Timeline:
January 12: In a unique Nashville recording session, Elvis lays down "Memphis, Tennessee" and "Ask Me," two songs he'd already recorded in 1963.January 30: Colonel Tom Parker, in what he considers a shrewd publciity stunt, purchases the Potomac, famed personal yacht of ex-US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, for $55,000. The boat, purchased in Elvis' name, is then donated to The March of Dimes charity (which battles polio, FDR's crippling disease), for use as a shrine to victims of the malady; but since the yacht is deemed unsafe, and maintaining it would cost more than it was worth, the organization turns Elvis and the Colonel down. An attempt to donate the vessel to Miami's 7th Coast Guard District Auxiliary is also refused. February 9: The Beatles' famous first live appearance on CBS' The Ed Sullivan Show in New York, and therefore the first real challenge to the King's throne; Col. Parker sends a good-natured telegram reading: "Congratulations on your appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show and your visit to America. We hope your engagement will be a successful one and your visit pleasant please give our best to Mr Sullivan Sincerely Elvis & The Colonel." February 13: A suitable donor for the Potomac is finally found: Memphis' St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Danny Thomas, celebrity founder of the center, accepts the yacht at a ceremony in Long Beach, CA. (The yacht will sink in 1981.) Afterwards, Elvis and his entourage head back to Vegas, where they've been vacationing. February 17: Col. Parker is hired as technical advisor for Elvis' 16th movie, Roustabout, at his insistance (Parker got his start on the carny circuit that is the subject of the film). He is paid $25,000 for his services. February 26: Elvis arrives in Hollywood to begin filming Roustabout. March 6: The singer heads to Hidden Valley, northwest of Los Angeles, for location shooting. March 11: Elvis begs director John Rich to do his own fight scene in lieu of a stunt double, and the singer is rewarded with a nasty cut above his left eye. As his character had suffered a motorcycle accident earlier in the script, however, the injury is easily explained away in the film. March 20: Producer Hal Wallis, in an interview with the Las Vegas News paper, claims that Elvis movies are "quality" but are essentially just ways to finance Paramount's smaller, riskier pictures. Presley takes this as an insult, and the words will haunt him for the next several years as he attempts to create a respectable acting career. April 30: An important day for the singer: his usual hairdresser is unable to come to his Bel Air home, and Mafia member Alan Fortas substitutes Larry Geller, an extremely spiritual person who clicks with Elvis immediately. According to Geller, they talk of "religion, spiritual growth, Elvis' early life, his mother and father, his twin brother, the church he attended in Tupelo and other very intimate subjects." Elvis immediately convinces Geller to quit his job, become his personal hairdresser, and study religion with him fulltime. May 1: Geller brings a number of spiritual books to Elvis, including Joseph Benner's The Impersonal Life, a volume that so profoundly influences Presley he keeps a copy near him for the rest of his life. (He would take this into the bathroom with him on the night he died.) May 14: Elvis completes work on Roustabout and heads back to his Perugia Way mansion to continue his religious studies with Geller. June 11: Elvis openly rebels for the first time against the soundtrack music chosen for him, specifically for his upcoming film, Girl Happy. In particular, Presley hates the song "Do Not Disturb" so much that he quits in frustration after an unprecedented 34 takes. Four days later, the songs are finally completed, but Elvis does not sing in public or in a studio for a full eight months, so disgusted is he by the music he's given to sing. June 22: Filming begins in Los Angeles for Elvis' 17th picture, Girl Happy. June 23: An on-set 55th birthday party is held for Colonel Tom Parker. August 3: Elvis concludes his photography on Girl Happy. August 17: With the constant presence of Larry Geller arousing concern, suspicion and resentment among Presley's inner circle, Col. Parker calls a meeting to discuss what he calls Elvis' recent "religious kick." Elvis, incensed, storms out. Presley returns home and fires Memphis Mafioso Joe Esposito, who had been the chief complainant to the Colonel about the singer's new obsession. Later, he tells a friend, "The Colonel told me I was on a religious kick. Can you imagine that? That's an insult, I'm not on any kick. That means I'm not serious, that it's a passing fancy. That's what he accused me of. He doesn't have the slightest idea what I'm into, and what it means to me. But he'll see, it's no damn kick. It's my life, and my life is no kick! It's real." August 21: Negotiations begin on Elvis' film, Tickle Me. The studio in question, Allied Artists, is in desperate financial straits and banking on the Presley name to take them out of the red; this, along with the singer's increasing dissatisfaction with his musical material, leads the Colonel to build the movie around existing, yet unreleased Elvis recordings. Elvis responds, tersely, by telegram: "Arrangements with records OK. Elvis” September 21: Shelby County, TN makes Elvis an honorary "Special Deputy Sheriff" on the police force. He is fingerprinted and photographed for the badge. September 25: Having rented out the local "Memphian" theater every night this month, Elvis discovers a new, favorite film: the black comedy Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, starring Peter Sellers. October 6: Elvis travels to Los Angeles, along with his entourage, to begin work on Tickle Me. Accompanying him for the first time is new Memphis Mafia member Jerry Schilling.
