♪ (ragtime music) ♪
(fangirls scream)
(excited gasp)
(fondly) Oh...
That's my boy, Elvis.
Whoa, The King.
♪ I got a gal that I love so ♪
That was my friend, Hugh Jarrett, right there.
His guitar player.
Brings back lots of memories. Wow.
My mother thought he was shocking.
My father said he ruined music.
♪ She's my rock 'n' roll baby ♪
- ♪ She's the apple of my eye ♪ - Thought he was a gorgeous looking man.
This most beautiful man I ever saw in my life.
♪ Flat top cats and the dungaree dolls ♪
Handsome.
♪ Are headed for the gym to the sock hop ball ♪
(fangirls scream)
All you need to do is move! Look at that.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!
I love you, Elvis.
♪ I shuffle to the left ♪
- ♪ Shuffle to the right ♪ - Makes you wanna dance.
♪ Ready, ready, ready ♪
(singing along) ♪ Ready, ready, ready ♪
♪ Ready, ready, ready to rock 'n' roll ♪
- (fangirls scream) - Yeah!
You know what I like.
That was good stuff. Good stuff.
(Elvis) Thank you very much.
- (exhales) - (fangirls screech)
♪ You ain't nothin' but a hound dog ♪
♪ Crying all the time ♪
♪ You ain't nothin' but a hound dog ♪
All right!
♪ Crying all the time ♪
♪ Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit ♪
♪ And you ain't no friend of mine ♪
- (fangirls scream) - Ooh! Shake it, but don't break it!
What you call a hot patootie.
(chuckles)
♪ Well, that was just a lie ♪
You know, way, way back then I didn't like him?
He was so different than anyone we'd ever seen.
(fangirls scream)
(deep sigh) Comeback special.
♪ I've found a new place to dwell ♪
Heartbreak Hotel.
Young girls just went crazy over him.
Still looking great. I like the black leather.
♪ I'll be so lonely ♪
♪ I'll be so lonely, I could die ♪
♪ Now, the bell hop's tears keep flowin' ♪
It's just... one big pile of testosterone.
My parents blamed him for everything I did wrong!
♪ Well, they're so lonely ♪
♪ They're so lonely, they could die ♪
There's soul.
More people should study him. He was a great entertainer.
He had it all-- movements, voice, everything.
(Elvis grunts) ♪ I'm all shook up ♪
♪ Mm, mm, oh, oh, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ A well, I bless my soul ♪
♪ What's wrong with me? ♪
(laughs) You wanted us to feel young, right?
♪ My friends say I'm actin' as wild as a bug ♪
♪ I'm in love ♪
(Elvis grunts)
(singing along) ♪ I'm all shook up ♪
♪ Whoa-ho ♪
♪ Hoo-hoo ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah! ♪
♪ I'm in love ♪
(squeals)
(giggles)
♪ Mm, mm, oh, oh, yeah, yeah ♪
I love this song.
Elvis was really something.
He's pretty cool.
(dreamy sigh)
(Finebros) Still feel the same?
Yes, I mean... I just love Elvis!
(movie reel clicks)
(Finebros) So do you remember the first time you saw Elvis?
First time I saw him was on Ed Sullivan's show.
I just was taken to him right away.
I just... wow, something really different!
The minute he came on screen, I was just like...
I just had never seen or heard anything like that,
even at that young age.
I didn't like his voice.
I thought it was shocking the way he moved.
And now I like him!
'Cause now he's mild. (laughs)
I remember my mom saying, "This young man here
was coming in with evil music, just evil!"
Women were so enamored with him that it pissed me off.
I was actually jealous of his popularity.
(Finebros) For viewers who might not realize,
just how big of a celebrity was Elvis?
I think everyone in the world knew him.
He was a big money drawer.
That's all you could hear hardly, was Elvis' music.
It was the start of this big rock 'n' roll thing.
I was in the music business.
It was very hard to sell your own records
because Elvis Presley was probably 60-70% of the market.
He just took over and changed the world, literally--
which very few people in history have done.
That whole celebrity culture of where we adore celebrities,
he just was the first one to do that.
He was huge.
He was the biggest artist in the universe.
The other thing that's interesting is that it seems to be
always the younger generation that picks up on it
because it's different.
They don't want to be like their parents.
(Finebros) What did parents and grandparents think
of Elvis when he showed up?
Oh my goodness.
