![]() ![]() Released on the manager's Boxcar Enterprises label, the resulting album, Having Fun with Elvis on Stage, embarrassed Presley, his peers, and fans considerably. Parker had discovered an ingenuous loophole in the singer's RCA contract that would enable the wily manager to reap a mini financial windfall by cobbling together an album consisting of his 'boy' simply talking from the Hilton stage in Vegas. Colonel Tom Parker sadly killed The New Gladiators, although Presley's precarious health maladies - insomnia, advanced glaucoma, hypertension, enlarged heart, impacted colon - contributed as well. Vegas concerts ground to a halt as the eighth degree black belt conducted extended karate demonstrations and monologues. His mind was elsewhere - producing an unlikely, albeit brazen venture utilizing documentary-style karate footage interspersed with more traditional action scenes then popular in exploitative kung fu drive-in fare. RCA naturally asked their most prized asset to enter the recording studio again, yet Presley kept stalling. And three consecutive single A and B-sides - 'I've Got a Thing About You Baby,' 'Help Me,' and 'It's Midnight' - landed squarely in the country Top Ten and signaled Presley's burgeoning appeal in country markets. RCA's promotional tomfoolery unfortunately hampered their chances of charting higher. Two consecutive singles - the funky soul churner 'If You Talk in Your Sleep' and the joyous rocker 'Promised Land' - went Top 20. On the recording front, news was markedly better. Long story short - Presley was heavier upon completion of the month-long program and still depressed over the looming birthday. Ghanem had devised a ridiculous sleep diet that would supposedly enable the entertainer to lose considerable weight via liquid nourishment and prolonged sedation. Newly divorced with a six-year-old daughter and stringing along several younger girlfriends, Presley decided to take matters into his own hands and moved into Elias Ghanem's upstairs bedroom, the notorious doctor to the stars in Las Vegas. ![]() Memphis newspapers, including the Memphis Commercial Appeal, secretly spoke to friends and gate guards, acquiring an alarming snapshot of an entertainer living in self-imposed seclusion. Supermarket tabloids gleefully posted unflattering stage photos of Presley's developing middle section, best evidenced by a lurid National Enquirer exposé proclaiming 'Elvis at 40 - Paunchy, Depressed, and Living in Fear'. Presley had performed a two-week October tour that received withering reviews chronicling erratic, drug-fueled behavior. In the months leading up to the milestone, the world's most scrutinized rock star was experiencing both a personal and professional valley. Humor lifted Presley's spirits in times of inner turmoil, but it eluded him on the occasion of his 40th birthday in January 1975 when a wrongly perceived joke by the King of Late Night damaged the King of Rock 'N' Roll's fragile ego. Quoting entire comedy monologues or routines was a common occurrence. A less publicized facet of Elvis Presley's fascinating character is that he admired comedy with an intense passion, staying up until the first rays of the morning light with the Memphis Mafia to screen films and television appearances from the likes of Peter Sellers, Monty Python, and Johnny Carson. Elvis Presley, a bona fide Greek God at age 34, flashes a lovely smile while taking questions from the press corps after his return to live performing at the Las Vegas International Hotel, August 1, 1969.
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