hence me calling her tabloid "journalism"). she's a proclaimed fangirl of the colonel's for some incomprehensible reason (lol i wish that wasn't an exaggeration, she's VERY weird about it). she also participated in perpetuating not only more innocuous untruths about E, but some of the WORST and most unkind and most disrespectful salacious rumors, one in particular that i will not even voice. and it's lousy that she's cited by news outlets, and it's disheartening how she's added to negativity that has to be sifted through in order to find shreds of truth. others could probably add to this in more depth, but i simply cannot abide that woman 🥴

all that said, hi!!! i appreciate you asking, and i hope you feel so welcome here! ❤

[doll-elvis]

I've seen some of those tabloid articles that make fun of Elvis say something along the lines of 'he had to wear diapers towards the end of his life" because of either his drug problem or just the issues with his colon.

Even if this were true...why make fun of him for it? A twisted colon is no laughing matter.

tw: death, talk of addiction to prescription drugs, bodily functions

it’s just heartbreaking to see that nothing has changed since the 70s regarding how we view mental and physical health because the same comments are being made about Elvis today, as they were made back then

On Twitter a couple months ago someone spread a rumor that Elvis didn’t defecate for 4 months prior to his passing (not true and he would have had a ruptured colon if that were the case)

And it was truly horrible to see all the tweets about him…mocking his death, making a joke of his health issues and the depression he likely suffered from, as well as his addiction to prescription medication

I can’t believe anybody could be so unsympathetic that they could find humor in a situation where a man suffered so much physically that he ultimately succumbed to his illnesses, and died alone when he was only 42 … it makes me so upset to see people make a mockery of him

As for having to wear diapers, just from what I have read, it was not something consistent and it was an extremely rare occurrence… I honestly hate that people who knew him ever even talked about it because it is something so incredibly private

According to Billy Smith “He had that bowel problem with a twisted colon, or a paralyzed colon, which kept him from going to the bathroom. Albert Goldman wrote that a lot of times Elvis lost control of his bowels in the last couple years. He makes it sound like he was practically in diapers. Most of the time, Elvis could control it. He was still quite proud, and he was cautious about things like that. When it did happen, it was almost like he broke down. He was embarrassed, and it was best you didn’t talk”

Lamar Fike said “I think the diapers have been exaggerated. But that’s not a lie. They put towels down to keep him from defecating in bed. He would be so damn drugged up, he couldn’t make it to the bathroom. That’s a clue to a person losing it. By late ’75, early ’76, it became a real problem. Everybody just tried to ignore it. But I would tell Colonel and Dr. Nick, “God Almighty, this guy is really, really sick. He’s going on us!”

Billy Smith also added “One time, he messed in the bed at Graceland, and one of the maids cleaned it up. And she suggested, just in case it happened again, to put a towel under him. But Elvis would never have been wrapped in a diaper or had a towel put around him. From then on, he always walked to the bathroom. But even that was dangerous. Because it was not unusual for him to fall asleep in the bathroom. He would take sleeping pills and get up and go to the bathroom, and the first thing you knew they’d hit him, and he never would make it back to the bed. He’d fall right there in the floor and go sound to sleep. If there was nobody there to help him, he would just lay there until somebody found him. But many times, they’d buzz me, and I’d have to come out and help get him up”

[doll-elvis]

I wasn’t a big fan of that Elvis documentary. It seemed to have an agenda and ignored a lot of the women Elvis did have confirmed relationships/affairs with who were of legal age or closer in age to him.

I agree completely. I don’t think it is fair to focus on the girls who were not of legal age because they are the outliers whose relationships with Elvis were consistently brief. The majority of women who he had lasting relationships with were 20+, so like you said to focus on the outliers is to have an agenda.

I think people have to also acknowledge the time period in which these relationships occurred. In Scotty Moore’s book he said himself that he dated younger girls and that for southern men it was common to marry girls when they were 15-17.

I’m from California so I honestly don’t understand/know many things about southern culture 🤧 but I could see how that would be probable especially in the 50s-70s

but anyways I’m dedicated to proving Alanna Nash/the documentary wrong, so I have put the starting age of every woman Elvis has dated for a significant amount of time into a calculator to find the average age

These are the girls and their ages: Dixie Locke, 15 // June Juanico, 18 // Barbara Hearn, 19 // Anita Wood, 19 // Priscilla Presley, 14 // Ann Margret, 23 // Joyce Bova, 24 // Barbara Leigh, 23 // Linda Thompson, 22 // Ann Pennington, 23 // Sheila Ryan, 20 // Mindi Miller, 24 // Ginger Alden, 20

