Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, everybody. This is Rob Burnett with the podcast HodgePot and welcome.
We're going to go back to last year on an encore episode I ran on the death of Elvis Presley.
It was the news coverage that followed his death on August 16th, 1977.
It was utter pandemonium here in Memphis, Tennessee. So this Encore episode
(00:21):
will look at the news coverage, just the scene here in Memphis,
and also how popular he is to this day with his fans.
So here is that Encore episode of the news coverage of Elvis Presley.
Live from the Mid-South's leading news station.
(00:42):
Good afternoon. I'm Peggy Rolfs. And I'm Lee Edwards sitting in for Dick Williams,
and this is the news at noon.
Stunned fans mill around the gates of Elvis Presley's Whitehaven Mansion this
afternoon, while scores of fans, friends, and show business celebrities pour
into Memphis for funeral services tomorrow for the King of Rock and Roll.
(01:03):
Mason Granger is standing outside
the gates at Graceland right now and has this live action cam report.
Hand over a little bit with the camera right over here. hundreds of people here.
They've been gathering morning long.
There was only a small group at about six or seven o'clock this morning,
but as you can see, it's grown to a huge number of people right now at noon.
(01:24):
Elvis Presley's body just arrived here at Graceland.
A hearse carrying the singer's body left the Memphis funeral home,
winding its way down Elvis Presley Boulevard to Graceland.
The hearse quickly turned down a side street and pulled into Graceland by the back entrance.
Elvis's coffin was taken from the hearse and placed in the mansion's music room.
(01:46):
At three o'clock, the fans started filing in for their last view of Elvis. The coffin was open.
Elvis was dressed in a white suit, blue shirt, and blue tie.
Elvis's own family. Some members of the family arrived last night at the Memphis
International Airport, including Priscilla Presley, who is Elvis's ex-wife.
(02:08):
She arrived with other members of the family last night to be here for Elvis's funeral tomorrow.
An autopsy shows Presley died of an extremely irregular heartbeat.
The exact cause of that fatal flaw may never be known. But the medical examiner
says drugs were not the cause.
Hypertension and a disease of the arteries may have been contributing factors.
(02:31):
As Mason indicated earlier, the body will be on public view at Graceland this
afternoon from 3 to 5 o'clock.
And a private service will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2.
We have an unconfirmed report that singer Tom Jones will deliver the eulogy.
Among the many celebrities arriving overnight for the funeral,
as Mason said, were Burt Reynolds and Ann-Margret.
(02:52):
They went straight to the Graceland Mansion.
The King of Rock and Roll will be placed in a mausoleum at Forest Hill Cemetery.
Most radio stations in Memphis are playing Elvis records, and thousands of motorists
drove to work this morning with their headlights on to indicate publicly their morning.
So we're going to look at news reports from 1977 around the country and also from the BBC.
(03:15):
But in between the cuts, I'm going to give some facts about Elvis,
which are pretty extraordinary. Here are some facts about record sales.
Through 2016, the Beatles are number one at 257 million albums sold.
Elvis Presley was number two at 206 million.
Michael Jackson, 169 million. Madonna is number four in all-time album sales at 164.
(03:40):
And Elton John is at 159 million at number five.
And this information is from Statisa, a...
Website dealing with artists. In the history of music, only one artist and one
group have ever sold over 200 million albums.
This total is incredible.
So here is NBC News reports with David Brinkley, who was an anchor,
(04:04):
an excellent anchor in the 1970s and 80s with NBC News.
And here he is delivering the news of Elvis's death.
Good evening. Elvis Presley died today. He was 42.
Apparently, it was a heart attack. He was found at his home in Memphis, not breathing.
His road manager tried to revive him. He failed. A hospital tried to revive him. It failed.
(04:29):
His doctor pronounced him dead at 3 o'clock this afternoon.
The end at an early age of one of the two most spectacular careers in the history
of American entertainment. the other being Frank Sinatra's.
Long after he became an institution, here was how Presley looked and sounded
on an NBC television special four seasons ago.
(04:51):
Presley was very nearly at the peak of his career when he was drafted into the army. That was 1958.
Here he's arriving for a tour of duty in Germany, an enlisted man driving a jeep.
He could have gone into what they called special services and avoided the kind
of time put in by ordinary soldiers, but Presley didn't.
Actually, he trained as a tank man.
(05:13):
He sold records in the multiples of millions, made millions,
bought a string of Cadillacs one after another, gave away a string of Cadillacs
to people he liked, and along the way he was married in 1967 to Priscilla Ann Bullier.
The very symbol of sex for all of the millions or hundreds of thousands of teenagers
was married only once and then relatively late.
(05:38):
The couple had one child, a daughter. The marriage did not last very long.
It ended in divorce. So that was David Brinkley from NBC News back in 1977.
