The Evolution of Elvis in Tupelo

Having seen the rise, demise and living legend of the King in Memphis, we headed Southeast to Tupelo, Mississippi, to experience the birthplace and early life of young Elvis.

A welcoming greeting in Tupelo. 

Our first stop was Elvis's favorite first stop after school, Johnnie's Drive-In. We arrived before noon but already the booths were filling up.

A group of female fans had taken over the "Elvis booth," and even as we were leaving after lunch showed no sign of relinquishing it.

We slid into another one and ordered a Doughburger, the poor Southerner's answer to more mouths than meat to feed them. I had never tried one and Johnnie's is one of the few spots left serving the fried mix of flour and hamburger meat. Let's just say I should have followed Elvis's example and ordered a regular cheeseburger and an RC Cola.

It was easy to picture him as a grade schooler sitting in that booth by the wall reading a Captain Marvel Jr. comic book.

There are those who say that the inspiration for the lightning bolt, hairstyle and capes Elvis favored came from that poor young cripple who could turn into the world's strongest boy. There is an equal number who say otherwise, but it is heartwarming to imagine a poor little boy with limited prospects finding inspiration and hope in a comic book character with whom he could identify.

Tupelo Visitors Center
(photo courtesy of Visit Tupelo)

Elvis was born here. 

To see just how limited those opportunities appeared, we drove to where his first home and first church have been moved: the Elvis Presley Birthplace Park.

"Elvis at 13" in the Elvis Presley Birthplace Park.

The Elvis Presley Birthplace memorial complex with visitors' center and museum sets both amid lovely trees and landscaping, but the two-room shotgun house must have been bleak in its original location. Vernon Presley borrowed $185 from his employer for the materials, but was unable to keep up the payments and the family had to move two years after moving in.

On the hill behind the memorial center is an impressive tribute to the boy who had ambitions and the man who realized them.

Elvis made his first public appearance at the age of 10 in the Mississippi-Alabama Fair Dairy Show. He sang the Red Foley ballad "Old Shep" and won 5th place.

For his 11th birthday Elvis wanted to spend the money he had earned doing errands and chores for people on a .22-caliber rifle or a bicycle he saw in the window when his mother Gladys took him down to Tupelo Hardware.

Tupelo Hardware

A prominent three-story building on downtown's Main Street, it had everything a mechanic, farmer, handyman, housewife or even an 11-year-old could want. The clerk,  Forrest Bobo, knew that Gladys hated guns and the bicycle was pricey, so he handed Elvis a guitar. "How about this?" he asked, pulling up a wooden box  behind the showcase and letting Elvis play with it.

Tupelo Hardware still has an array of guitars.

Elvis didn't have enough money for the guitar or the rifle, but Gladys said if he chose the guitar she would pay the difference. No one's fool, Elvis looked at Gladys and said, "That's alright, Momma," and left with the guitar.

Prints and pictures of Elvis and, like this one, "The Magic Moment," are hung on shelves filled with more typical hardware fare.

It was a beginner model Kay and cost $7.75 plus 2 % tax. Much later, Joe Perry of Aerosmith bought a guitar here, too, as have other admirers of the entertainer 11-year-old Elvis became.

One can do Elvis all day long in Tupelo from murals

to delightful painted six-foot tall guitars all over town.

We were particularly fond of a meadery and several restaurants.

Our first night we found, finally, the much recommended Blue Canoe. It does not disappoint either. Picture a corrugated structure adorned inside with neon and painted signs with a bandstand at one end for nightly live music,  a bar at the other. Casual and fun, its food is Southern with an exclamation point.

My Pork and Greens entree arrived looking as good as it tasted: pulled pork and collard greens atop silky cheese grits with a red vinegar sauce and cornbread. Heaven. Debi was equally pleased with hers.

Pork and Greens

Dessert. Connie's Blueberry Doughnut Bread Pudding, which we shared, was a knockout, too.

To be honest, we weren't sure we wanted to go to the first meadery in Mississippi, but we quickly decided we did once inside and  talking to owner of Queen's Reward Jeri Carter.

It is easy to see why this has become a popular spot in town. A combination of a savvy entrepreneur and the consummate Southern hostess, Jeri makes everyone feel welcome.

 In addition to the array of small-batch, well balanced mead to be tasted by adults,visitors are encouraged to bring picnics, pets and kids to relax and play games outside on the expansive grounds. On weekends, food trucks and music might be added.

Relax or play games outside.

We capped our final evening at Forklift Restaurant, a popular upscale neighborhood eatery. A nice piece of salmon and veggies was just the thing.

We were in for an unexpected treat our last morning in Tupelo. Our hostess, Jennie Bradford Curlee, of the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau, insisted we could not go without brunch at King Chicken Fillin' Station.  

We arrived early. As we looked around, we did not hold out much hope of a fine meal as it was, in fact, a filling station, gas pumps and all, plus an Elvis theme. 