Based on this data the mean number, meaning the average age that a girl was when Elvis would start dating her would be 20 years old. The mode number out this data is 23 years old, meaning this was the most common age for a girl to be when Elvis would start dating her

so Alanna Nash can stfu about his “obsession” with 14 year olds because the data proves her wrong 🤗 she’s a clown

[doll-elvis]

Hi! I am interested to know how Elvis smelled (what perfumes he used, etc.)

hello and thank you very much for the ask <3!!

and tbh if I ever had the privilege of meeting Elvis I would have gone in for a hug and buried my face into his neck just so I could take the deepest inhale, the man looked like he smelled good 😩

anyways- to begin with the colognes/perfumes he used, I've heard a few different brands named such as Old Spice, Lenel, and Canoe, but the most frequently mentioned is definitely Brut, which I've seen people describe as warm, spicy, woodsy, with hints of herbs like lavender as well. Overall a really classic and “masculine” kind of barber shop smell

“He didn’t smell, though, because he loaded up on deodorant and cologne—Brut” - ( quote taken from “Elvis and the Memphis Mafia” by Alanna Nash )

According to Ginger Alden, Elvis used a cologne called Zizanie in the late 1970s, which has also been described as warm, spicy, woodsy, and earthy, with patchouli and sandalwood as its main notes

“He used a cologne called Zizanie and Neutrogena face soap; even today, those scents make me think of him” - ( quote taken from “Elvis and Ginger” by Ginger Alden )

And here pictured below is Elvis’ personal bottle of Brut ⬇️

( photo taken from “Elvis by the Presleys” )

As for other hygiene products, Neutrogena, like Ginger mentioned, has been named as his preferred brand of soap all across the board

“If he was in the shower, he had me talk to him from outside the curtain as the steam wafted the scent of his Neutrogena soap into the bathroom around me” - ( quote taken from “A Little thing called Life ” by Linda Thompson )

Nancy Rooks, Elvis' maid at Graceland, also stated that he used Aqua Velvet aftershave lotion, Colgate toothpaste, and confirmed that Brut was his favorite cologne ⬇️

( quote taken from “Inside Graceland” by Nancy Rooks )

Just from reading a few reviews I've seen many people, like Nancy, say that they really didn't like Brut, so I'm curious if any of you guys happen to have a bottle and could say whether you liked it or not 👀

I've been so tempted to buy a bottle of Brut, but I'm honestly scared that I'll get it and then hate the smell 😩 ... because I got the perfume “White shoulders” after reading that Elvis liked it on girls (mainly in the 50s), and I've been trying to force myself to like it, but it's not working so far lmaoo

it smells like flowers and face powder but not in the best way 😭

( quote taken from “Elvis: This one’s for you” by Arlene Cogan )

[doll-elvis]

Do you consider the memphis mafia trustworthy sources on Elvis? Idk if I always believe some of the stuff they’ve said about elvis

thank you so much for this ask!! I have way too much to say about this topic, therefore I apologize in advance for how long this is 🤧

firstly I think it’s important to clarify who the Memphis Mafia actually consisted of: based on what they themselves have said, it was Red West, Sonny West, Alan Fortas, Marty Lacker, Lamar Fike, and Billy Smith

I was confused why people like Jerry Schilling, Charlie Hodge, Joe Esposito, Larry Geller, George Klein, etc. etc. weren’t technically considered Memphis Mafia until I learned that Elvis’ entourage were categorized into two groups, the Memphis Mafia, and the others

I also really recommend for every fan to read Alanna Nash’s “Elvis and the Memphis Mafia” which is just an oral history from Billy Smith, Marty Lacker, and Lamar Fike

and then to watch the documentary, it is 5 hours but it’s so worth it, I’ve literally rewatched it at least 8 times at this point because it’s my favorite Elvis documentary 😩!!

I also want to say if you are going to read from one of them, you should try to read from all of them because they all have their own unique experience with Elvis and therefore all have their own viewpoints/opinions and biases *which is why it’s important to cross reference between them

For example in the Alanna Nash book there are several instances where Lamar Fike, Marty Lacker and Billy Smith all have a different opinion on something and you basically have to decide for yourself which one you agree with

I’m just going to be breaking down each Memphis Mafia member, as I’ve been fortunate enough to read each of their books, and say if I think they are trustworthy sources:

