Born in 1945, Priscilla Ann Wagner Beaulieu was only fourteen when she captured the attention of Elvis Presley, at the time twenty-four and already a celebrity, during his military service in Germa
Thousands of pages have been written on Elvis Presley. I read none. I did watch movies, though, and loved his music, but that’s about it. It might explain why I read Elvis and Me by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, his wife, with such interest. It is written simply, and in my opinion, with a healthy dose of honesty.
Facts emerge innocently through the pages, they’re not thrown in your face. Priscilla stayed at Elvis’ side for eighteen years. She was merely fourteen when she met her. Her father was an airman stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany, the same where Elvis was stationed. The two met one night, as Elvis was singing Are You Lonesome Tonight?. Jaye P. Morgan’s version of the song would also prove quite successful a short time later, and there was indeed a picture of Morgan by the piano. Take a look at Jaye, the similarity is obvious.
Priscilla reveals her fear of rejection from her peers, due to her constant moving with her military father around the country, while Elvis is anxious, he is going to lose his fans before he can return to America. We also learn of his skin rejuvenation face massages and his karate classes to help his stage acrobatics. We learn of his attachment to his late mother and of his grandmother’s worries: she wants to keep him safe from troubles and goes as far as forbidding soccer practice (“out there, he’d be like a wounded bird in a pack of wild dogs.”)
Priscilla tells us that, contrary to Elvis’ rebel image, he held a very traditional view of the role of women. “A woman had her place and it was the man who took the initiative.” On her husband’s cheating, she denies nothing, but abstains from comment. Priscilla learned early that questioning wouldn’t get her anywhere.
A piece of curiosity – no malice intended – Elvis was a sleepwalker who was often seen in such state in his yard. A curiosity that is a tragic premonition: his constant use of Dexedrine, an amphetamine that causes feeling of well-being, energy, and keeps you up at night.
We are now leaving the two lovebirds to their destiny: the end of Elvis’ military service, their return to America, and gossip about a possible liaison with Nancy Sandra Sinatra.
You can write the rest of this delicate story on the confessions about a difficult love that never quite ceased. In the end, Priscilla maintains that “He was a man, a very special man.”
