You’ve heard about the rich and famous being eccentric right? Well with all respect to the king of rock and roll, sometimes they can come off as insanely stupid as well. He might have been one of the absolute best performers to ever grace a stage but he was also one of the biggest risk takers it would seem since he routinely spent $15,000 thousand dollars in a way that none of us would ever consider. Well, maybe some of us would at least once, but certainly not on a regular basis. The game that they called War was invented by Elvis and was played between himself and his entourage, the Memphis Mafia. Essentially they were the people that were supposed to be taking care of Elvis and looking after him since the superstar was notorious for spending money and being far too frivolous with his fortune. You can just guess what they decided to do however, as he was just about destitute by the time he passed. Of course when I say destitute it means he had less than a million dollars to his name, so it’s celebrity-destitute.
Anyway, what the king and his entourage decided to do when they would rent out the Rainbow Rollerdrome in Memphis was buy upwards of about $15,000 dollars of fireworks, don their flight suits, helmets, and gloves that Elvis had purchased, and begin hurling fireworks at one another. Elvis loved to play dangerously and there’s not a lot worse you can do than flinging potentially lethal fireworks at one another for no good reason than because it’s something fun to do.
Don’t adjust the screen and don’t bother wiping off your glasses, you read that right. Elvis and his entourage would throw fireworks at each other and laugh like loons when they went off. And more to the point they threw thousands of dollars worth of fireworks at each other as well. Think about what fireworks cost back in that day as opposed to now and you might realize that they probably had a few barrels or more worth of black powder between all the fireworks that they’d bought. As of today $15,000 might get you enough for a spectacular 4th of July or New Year’s Eve celebration, but to think of using that kind of money to stage a mock war inside a rollerskating rink is just beyond the point of insane.
I can’t help but think of whether or not the king and his people were asked to pay for the cleaning bill that would inevitably come, or the damages that would be incurred. There’s no question of it really, the bunch of them were throwing lit fireworks around a rollerskating rink, there were bound to be a few errant throws that went wild.
A lot of people would likely forgive the king for this by claiming that he’s not a bad person, he’s just eccentric, and more to the point he was rich and famous so a lot of people would turn a blind eye. I think as the owner of the rink I’d be making him sign a waiver making him and the entourage responsible for any damages and for cleanup. If they didn’t like it, then skate on down to the end of lonely street at the heartbreak hotel.
Follow Us
Thankfully, Presley did many things for his fellow women and men, and not just in the US, before engaging in these so called war games. I will just refer you to a three them, all of them accomplished before he was 23 years old. i) October 28, 1956, 5pm, Studio 50, CBS, New York. He, then 21 years old, takes the still generally untried third version of Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine in front of the entire New York press, the latter meaning the worldwide press. This leads to the exponential increase in the immunization levels of all those living then in the US, from 0.60 to 80% in a six month period. By April of 1957, the Salk Institute announces polio is all but erradicated from US soil. ii) January 6, 1956, Presley, three days short of his 22nd birthday, asks Ed Sullivan to announce that he is asking all his fans watching his third presentation on the Ed Sullivan Show to send their checks, urgently, so that the plight of some 250,000 refugees fleeing Hungary after the double invasion of their country by the then Soviet Union can be alleviated. Within the next months, some US$6 million (US$50 million, today) are sent,,with the International Red Cross in Geneva and with the help of the US Army distributing the perishables and non perishables to the refugees, who settle, FOR LIFE in both Vienna and London. iii) June 28, 1957,.After failling miserabvly with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as the main attractions the year before (2,000 fans), Danny Thomas asks Elvis to appear at Sick Stadium in Memphis on behalf of what would in a few years become St Jude’s Hospital, today’s most prestigious hospital for childrten with cancer. Elvis agrees and in spite of not singing a single song, fills the stadium with 14,000 DONORS from the three states, namely TN, MS and AR. By December of 1957, St Jude has really got the initial funding needed. So I guess his war games with fireworks don’t mean much…
Sorry, I meant January 6, 1957.
Sorry, I meant Russwood Park, not Sick’s Stadium.
I would agree, but this seems to be taking risks to a different level than many people. Plus as I said I’d think about the rink owner and the damages that would be caused. He served his country and was a great performer, but that still doesn’t excuse whatever he chose to do after.
I would guess that the rink owners were properly compensated. But what could beb more dangerous than taking a practically untried vaccine. Do you know that in both 1954, and 1955, the first two versions had horrendous effects. I did the research and at least 25 people died because of those two first vaccines. Now, maybe he was assured that nothing had happened to the first 0.6% who took it before him, but he risked a lot more, on himself, than the risks taken by his friends…
You’re right, taking an untried vaccine was a dangerous risk. But he did it and he came out okay. Thing is, the article wasn’t about the vaccine. You must be a big fan of Elvis to defend him so vehemently. That’s commendable.
Its not that I am a big fan of him, as much as I am the most knowledgeable of all the fans he has. Not even his two most important biographers took time out to really dig into the Hungarian matter, which makes Elvis the only American who is a HONORARY citizen of Budapest, in the company of, take this, I) diplomat and lifesaver Raul Wallemberg, II) father of the H Bomb Edward Teller, and III) Nobel Peace PrIZe Winmner and former President of Poland Lech Walensa.
So as long as you save that many people it’s okay to trash one person’s business? Ok…..
Tell me in which of the 1,234 biographies of Elvis it is mentioned that the owners were mad at Elbis for not cleaning up_
I kind of doubt that would make it into his biography, as I’m sure a few things weren’t included. I write the articles as I’m asked. My opinion of Elvis is still pretty positive, this just seemed like a very rude thing to do.
Happy veterans day
Did you check if:
1. The owner of the business thought he was renting the premises to someone who wanted to have a picnic lunch with their girlfriend, or if they actually rented it knowing that it was to be used for a dozen or more men to have a fireworks war there.
2. The rental price included the cost of cleaning up afterwards.
If the business didn’t know what it was being rented for, that would be surprising. If they did, and Elvis refused to pay for cleaning afterwards, then that would have been big news as it would have been totally out of character for him to do that.
It would have been appropriate if you had verified those things before writing the article and included that verification in the article. Without the verification it’s just a story that seems to be written especially to show Elvis in a negative light.
I am sure he had a good idea what was going to happen, but being as this was Elvis didn’t bat an eye at the damage. For all that Elvis did do for his country, and he did without a doubt, this still seemed like something that was way beyond the norm. To each their own though, and yes, I’m sure the owner was compensate quite well. At least I would hope he was.
Are you an Elvis fan?
Yes, I am an Elvis fan. I wouldn’t have bothered reading an article with his name in the header if I wasn’t
It’s strange that he actually had a fireworks war at the roller skating rink. They did go there for skating at times, but fireworks wars tended to be 4th of July celebrations held in the backyard at Graceland.