Elvis - A Lighted Candle

[Wanda June Hill]

Dear Wanda June,

Please excuse my familarity but I feel I know you after reading your book about our mutual and dearly loved friend. Thanks for the memories! "Dinky-dink-adink" as my Uncle Morty would say-he worked with Elvis on some of his films and that's how I got to know him.
I met him when I was 17 and helping out by being a "goffer" for my Uncle who helped with sets on Love Me Tender and also Loving You. I got to be there from start to finish on both pictures and to know Elvis very well. He was such a nice guy and handsome, oh my goodness! I don't know which way I liked him better, in old farm clothing or the things he wore in Loving You. That western getup, the red and white one, oh wow! And he was just as cute as he could be personality wise. You should have seen him blush! Maybe you have though. He blushed so easily in those days, when he got into that outfit for the first time, oh my! He was so cute everyone (the ladies and some of the men) couldn't stop gushing and looking him over and he was as red faced as his pants! Sweetheart? Oh he was that! His mother adored him and his father couldn't stop smiling on Loving You set when they came down to watch him working. Elvis was so proud of his parents and they so much of him, what a cute family!

I had a few dates with Elvis, he'd take me back to the hotel where he and his folks were staying and we'd have something to eat and then got to his two-room suite and watch tv, play records and talk. Sometimes we danced and giggled together as he was learning different dance steps since he'd need to know them for the movies he said. I taught him what I knew about waltzing and we whirled all over the rooms. His mom knocked on the door just one time because we were getting too loud and it was late. Elvis laughed and said, "it's okay, she always does that" but he turned down the music and we were quieter. I guess the other people staying in the hotel had complained about the noise before and so his mother tried to keep him calmer. But Elvis didn't care, he'd run up and down the halls playing ball with his friends and they'd get pretty loud at times. He finally had to move out to another hotel because of the fans and the noise.

I wanted Elvis to make love to me but he never would go all the way. He said he wanted to but he didn't want to "ruin my life". I have to admit I would have paid him to "ruin it" but no way would he relent. We did some heavy necking and a few other things, but he never did "ruin my life". He was a very special guy and I am so proud to have had the privilege of knowing him for those months. I still have one of his shirts and a belt that I took when in his arms-I almost had his pants too, but he got away!

He liked to have fun and could come up with some crazy stunts at the hotel and on the set once he got acquainted with the routines for each film. My Uncle just loved him, they shared the same crazy sense of humor and enjoyed playing tricks on each other. One time Elvis replaced his favorite cigars with some truly horrible tastingones-he went to all the trouble of carefully replacing the little bands on each fake one so they looked identical and you couldn't tell until you lit one up and smoked it a little. Then the taste came out and it was pretty awful and had the gagging affect. Elvis just about rolled on the floor laughing at my Uncle who was coughing and threatening to "whup" his ass for that!

The last day of filming for Loving You, "Dedi" Elvis called her, (Delores Hart) and Elizabeth Scott and I had lunch together in his dressing room. Richard Egan came in and joined us and we all laughed so much because Elvis was telling us stories of how he had to run from his fans and losing his clothes piece by pieice until he didn't have many pieces left! Delores and Elvis spent quite a bit of time discussing the Bible and the purpose of keeping the faith, how each person could be a blessing to others in quiet ways and in personal dedication to serving our fellow humans. She ended up becoming a Nun, I'm sure you're aware, and he wrote to her, called her and kept in touch with her for many years. I haven't spoken to her in some time, she belongs to an order where they do not speak for months on end. I could never do that-but she loves it-she says the peace and tranquility she feels in her heart and soul cannot be explained by mere words alone. She loved Elvis dearly and they dated quite a bit during the filming of both pictures. I think that he might have been one of the reasons she became a Nun-not that they were in love, but because he listened to her and never put her down for her beliefs. He was the only man she said she had ever met who understood her heart felt needs and who told her it was alright to feel that way, she didn't have to be ashamed for caring enough to commit to her own person needs. In doing that , she also benefited mankind. She told me that in the last note she sent to me before she stopped communicating with people outside. Elvis I am certain knew how blessed and purified she felt deep within herself before he died and I think he would be pleased and blessed himself for having been a small part of her dedication.

The last time I spoke with Elvis was in l973 in Las Vegas and he was desolate over the breakup of his marriage. He had a young woman staying with him but he came to my room and stayed with me quite a while after he had performed. We lay in bed together and he held me close to him but there was nothing sexual about it. It was almost as if he was trying to recapture those early days when we were both young and had not suffered such great losses in our lives. My husband had passed away earlier and he had lost his beloved mother and now his family life. We cried our misery out in each other's arms that night and then he said he had to get back to his room or they would be sending for the police and scent dogs to find him.