But Elvis was not a musician. He also was an actor. He starred in over 31 films during his career.
His first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show was viewed by,
(06:02):
get this number, 82.6% of the U.S.
Viewing audience back at that time.
He got $50,000 for that TV performance, and Elvis purchased the house Graceland
for $100,000 in 1957, the first year of his career, a 13-acre plot.
Millions flocked to Graceland every year here in Memphis, and we'll talk more
(06:25):
about Graceland a little bit later.
But here is Dave Marish delivering the news from CBS News back in 1977.
Well, there were ceremonies both private and public today in Memphis,
Tennessee, where Elvis Presley was buried. Ed Rabel has this report.
Only relatives, close friends, and some celebrities were permitted to enter
(06:47):
Graceland, the Presley estate, to witness the funeral services.
Ann Margaret, Burt Reynolds, John Wayne, Chet Atkins, Charlie Pride,
Caroline Kennedy, all were reported to be in town.
As described to artist Ham Embry, Presley was dressed in a white suit, blue shirt, and tie.
Presley's former wife, Priscilla, and his father, Vernon, were among those to
view Presley for the last time.
(07:08):
The somber funeral procession moved slowly down the driveway and out onto Elvis
Presley Boulevard for the three-and-a-half-mile drive to Forest Hill Cemetery.
Just as it emerged, a young woman jumped in front of the hearse carrying Presley's body.
Authorities pulled her out of the way. The police-escorted motorcade moved on
without incident, passing grieving Presley admirers who had gathered lining
(07:29):
the boulevard five deep.
Still more thousands of Presley's fans were waiting when the procession arrived at the cemetery.
Presley was to be entombed in this one-story marble mausoleum.
On the front lawn, flowers sent by the truckload by Presley followers were arranged in profusion.
One was in the form of a six-foot-long guitar.
Presley's crypt is in the so-called Presley Room, where other family members
(07:52):
will eventually be entombed.
His crypt will always be visible to the public through a locked wrought iron door.
Officials believe Presley will continue to attract in death many of those who
were so devoted to him when he was alive.
Ed Rabel, CBS News, Memphis.
So that was a CBS News report back in 1977.
(08:12):
And here's another cool fact about Elvis. He had in the Billboard Hot 100,
149 songs in those records.
114 of those were in the top 40. 40 were in the top 10, and 18 were number one hits.
His number one hits spent a total of 80 weeks of all those number one hits at
(08:34):
number one. And those stats come from Graceland.com. His biggest hit was Hound
Dog in 1956, where it was number one for 11 weeks.
So we're going to move up to my neck of the woods, Boston, where I grew up,
and we're going to listen to WBZ-TV in Boston with anchor Jack Williams,
a stalwart up there for many years.
(08:56):
He's delivering the news of Elvis' death, and then we're going to go right to the BBC in England.
So I'm going to play them back-to-back. So here is those reports.
Elvis was found by his road manager, Joe Esposito, about 2.30 this afternoon.
Esposito tried to revive Presley without success, while an ambulance rushed
to his Graceland mansion.
(09:16):
Elvis Aaron Presley was born in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi,
on January the 8th, 1935.
He died this afternoon at the age of 42, a millionaire many times over,
and probably the most famous recording star in history.
For 20 years, the undisputed king of rock and roll, the body of the 42-year-old
(09:37):
singer who died from a heart attack, is being put on public view at his home
for two hours this evening.
Tomorrow, Elvis Presley will be buried after a private funeral.
From Memphis, Michael Cole had just sent this report.
The huge clouds have become steadily bigger throughout the day.
A short while ago, the first of the fans who'd been waiting 18 hours were allowed
(09:59):
up the tarmac drive which leads to the mansion where the singer will lie in
state for the next two hours.
It's doubtful whether all those who want to pay their last respects will in
fact get the chance to do so.
Members of the Presley family, including his divorced wife and his daughter
Lisa, are in the house, and many show business friends and colleagues have been arriving.
(10:23):
The family say they want the funeral to be quiet, to be dignified and to be a family affair.
The local police chief told me he didn't expect problems with the crowd,
but there is undeniably a carnival atmosphere developed Tonight.
President Carter joined the tributes to Elvis Presley, saying his death had
(10:47):
robbed the world of a unique and irreplaceable personality.
His music had changed the face of American popular culture.
Through the day, the Memphis telephone system has been nearly paralysed by calls
from all over the world, and the city authorities have ordered all flags to be flown at half-mast.
So that was the BBC reporting back in 1977. Unbelievable, those news reports
(11:09):
back then. They're very descript.
They give really detailed information.
So it's really unbelievable to listen to. And it's still hard to believe after all these years.
45 years later, Elvis Presley was 42. I thought about that the other day,
and it's just mind-boggling.
