Christmas Stories from Graceland…

Decorating the property with colorful lights, decorating the driveway, singing carols together or giving gifts to friends are just some of the Christmas traditions at Graceland. There were others, which are mentioned in various sources by relatives of Elvis.

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Well, one of the things the famous singer liked to do after the festive Christmas dinner was to go to the city with members of the Memphis Mafia and admire the most beautiful Christmas illuminations. Sometimes, during these escapades, there were quite unexpected and even unbelievable visits.

George Klein, a respected radio DJ and longtime friend of Elvis in his book “Elvis My Best Man” describes how on Christmas Eve 1970 he ended up in the Shelby Counts prison in Memphis …

By Christmas Eve, Elvis was back in Memphis . As usual, he was in a good Christmas mood. The opportunity to buy even more toys and Christmas presents for little Lisa made him even more excited. It was a real pleasure for Barbara and I to spend Christmas Eve with him and Priscilla again at Graceland.

Finally, as we have done in previous years, we all went for a drive to see the Christmas illuminations around the city. However, when Elvis thought we had seen all the best scenery Memphis had to offer, he came up with the idea of ??one more stop – Shelby Count Prison.

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In the early years of our partnership, when Elvis and I would go out late at night, we would sometimes stop at funeral homes. By his logic, these were the only places open in the early hours of the morning. I only went into the hall with him. I didn’t go further. But he went to the undertaker and inquired about the bodies that had been brought to the mortuary that evening. Sometimes he was also shown around the facility.

So I decided that visiting the prison on Christmas Eve instead of going to the mortuary was much better, so I had no objections.

We drove up to Shelby Count Prison and went in through the back door. The officer sitting at the desk looked up and asked, ‘Elvis – what are you doing here?‘

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‘Nothing else is open on Christmas Eve so we thought we’d drop by and visit you,’ replied Elvis.

The police officers on duty that evening were delighted and soon began to gather around our group. We chatted with them for a while and then Elvis made his special request. He wanted someone to contact Sheriff Roy Nixon and ask him if we could go inside the prison to visit the inmates and wish them a Merry Christmas. We got permission, but for obvious reasons the women couldn’t go there with us.

I didn’t really like being around that cell door, even if I was on the right side of it, but Elvis seemed very relaxed and happier than when he was opening his Christmas presents. We started walking slowly down the long corridor and all the guys locked in their cells suddenly started to come alive and crow with delight:

–Hello Elvis,

-Merry Christmas, Elvis!

“Elvis, can I get a Cadillac?”

-Elvis, will you be my lawyer?

Elvis was laughing and shaking hands with the guys through the bars (something he had been asked earlier not to do). And when someone asked him if he could sing a Christmas song, he intoned a funny version of ‘White Christmas‘ which the prisoners loved.

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We were slowly making our way to the next cell when another voice rang out.

– Humes High. Elvis – to ja, Harold Poole

It was indeed Harold Poole, a former Humes student who was now well on his way to becoming one of the most arrested men in all of Memphis. He was four or five years older than us, but everyone in North Memphis knew who Harold Poole was.

“Aww, Harold,” said Elvis, “what are you doing here?”

“Well, I got into a bit of a bar fight. That’s all,” Harold confessed, “Elvis, could you get me out of here?“

“Well, you have to behave yourself,” Elvis instructed him

–I will, Elvis. I will, Harold assured him.

“GK,” Elvis turned to me, “go tell the guys outside I’ll bail him out and they can let him go.”

I came back after a few moments to tell Elvis what I had heard. Harold can’t be released tonight, but he’ll be out in the morning. Hearing this, Elvis returned to Harold’s cell…

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– Done. They’ll let you out in the morning. You can spend Christmas at home

–Thank you, Elvis. God bless you.

“I know it was one of the most appreciated Christmas gifts Elvis ever gave, and I think it was also one of the things he enjoyed giving the most .”

(Info: Elvis My Best Man/Mariusz Ogieglo EP Promised Land Poland) 

http://www.elvispromisedland.pl/

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