ELVIS PRESLEY

                                                                               

                                                                                  GERMANY

ELVIS PRESLEY GERMANY

1958 - 1960

Elvis Presley in GERMANY.

On October 1, 1958, Elvis arrives in Bremerhaven, Germany to stay for 18 months during his military service. He arrived on the USS General Randall, all the press and also his fans were waiting for him at the port to welcome him. he is going to do his military service. Elvis would be away from the media, officially for almost two years of his life. Colonel Parker's maneuver, his manager, was to try to clean up his image as an artist, at a time of absolute success and fame. A moment that was very important in his career because he was being reciprocated by his fans... the other, more mature audience criticized him and questioned his music, his movements, his appearance.
Everything was strange and contradictory, but the truth is that Elvis's artistic life was put on hold for two years... We will never know if this was really necessary, so soon or if another solution could have been found.
But the truth is that Elvis Presley arrived as the greatest artist and also returned to Memphis in March 1960. His image before the most conservative public was already closer and different, he had earned everyone's sympathy by serving his country like any young American.
His life changed radically as a result of these circumstances and where he settled from October 4 in the town of Bad Nauheim, where he would live with certain privileges unlike the rest of the soldiers. In September 1959 he would meet the 14-year-old girl he would later marry, Priscilla Beaulieu.



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Ray Barracks. Friedberg 

October 1958

Ray Barracks in the town of Friedberg, Hesse in Germany would be the place where Elvis performed his military service. It was a United States Army facility in Friedberg, Germany, until it was closed by the United States government in 2007 and returned to the German government. Elvis began his military service in March 1958. On March 24, he traveled to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, where he had his hair cut and was chased by cameras at all times. After three days, Elvis Presley was sent to Fort Hood, Texas to complete your basic training. There he would meet one of his most faithful friends who followed him by his side until the end of his days, Charlie Hodge. 
During his service as a soldier, his mother Gladys dies on August 14, leaving her son devastated. The bond he had with her was so special that he leaves an irreplaceable void in her life. She finally moved him to Germany in October 1958, to keep him away from the media. Although Elvis would enjoy a certain peace of mind without being so harassed by journalists, in Bad Nauheim he would also have the company of his inevitable fans. As a soldier, he showed himself that he could do many things with total efficiency despite being a famous artist and his colleagues saw him as one of the others. 
When he was a rank officer, the temperature, the environment, made it difficult to adapt to carry out his maneuvers. But Elvis was a strong and determined man and like him he always gave himself body and soul to follow his instructions. It was hard to leave the success of his fans to find himself with a job completely different from his normal life. There Elvis Presley got used to taking pills to stay steady and awake during his obligations. A habit that unfortunately he did not leave after returning to his normal life and later would mark his path over time. 
An addiction and serious damage to his person, both physically and mentally. His stay lasted eighteen months until March 1960 when he would return to Memphis.







































Hotel Grünewald. Bad Nauheim.


