The Jewish World of Elvis Presley

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With his first RCA Victor single, " Heartbreak Hotel", in 1956, [28] Presley became a recording star. Parker began in 1956 to bring his new star to the national stage. He arranged for Presley to appear on popular television shows, such as The Milton Berle Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, securing fees that made Presley the highest-paid star on television. [29] By the summer, Presley had become one of the most famous new faces of the year, causing excitement among the new teenage audience and outrage among some older audiences and religious groups. [29] Presley said of Parker: "I don't think I would have ever been huge if it wasn't for him. He's a brilliant man." [30] [31] I’ll put my hands up, I’m a big Elvis fan. I have been since my mum took me to see him in Girl Happy in 1965 when I was six years old, the first of many. Admittedly, I became a bit more circumspect about the films Elvis had been compelled to make as I got older. But he was always on my mind. I’ve been to Elvis’s home, Graceland in Memphis. A friend and I go to every concert of Elvis music by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, hosted by Elvis’s wife Priscilla. It goes without saying that I am beyond excited about the new Baz Luhrmann film, Elvis, released on 24 June. Elsewhere in this section of the film, Parker—who in real life had sold the network on the idea of a Christmas special so he could turn Elvis into a late-’60s Bing Crosby—appears as a bumbling rube in his insistence that Elvis sing “Here Comes Santa Claus.” It’s funny, but renders Parker ridiculous. Sure, he was out of touch with the times by then, and didn’t see the Phoenix-like potential of what the special could do for his “attraction,” as he called Elvis. But he was never inept, and he was fiercely loyal in his business dealings and determined to honor his contracts to the letter. The Colonel Goes to Nightmare Alley Presley was not Jewish. Yes, some sources repeat a tall tale that Presley's third cousin told 20 years ago to a Jewish biographer of Presley. This cousin said that he and Presley shared a very remote Jewish maternal ancestor (a woman who lived in the early to mid 1800's)

In the early 1950s, Rabbi Alfred Fruchter’s family shared a Memphis duplex with Elvis’ family at 462 Alabama Ave. The Presleys rented the small apartment downstairs and the rabbi’s family lived upstairs. We thought it would be a great way of honoring her Jewish heritage as well as honoring her,” said Marchese, who has worked at Graceland for 32 years and is one of the world’s preeminent experts on the Presley family. “We think it’s what Elvis would have wanted.” a b c Jobe Pierce, Patricia (1994). The Ultimate Elvis. Simon & Schuster Ltd. ISBN 978-0-671-87022-5. So that’s where the Copen family menorah sits today, on display for the museum’s 50,000-100,000 annual visitors to view. During his junior year, Presley began to stand out more among his classmates, largely because of his appearance: he grew his sideburns and styled his hair with rose oil and Vaseline. In his free time, he would head down to Beale Street, the heart of Memphis's thriving blues scene, and gaze longingly at the wild, flashy clothes in the windows of Lansky Brothers. By his senior year, he was wearing those clothes.[33] Overcoming his reticence about performing outside the Lauderdale Courts, he competed in Humes' Annual "Minstrel" show in April 1953. Singing and playing guitar, he opened with "Till I Waltz Again with You", a recent hit for Teresa Brewer. Presley recalled that the performance did much for his reputation: "I wasn't popular in school ... I failed music—only thing I ever failed. And then they entered me in this talent show ... when I came onstage I heard people kind of rumbling and whispering and so forth, 'cause nobody knew I even sang. It was amazing how popular I became in school after that."[34]As documented in the movie, in the end, the group was successful in giving Elvis the Jewish tribute that they felt was long overdue. Initially they had only 7 of the 10 Jewish males required for a minyan (quorum) to recite the mourner's kaddish. But fortunately, or miraculously as Hartal asserts, three more Jews came "out of nowhere" and Rabbi Reuven Poupko led the group in prayer. In 1998, The Wall Street Journal published an article titled, "All Shook Up in the Holy Land" exposing Elvis Presley's unlikely Jewish lineage. Apparently, Elvis' maternal great-great grandmother, Nancy Burdine, was a Jew. Her daughter gave birth to Doll Mansell who gave birth to Gladys Smith who gave birth to Elvis. Although it sounds improbable, according to Jewish law, which confers Jewish lineage by way of the mother, that makes Elvis Presley Jewish. The article contains a lot of pictures, but none of them show Presley in his later years (after 1972). We are told that he gained a lot of weight and his health dramatically deteriorated after 1973 and especially by early 1977, but we are not shown his appearance. The commons category "Category:Elvis Presley by year" ends in 1973. I'm sure there must be a lot of pictures of him from 1975–1977 somewhere – he was a very famous, frequently photographed person and he continued to appear in public. It would be nice to have such a picture in the article. —⁠ ⁠ BarrelProof ( talk) 21:45, 3 June 2023 (UTC) Vivek Tiwary's The Fifth Beatle (2013), a graphic novel biography of the Beatles manager Brian Epstein by writer Vivek Tiwary, depicts a meeting between Parker and Epstein that took place in the mid-1960s. In the scene, Parker is satirically portrayed as a gluttonous, satanic figure. The scene contrasts Parker's management of Elvis with the freedom Epstein allows the Beatles. The scene also portrays Parker as antisemitic. Tiwary claimed in an interview that Parker did make those comments. [79] It may come as a surprise to learn Elvis Presley’s ethnicity includes a Native American heritage. However, one of his movies reflects this part of his family tree. Elvis starred in a Western musical/drama called Flaming Star in 1960. In the film, he played a man with a Native American mother and a white father. While many Westerns portray Native Americans in a negative light, Flaming Star is sympathetic in its portrayal. The film was released during the civil rights movement and arguably mirrors changing attitudes about race in America.