So I live in Memphis. So my wife and I, a couple of weeks ago at the beginning
of Elvis Week, which is huge down here in Memphis in the anniversary of his
(11:31):
death, We decided to drive down to Graceland just to drive through to see the atmosphere.
And I can tell you the tourists were there at the beginning.
There were hundreds of people. The buses were going in and out of Graceland.
So I asked my sister-in-law, Vivian Smithy, about the news of Elvis dying in
Memphis at that time and what transpired in those days.
(11:51):
And here is the talk I had with Vivian talking about that time in 1977.
So Vivian, what was it like when you heard the news of Elvis dying?
You were in Memphis at the time. What was that like? And just looking at the
videotape, it looked like pandemonium and people were actually like passing
out. What was that time like in Memphis?
It was utter pandemonium.
(12:13):
We were standing in line with thousands of people and it was a very hot day
in August And people were fainting.
There was, at that time, no bottled water.
And so we were willing to do anything to see Elvis and view him.
(12:35):
He was behind the doors of the Presley Mansion of Graceland.
And it was very sad. People were crying.
The mood was very somber and the crowd was willing to take the heat for hours.
We stood for probably five hours and waited and we had gotten to the gate and
(13:00):
the guards had stopped us because they felt that it was going to be complete pandemonium.
Wow, because I was looking at the videotape from that, and basically what you
see in the videotape is people actually like, it was like a ruckus crowd trying to get in.
They had to call the National Guard to come in and just tame the crowd down.
(13:22):
And there was also a video clip when the hearse was pulling into the back entrance
or the back entrance to Graceland.
People were actually sprinting just to get a glimpse. And this is a time when
there was no cell phones, no internet, no social media.
So basically this was just raw, but the phones weren't working in Memphis when
(13:45):
this happened. True, right?
Not at all. We were trying to call family.
We were at work before we found out about Elvis's death.
When we found out he died. And the entire phone system was completely overwhelmed
with people calling relatives and friends and did you hear the news type of conversations.
(14:10):
It was unbelievable. Unbelievable.
No self, no nothing. The world stopped.
It seemed as though the entire world stopped that day. He died.
And then when they finally had his viewing, it was amazingly sad and somber.
And it was just, Life Magazine was there.
(14:34):
There were so many. This is before all of the other stations,
you know, CNN and Fox and all those people.
And the local news stations were all there
and the people with them were you
know very emotional it was unbelievable
it really was that's incredible and
now it's been what 45 years 45 years 45 years and the other day i was thinking
(14:59):
about that he was 42 years old when he died that just it blows my mind 42 is
so young and where were you when you heard the news of elvis passing And what
was the reaction like if you were around people?
I was working for a group of attorneys in Arkansas.
And they, we were all in total shock. We thought it was just a rumor.
(15:25):
And I was trying to get my husband, who was at FedEx at that time,
and couldn't get him nothing.
There were no calls to be made. And finally, everybody just left to go home
and find out what was going on.
And it was just unbelievable.
(15:47):
Sadness. We couldn't believe it. It was as though the king had really died. It was true.
At that time, I didn't listen to Elvis's music that much, but I had relatives
who had gone to his concerts and said he was amazing.
And it made me appreciate him so much more. Now I just love his music.
(16:13):
And if you haven't seen the movie, please go and see it.
It's well worth it. I haven't seen the movie Elvis, but we will get there to do that.
And back when he passed away, also just listening to watching items on YouTube
and reading about it, radio stations in Memphis, that's all they were doing was playing Elvis.
And now SiriusXM has its own Elvis channel.
(16:35):
So pretty interesting. Elvis still lives on and off.
So Vivian, thank you so much for joining HodgePod and discussing the time when
Elvis passed away. You gave us some great insight into what happened.
And thank you very much for joining us.
We enjoyed it. And hopefully everybody will enjoy the interview.
(16:58):
And he is and always will be the king. The king is right. The king of rock and roll.
Thank you so much. All right. Thank you. Have a good day. Okay. Bye-bye.
So thank you, Vivian, for that. And my favorite two Elvis songs are Burning
Love, number one, and then number two, Return to Center. Those are my two favorite songs of Elvis.
(17:19):
So on January 14th, back in 1973, Elvis performed in a concert,
Aloha from Hawaii, which was reportedly seen by 1.5 billion people in 36 countries.
Only two countries did not show the concert, China and the Soviet Union.
And even Even though over a billion people watched the concert on TV,
(17:42):
the Boston Globe gave it two out of five stars, which I found fascinating.
And I did watch some of it on YouTube, and it was an excellent concert.
And I don't know where the two or five stars came, but hey, everybody's got their opinion.
So here is another report from NBC News on what was going on here in Memphis.