Located at Terrassenstraße 10, 61231 Bad Nauheim, Germany

The first hotel where Elvis stayed in Germany, during his military service, would be at the Hilbert's Park Hotel in October 1958. But they would only stay in this place for two or three days due to the presence of some exotic foreigners.
For Elvis and his entourage It must have been very disconcerting. The arrival of an Arab sheikh and his retinue, ornately dressed in robes, also aroused the intense curiosity of the city's insular bourgeois citizens, who found them much more intriguing than an ordinary American singer and his retinue.
Certainly, Elvis found the presence of the Sheikh and his entourage somewhat annoying. He found it even more annoying to be chased by reporters and photographers with the sheik, who attracted so much attention.
What Elvis wanted was to be quiet, so he decided to move to another Hotel. He moved to the Hotel Grünewald, located at 10 Terrassenstrasse, Bad Nauheim , on October 11, 1958.
Building built in the 19th century. A luxurious and comfortable hotel, in the center of a very quiet town. To this day, the hotel has been preserved, enjoying a preservation order that until now covers the antique furniture, crystal chandeliers and luxurious decoration of that time. The impression that Elvis had, in terms of guests, was of being elderly people visiting the spa town; compared to Elvis and his entourage, who seemed quite out of place, and there is little doubt that they felt uncomfortable there.
Red West described the Grünewald as "a kind of outpatient hotel, for heart attack victims". His impression of the other residents was that they all "seemed to have one foot in the grave and the other on a skate". Even with this, Elvis rented four spacious rooms, all with en-suite bathrooms, for himself, his father, his grandmother Minnie and the rest of his people.
One for Red West and Lamar Fike to share. He also had a room below with his secretary Elisabeth Stefaniak who received his correspondence, fan letters, etc. The press was very heavy, even reporting that he did not wear pajamas, but slept in clothes interior. The hotel served him special meals, it was a personal agreement they reached, so that they would not be harassed by people.
They cooked his favorite dishes to order, such as burnt bacon, fried eggs, chili without beans and tenderloin, or toasted peanut butter and banana sandwiches, etc. He would only stay in this hotel for four months until he moved to Goethestraße 14 in Bad Nauheim, where he lived until the end of his military service.
The reason they had to leave the hotel was because of their somewhat different habits, noisy and so on. They politely asked them to leave the hotel, to which Elvis could not say anything. It was difficult to be a man, a soldier and a star at the same time...

"Following the Path of the King..."

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Goethestraße 14
Bad Nauheim

Elvis in Bad Nauheim After living for four months in the Grunewald Hotel, he moved to the house located in

Goethestraße 14 where he would live until the end of his military service. He lived there from 02/03/1959 to 03/02/1960. to greet their fans. His fans told many stories about Elvis's life in Bad Nauheim at Goethestrasse 14, from which we can conclude that he must have been very happy there. Despite the radical change of life that being a world famous star meant whole to be a soldier... but his approach with his fans was daily and sincere. He left the house every night to sign autographs, since his fans came to see him every day. It was only when he was on maneuvers that he could not have this habit. He also rode from time to time and they said that he joked around with the girls, he was very natural and approachable. He was sometimes seen buying records... and on Sundays he used to play soccer in a field near his house, with his friends. He was also seen riding his bike down Parkstrasse, even getting to know the older people of the place who changed his defensive opinion about this young man they initially didn't like. Everyone saw the boy from Tupelo in him, as his art world was so far away. The confusion in Elvis was very great but he knew how to adapt to his new change, the army and also to his new house where he had fun having parties, meetings and shared his moments with his new friends. . Those who knew him then say that he was shy, gentle and very different from what he seemed in his movies. The house where Elvis lived was very simple, simple furniture, like any normal house in the style of the time... nothing to do with his beloved Graceland. The fans were also present in his life, but in a more friendly and Calm, without hysteria or assaults. Elvis also took his time talking to his fans, so they were all delighted. The truth is that although Elvis was happy at this time, he also still carried the weight of pain due to the loss of his mother and the confusion of not knowing what would happen to his artistic future that gave him a certain insecurity. But everything was controlled by his manager, Colonel Parker, who was very clear about how to manage the record world and from time to time released Elvis hits to keep his figure on the rise until he returned from Germany. In this way he would keep the artist, although away from the scene, very present without falling into oblivion... it would be a success despite having distanced him from his public. When Elvis came back to Memphis, everything changed... his musical style, his initiation into a series of movies with no quality, his songs weren't that good anymore. Other types of scores were accepted and adapted to these films, without too many pretensions. A radical change that would plunge Elvis Presley into a wheel with no way out... years away from the stage, from TV... and the feeling of losing all hope, not becoming the long-awaited actor, the recognized singer. The years of interpretation until 1968 in which a definitive change would finally be considered with his return to television. The two years of military service from March 1958 to 1960 were a parenthesis with a very high price in the life of an artist who he was on top, changing the course of his career forever...