All this talk now about Elvis being Jewish — that’s really disturbing,” Judy Fruchter said. “Because if he was Jewish, my father was making him desecrate Shabbat. He’s probably turning in his grave.” PLEASE CHANGE TO Having sold over one billion records worldwide, Presley is recognized as the best-selling solo music artist of all time by Guinness World Records. Afvaart 'SS Veendam' op 20-03-1926 vanaf haven New York". stadsarchief.rotterdam.nl. Rotterdam City Archive.

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Presley himself attended the Assembly of God Church with his family in his early childhood, and was deeply impacted by the music he encountered there. He did not practice Judaism, even though a report on Haaretz, an Israeli news outlet, did claim him as Jewish thanks to his maternal ancestry. Here are 7 Jewish connections Elvis had: 1. He played racquetball at the Memphis Jewish Community Center There was a lot of mystery surrounding it,” said Angie Marchese, Graceland’s vice president of archives and exhibits, and the one who came up with the idea of unveiling Gladys’ headstone on the 60th anniversary of her death, partly to dispel doubts about Elvis’ Jewish lineage. “The star is on it, so it answered a lot of questions that were out there.” There have been suggestions that Elvis’ handlers didn’t want his Jewish heritage known to the public, fearing it might prompt some of his Southern fans to abandon him. But Marchese says there is no evidence of that.

The headstone, which was taken from storage only in 2018, is now on display at the sprawling complex in Memphis where Elvis lived from 1957 until his untimely death 20 years later at the age of 42. It sits in Graceland’s Meditation Garden, just outside the mansion and a few feet from Elvis’ own grave. This deed on the part of Vernon and Gladys Presley marked a permanent separation of Elvis from his mother, and as Elvis was a classic "mama's boy". It was this, rather than his entrance into the Army or the later death of Gladys, from which Presley never truly recovered and which ultimately killed him. Throughout his life, Elvis was surrounded by, and good friends with, many Jewish people. Memphis in the 1950s was heavily populated by Jewish-owned businesses, featuring shops with names such as B. Lowenstein and Brothers, A. Schwab’s, Julius Lewis, and Goldsmith’s, as well as Ruben Cherry’s record store and Lansky Brothers Clothiers. Presley established close relationships with Cherry and Bernard Lansky, the latter going on to make many of Elvis’s clothes.There is evidence that Elvis’ Jewish lineage meant more to him than just a symbol on a headstone. He gave generously over the years to a variety of Jewish organizations, including the Memphis Jewish Community Center, a donation honored with a plaque that hangs in Graceland today. Elvis’ personal library included several books on Judaism and Jewish history. An entire book on the topic, “The Jewish World of Elvis Presley,” was published last year. I just don’t want to miss getting through the gates of Heaven on a technicality,” Elvis would quip. 3. Elvis was the “Shabbos goy” for a Rabbi’s family. While Presley served in West Germany, Parker was hard at work keeping Presley's name known to the public. He realized that by keeping RCA Victor, and more importantly, the public, hungry for more Presley material, he could negotiate a better contract when Presley returned from active service. [36] He had arranged for Presley to record five singles before his induction, [38] guaranteeing RCA Victor enough material to release over two years. RCA was eager for Presley to record in West Germany. Still, Parker insisted it would ruin his reputation as a regular soldier if he could go into a recording studio. Stories appeared in the press regularly about Presley, including that he would do a live CCTV broadcast when he returned and that he had signed a deal for a series of annual television spectaculars to be broadcast across the country. [38] All of these stories were fabrications, but it kept his name given to the public.

But later, George heard that the family menorah had been found and was on display at the Elvis Presley Birthplace Museum. Indeed, much of the museum’s collection consists of gifts and mementos that Elvis had given Janelle over the years, which she donated to the museum. Werner, Michael (August 12, 2018). "A New Light On Colonel Tom Parker". elvis.com.ua. Elvis.com.ua . Retrieved August 19, 2023. The Presleys once lived in an apartment directly below the family of Rabbi Alfred Fruchter, the first principal of the Memphis Hebrew Academy. The rabbi’s son, Harold, who now lives in Maryland, said that Elvis actually served as the Fruchters’“Shabbos goy,” a non-Jew who performs household tasks for observant Jews that are normally forbidden on the Jewish Sabbath. Fruchter said his parents “never had even an inkling” that Elvis had Jewish roots. Gladys Presley’s grave marker, now on display at Graceland. It was designed by her famous son to honor the family’s Jewish heritage. (Dan Fellner via JTA)https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/elvis-presley-was-jewish-a-grave-marker-confirms-it-after-four-decades-672005 Van der Steen, Paul (September 14, 2020). "Staatloos na het dienen in vreemde krijgsdienst". Trouw.nl. Trouw . Retrieved August 19, 2023.