Lamar Fike: Personally, I think he is one of Memphis Mafia members that you really have to be cautious about. If y’all didn’t know he was Albert Goldman’s main source for that horrible book, “Elvis”. In Alanna Nash’s book, Lamar Fike spends a good majority of the time disagreeing with everything Goldman wrote, and said that Goldman would twist his words and retell things to fit his own agenda. He said “even though I was one of his main sources, and shared in the royalties, I couldn’t control Albert”. He admitted he did the book for money which is why I lost respect for Lamar because he knew that Albert was saying things that weren’t true and that the book’s main purpose was to make Elvis look bad. I would also be cautious of Lamar because he tends to twist reality just a little bit and over exaggerate things. For example whenever he tells the story of Elvis and Priscilla meeting, he always says that it was he who introduced them “Elvis this is Priscilla, Priscilla this Elvis”. But no one else who was in the room has told it that way, Lamar just inserted himself into the scene (he also once said she was 13 when we obviously know she was 14). So yeah I would really recommend to cross reference everything Lamar says before believing it. He just tells things in a really blunt (and lowkey funny💀) way, which makes it interesting insight, but from what I have also seen he is more than willing to exaggerate things just to be able to tell a “better” story

Marty Lacker: I really really enjoy reading his viewpoint and his book is one of my favorites out of the bunch however I think he too often lets his own biases affect his story telling. This man really really really hated Priscilla 😭 So much so that every time he talked about her it was in a negative light. I’m not saying Priscilla is perfect, she has done many things I don’t agree with, however, none of these men knew what it was like to be in her shoes so I’m just wary of them placing so much blame on her when she was so young, and I find that Marty can be a little unsympathetic in that regard (but again I’m not saying that Priscilla hasn’t done things that deserve criticism). Also Marty Lacker wasn’t around in the late late 70s so I would just be cautious of anything he says about that time because he simply wasn’t there to know. But in general, beside his obvious biases, I would say he is a trustworthy source

Alan Fortas: He was the first Memphis Mafia member to pass away in 1992, we sadly didn’t get to hear too much from him, but I’m very grateful to have his book. Since he wasn’t around much in the late 60s and not at all in the 70s, his best stories come from the 50s and early-mid 60s. He provides a really unique insight especially when it comes to Priscilla and Elvis because he was more or less her chauffeur when she first came to the United States. He also knew Frances Forbes, Gloria Mowell, Heidi Heissen and Arlene Cogan and spends a decent chunk of his book talking about them. I can’t say it is in a way that looks good for Elvis because Alan really disagreed with those relationships, even though he said he knew nothing s*xual was going on, he genuinely couldn’t fathom why Elvis, who could have any woman he wanted, wanted to spend time with teenage girls, including Priscilla. But nothing in his book I found to be untrue and everything he says corresponds with what other has said, plus he has some really great stories about the movie-making times and his beloved chimpanzee, Scatter (I know it was Elvis’ technically but Alan was his real mom lmao) but I overall trust him as well

Red and Sonny West: I’m about to get controversial; I think these are two men, that as Elvis fans, we have been a little too critical of. It’s not fair to completely write off their experiences with Elvis just because of the book they did, which in retrospect, doesn’t say anything different from what the other Memphis Mafia men have said, it was just horribly timed. But I do want to clarify that I don’t support their decision on writing “Elvis: What happened” in 1977 and at the end of the day I will always support Elvis over anybody else. As for their credibility, Red West has one of the most important perspectives imo because he was literally the first Memphis Mafia member. He was with Elvis in highschool, in Germany, during the movies, during the comeback special, during Vegas, during the American tours, he only wasn’t there for the very last year of Elvis’ life. Unlike some of the other men here, he never stopped being with Elvis, except for of course the end. I have read the book he did in 1977 and I have watched tons of his interviews and I’ve personally never come across a story that wasn’t told/referenced by another Memphis Mafia member. I do think he is trustworthy in that sense but I think he has gotten very defensive in the past and is willing to throw Elvis under the bus in order to protect his image. I feel like it is the same thing with Sonny West. These men felt betrayed by Elvis, they got fired, and they both definitely harbored vengeful feelings for a while so you have to take that into account when listening to their stories. For example when they talked about how Elvis hired h00kers in the 1977 book they didn’t mention that they were also cheating on their wives and actually slept with the hired girls while Elvis only wanted to watch the girls simulate lesbian s*x. In that book especially, they often conveniently left out that they indulged in the same kind of behavior Elvis did. But with age, I think they both mellowed out and ultimately realized that they betrayed Elvis also, and they have both said they have regretted the book. The documentary I linked above really helped me understand their perspective more, and while things ended badly between Elvis and them, I do think both parties still cared about each other. So while both of their perspectives are very important (and I think Red was one of Elvis’ truest friends), I wouldn’t fully trust anything they have said until I checked another source to confirm