I mean, there were-- I mean, he was banned in Boston.
(as parent) You enjoy it? How could you enjoy that?
They thought it was terrible music.
They didn't think it was music at all, actually.
We were all gonna turn into these juvenile delinquents.
They were will called juvenile delinquents back then.
Oh, he was shocking.
Look at how he moves. No decent man does that.
But they should see what's going on now. (laughs)
There was a real cry for "get rid of this music guy,
it's ruining our children."
Same thing is true with rap now.
(Finebros) Did you ever get to see Elvis perform live?
I never saw him in person, I don't think.
Oh, yes, it was at the Hilton in Vegas.
I went to see Elvis in Las Vegas.
The maître d' said, "We have one seat right up front.
There are certain rules.
You can't stand up, you can't reach for him."
They had this big build up that takes about 15 minutes
before he actually comes on stage.
The intensity is so intense, the anticipation...
that when he finally walks out, every girl in that row stood up
and started reaching for him, including me!
(laughs)
(Finebros) What did teenage girls do when they saw Elvis?
Oh, they'd start swooning and act stupid.
Throw their panties at him. (laughs)
Boy, I'll remember that.
Screamed and hollered.
I don't ever remember doing that.
They were hysterical.
It was before Beatlemania,
which I participated in that too.
They screamed, they reached for him,
and if they could've, they would've ripped his clothes off.
Being that excited about another person is more like a fantasy.
Real life is not like that.
I don't mean to get so emotional, but you begin to accept that...
(sniffles)
You look at life much more realistically.
You can't really buy into the fantasy.
(Finebros) There's a legend that when Elvis was on TV,
they started zooming in to not show him from the waist down.
Why was he so controversial?
Because he'd let it all hang out. He didn't care.
He just wanted to perform and be who he was.
Well, at that time, you didn't do things like that.
It was sexual and you didn't want to provoke people.
In those days, they didn't show you any sexual movements.
Dancers did not do sexual movements like they do now
with the hoochie cooch and the butt dancers.
This was before the '60s, when we had the hippie movement
and free love-- sex was really not talked about.
We didn't used to have sex until we got married.
Here's a guy that looks like he's having...
(cracks up)
Having sex standing up, all by himself!
(Finebros) Can you talk about him in his later years
and how his career evolved and what people thought of him
in his later career.
The shame of it is he got on drugs.
If he hadn't done that, he'd probably still be living.
I think I really became sad when I saw how he looked in his later life.
He was kind of a sad figure, I think.
He was kind of pitied.
He got a little bit of a joke, with the way he started dressing,
with the gaudy clothes.
Everybody maybe toys with the idea of being that powerful,
or that wealthy, that charismatic...
It's a very lonely life, I'll just bet you.
I mean, look at how he ended up.
(Finebros) Do you remember it being a big deal when he died?
He was only 42 years old when he died.
It was a big deal when he died.
Like, sort of like Michael Jackson now.
We lost a star.
Everybody was saddened and couldn't believe it,
and a lot of them still don't believe it.
Thousands of people went to Graceland.
Thousands of people.
I was driving down Franklin Avenue, west on Franklin Avenue,
and then it came over the radio and I had to pull over the car.
I couldn't drive.
You don't tend to think that the people that you look up to,
especially celebrities, are ever gonna go.
(Finebros) This year's actually the 60th anniversary
of Elvis' first major commercial single.
- 60 years. - Wow.
(Finebros) How does that make you feel?
It goes by real fast, kids.
I can't believe 60 years.
I know you wouldn't lie to me.
It doesn't seem possible.
How did that happen? I was 16 yesterday!
Time flies. You know, it's just gone.
The perception as you get older, everything begins to come in close.
I don't mind being how old I am.
I just mind having less time left.
It's weird.
I think of myself as 25, 35, 45,
and sometimes, when I look in the mirror,
I realize, "Oh, I am 65."
(Finebros) Last question: what would you say to young people
about why they should know about Elvis?
'Cause he's part of the history of how rock 'n' roll started.
The music was fabulous.
I mean, the songs were great for the early rock 'n' roll period.
He is the godfather of rock 'n' roll.
He started it. He made it what it was.
People loved Elvis. It was a sincere feeling.
It was almost godlike.
Thank you so much for watching this session of Elders React.
Hey! Have you subscribed to the new React channel yet?
There's new shows every week!
Vera has left the building.
♪ (ragtime music) ♪