Me and a Guy Named Elvis My Lifelong Friendship with Elvis Presley

by Schilling, Jerry; Crisafulli, Chuck

• ISBN13: 9781592402311
• ISBN10: 1592402313
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-08-17
• Publisher: Gotham

Summary

On a lazy Sunday in 1954, twelve-year-old Jerry Schilling wandered into a Memphis touch football game, only to discover that his team was quarterbacked by a nineteen-year-old Elvis Presley, the local teenager whose first record, "Thatrs"s All Right," had just debuted on Memphis radio. The two became fast friends, even as Elvis turned into the worldrs"s biggest star. In 1964, Elvis invited Jerry to work for him as part of his "Memphis Mafia," and Jerry soon found himself living with Elvis full-time in a Bel Air mansion and, later, in his own room at Graceland. Over the next thirteen years Jerry would work for Elvis in various capacities - from bodyguard to photo double to co-executive producer on a karate film. But more than anything else he was Elvisrs"s close friend and confidant: Elvis trusted Jerry with protecting his life when he received death threats, he asked Jerry to drive him and Priscilla to the hospital the day Lisa Marie was born and to accompany him during the famous "lost weekend" when he traveled to meet President Nixon at the White House. Me and a Guy Named Elvis looks at Presley from a friendrs"s perspective, offering readers the man rather than the icon - including insights into the creative frustrations that lead to Elvisrs"s abuse of prescription medicine and his tragic death. Jerry offers never-before-told stories about life inside Elvisrs"s inner circle and an emotional recounting of the great times, hard times, and unique times he and Elvis shared. These vivid memories will be priceless to Elvisrs"s millions of fans, and the compelling story will fascinate an even wider audience.

Author Biography

Jerry Schilling has spent forty years in the entertainment industry as an actor, a film editor, producer, and a manager for such acts as the Beach Boys, Jerry Lee Lewis and Billy Joel. His credits as a film and television producer include Elvis: Great Performances; the ten- hour series The History of Rock N-' Roll; A&E biographies of Brian Wilson and Sam Phillips. He also appeared in the recent CBS special Elvis by the Presleys. He lives in Los Angeles in a home purchased for him by Presley.

Chuck Crisafulli is a veteran entertainment journalist and the author of several books, most recently Go to Hell: A Heated History of the Underworld.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Author's Note	p. xiii
If I Can Dream	p. 1
I Was the One	p. 21
Midnight Rambles	p. 41
Welcome to My World	p. 70
Tales of Two Cities	p. 91
Paradise Found	p. 113
A Mile in My Shoes	p. 141
Rising Sun	p. 160
A Little More Action	p. 185
All the Way from Memphis	p. 208
Promised Land Callin'	p. 223
Black-Belt Blues	p. 255
Becket	p. 279
Good Luck Emerald	p. 293
Bells	p. 321
Epilogue	p. 329
Acknowledgments	p. 337
Index	p. 341
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.