All I can say is pandemonium, shock, disbelief. Here is that report.
(18:07):
As the people pressed against the gates trying to get in. Many faded from the
heat of the tightly packed crowd.
Despite pleas from police to spread out, the crush became worse.
And late this afternoon, 50 National Guards called out to assist in crowd control.
The family extended the hours for public viewing. And Shelby County Sheriff
(18:28):
Eugene Barksdale said that even so, many would not be able to see the body.
Those who did get in walked up the long drive to the house itself and entered
a small anteroom, which was almost filled with a copper casket containing the body of Aldous Preston.
He was dressed in a white tuxedo, wearing a simple silver tie.
(18:48):
Many of the people as they came out were crying.
Tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock, private funeral services will be held at Grayston.
Then the funeral procession will move up the street Memphis named after its
most famous citizen to a mausoleum at Forest Hill Cemetery.
Jackson Bain, NBC News in Memphis.
(19:09):
Another great story. You could just hear the pandemonium and just the utter
chaos here in Memphis back in 1977.
Here's a cool story that I found on the internet, and it's pretty awesome.
Elvis purchased FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's yacht, the Potomac,
for $55,000. He just bought the yacht and then donated the yacht to the St.
(19:33):
June Children's Hospital here in Memphis so they could raise funds.
And he was very charitable to a lot of people. I'm sure you could hear stories
and read about it on the Internet. But that is a great story.
And here's one that really just shocks me. And that shocks me,
but you're like, wow, this is like unbelievable.
So when Elvis passed away, he was supposed to play some concerts in Portland,
(19:54):
Maine. Portland, Maine is just, you know, north of Boston.
But this is a report from WCVB-TV in Boston.
Reporter Jorge Corroga, a very stalwart reporter up in Boston for many years,
reported from Portland, Maine, where Elvis was to play two concerts.
So check this one out. This is pretty incredible, this report.
(20:16):
And for Elvis Presley's concert had been so tremendous that a second concert
had to be arranged. It sold out as quickly as the first one had.
The set was getting its final touches on the fifth floor of a local hotel with
being prepared to receive the Presley entourage when the news of his death was announced.
The shock was the immediate disbelief. We checked it out from all possible angles,
(20:37):
not only locally but nationally, to see if the story was true because we had
been talking to the Presley people.
They were ready to come into the building. We were expecting him.
It was the eve of the performance, performance and his people were already in town.
We had just sold out two shows to over 17,000 people. I was stood in line for
two nights sleeping over and the whole thing was just hard to believe.
In Portland, like in every other city and town across the United States,
(20:58):
Elvis Presley was a true working class hero.
They looked up to him as a realization of the American dream.
Elvis is just not the music with me. It's him.
He set an example to me. me, the way he lived, his clean living,
the way he used people, his sincerity, his honesty, his manners,
the way he treated his mother.
(21:19):
To me, he was a person.
Presley's fans were aware that the man was a multimillionaire.
That fact never affected their loyalty.
From rags to riches, they said, but he never thought he was better than any of us.
In Portland, they were just grateful that he had agreed to play their town.
I was a kid. You were my favorite idol.
(21:40):
I had all of you, man.
And I dreamed that they did. I would pretend to be it. This is going to be your
first time to see him? Do you remember a lifetime? time?
I say, what? You were one of, probably one of the big fan, sitting in this empty
arena just hours before Elvis Presley was scheduled to perform.
One can imagine the mass hysteria that would have been upon Elvis Presley's arrival.
(22:05):
Now with his death, the silence gives you a feeling of mourning.
Many people will never understand the loyalty and identification of a fan to
an artist, but I'm sure that as many fans throughout the world will agree with
me when I say, Elvis Presley is dead.
Long live the king. For News 5, I'm Jorge Quiroga in Portland, Maine.
That is an incredible story. They wrapped up there for Elvis.
(22:29):
We're up there ready for the concert in Portland, Maine. Two sold-out shows, 17,000.
And the news report, he was just sitting in an empty arena before he was supposed
to perform. Unbelievable.
So some of the headlines around the world at the time in newspapers,
really no social media back then at all, no cell phones, know anything.
You had pay phones, you had TV, radio, newspapers, and just regular landlines.
(22:52):
But a lot of the newspapers back then had different headlines.
The Memphis Press Seminar said Memphis leads world in mourning for Elvis Presley.
The New York Post had millions mourn Presley.
The Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News had the same exact headline,
Elvis Presley dies at 42.
The New York Times, Elvis Presley dies, rock singer dead at 42.
(23:17):
And finally, the commercial appear here in Memphis, death captures crown of
rock and roll. Elvis dies apparently after heart attack.
Look for more podcast episodes on HodgePod. I'm Rob Fredette,
and thank you for joining me.