Elvis' School Days

The Hillman Musical Odyssey

Memphis, Tennessee
www.hillmanweb.com/elvis/schooldays.html

ELVIS' SCHOOL DAYS

For Elvis Presley, childhood and adolescence were difficult and often involved working to help the family with finances. He picked up music early from local gospel groups and picked up the guitar when he was only 11 years old. Read on to learn more about Elvis Presley as a child and get to know what early life was like for America’s iconic singer.
Elvis was born in January 1935, during the depths of the Great Depression, in East Tupelo, Mississippi, in a modest two-room "shotgun" shack that defined the humble circumstances of his early childhood. His twin brother, Jessie, was stillborn. According to Peter Guralnick's Last Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, there was no money to spare but plenty of affection showered on the boy by his parents, Vernon and Gladys, and the extended family who resided in the area. Fearful of exposing her sole surviving child to danger, Gladys was quick to threaten physical punishment if he dared escape from her sight.
An introverted Elvis reportedly had few close friends during his early years in East Tupelo, and teachers from that period largely remembered him as a "sweet and average" student. Still, there were signals of his unusual gifts as far back as age two, when he would scamper off his mother's lap at church and run over to join the choir in full swell. He also possessed an understanding of his parents' grown-up struggles with employment and debts, and seemingly a sense of how he could fix their problems. "Don't you worry none, Baby," he told Gladys at one point. "When I grow up, I'm going to buy you a fine house and pay everything you owe at the grocery store and get two Cadillacs–one for you and Daddy, and one for me.'"
The first outward sign of the future entertainer appeared during a talent contest at the 1945 Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, which featured a 10-year-old Elvis singing without musical accompaniment before several hundred witnesses. Elvis later recalled placing fifth in the contest and earning a whipping from his mother for trying out one of the scarier rides.
Not long afterward, Elvis received his first guitar. He was helped along in that endeavor by relatives and a young pastor and overcame his shyness enough to perform at a weekly amateur showcase and display his burgeoning talents to star local DJ Mississippi Slim.
Elvis carried his guitar to school every day by seventh grade at Milam Junior High. Other students recalled him playing during lunchtime and recess but rarely for any organized activity, since his taste for "hillbilly" (country) tunes was scorned by both teachers and classmates. A few of the more aggressive detractors swiped his beloved guitar and cut the strings early in eighth grade. But by then, Elvis had engendered enough goodwill among classmates that they raised a collection to buy him new strings. As a gesture of thanks, Elvis gave them a mini-concert just before his family packed up and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in November 1948.
After enrolling at Memphis' 1,600-student Humes High School, Elvis was so overwhelmed by the unfamiliar sights and sounds that he turned and ran home shortly after his father dropped him off. The newcomer returned the following day and did his best to blend into the crowd. But there was no sign of the guitar that accompanied him to Milam every day for more than a year. Notably, though, he sang for a music teacher to prove that his style was as valid as her preferences.
Elvis joined the ROTC as a sophomore, but he struggled to find acceptance within the classrooms and hallways of Humes. Future label mate Barbara Pittman recalled how her older brother and his friends "used to hide behind buildings and throw things at [Elvis]—rotten fruit and stuff—because he was different, because he was quiet and he stuttered, and he was a mama's boy."
Fortunately, the budding musician found his footing at Lauderdale Courts, the public housing complex that became his home for much of high school. Along with forging genuine friendships among other residents his age, he took guitar lessons from a talented older teenager at the complex and was regularly performing at parties and impromptu concerts outside soon after.
Elvis Began Dressing More Flamboyantly in His Later Teenage Years
Friends and classmates noticed a marked change in Elvis during his final two years of high school; while still shy and soft-spoken, he nevertheless called attention to himself by wearing flashy jackets and dress pants and growing out his famous sideburns. Naturally, this further aggravated the bullies who disliked anyone different, and one day several of them cornered Elvis in a bathroom with the intent to cut his hair before being thwarted by a football player and future "Memphis Mafia" associate Red West.
Yet, toward the end of his time in Mississippi, Elvis eventually won over many of his peers with talents that showcased an earnest heart. The turning point came at the school's annual minstrel show in April 1953, when the guitarist listed as "Elvis Prestly" impressed the audience with his rendition of Teresa Brewer's "Till I Waltz Again With You." "When I came on stage, I heard people kind of rumbling and whispering and so forth, 'cause nobody knew I even sang," he later recalled. "It was amazing how popular I became after that."
Save for an awkward senior prom, Elvis enjoyed the final days leading up to his high school graduation in June 1953. And while the painful teenage years were not yet fully behind him, he took a giant step toward the kingdom that awaited when he walked into Sam Phillips' Sun Records studio for the first time later that summer, ready to put that soon-to-be-famous voi

