It's the two-piece leather get-up plus gloves that Eddie delivers that routine in that gets me.

Oh yeah, did that at school and have periodically revisited since. And I check for a Kolley Kibber card every time I'm in Brighton.

@@bertsbooks2505 awesome! I just saw 35mm The Third Man at my local theatre and I had to pick it up since it's the same author

Anything's a word if Dr Nick's writing your prescriptions!

Happily, it's currently watchable on YT. Always thought those kiddie snow suits were sinister somehow.

I don't think it's any secret his entourage were also drugging to some degree. It's reported elsewhere that E occasionally used them as guinea pigs for a drug he hadn't tried yet, EG LSD. 'To a larger degree' though? Have you seen that toxicology report? I seriously doubt that.

Nice of you to say so, thank you... oh, yours is new to me, let's have a gander...

In what ways did they change their stories? I know they weren't altogether happy with the way Dunleavy edited their accounts.

@bertsbooks2505 When they wrote the book, between the lines it was filled with jealousy and contempt, and it was clearly written only as revenge for being fired, and with the sole purpose of character assassination of Elvis. Later in life, it clearly shines through in their interviews and talk shows, how much they loved Elvis and how much fun they had with him. In recent years, the stories were told with laughter and love, and came to sound more like what they really were. Namely shared experiences, under the influence of drugs, which, unlike Elvis, they had no reason to take! Sonny, in particular, often found it difficult to hold back tears in talk shows and interviews, when he told stories about their life with Elvis with great humor and love, and liked to end by, choked with tears, telling how much he missed him. In Denmark, we haven't heard much about Dave Hepler, and only recently have I seen an interview here on you-tube with him. He still seemed bitter after all these years, and claimed that they had wanted to write a book about all the fun they had experienced during their time with Elvis, but that the book was filled with all the negativity when they first saw it shortly after its release . Whether the fee for a talk show has had an influence on the content of their talk shows and the way they were told I don't know, but personally I probably wouldn't have paid to hear them trash Elvis for 30 minutes!

I've covered 3 Elvis books, and thought I'd leave it at that, but the reaction's caused me to consider further... I haven't read Child Bride - let me have a look at this. Thanks!

Haven't checked lately, is the DVD rare now?

It's not a big burning figure on a cliff, I can reveal that much!

​@@bertsbooks2505I will be grateful if you can

​@@bertsbooks2505I will be grateful if you can

Oh, never heard of that, will look into it

@@bertsbooks2505 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWLZkIp7pbmreNkfeature=shared Here's the one I remember but I know there was more

Ee-Dee gave me the copyright hit on this one! Not viewable in some territories, apparently. Didn't say which. Amazed there was only one!

This one's Juanita Banana... is there a Manana one it's based on?!

@@bertsbooks2505 No, I think Banana is the original. I misremembered the title 🤦🏼‍♂️

Worth it for Tucker's poems alone

Zammo chased the dragon and got a smack on the nose!

Yep, true, there's a lot more crossover than the 'year zero' thing would allow us to acknowledge. I don't think it works for this book though!

My understanding was that the wages weren't that good, Red did the early days unpaid, and Elvis was pretty capricious with his 'gifts'. He also expected them to act like badasses and take a bullet for him. And then he got his dad to sack them. Talk about brotherly. I get endless variations of this 'spotless Elvis, ungrateful bodyguards' bit, but I don't buy it. He doesn't come out of it smelling of roses any more than anyone else does.

No, but I still hear from the weirder fringe of his fanbase fairly regularly!

I suppose it's sort of a feeling rather than a club someone can join, I dunno... I had ISpy Books and watched The Changes as a kid, I assume I've got a semi-understanding of it!

Good of you to say so, thanks. And likewise!

Are you talking about the Christmas LSD thing that Priscilla and a couple of the others were in on? Sonny was the 'monitor' on that. 'Some of the guys in fact had already taken acid at Elvis' urging... the fact that he himself had remained an observer occasioned a good deal of cynical commentary.' Fortas: 'He was too scared to take it himself and we were stupid enough to be his guinea pigs'. Red, as far as I'm aware contacted a hitman, but it went no further. It's not an idea Red instigated.

​@@bertsbooks2505 It was thanks to Elvis that nothing more happened with the hitman; Larry Geller explained how Elvis took it himself, following the guide written when LSD was not yet illegal. Larry and Jerry were there, Fortas was not. One more misinformation from MM.

@@Val45678 Who instigated the hit man idea? Yeah, Red shouldn't have gone along with it that far and says as much, but ultimately, whose idea was the hit man?

@@bertsbooks2505 a man with a broken heart

@@Val45678 He's hardly blameless in the breakdown of that marriage.

It absolutely is, I don't think the author had any other imperative other than 'be disgusting'!

Well it's a different type of 'you'll need a shower' I suppose!

Fun fact: I only just recently figured what Kia Ora meant (other than the sugary drink they used to sell at cinemas). Oh, I meant to do something in depth about that Idi book, tho it's a bit of a minefield I suppose!

@@bertsbooks2505 No doubt a minefield!

What, my rogue Hampshirisms?

I liked the film, but I thought it didn't quite push into the darker corners the way the book did. Not sure what's going on with that rumoured remake.

Don't remember any mention of her dance teacher in it, more Mike Stone?

@@bertsbooks2505 p.229 :"Priscilla had been taking modern dance lessons from a male dance teacher, it was a completely innocent association"

For anyone who would wanna know Elvis described by his real good friends : Jerry Schilling "Me and a guy named Elvis"; George Klein "Elvis my best man"; Larry Geller "If I can dream Elvis own story"; Dick Grob "Safe and sound", Marty Lacker "Elvis portrait of a friend (his own book, not the Alanna Nash book); or by his cousin Gene Smith "Elvis man friday", his secretarey ;Yancey Becky "My mife with Elvis", one of his friends police officer Robert C. Kantwell "The Elvis Presley I knew- Beyond the headlines and scandal to the heart of the superstar "

Interesting take on employer-employee relations there. Did Vernon get that memo? As I've repeatedly pointed out since this vid went up, if your boss got his dad to fire you, you'd wouldn't be vengeful too?

@@bertsbooks2505 which CEO fire himself his employees ? Vernon was working for Elvis and was always the one who hired and fired them. Several years before he had fired Esposito. Esposito didn't not complain to the journalists. The West were having too big heads (it's obvious in the archives). Elvis had to remind them who was the boss. They refused to listen to him one more time. Of course they won't explain : we forgot that we were not Elvis and we'll go on to make money on his back.

@@Chloe-j3o What CEO hires his own dad for those purposes?! When you've been around someone in close quarters for more than two decades, as he had Red, handling it one to one is the least he could have done. We're not talking ICI here, let's be realistic.

​@@bertsbooks2505Elvis hired his father early in his career because he trusted him to take care of his business. Where is the problem ? Check Red West's career: he didn't work for Elvis for 20 years continuously (even if the number of years doesn't allow him to publish a book about someone else's room). West was fired and was immediately able to work again with Robert Conrad whom he knew BECAUSE Conrad admired Elvis. When he called Elvis on purpose to record it, Elvis offered to help. West preferred to write the book.