Billy Smith: He is sadly the only Memphis mafia member still with us and he still makes videos answering questions on the YouTube channels Elvis fans matter and Memphis Mafia kid. I really do enjoy reading Billy’s perspective and he is one of the few people who were with Elvis from the very beginning (childhood) to the very end. But Billy rarely actually went on tour with Elvis and he also wasn’t around for most of the movie time, so his best stories are about his times with Elvis at Graceland imo. They had such a special relationship and I think Billy was the closest thing Elvis had to a brother (y’all have to read about the oath he and Elvis took, it almost made me cry😭). However this man, like anyone, is not without his biases. When reading the Alanna Nash book you can see that Billy’s main purpose is to protect Elvis and the Smith family so much so that I think he denies some things solely because he believes it will make his family look bad. For example when in the book they talked about how Gladys may have had some Jewish blood in her, Billy Smith who is Gladys’ nephew, just shot that down right away. I didn’t think much of it until Billy Smith later on admitted in the book he was slightly prejudiced against black people and jewish people because of how he was raised. But that book was also in the 90s and I haven’t seen him speak in the way since so hopefully he has changed. This man really hated Priscilla, and especially hated Ginger, so take into account these biases as well. For example, in the Nash book, he was dead set on saying that Ginger called the national enquirer after Elvis passed away. Many fans believe this also but there is just no proof to support it. If you are someone who hates Ginger because you believe she called the enquirer (I did too at one point), I really recommend reading this https://elvisdecoded.com/2021/03/13/the-ginger-hit-job/

Another reason to be slightly cautious of Billy Smith is that his opinions have changed so much since the Alanna Nash book 😭 Like how I said he hated Priscilla and Ginger, that seems to be no longer the case, at least on his YouTube channel. I was so surprised when he praised them both in the YouTube video “Elvis’ relationship secret”. He even said Ginger was good for Elvis and that she loved him- I was shook because he hated her in the 90s!!! But anyways-I would say he is trustworthy and he was no doubt one of the dearest people to Elvis’ heart but it’s always good to take into account biases, and cross reference everything

To wrap this up- They have all told the good, the bad and the ugly, and as fans of Elvis it can be hard to accept the “bad and ugly”(like was he sometimes completely unreasonable, demanding, and temperamental? yes! but do we still love him? yes!) These guys just have such a unique perspective and we are truly lucky that they have opened up their lives with Elvis to us, even if it is stories that we necessarily don’t want to accept. But there is not a single doubt in my mind that all these men loved Elvis, despite what some of them have done, and that Elvis loved all these men. The documentary I linked above has made me cry every time I have watched it because they all cried in it and something about grown men crying just hits me different okay 😭

also if anybody read all this kudos to you, I’m sorry for typing so much lmao 😩💗

[doll-elvis]

Oh, I would love to delve into discourse about the Stanley family. I'm not really a fan of them either, but I have empathy for their side of things. And from everything I gathered, I think both they and Elvis would've been better off not knowing each other, lol.

warning: talk of addiction, abuse of prescription medication, and use of illegal recreational drugs

thank you so much for sending this in and oh my gosh I completely agree with you: “I think both they and Elvis would’ve been better off not knowing each other” truer words have never been spoken !!!

to be honest I didn’t have much empathy for the Stanleys boys until I read this quote below for the first time ⬇️

LAMAR FIKE: “In defense of the Stanley boys, it’s well to remember that they didn’t ask to be there. And Elvis was stuck with having stepbrothers, so he made the best of it. I’m very partial toward David because I raised him from the time he was three years old. Or I feel like I did. Those boys have had it hard. What you have to remember is that they were corrupted by Elvis Presley. All of them were. Absolutely. No doubt about it”

excerpt from “Elvis and the Memphis Mafia” by Alanna Nash

It by no means cancels out some of the things that they have said about Elvis, like David and his accusations about Elvis’ death, however it did make me realize that they truly had no choice in being stepbrothers to someone as famous as Elvis, they were quite literally the only people on Earth who could say they had that kind of relationship with him, and I imagine it was one that was difficult to manage

However… I hold absolutely no empathy for Dee 🤧

Dee has always been predatory in her actions imo, and I’m not surprised he never liked/trusted her. She first tried to hit on Elvis, who was of course not interested, and when that failed, she chose to go after his father, who was likely vulnerable and starved for female attention after Gladys' passing. Dee Stanley was still married while she and Vernon were dating in Germany, which was just a terrible situation to subject her three young sons too

LAMAR FIKE: “Vernon and I were having breakfast in the restaurant, and this blonde came up in a white coat. Vernon introduced himself and said Elvis had been called away. So she made her moves on Vernon. Boy, she stalked him like prize game”

MARTY LACKER: “Elvis didn’t like Dee from the start. He questioned her sincerity, you might say”

BILLY SMITH: “The “Dee thing” turned Elvis away from his daddy. Vernon had been seeing younger women, and it was too damn quick after Gladys’s death. Elvis resented the hell out of it”

excerpts from “Elvis and the Memphis Mafia” by Alanna Nash

And then, years after Elvis’ passing, Dee came forward with a new book about Elvis (one of several that she wrote for $$) that made accusations such as Gladys and Elvis were in a inc*stual relationship. What is possibly more disgusting than the baseless accusation itself is that Dee only used persons who had already passed away to corroborate her claim like Vernon Presley, Minnie Mae Presley, and Alberta who worked for the Presleys and was very close with Gladys and Elvis