TIMELINE
January 8, 1935
In Tupelo, Mississippi, shortly before dawn, in a two-room house built by her husband, Vernon Presley, and her brother-in-law, Gladys Presley gives birth to twin sons. The first, Jessie Garon, is born stillborn. The second, Elvis Aaron, is born alive and healthy. Elvis would be their only child.
1935 - 1948
Elvis grows up within a close-knit, working class family, consisting of his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, who all live near one another in Tupelo. There is little money, but Vernon and Gladys do their best to provide for their son, who is the center of their lives. They move from one house to another in Tupelo. Elvis attends the Assembly of God Church with his family, and the music and preaching register deeplywith Elvis Presley. Childhood influences include black blues-men in the neighborhood and country music radio programs enjoyed by his family.
September 1941
Elvis entered first grade at East Tupelo Consolidated, where his teachers regarded him as "average". His first public performance was a singing contest at the Mississippi–Alabama Fair and Dairy Show on October 3, 1945, when he was 10; he sang "Old Shep" and recalled placing fifth.
A few months later, Presley received his first guitar for his birthday; he received guitar lessons from two uncles and a pastor at the family's church. Presley recalled, "I took the guitar, and I watched people, and I learned to play a little bit. But I would never sing in public. I was very shy about it.
October 3, 1945
Ten-year-old Elvis stands on a chair at a microphone and sings "Old Shep" in a youth talent contest at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, held in Tupelo. The talent show is broadcast over WELO Radio. Winning fifth prize, Elvis receives $5.00 in fair ride tickets. This is one of the first public musical performances for Elvis Presley as a child.
1946
Elvis’ parents cannot afford a bicycle that Elvis wants, so Gladys talks him into accepting a guitar instead. Elvis' first guitar costs $12.95 and is purchased at the Tupelo Hardware Company.
September 1946
Elvis entered sixth grade at Milam Junior High School, which is still there, in Tupelo. His classmates remembered Elvis as a shy boy who didn't fit in very well, but that he loved music. He often sang gospel favorites and songs he learned from listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio
1947
A woman was walking into a drug store to drop off film to be developed. She realized as she was walking in she had one exposure left. She noticed a young kid outside the drugstore and asked him to pose with his brand new bicycle so she could finish the roll and turn it in. Little did she know that this young man would one day become the biggest rock star and icon this world would ever know. In 2014 this photo was finally published of the young Elvis Presley in Vanity Fair magazine.
November 6, 1948
Elvis plays his guitar and sings "Leaf on a Tree" for his Milam Junior High class in Tupelo as a farewell. Elvis and his parents pack their belongings in a trunk, strap it to the roof of their 1939 Plymouth, and move to Memphis, Tennessee, in search of a better life economically. Other members of the Presley and Smith family would follow.
1948 - 1953
Elvis and his parents live in public housing or low rent homes in the poor neighborhoods of north Memphis. Life continues to be hard. Vernon and Gladys go from job to job and Elvis attends L.C. Humes High School. Elvis works at various jobs to help support himself and his parents. The Presley-Smith family remains close-knit, and Elvis and his family attend the Assembly of God Church. The teenage Elvis continues to be known for singing with his guitar. He buys his clothes on Beale Street and he absorbs the black blues and gospel he hears there. He’s also a regular audience member at the all-night, white and black, gospel sings that are held downtown. He wears his hair long (compared to the day’s standards) and slick, and lets his sideburns grow. He’s really different from the other kids, a good-natured misfit.
While at Humes High, Elvis nervously sings with his guitar at a student talent show. Much to his own amazement, he gets more applause than anyone else and wins, then performs an encore. The acceptance feels good.
June 3, 1953: Graduation and Prom
Elvis graduates from Humes High School in Memphis. His graduation photo shows him to have a split curl in the middle of his forehead, later to become his trademark. He was the first member of his family to graduate high school.
Elvis's date for the senior prom was the girl he was courting, a 14-year-old named Regis Wilson—a pretty, petite blonde with a big smile. Wilson had a crush on Elvis, whom she considered "a gentle soul, but all boy—he kind of had this swagger to him." Elvis dressed differently than his classmates, often donning extremely colorful, loud pants and shirts, not at all the fashion for the typical male in the conservative 1950s. "He would show up in outfits that were so flashy I would open the door and blink my eyes," Wilson recalled in a book by Alanna Nash about the women in Elvis's life.
His hair was already unorthodox—heavily greased and slicked back into a ducktail, including sideburns running almost down to his chin. Still bearing the last vestiges of teenage acne on his face, though, Elvis was so shy he would sometimes stutter when faced with certain social situations. But if Elvis felt like an alien among other teenagers most of the time, he was never so out of place than on the night of his senior prom at the swanky (and segregated) Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis.
"It was the most exciting thing I had ever done," Wilson recalled. "I felt like Cinderella getting ready to go to the Royal Ball." The excited 14-year-old had picked out a pink taffeta dress for $14.98 and accessorized it with pink shoes. Strapped for money, she had her hair done for free at the beauty college across the street from the Peabody. As she sat in the beauty chair, she excitedly looked at the Peabody Hotel across the street and said to herself, "Just think, in a few hours from now I'll be back here all dressed up."
Although most of the other boys wore white tuxedos, Elvis chose a relatively conservative dark blue suit. And he did have on a pair of blue suede shoes (no kidding!). He showed up at Wilson's door in a shiny rented Chevy, also dark blue, paid for with the money he had saved by ushering at the local movie theater. Shyly, as Wilson blushed, Elvis pinned a pink carnation corsage on her dress.
As the couple entered the Continental Ballroom at the Peabody, the band was playing, and couples were already out on the dance floor. But Elvis steered Regis to a seat and offered her a Coke. "I can't dance," Elvis apologized shyly. (Wilson remembers him perspiring under his jacket.) Wilson took it that he didn't dance because he was so religious and sweetly replied, "That's all right." And so they sat out the entire night, talking and sipping on soda pop while watching the other couples.
Finally, they lined up with all the other couples for the grand march, stepping through a mammoth heart as their names were called and their picture was taken. In the photo, Wilson managed a half-smile, but Elvis looks as stiff as a soldier, peering solemnly into the camera. Elvis apparently made no attempts to socialize. But Elvis promised Wilson they'd have more fun afterward at Leonard's Barbeque, where they'd meet some of his pals and go on to a party. They drove out and waited, but nobody ever showed. Wilson could tell it bothered him, and finally, chagrined, Elvis took her home.
A few weeks after the prom, Elvis dropped by Wilson's house to see her and found that she and her family had simply vanished. Wilson's mother, financially strapped, had decided to move the family to Florida to live with her relatives. Wilson said she was "embarrassed" to tell Elvis she was moving. She couldn't bring herself to tell him how bad their financial situation was. Besides, she recalled, "Girls didn't call boys in those days," so she never said goodbye. In the family's move to Florida, Wilson lost her photo from their prom date. But Elvis always kept his, and a few years later his mother gave a copy to a fan magazine. By then, Elvis Presley was a teen heartthrob and a national sensation, with very specific dance moves all his own.
1953
Elvis works at Parker Machinists Shop right after graduation. That summer, he drops by The Memphis Recording Service, home of the Sun label, and makes a demo acetate of "My Happiness" and "That’s When Your Heartaches Begin" for a cost of about $4.00 as a birthday present for his mother, Gladys. Sam Phillips records Elvis singing "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin," and afterwards tells his assistant Marion Keisker something that made her write down in her notes, "Good ballad singer. Hold.”