BMW 507 Roadster





Elvis bought the Bmw 507 Roadster, which was one of the most famous and beautiful models of the German brand, in December 1958. It was a car that had already belonged to the racing driver Hans Stuck with which he would come to victory in several races. mountain. Elvis changed the original engine for a series-produced light-alloy V8 engine, with around 150 hp. This was unusual for the time. 
















The car was originally white and spectacular, with a modern design but at the request of Elvis the color would also be changed.

The only thing that really harmed this new car would be the lipsticks of his fans, with which they wrote their messages in that white color, for this reason he decided to change its color to red so that even if they left their kisses with lipstick, at unless it was confused with the color of the car.

  It was an exclusive car due to its high price, it only had 252 buyers in the period from 1957 to 1959. The car went with Elvis back home in 1960, but was later sold although there was no great reason. Possibly Elvis would not give it the same utility and decided to sell it. The truth is that in Bad Nauheim, this car would give him a lot of freedom of action, but it was a car that attracted a lot of attention in a simple and modest place.


Places to Remember on the Elvis Trail

Castle Gate, Bad Nauheim

Castle Gate, Bad Nauheim. Germany 1958The castle gate in the old town of Bad Nauheim. This place is particularly remembered for some photographs that were taken for advertising and commercial reasons. The photograph of Elvis was made to publish the cover of one of his new albums, the single "A Big Hunk O' Love", Elvis won a gold record in 1959. The cover photo was taken at the Puerta del Castle in Bad Nauheim

Priscilla Ann Beaulieu

The women who marked his destiny

Priscilla Presley
Elvis met Cilla in Bad Nauheim in September 1959. When he met her when she was only 14 years old, he was approached by a well-known couple to meet Elvis Presley at his house at Goethe Strasse 14, where Elvis Presley lived during his military service. A sweet, discreet girl, mature for her age... from the moment they met it would be a very special relationship. The woman who would become his wife over the years, Priscilla Ann Wagner was born on May 24, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, James Wagner, died when she was a child in a plane crash, and her mother remarried Paul Beaulieu, then an officer in the Air Force. 
Her father was assigned to Germany and there she would meet Elvis, she wore a white and navy blue sailor dress and at all times avoided saying her age since everyone who was there was older than her. 
Elvis fell in love with this shy and unspoken young lady and tried to impress her with her songs on her piano. But nothing was necessary the connection was mutual.


 When she met Priscilla, she told her about her liking for Mario Lanza, his connection with opera, with rock music, his nights talking about everything, his insecurity at that moment that he did not know how everything was going to be when he returned to the real world. . About his mother, his pain and she helped him feel better...these were very important days for Elvis and in which he felt better thanks to the conversations he had with his little Cilla.
 When he left there they communicated by letter, they exchanged records... Elvis found in Priscilla an answer to her emptiness among so many people and for this he wanted to take her by her side and share her life. Elvis wanted a beautiful, quiet, discreet woman who would not even give her opinion and at first Priscilla was like that, but logically she grew up and over time her personality changed and his too. 
He had another girlfriend, Anita Wood, with whom he continued dating until two years later and at the same time he maintained this other relationship with Priscilla until he was finally able to take her to Graceland, his home. Elvis wanted her with him and would tell one of his friends Rex Mandsfield that Cilla was like an angel... and so young... that he could educate her as he wanted... A very daring situation at the time, due to the fact that she was younger than her and because her parents really accepted the situation that was not normal, in this engagement and because Elvis gave his word. 
Although things eventually took a more complicated course, finally on May 1, 1967, Elvis married her, forced by all of the above, and had a daughter named Lisa Marie. Although there was a mutual love and for a long time they were happy, evidently Elvis's way of being unfaithful, the influence of the pills... and Priscilla's personal change that had grown and acquired her own personality over time made her finally fall in love. would give an inevitable separation. 
They followed two different paths but always with a good relationship. Priscilla dedicated herself to film, dance and tvOnce Elvis Presley passed away, Priscilla demonstrated her skill as an entrepreneur and businesswoman by keeping Elvis Presley's legacy alive to this day. 
Love sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter... when it blooms, grows and reaches its climax, life can be wonderful and enjoy it... but if the flame is not fed... it dies little by little every day. And even if you want to maintain that union, despite the disappointment, the circumstances, the image... the family, the union is lost little by little at every moment, until it withers... and only that beautiful memory of youth will remain. The woman of the boy from Tupelo, the man, the myth... 