So not only did she disrespect the memory of Gladys and Elvis, but she used people who were no longer alive as her sources because she knew they weren’t here to say otherwise…Whew that woman was unbelievably nasty and the fact that even her own sons wanted nothing to do with that book speaks volumes ⬇️

And like you mentioned, I truly believe that both Elvis and the Stanley boys would have been better off if their relationship ended in the 60s. It is so sad to see what their relationship devolved too (being dependent on one another for drugs) and how all four of them became victim to addiction ⬇️

Billy smith: “Later on, Elvis kept them around for one reason and one reason only. And I hate to say this, but it’s true. To get drugs for him. Ricky and David were on the street. And Elvis, in essence, put them there”

Marty Lacker: “Towards the end the Stanley boys were there for three reasons: One, to procure drugs for him. Two, they would listen to him. And three, Elvis would preach to them and think he was teaching them stuff”

excerpts from “Elvis and the Memphis Mafia” by Alanna Nash

It’s hard to accept but I don’t disagree with Lamar Fike saying that Elvis and his lifestyle more or less “corrupted” the Stanley boys. I can’t say that Elvis was fully to blame for everything they did but he was asking them to procure drugs, both prescription and illegal, and that in turn led to them having to take the fall for Elvis, even going as far as getting arrested in some cases ⬇️

excerpts from “Elvis and the Memphis Mafia” by Alanna Nash

And since they were procuring drugs for Elvis, they often indulged in the same kinds that Elvis was using and because of their shared addiction, they became very dependent on one another as almost everyone else in the group was against using “street drugs” like cocaine ⬇️

JOE ESPOSITO: “For a brief time, Elvis even dabbled in illegal hard drugs. One day, I discovered that despite his professed concern for his stepbrother’s drug habit, Elvis had sent Ricky to Nashville to buy cocaine. “I want to see you,” I told Ricky when he returned. I hustled him into a private corner of Graceland, “Give me that bottle,” I said. “I can’t,” he whined, “Elvis will be mad”

excerpt from “Good Rockin’ Tonight” by Joe Esposito

excerpt from “Elvis and the Memphis Mafia” by Alanna Nash

excerpt from “My brother Elvis” by David Stanley

excerpt from “Elvis: my brother” by Billy Stanley

Them being around each other was just a recipe for disaster in terms of their drug use, Elvis simply couldn’t keep up with them and his health suffered as a result. And so long as the Stanley boys worked for him, Elvis would have access to more prescriptions than what was actually prescribed to him, and I don’t believe that they would have ever told him no or tried to stop him as they suffered from addiction as well. So how could have Elvis gotten better when they were always there to get him what he wanted? Infact it was Ricky Stanley who gave Elvis his final pill packet the early morning of his passing

One of the biggest disasters Elvis’ dependency on them caused was the incident where Dave Hebler and Red West threatened to assault Ricky Stanley for supplying cocaine to Elvis. Dave and Red saw how Elvis was becoming more and more erratic because of it, and decided they had to go to the source to stop it

This incident ended up being one of the reasons that they got fired alongside Sonny West as they were trying to stop Elvis, who was in active addiction, from doing what he wanted which of course didn’t bode well ⬇️

MARTY LACKER: “When Ricky started bringing cocaine to Elvis in Vegas, the sparks started flying. He got it from some of the guys in the vocal group. I think they got it from some pusher in Nashville. And Red and Sonny found out about it, and they told Dave Hebler. Dave went to Ricky and said, “If you bring it to Elvis one more time, I’m going to break both your fuckin’ legs.” And Red went in and said the same thing to the guys in the vocal group. So what did Ricky do? He went back and told Elvis. The next day, Red tried to talk to Elvis about trying to get off pills. This was up in the suite. Red was sitting up at the bar. Elvis was at the bar, too, and somehow the conversation got on that. Red said, “Elvis, this stuff is really bad for you. I wish you’d stop doing it and go get cured. I can tell it’s really getting to you.” Elvis sat there, and he said, “Yeah, yeah. I know what you’re saying. But don’t worry about it.” He was real calm. Well, a few minutes later, Elvis went to bed. And “he said, “Yeah, yeah. I know what you’re saying. But don’t worry about it.” He was real calm. Well, a few minutes later, Elvis went to bed. And brooded about it all night long. When he got up the next afternoon, Elvis came out of that room screaming. He just went nuts. If I’m not mistaken, he pulled an AK–47 [automatic weapon] on Red and threatened to shoot him. Sonny was there, too, standing right next to him. Elvis screamed, “Goddamn, Red, mind your own fuckin’ business! Telling me how to run my life!”Everybody always says, “If you guys really cared about him, you could have done something about him.” These people have no idea what went on. They have no idea of how Elvis was”

excerpt from “Elvis and the Memphis Mafia” by Alanna Nash

This quote from Marty is why I try to have sympathy for everybody in Elvis’ group, they were put into an impossible situation as they either had to watch their friend suffer or try to put it a stop to it, which often led to Elvis having an outburst and threatening to fire them. Essentially they were damned if they did, and damned if they didn’t ⬇️

