#marty lacker

MARTY LACKER : “I'll tell you something about Elvis. If he watched a football game on TV, he wore a helmet. He dressed for every occasion. If he watched guys on TV riding motorcycles, he would have his motorcycle helmet on. You'd walk in and it looked funny. I mean, you walk in, he's sitting there with a football helmet on. You’d say, ‘Good lord, Elvis, what are you doing?’. He’d say, ‘I'm watching the game'”

As they were saying goodbye, John and Paul said, "We're staying at this house on Mulholland Drive, and we'd like to invite you all to come up tomorrow." And Paul looked at Elvis and said, "I hope you'll be able to come." And then he looked at us and said, "But if he can't come, you fellows are welcome." When they left, Elvis said, "I'm not going up there." He said, "I did my duty. I met them, and that's it." The next afternoon, Jerry Schilling, and Richard Davis, and Billy, and I went up to where they were staying. And they were overjoyed to see us. They really were. John Lennon pulled me over by the picture window, and he said, "Last night was the greatest night of my life." In subsequent years, the guys visited the Beatles three or four times when they came over here. Of course, Elvis never went. In the summer of '66, we saw Brian Epstein lying out on the chaise lounge by the pool. He was zonked out of his brain. And Paul and the other guys were sitting by the pool, and there were people all over the place—girls running around naked, people dropping acid. About twenty minutes later, the Mamas and the Papas showed up. All four of them—Mama Cass, John, Denny, and Michelle—came marching in a row, like soldiers. And John and George immediately got up and went into the house with them. I was talking with this guy, Mal Evans, who was the Beatles' road manager and bodyguard. Big guy. And I said, "Where are they going? Are they talking business?" He said, "No, no, they're just going to get blown out of their skulls." It was party time. Just before we left during one of those visits—I can't remember if it was '66 or '67—I went in this side room, where Paul was singing songs and playing piano. He looked up at me and he said, "Do you think Elvis would ever cut one of my songs?" The Beatles were the biggest thing in the universe right then. But that goes to show you, they still thought Elvis was bigger.

Question: If it is not too personal, would you also tell us the greatest thing you ever did for Elvis and the greatest thing you feel Elvis did for you?