History:
As the year 1964 dawned, Colonel Tom Parker had every reason to be satisfied with himself. He'd taken a truck driver from Tupelo, Mississippi, turned him into the most popular entertainer the world had ever or possibly would ever see, and been paid for his trouble at a rate far exceeding his peers in the business (Parker took a full half of Elvis' earnings in a business where most managers have settled for 15 percent or less). And Elvis Presley himself, for his part, had been effectively cowed -- he'd wanted to be a real actor, and the death of his mother Gladys weighed heavily upon him when he was alone, but the constant stream of showgirls, pep pills, gambling, Cadillacs, and public adoration seemed to hold him together. But there were two ominous threats to the King's reign emerging in that fateful year, and since the Colonel was the Kingmaker, that meant problems for him, as well.First there was the unprecedented arrival of a popular rock band from England. From England, no less! And utterly self-contained, capable of their own wit and blessed with songwriting skills to boot! The generation gap that would threaten to tear the very fabric of American society apart in a few years was begun on Ed Sullivan's stage, the very same battleground on which Elvis had stolen the allegiance of the country's youth away from its parents for the first time. Before long, pledging your allegiance to Presley would go from being a foregone conclusion of your age to marking you as a very uncool teenybopper indeed. Elvis still had an audience, but it was aging right along with him, and it had tasted too much freedom to stand still.
At the same time, Presley's chance meeting with hairdresser Larry Geller opened up an area of dissent Parker hadn't ever seen coming -- spirituality. Not the formal rigors of religion, which Elvis and nearly every other good citizen submitted themselves to in the early days, but a real spirituality, one that asked the King to ask his own questions, to humble himself and at the same time demand happiness from his own life. In order to do that, he'd have to break free from a stifling career that was starting to straitjacket him badly; would, in fact, have to overthrow his real father figure (Parker) and become his own man. For now, Elvis was content to let things go on as they were, although his frustration was beginning to make itself known in small ways: little demands here and there, tests of his and the Colonel's relative authority. But as the decade wore on, Elvis, as much as any beatnik, would find himself yearning for more.
Next... Elvis 1964 timeline