JOE ESPOSITO: “Even the the Memphis Mafia occasionally tried to intercept drug shipments from various doctors. One night Red West accidentally broke a delivery boy’s toe, he threatened to break the kid’s entire body if he didn’t quit delivering to Elvis, but Elvis heard about it. He called me, Red, and Sonny into his bedroom, “I need it,” Elvis finally said with a piteous look. If anyone pushed to hard Elvis’ stock response was “If you don’t like it, there’s the door! Get the hell out of here! I don’t need you!”. He was manipulating us and we let him. “God, I’m going to straighten out my life but I need this right now,” he would intone fervently, his blue eyes wide and sincere, and we believed him”

excerpt from “Good Rockin Tonight” by Joe Esposito

Addiction takes no prisoners and I think it’s important to remember that those who suffer from it are victims themselves. My heart breaks for Elvis, for the Stanley boys, and everyone who loved them during this time, it’s an impossibly difficult situation to deal with

To finish this I want to include a quote that really shows how addiction can destroy a person, and make them become someone they aren’t. I think Dave Hebler, who was fired alongside Red and Sonny West, captures it perfectly ⬇️

excerpt from “The Elvis Experience” by Dave Hebler

[doll-elvis]

It's kind of difficult to discern what's true about E and what isn't, because so much of what's been written about him directly conflicts with other things. So it's hard to keep track of what's really true and what's just rumor that got twisted and blown out of proportion.

Me personally, I tend to not trust Lamar, Nash or the Stanleys, because they've all been proven to at best, not have the best memory of things, or at worst be outright liars for money.

I agree completely and throughout my journey of reading about Elvis I’ve learned to not take anything as truth until I have cross referenced between books/interviews and it’s been confirmed by multiple people or at least coincides with behavior that Elvis usually exhibited

** I also highly highly recommend elvislibrary (who is on Instagram and has the biggest elvis book collection I’ve ever seen😫) as well as elvisinfonet for books reviews, whenever I start a new book I usually check out their reviews beforehand as they give great insight to whether the book is credible or not

I have discovered that literally anyone who has breathed the same oxygen as Elvis has come out and shared a story or written a book about him. This man was even more exploited after his death than while he was living and it just angers me. Everyone who knew him has made money off of him in some way and I realized that people will say anything if they think it is a story that will sell

And “Baby let’s play house” by Alanna Nash was actually the first Elvis book I ever read, and foolishly, I believed every story in it, no matter how outrageous it was. Then I started to do a little basic research and I realized she has allowed so many fabricated stories in her book and has given a platform to several people who aren’t credible

Like the whole relationship with Tura Santana never happened and Elvis never even met her even though she claims he proposed, yet Alanna Nash shared her story. And Elvis did not publicly dry hump the fake dog Nipper on stage like she claims, he just wiggled 😭 And Nash uses Byron Raphael as a source, who she co-wrote a playboy article with in 2008, when it’s been confirmed that he never actually worked for Elvis and only very briefly worked for the Colonel (and the playboy article is full of the most blatant lies ever, I cannot believe this woman is regarded as a credible biographer 🤧!!!)

As you said, I’m very wary of Lamar Fike also, he tends to over-exaggerate things and I found his perception of events to be a whole lot different from others when they are describing the same stories

As for the Stanleys, Dee is literally one of the nastiest people you will ever learn about in the Presley circle and it truly disgusts me that Elvis treated her and her sons so kindly (even though he didn’t like her) and she repaid him by going to a tabloid magazine and telling a made up story to make money

What’s most disgusting is that she made up lies about two people she never even met (Gladys Presley and Nick Adams) and only used people who had already passed away as sources for her book like saying that Vernon Presley, Minnie Mae (Elvis’ grandmother) and Alberta (former maid), all knew that Elvis was in a s*xual relationship with his mother. Obviously all these people weren’t here to say otherwise and that is why she wrote the book (I hate that woman so muchhh that I’m getting mad just typing this 💀)

Ricky and David I’m not too crazy about either but I give them a little bit of respect for calling out their mother and saying her book was full of lies

Honestly the only Stanley books worth reading are by Billy Stanley and I really loved his two books “The faith of Elvis” and “Elvis: My Brother”, I found his insight really unique and I really really appreciated his honesty (if y’all didn’t know Elvis had a brief affair with Billy’s 18 year old wife named Annie, and it was a mess 😭!!!)

