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Hail to the King: An Elvis FAQ
By Matt Soniak
Elvis Aaron Presley, the King of Rock n' Roll, would have been 74 years old today were it not for a bad night on the toilet in 1977. Even after all these years, there's still a lot of mystery surrounding the King, so for his birthday let's take a look at some of the myths that persist.
Was Elvis a DEA Agent?
Elvis was more straight-laced than the controversy surrounding his gyrating hips would lead you to believe. He hated the hippie drug culture and longed to become a "Federal Agent at Large" for the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD), a predecessor to the Drug Enforcement Agency. At a 1970 meeting at the White House with President Richard Nixon, Elvis offered to become an undercover agent and "infiltrate hippie groups" for the government. Nixon was unsure if an arrangement could be worked out, but made Elvis an honorary agent and gave him a badge. While Elvis never conducted any official BNDD business, he was, in some small way, a narc. A drug-addled narc, but a narc nonetheless.
Are Elvis and (insert name here) related?
Southerners like Elvis are often the butt of jokes about family trees that don't fork, but Elvis' family branches out in some surprising directions. Genealogical research has placed Elvis as a descendant of Abraham Lincoln's great-great grandfather, Isaiah Harrison and a sixth cousin once removed from Jimmy Carter (both their family lines go back to Valentine Preslar, a German who came to New York in 1709).
Was Elvis one of a kind?
There can only be one Elvis, but he did have a (Elvis believed identical) twin brother, Jessie Garon Presley, who was stillborn. Jessie, older than Elvis by a few minutes, was buried in a pauper's grave without a headstone in Priceville Cemetery near Tupelo, Mississippi.
Elvis' mother told him when he was young that when one twin died, the one that lived got the strength of both. Elvis got something else from his twin, too. When he was born, his parents chose "Aron" as his middle name, a non-traditional spelling similar to Jessie's middle name (birth records listed it "Aaron," and an older Elvis decided to use the traditional spelling.)
Did Elvis "shoot" Robert Goulet?
Whether that's just some crazy story depends on who you ask. James Warner, the former Elvis expert at allexperts.com, has said that the incident stemmed from a time when Elvis was dating a woman who worked with Goulet. When Elvis was stationed in Germany while serving in the military, Goulet supposedly sent him a letter saying he'd "take good care of Anita" while Elvis was gone and the King held a grudge.
Goulet himself said that Elvis' associates told him that TV shooting was a common occurrence and Elvis didn't mean anything by it. In fact, he said in an interview that he and Elvis got along well (Goulet called him "charming and delightful") and described an encounter the two once had backstage. The singers were talking and at one point, Goulet commented on one of Elvis' rings. Elvis took it off his finger and put it on Goulet's, who kept it until it was stolen (he suspected his housekeeper).
Is Elvis still alive?
I haven't seen him, but if you have, now is the time to share.
If you've got a burning question that you'd like to see answered here, shoot me an email at flossymatt (at) gmail.com. Twitter users can also make nice with me and ask me questions there. Be sure to include your name and location (and a link, if you want) so I can give you a little shout out.