Elvis v Priscilla.

Elvis v Priscilla.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002nzws/elvis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_(2022_film)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002b8kn/priscilla

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priscilla_(film)

Music and me, we don’t talk or do that walk. If the slim-hipped whip of a boy is someone the old dears in The Mountblow watch doing Karaoke turns out to be a bulky and grey haired John Brady, they never let on. I guess mums no longer call their son Elvis? That generation (my generation) is dying out. With us goes the death of the King. All that is left are the moneymaking dregs endlessly churning the same old notes and translating them into dollars.

In P.F.Kluges’s bestseller Bigger Elvis, American servicemen stationed in Olongapo, Philippines create a successful nightclub act built around portraying three eras of Elvis Presley:

                Baby Elvis (the young rock-and-roll Elvis)

                Dude Elvis (the movie-star years)

                Biggest Elvis (the older, dreadnought, Vegas-era performer)

Their performances become a cultural phenomenon in Asian port towns shaped by U.S. military presence. As their fame grows, the act becomes more than entertainment—it turns them into a symbol of American influence, desire, and decline, which sounds eerily familiar as the rise and rise of the  myth making myth of Make America Great Again.

Baby Elvis and Dude Elvis is how his memory is commodified. Elvis shaped his own story. Almost half Americans are clinically obese. Addicted to prescription drugs and the ‘Elvis sandwich’ of too much of Southern food rolled in slices of bread. He too was super doughy.

 His jumpsuits were redesigned to be looser, darker, and more heavily embellished.

Capes, high collars, and wide belts helped break up his silhouette and draw attention upward.

Concert lighting was adjusted to avoid harsh side angles.

Camera operators were instructed to shoot from the chest up during televised performances.

Promotional photos were older images or carefully staged.

Notes.

Fourteen-year-old schoolgirl Priscilla Beaulieu is accustomed to the unsettled life of an army family. Invited to a party at Elvis Presley’s house as he carries out his military service in Germany, the shy teenager catches his eye and is gradually drawn into a strange and unhealthy co-dependent life. 

1. The Public Scandal: Exile vs. Acceptance

• Jerry Lee Lewis (The Scandal): In 1958, at age 22, Lewis arrived in London for a massive tour. A reporter discovered he had married his 13-year-old first cousin once removed, Myra Gale Brown.

The Reaction: The public and press were horrified. He was branded a ‘cradle robber’ and a ‘pervert’. (Now he’d be called a paedophile.) His tour was cancelled after only three shows. He was effectively blacklisted from radio and television for years. His career ‘nosedived into the concrete,’ and he was forced to pivot to country music to survive professionally.

• Elvis Presley (The Romance): In 1959, at age 24, Elvis met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu while stationed in Germany.

The Reaction: Unlike Lewis, Elvis’s relationship was kept largely out of the tabloid spotlight during its early years. By the time they married in 1967 (when she was 21), the public viewed it as a long-awaited fairy-tale. Because Elvis followed a strict code of conduct (meeting her dad—a ranking officer—and housewife mum, enrolling her in convent school, and claiming they remained chaste until marriage), the press framed him as a gentleman rather than a predator.

2. The "Wooing" Tactics

The two films (Elvis and Priscilla) and historical records highlight very different approaches to these relationships:

Feature	Jerry Lee Lewis & Myra	Elvis & Priscilla
Transparency	He married her secretly (while still legally married to his second wife) and brought her on tour.	He courted her under the watchful eye of her parents and moved her into Graceland under a "guardianship" agreement.
The Power Dynamic	Lewis was impulsive and reckless; Myra later said, "I was the adult and Jerry was the child."	Elvis was calculated; he famously told friends he wanted a girl young enough that he could ‘train her any way I want.’
Social Context	Lewis's marriage was seen as ‘backwoods’/ ‘hillbilly’ behaviour, which the media used to look down on him.	Elvis was the All-American Boy in  Army uniform. His team (and the Colonel) worked tirelessly to ensure he looked like a respectable suitor.