If y’all want to be entertained Dee Stanley went on the Geraldo talk show in the 90s alongside Joe Esposito and J.D Sumner to talk about the whole Gladys story and they absolutely drag her 😫 J.D lowkey wanted to slap her and I don’t blame him at all

unfortunately some of the audience believes her about Gladys so that was frustrating to watch but other than that, Dee gets absolutely humiliated 😃

[joons]

I hate Alanna Nash

I wish I could properly convey how very much I hate her. I could tell very early on in my research that there was something majorly off about her entire approach, and everything I have learned or heard from her since then has actually shocked me in how bad she truly is. It's not just sloppy work, it's calculated viciousness. Her interviews make it clear she has total disdain for anyone who questions her, despite her being factually wrong time and time again. Her oft-repeated anecdote that she was the first journalist to see Elvis' dead body or whatever shows exactly how she sees him and his family and friends. It's all just something she can voyeuristically speculate about, and she will believe anything that scratches that itch for her, even when it's blatantly false. She has no shame or even a desire to do better. She's a dime-a-dozen parasite and deserves to be forgotten.

[mooodyblue]

I know you don’t want to answer any asks about her but I just had to get this off my chest if it’s ok. Do you also find it annoying how her book is viewed as the definitive view on Elvis and not other books like say Linda’s considering she was an important part of his final years or Anita’s who was with him for several years or Guralnick’s Careless Love. I get frustrated when ppl view her book as the holy grail when most people read it walk away hating Elvis, not to mention it has its own biases

i think some people are very hypocritical when it comes to books....i literally just spoke about this on my priv twitter like 10 minutes ago so the timing of this is crazy haha

i'll reply to this just for that reason and bare with me if something is worded weirdly (because we gotta love my dyslexic brain)

my biggest issue with elvis fans and these books is saying "hey! let's take a everything you read in elvis books with a grain of salt because he's not here to back himself up!" and then going and using certain books as resources to use against elvis. (which i feel like a lot of priscilla fans do....)

and don't get me wrong. i'm not one to sit here and pretend elvis was perfect cause he was far from it. i have no issue discussing his flaws and i don't agree with everything he's done.

i feel like this is the same case when it comes to her book. everything i have against priscilla is more about her as a person and her beliefs and not so much as an elvis fan but i think a lot of people praise her more because she's the mother of his only child and because well....the circumstances of how they met.

although i think majority of the people who read her book are reading it because they see her as a victim and want to support her and what she went through. they don't know about linda, anita, hell...not even june or dixie. maybe ginger. so the overall gp doesn't want to hear about anything else even though all the other woman in his life deserve to be heard too. they take what priscilla recalled about her time with elvis and assume the worst, so they don't need to read or hear anything else. (which is fucking insane since everyone wants to claim they married when she was 14.....like did yall read the book or are yall just STUPID?)

i could say the same about other books tbh. especially alanna nash books. baby let's play house was a terrible book and some people tend to see that as another holy grail because of how explicit it is.

[arrolyn1114]

Agreed 100% on all of these! Tom Parker is the one I absolutely hate the most, not gonna lie (as anyone who is reading my current WIP knows).

And Hal Wallis and Parker giving Elvis body image issues leading to all those dangerous crash diets pisses me off SO much.

Alanna Nash irks me as well. I will say a huge chunk of the info in "The Colonel" can thankfully be verified in other books that are known to be solid sources (Guralnick's, Jerry's, Steve Binder's, etc). So honestly you're better off getting that info from them.

And the Three Betrayers (Red, Sonny, Dave) also irk me to no end. Red at least expressed regret years later but as far as I'm aware the other two did not. I can't even imagine how devastated I would be if I had been in Elvis's shoes and people close to me published a tabloidy book about all the craziest/worst things I've done in my life. Everyone has done things they aren't proud of, none of us are perfect but to have your sins aired for the world like that, heartbreaking. I remember reading somewhere that some of the stories in there were exaggerated or not entirely true. Which I think makes it even worse. At least have the stuff be accurate all the way through. But sadly, misinformation about Elvis has been a plague for decades now. Ugh.

Top 5 villains in the real life story of Elvis's life/legacy?

Tom Parker / Andreas van Kuijk

Everyone else pales in comparison. It's hard to convey the extent of his cruelty and control. He stymied Elvis professionally, creatively, and personally, sabotaging his opportunities, relationships, and interests. He knew how to make Elvis doubt himself, and absolutely everything that went wrong in Elvis' life can be traced back to Parker and the very deliberate way he isolated and undermined Elvis. There are no words. Bottomless hatred. Every day a new revelation.

