(47) ELVIS, ANITA WOOD and DEBRA PAGET

If you think you're on a cliff-hanger here with my story about meeting Elvis at the train, you're right. There's just so much of a story to tell. And already I'm a bit off on a tangent.

These You-Tube videos are addictive. This one is just so good, we've got to give a hand to the contributor, and well, you can see what I mean when I say that Elvis Presley was the best advertisement the U.S. Army ever had! You can see a few pictures here of Elvis singing autographs for fans, which he did on an almost daily basis, outside his house. "Soldier Boy" was released after he returned home, by the way, but it's fitting for this fine video.

No, Elvis may have been lonely for the United States of America, but he was never without women, not since he became Elvis the Pelvis, the millionaire, and a star.

Now, before Elvis left for the army, it was understood that Anita Wood, a talented singer in her own right, who put out records and was a DJ who had her own radio program as well, was his girl. Early on it was an understanding between Elvis and the men who surrounded him, friends as well as employees, that no one would go after one of his girlfriends - if she really was. So everyone was hands off Anita. (Anita put out a song called, "I'll Wait Forever," which was assumed to be a song she was singing to Elvis, because it was about her real life dilemma.)

Here's a web site dedicated to Anita Wood Brewer that has a number of photos of Elvis and Anita enjoying each others company and of her seeing him off to the army. The second link below is right to a photo that shows Vernon and Gladys Presley as well, overwrought that their son in leaving... The beautiful blonde with her arm through Glady's is Anita.

These days there are a couple books out by women who have elaborated their affairs with Elvis in the late 1950's, and many women are mentioned connected to him in many other books. There was one woman that Elvis was very attracted to that he did not get involved with - because she might have been flirtatious but she belonged to someone else. That was Debra Paget, his co-star in 1956 in "Love Me Tender." In this Milton Berle show clip, presented by a You-Tube contributor, a comedy skit is made of Elvis' interest in Debra - her type.

For years Elvis liked the Debra Paget type.

DEBRA PAGET AND ELVIS ON MILTON BERLE

(9) HOLLYWOOD CALLS THE COVER BOY

Through a series of events I explain in more detail in my memoir, I found myself on the cover of the Roto Section of the Akron Beacon Journal in March of 1957. A photographer in town, Irving Waitzkin, insisted I looked like James Dean. Irving asked a photographer at the Akron Beacon Journal, Bill Samaris, to take some pictures of me.

The result was a call from Hollywood! A production company associated with the movie studio United Artists wanted to give me a screen test. Dad thought I might be chasing a rainbow, but when a follow-up telegram arrived, my friends who hung out at Kippy's Diner were enthusiastic for me. I packed my bags and headed west. I was put up in the Knickerbocker Hotel, the same Hollywood Hotel that Elvis stayed in when he was making his movie "Love Me Tender," with Debra Paget.

In Hollywood I was photographed from every angle to prove my James Dean-ness and read lines with a starlet. Then I played my guitar, and because my brother Junior taught me so well, I was good. I sang a song I'd written and a few others. Soon I would have a United Artists movie contract and, a first, a contract with United Artists to make records and tour as a teen idol.

Link to LOVE ME TENDER - Elvis' first movie on IMDb the worlds largest movie database

http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=Love+Me+Tender

(Some pictures of Elvis and Debra!)

Elvis singing "Love Me Tender" on a You-Tube video presentation!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN FATE?