Billboard article profiled Elvis at army halfway mark

                                 

"I have no way of telling if my fame is fading," Elvis admitted in March 1959. "I stay homesick all the time. I'd give my neck to be back. You just don't know. I hope the folks back home haven't forgotten me."

 

Billboard article profiled Elvis at army halfway mark

Elvis's fears were reported in an article by Hazel Guild, who filed her story from Germany on March 24, 1959, the official halfway mark of Elvis's army stint. Billboard printed the article on page 2 of its March 25 issue. With the army making access to Elvis difficult, Guild obviously gathered the material for her piece on Elvis from a variety of sources in Germany.

"Meanwhile, Presley is just one of the boys at Ray Kasern," Guild explained of Elvis's current army profile. "Under orders from the Pentagon, he's being given no special treatment and no special publicity during his tour of duty overseas. Both Stars and Stripes and AFN, military-controlled newspaper and radio station for servicemen overseas, have been told [to put] no special emphasis on Presley being here."

Actually, the military was making a special case of Elvis by isolating him from the press. Guild pointed out that when journalists from back home arrived in Germany looking for a story, local military officials would usually make some hometown soldiers available for interviews. "But if photogs or reporters from New York, Hollywood or Memphis arrive, they're absolutely barred from contacting Elvis during duty," Guild explained. "And the Armored Div hasn't taken a single photo of him at work."

She also noted that normally writers were encouraged to cover army maneuvers at nearby Grafenwoehr, but with Presley involved even Life magazine was barred from doing a photo spread. Occasionally, an enterprising photographer penetrated the army's perimeter around Elvis. One from American Weekend, a paper for servicemen in Europe, slipped through and got some shots of Elvis shaving and polishing his boots.

Elvis tried to keep up with press and fan requests

"While the military bars the press from him, Presley is doing a standout p.r. job on his own," Guild reported. "Living with his father, grandma and one male aide at a rented house in this small but luxurious spa (Bad Nauheim), he gets an average of 100 calls a week for interviews, tv appearances, [and] photo layouts. He generally devotes one night a week to keeping up with the major requests—meaning constant layouts in German, French and English papers."

In his off-duty time, Elvis found his every move covered by the local German press—Elvis at an ice show, Elvis watching a film shoot in Munich, Elvis driving around in his new snow-white supercharged BMW. According to Guild, since Elvis's rented home had no garage, he had to park the car on the street each night. "And every morning, it's covered with lipsticked notes, phone numbers and names of local gal fans."

And even in the middle of his tedious army stretch, there was evidence back home that his popularity there had not diminished. As of March 24,1959, the midpoint of his army service, dealer orders for his latest stateside RCA Victor release of "A Fool Such As I" coupled with "I Need Your Love Tonight" had just gone over 1,000,000. It was Presley's 20th consecutive gold record. He was out of sight, but obviously not forgotten. —

 

 Alan Hanson