Hal Wallis

Wallis was the producer of Elvis' films for Paramount. Despite being one of the first people to recognize Elvis' acting talent, Wallis made a choice to keep him in horrible roles because he didn't believe audiences would ever take him seriously. In a public interview, Wallis told the press that Elvis films were terrible but that he had to keep making them because they made enough money to finance artistic films for Paramount. It broke Elvis' heart. Wallis also impressed upon Parker that Elvis gaining any amount of weight was unacceptable, thus leading to Elvis developing an eating disorder where he would starve himself for weeks at a time.

Steve Dunleavy and the Bodyguard Book

In the last year of Elvis' life, his dad fired three of his close bodyguards/members of the Memphis Mafia: Dave Hebler, Sonny West, and Red West. Feeling hurt and disrespected, the three agreed to do interviews for a tell-all book by Steve Dunleavy. The three of them would later claim they only went to the press to douse Elvis with cold water about how bad they thought his drug habits had gotten, but even if that was the case, they had no business agreeing to work with someone like Dunleavy. Dunleavy was a favored reporter of Rupert Murdoch, who, I kid you not, hated rock 'n' roll so much that he commissioned a takedown of Elvis while he was still alive. Murdoch believed that taking Elvis down would generate enough discourse to keep some of his struggling papers in business, turning Elvis into a symbol of the lower classes who wasn't worthy of serious consideration as an artist or compassionate understanding as a human being. The bodyguards were paid for their interviews, and Dunleavy proceeded to use their quotes to write what Murdoch wanted: a scandalous, seedy tell-all that turned Elvis into an object of ridicule. Worse, of course, was that Elvis' friends were party to it; it led to so much stress, grief, and anger for Elvis in his final months. He worried constantly about it, afraid of what Lisa and his fans would think of him afterward. Elvis: What Happened? was published two weeks before his death and set the tone for a genre of Elvis muckraking that continues today.

Dee Stanley and Sundry

Dee was Elvis' stepmother, who married his father Vernon shortly after the death of Elvis' beloved mother, Gladys. There was always going to be friction between the two just based on the speed of the remarriage, but it didn't help that Dee had originally tried to seduce Elvis (nothing doing) before turning her attentions on his dad. Elvis never liked Dee, and the feeling became mutual. After his death, Dee published a memoir that was a near-complete fabrication, writing anything that she thought would disgrace Elvis. The worst claim she made was that Elvis and Gladys were incestuous. Several of Elvis' friends nearly punched her when they appeared in a room together for a television interview. Her sons were heavily influenced by Dee's perspective and have kept up the same escalating, baffling claims to make money.

Alanna Nash

Unfortunately a widely cited and respected Elvis researcher, Nash has such a willingness to entertain "new" stories about Elvis that she falls for hoaxes and lies on a regular basis. Sometimes she escapes criticism by presenting her books as "oral histories," essentially raw interviews with people who knew him, which at least mostly allows the reader to decide the veracity of each account for themselves. But she bolsters her other books with sketchy psychoanalysis and innuendo intended to smear her subjects, or at least generate some rumors that will grab headlines. For instance, she claimed to have unearthed a theory that Col. Parker left Holland because he committed a murder there. Sounds exciting and even plausible given his reputation, but digging into it, the evidence is so slim and sketchy that it could really only be published by someone like Nash, and only after his death. Another example is how credulously she treats Byron Raphael, a serial liar who claims Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley (who spoke for a total of three minutes in their lifetimes) had sex (which Byron got to witness, of course!) and that Natalie Wood had sex with Byron in the next room after Elvis couldn't "do" it for her. When a longtime Elvis researcher questioned the article Alanna wrote with Raphael for Playboy, she said, "If Bill Burk was critical of [Raphael's] integrity, I'd say that's because Bill was jealous he didn't find Byron first." Uh-huh.

About gossip involving Parker's possible murder, she said, "I want to be clear in saying that there is no hard proof that he committed this murder, [but] in my heart of hearts, I believe he did." In another interview, when questioned, she snapped that anyone who says she "accused him of murder can't read."

The biographer Albert Goldman is a lot worse than her, like, on every level, a truly vile, insane person who wrote screeds (they are not biographies, they are a cry for help) against both Elvis and John Lennon. But Alanna loves Goldman and cites him a lot, and she irritates me more because she has a better reputation than she deserves, while Goldman is widely considered to be a disgusting hack.

I could probably include a few others, but as much as I might dislike other people in the Elvis story, they get the benefit of the doubt from me because at least they aren't these folks.