 

3. Portrayal in the Films

Great Balls of Fire! (1989): This Jerry Lee Lewis biopic (starring Dennis Quaid) portrays the marriage to Myra as a wild, rebellious, and ultimately career-destroying mistake. It emphasizes the "shame" the industry felt toward him.

Elvis (2022): Baz Luhrmann’s film ignores the age gap. It focuses on the romance and the tragedy of their eventual divorce, maintaining the myth of Elvis as a tragic misunderstood hero who loved black music, revered Martin Luther King, and Senator Robert Kennedy.

Priscilla (2023): Sofia Coppola’s film is the first to explicitly frame the relationship as grooming, or coercive control.  By showing the 14-year-old Priscilla in a sailor dress being given pills and fashion orders by a much taller 24-year-old man, who shadows her every move, the film strips away the fairy-tale and shows the gilded cage of Graceland for what it was.

narrative control. Jerry Lee Lewis was defiant and ‘wild’, leading the press to attack his character as a shade of black on white. Elvis was a US ‘brand’ protected by Colonel Tom Parker, who wasn’t a Colonel, even his name was crook, but he understood that if the public saw Elvis as a clean-living father-figure/protector rather than a ‘cradle robber,’ they would continue to buy his records and watch his films.

Tom Hanks portraying Colonel Tom Parker makes him familiar and acceptable. His parasitic greed and control of Elvis and his estate part of the plotting of the great American dream that comes out right—even if it’s morally wrong. An oh shucks moment.  

While Lewis’s career was nearly destroyed by his 13-year-old bride, Elvis’s 14-year-old ‘living doll’ was integrated into his legend as his one and true love.

But Elvis repeatedly pursued women in their teens or early twenties:

            Priscilla Beaulieu was 14 when they met.

            Linda Thompson was 22.

            Ginger Alden was 20.

            Several earlier girlfriends (e.g., Anita Wood, Dixie Locke) were also teenagers.

This age gap gave Elvis a sense of control and allowed him to shape the relationship on his terms.

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 2. Soft spoken, gentle, ‘good girl’ personas. Priscilla graduated from convent school.  

Elvis preferred women who were:

            Polite, well mannered, and non-confrontational

            Emotionally supportive

            Comfortable with him being the dominant figure

He often avoided women who challenged him or had strong independent lifestyles.

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 3. Willingness to adapt to his lifestyle

His partners tended to:

            Accept his nocturnal schedule, even when not nocturnal.

            Tolerate long absences without explanation

            Live within the insulated Memphis Mafia environment of Graceland

            Accept his reliance on prescription drugs and erratic habits

This required a high degree of flexibility and emotional accommodation.

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 4. A specific aesthetic Elvis liked

Elvis had a known preference for:

            Dark hair (Priscilla dyes hers black to match his ideal)

            Delicate facial features

            Slim or petite builds. (Priscilla is show as half his size)

            A polished, glamorous look (which she perfects)

Even as he aged and became clinically obese, his partners continued to fit this youthful, doll like aesthetic.

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5. They often had showbusiness or beauty pageant backgrounds

Many of his partners were:

            Models

            Beauty queens

            Aspiring actresses

            Performers

Examples:

            Ann Margret (actress/singer)

            Linda Thompson (Miss Tennessee)

            Ginger Alden (model/actress)

Elvis was drawn to beautiful girls or women who understood fame but were not more famous than he was.

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6. They tended to be emotionally dependent

Elvis often chose women who:

            Looked to him for guidance

            Wanted protection or stability

            Were comfortable with him being the emotional centre of the relationship

This dynamic reinforced his need to be admired and needed.

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7. They accepted a relationship on Elvis’s terms

Common expectations included:

            No career that overshadowed his

            Limited independence

            Participation in his spiritual interests (e.g., numerology, martial arts, metaphysics)

Emotional loyalty even after breakups. The King remains King. No back chatting. No bad press.

Elvis Presley earned tens of millions during his career, but Colonel Tom Parker’s unusually high commissions—often 50% of Elvis’s income—meant Parker captured an enormous share of the money. In several major deals, Parker also took half of lump‑sum payments, including, ironically, the sale of Elvis’s entire back catalogue. None of Elvis’s back catalogue features in Priscilla.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CVBVVGD6