Overview by George Kline
I guess everybody in high school is looking for some way to be their own person —to gain a little bit of notoriety. Back then, the common ways to get noticed were by being an athlete or a cheerleader or a part of school politics, and I took the political route. I became editor of the school paper, editor of the yearbook, and by senior year I was the class president. I kind of enjoyed being able to get along with all sorts of classmates— the athletes, the brains, and the ones who were a little different. By tenth and eleventh grade Elvis was bringing his guitar in more and more often to sing at little class events like a homeroom party. By senior year, Elvis was very clearly different.
The most obvious thing about him was that he dressed differently. Most of us were wearing jeans and plain, collared shirts. But you never saw Elvis in jeans. (I'd learn later that he hated them—they reminded him of the work clothes his family had worn at their poorest.) Instead, he'd wear black slacks with a pink stripe down the side and a black sport coat with the collar turned up. He'd let his hair grow out and had it combed back high. And he had those sideburns. What's amazing to me now is that the look he had back then wasn't the fashion of the day for anybody else in any part of Memphis I knew about— it was just pure Elvis. But at the same time, as distinctive as his look was, he was low-key about it and never seemed to be angling for any special attention. He got his notoriety in a quiet but unmistakable way. Like a velvet hammer.
Elvis wasn't quite as handsome in those years as he would become--he hadn't quite grown into his looks yet. So most Humes girls weren't sure what to make of this very different classmate. On the other hand, some of the guys at Humes felt that someone so different deserved to be given a hard time. One day he was cornered in a Humes bathroom by a tough group who brandished a pair of scissors and said they were going to cut off his hair. He tried to fight them off, but his pompadour was only saved when one of the strongest, most fearless guys at Humes, Red West, happened to walk into that bathroom and saw what was going on. Red told the would-be barbers that if they wanted to cut Elvis's hair they'd have to cut his first, and that was the end of that. —©George Klein - Elvis: My Best Man