Which axiom do you believe: "Absence makes the heart go fonder" or "Out of sight, out of mind?" That was the dilemma facing Elvis Presley and his manager as they began 1958. Having received his draft notice, the question was how to respond. Unlike many draftees, a star of Elvis's magnitude had options. Certainly, strings could have been pulled and deals could have been made that would have led to some kind of disqualification and Elvis might not have served at all. Another option was for Elvis to serve the military as a provider of entertainment and / or a PR agent for the military – many celebrities had done so. Both the Air Force and the Navy had made bids for his services. Or, he could have accepted the draft and done his time as a common soldier. Ultimately, he chose the last option.
Most biographers agree that the choice was engineered by Colonel Parker. While many believed (and Elvis himself feared) that two years of absence from performing would be too much to overcome in a business where public exposure was a big part of success, Colonel Parker saw it from a different angle. Parker's long term vision was an Elvis Presley that appealed to a wider base than the teenage girls who came to his shows and movies to scream and cry. Parker had already seen how Elvis's soft spoken, deferential behavior in interviews had won over some adult critics (even Ed Sullivan called him a "fine young man"). But there are some who believe the Colonel had ulterior motives. Colonel Parker always prided himself as a one-man promoter – Elvis was his only client and he was very jealous of his relationship. Sending Elvis off to the army was one way to separate him from other influences, especially his bandmates who were not too fond of Tom Parker and his control over Elvis. For whatever reasons, Elvis was to go into the U.S. Army just as any other recruit. During his stint in the military, the only special privilege he enjoyed was living off base – an option available to all recruits, but Elvis had the financial resources to do so, and to do so quite comfortably.
Elvis was granted one request, he was given a deferment until March 20, 1958 in order to complete filming of his movie, "King Creole." The Colonel and RCA took full advantage of the time before he went overseas. First, he went into the recording studio for three days on January 15th, 16th and 23rd in Hollywood. Then he completed the King Creole filming in Hollywood and New Orleans. He was back in the recording studio for three sessions in February. He would have three more days of recording in Nashville between his basic training and his deployment to Germany. The hope was that the movie and this stockpile of recordings could be parceled out over the next two years and give Elvis enough of a presence on the music scene to enable him to resume his career when his service was completed.
On March 24th, 1958 Elvis was inducted into the U.S. Army. He did his basic training at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas and advanced training at Fort Hood, Texas. While at Fort Hood Elvis's parents had been living with him, but in August Gladys became ill and they returned to Memphis. As her health declined, Elvis was granted emergency leave to return home on August 12th. On August 14th, Gladys Presley died of heart failure; her funeral was held the next day. Elvis was inconsolable and his leave was extended beyond the funeral date. On August 24th Elvis returned to Fort Hood and on September 22nd his unit was deployed to Germany where he spent the next eighteen months.
In 1958 RCA released four Elvis Presley singles, all of which were double sided chart entries. The first was "Don't" (#1) and the flip side, "I Beg of You" (#8), both of which had been recorded earlier in 1957. "Where Your Ring Around My Neck" (#2 - #1 R&B chart) and "Doncha' Think It's Time" (#21 -#13 disk jockey chart) were products of the February Hollywood sessions. "Where Your Ring Around My Neck" was released in April and quickly moved up the charts, peaking at #3 on the Best Seller chart in May. "Hard Headed Woman" (#1) / "Don't Ask Me Why" (#25) was part of the "King Creole" soundtrack. The final record for Elvis in 1958 was "One Night" (#4) and "I Got Stung" (#8) which were recorded in June during Elvis's furlough.
"King Creole" hit the theaters in July and was well received both critically and at the box office. The soundtrack album reached #5 on the Billboard chart. The title cut was not released in the U.S. as a single, which seems strange since RCA was trying to milk all it could get out of the limited recordings they had until Elvis returned from Germany.
1959 was an especially sparse year for Elvis. There were no movies and only two records. "A Fool Such As I" (#2) and "I Need Your Love Tonight" (#4) were on the charts in April while "A Big Hunk o' Love" (#1) and "My Wish Came True" (#12) were popular in August. There were no more Elvis Presley singles until he returned to the studio after his release from the Army in March of 1960.
When Elvis returned to the U.S. on March 2, 1960 he was nervous about returning to performing after his long hiatus. On the surface it would have appeared that his career was on a down turn. Compared to his volume of hits in '56 and '57, '58 and '59 were somewhat anemic. But every one of his records released during that time made Billboard's top ten and he had three number ones – that is a performance most pop music artists would embrace. On Elvis's train ride home from New Jersey to Tennessee there was a crowd at every stop. It appeared they hadn't forgotten him. It would soon become clear that music fans had a strong appetite for some new Elvis recordings. |