He was a grown man, not the young still growing boy I had fallen in love with during those movie days, but that boy was still present in the man's body. His heart had been broken and his spirit low, but he still could smile and light up the world both on stage and that night when he knocked on my door. I sent a note up with a friend of his that I had met in those early ears and didn't expect Elvis to respond with more than a brief phone call, if that, but there he stood, smiling beautifully and looking so handsome. We just fell into each other's arms and like magic, we were back in 1957 again. Lord, how I miss him today.
Thanks for the good times you have helped me revive. I shall never forget.

Cristine "Cristy" Ganta
Houston, Tx

[Blue Moon]

He was the only man she said she had ever met who understood her heart felt needs and who told her it was alright to feel that way, she didn't have to be ashamed for caring enough to commit to her own person needs.

Thanks for sharing the letter from Cristy, Wanda, and how nice of Cristy to write you. The comments Delores told Cristy show just what a deeply insightful & intuitive man Elvis was.

[Ingrid]

Good Morning Wanda and thank you for pulling out one more lovely letter from your treasure chest!

It´s interesting what she says about Dolores Hart and Elvis...

And he still cared for Christy so many years later. It´s unbelievable that certain people make him look as if he was too drugged and self-centered that he didn´t care about anyone but himself!
When his real problem was that he cared too much, actually, instead of taking care of him self for a change.

Reminds me of the "sponge" versus "duck" piece, it´s somewhere on the forum, in an excerpt of a letter to Wanda.

Bye!

Ingrid

[Sarena]

Wanda, thank you so much for sharing that heartwarming letter with us!!!!

[MaryInTheMorning]

Wanda my dear friend thank you so much for sharing this beautiful letter with us! It touched my heart so much hearing Cristy talk about the touching and lasting relationship that she and Elvis had throughout the many years---how they giggled so when they were waltzing all over the room when younger, how he said he didn't want to "ruin her life" when she said she wanted him to make love to her(but yet he didn't care about anybody but himself as certain people have tried to make it seem as Ingrid pointed out--yeah right!! ) the tender way in which Elvis treated Delores Hart and how he never put her down for her beliefs and then years later how he and Cristy tried to cry away their sorrows in each others arms. When you add it all up you come up with a very special child of God who was sent here to this Earth to share and show unconditional love for all through his many blessed talents----and that he did and then some!!!! My heart just continues to overflow with TRUE LOVE for this very special soul!!!!

[Rainbow Light]

Such a beautiful letter from "Christy" and thank you, Wanda, for sharing this with us!! This touched my heart how she talked about and wrote about Elvis, wonderful!

[Ingrid]

I found a really nice picture of Elvis and Dolores from King Creole, and a recent picture of her from the website of the convent where she lives:
http://www.abbeyofreginalaudis.com/sitelive/index.htm

Love
Ingrid

[FairyTale]

What A Story, and I'm so Glad to hear that Elvis had the comfort from someone during those times when he Lost his Mom and his Family. Thanks Wanda for Allowing us to read this Story. FairyTale!

[Ingrid]

I forgot to credit the King Creole picture : from the vast gallery at tcb-world.com

Ingrid

[Rainbow Light]

Thank you, Ingrid, for posting these pictures of Elvis and Delores from King Creole and also the recent one of Delores Hart, she looks very happy with her choice and I'm happy for her too!

[kenya]

I must say that Dolores was really cute, and Elvis... Really nice picture, thanks.

[MaryInTheMorning]

Thank you, Ingrid, for posting these pictures of Elvis and Delores from King Creole and also the recent one of Delores Hart, she looks very happy with her choice and I'm happy for her too!

My thoughts exactly dear Sue!!! Thank you so much sweet Ingrid for sharing these great pictures with us!

[Rainbow Light]

[Ingrid]

She does look great in that recent picture of her, doesn´t she? Very happy and not too different from when she was young! The best proof that a few wrinkles do not make you look old, when they come from smiling all your life instead of frowning and being bitter!

Wikipedia says she is going to be 70 on Oct. 20 this year.

I intend to get lots of wrinkles from smiling, too !

Ingrid

[MaryInTheMorning]

She does look great in that recent picture of her, doesn´t she? Very happy and not too different from when she was young! The best proof that a few wrinkles do not make you look old, when they come from smiling all your life instead of frowning and being bitter!

Wikipedia says she is going to be 70 on Oct. 20 this year.

I intend to get lots of wrinkles from smiling, too :D !

Ingrid

Yes she does and I completely agree with what you said about how wrinkles don't make you look old when you get them from a lifetime of smiles instead of frowns!!!! So do I dear Ingrid!!!