The King! 


"Following the Path of the King..."


The private world of Elvis Presley

The personality and charm of the boy from Tupelo


Roswitha Klaus
Bad Nauheim 1958.

Elvis was a charming man, his way of being kind, his close treatment, his look... everything caught anyone who approached him. Both men and women surrendered to his person and there is no doubt about the charisma that he always had. When Elvis went to the military service in Germany, for two years his life was very different from the one he had had until then. 

The world paralyzed his customs, the circumstances of the moment, the pain over the death of his mother and, although he was famous throughout the world, his artistic life had been sacrificed to clean up his image. It was a moment of success but also of criticism before a public divided by his fresh image, but challenging at the same time, to a mature generation that did not accept him. 

Colonel Parker's maneuver was to remove Elvis for the time being with military service while he continued to publish his records and keep his success at a distance. Elvis went to Germany to be a little more protected from the media world and there he met the person who would be his future wife, Priscilla Beaulieu, in September 1959. But he still had another girlfriend in Memphis, Anita Wood, with whom he had been in a relationship for some time and would continue after returning home again in 1960, and there were also his fans... who always had a very special relationship. He was young and also a very sensitive and special man who attracted bees like honey. 

In Bad Nauheim he lived from October 1958 and, for 18 months, he would meet many people. He used to have parties, meetings where he talked, sang and so on. There he would have many special relationships because he met many women, but above all the memory he left in some of them is worth mentioning. 

Roswitha Klaus remembered how he met Elvis at the Grunewald Hotel, through his German secretary whom he met while skating ice. Talking to her, he told her that she was a great fan of Elvis and suggested that he accompany her to the hotel. She took it with her, up to room ten, the room that belonged to Elvis Presley. Suddenly, the door opened, she walked in, looked into her eyes, and melted. 

The innocence of that time is curious, that someone you meet in a public place takes you to meet a Hollywood star at a hotel... Unthinkable under other circumstances but it would be this way as it was for the first time. 

Elvis would talk to her and she liked him from the first moment, he would become Roswitha's first love. For the time it was very inappropriate for a girl to leave her house to a hotel even if there were many people in it and also if she arrived very late. at night. His father was a painter and very strict but he never discovered this. 

Elvis was harassed everywhere and, although he had a little privacy, she was very young and being alone in a hotel room with a man was very frowned upon , but that's how it started with Elvis. Although Roswitha remembers kissing her, a wonderful time evidently followed at the House at 14 Goethestrasse where Elvis later moved. He said that he preferred natural, shy girls and described her as someone sensitive, romantic... he would sit on the edge of the bed, play her guitar and sing for her. They also went for walks until late at night, since there were always fans waiting in front of the house. The most curious thing is that Elvis barely spoke German and she didn't speak English either, but they didn't need many words to understand each other. She didn't like him doing maneuvers and she dreaded the day she returned to America. 

Roswitha had problems with her mother, at her job because she was constantly fatigued and distracted by this relationship. When March 1960 arrived, she reached the end of her love affair with Elvis, who would end his military service in Germany. It is clear that Elvis had several relationships in Bad Nuheim at the same time, including Priscilla's, who was very important or seemed to be at that time. be. It was the beginning of a whim, of a love that would turn into a serious commitment and would end years later in a wedding. She would be the only girl then with whom he decided to be seen when leaving Bad Nauheim, the only one who officially said goodbye to him and accompanied him until he took the plane to go to Memphis. There is no doubt that Elvis made every relationship a magical and special moment that he made that every woman felt unique and special regardless of whether she enjoyed several relationships at the same time. 

Elvis Presley the boy from Tupelo... the man, the myth... The King !"Following the Path of the King...""






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