Mural at the Filling Station

Inside it was basic brightened by painted ceiling tiles starring chickens, 

Tupelo

 and Elvis.

The brunch menu consisted of the darnedest concoctions we had ever encountered with fried chicken, eggs and biscuits as the basis for most. With some trepidation, I ordered Love Me Tender: an open-faced honey butter biscuit, fried chicken, smoked bacon, sausage gravy, white cheddar cheese and fried egg. Debi chose A Hot Mess: open-faced honey butter biscuit, sausage, smoked bacon, fried egg, peppers and onions, sausage gravy, roasted jalapeno hot sauce, white cheddar cheese.

A Hot Mess

Love Me Tender

The verdict: delicious.

All Elvis fans and those driving the Natchez Trace Parkway should consider an overnight stop in Tupelo. 

Peabody Morning: Marching Ducks, High Tea and Memories of Young Elvis

Never turn down an opportunity to spend a morning in Memphis at the venerable Peabody Hotel.

The Good Girls survey the scenery from atop the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. 

Where else can you watch ducks march from the lobby elevator to a fountain, take a tour of the hotel with the elegantly attired Duckmaster, meet the son of Elvis' tailor and enjoy a delicious high tea surrounded by elegance in Chez Philippe, the world's only French Restaurant that has never served duck?

The VIP feeling begins immediately when you walk through the door. Adults take seats at tables in the lobby, while youngsters stay busy talking to the Duckmaster and checking out the “duck pond” where the ducks soon would head.

Dubbed the "South's Grand Hotel," the first Peabody opened in 1869 closing 54 years later. It reopened as a larger, better version in 1925, at its current downtown location.

In the 1930s, the Peabody held one of three locations where CBS radio broadcast live shows, attracting top bands like Tommy Dorsey, Paul Whiteman, Harry James and Les Brown. Between 1945 and 1950, one such program was hosted by young Sam Phillips who later launched Sun Records and the career of Elvis Presley. Elvis connections appear all over Memphis.

The ducks arrived in the 1930s, too. Turtles and young alligators previously had appeared in the fountain, but their tenure was always short. Then, one afternoon in 1933, General Manager Frank Schutt and his pal Chip Barwick returned late from a duck hunting trip in Arkansas. They planned to keep temperatures and spirits high with liberal doses of Tennessee sipping whiskey. In those days, live ducks were used as decoys, so they deposited three small English Call ducks in the lobby fountain.

When morning arrived, the ducks were still happily paddling around, delighting guests and staff. The 85-year tradition of Peabody ducks had begun.

The original Duckmaster Edward Pembroke.

In 1940, Bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, volunteered to bring the ducks to the fountain each day. He soon had them trained to march in line, enhancing the tradition. Pembroke became the first official Duckmaster and performed the morning and afternoon ritual until his retirement in 1991.

On the morning of our visit,  three female and one male mallard performed perfectly, clearly eager for their daily swim. As the lobby emptied, Duckmaster Kenon, in training to be the seventh to hold that title, began the daily hotel tour.

We learned that the '60s and '70s were not kind to the Peabody and in 1975 it was put up for sale on the courthouse steps. Belz Enterprises stepped in, bought and saved the venerable hostelry, spending $25 million to restore and remodel the Peabody to even greater glory, ducks and all.

After admiring the ceilings and chandeliers, we were led to Lansky Bros, "Clothiers to the King," who moved their famed store into the new Peabody.

Kenon introduced us to Hal, son of Bernard Lansky who befriended young Presley and encouraged him to visit the store any time.

Kenon shows off one of his favorite Elvis jackets, the style he wore for his wedding with a special lining for today's buyers. The checked jacket behind him is like the one Bernard Lansky fitted on Elvis for his appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

When Presley was booked onto the Ed Sullivan show in Sept. 9, 1956, he came to Lansky with a problem: he needed something nice to wear but didn't have any money. Bernard fitted him out on credit. Ever loyal, Elvis came to Lansky for clothes from then on, sporting the pink and black outfits Lansky developed for him to his wedding tux.

Hal encouraged us to try on a few things, not that we needed any encouragement.

Debi went for sparkle with the gold sequined jacket while Judy opted for a slightly less flashy model.

Other performers relied on Lansky, too, including B.B. King, Isaac Hayes, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis.

So can you;  a jacket like the one Elvis wore for his wedding with a special lining will set you back $295, a bottle of his cologne $60.

With Elvis fresh on our mind, we toured upstairs, seeing the photo documenting the signing of Elvis' first recording contract with RCA,



the note ordering no dead ducks at the Peabody

and the square grand piano built expressly for Francis Scott Key.

The Duck Palace

Then it was up to the roof to check out the views and the $200,000 Duck Palace.

By this time, we had worked up an appetite and were ready for a bit of high tea pampering at Chez Philippe. Elegant is the word for this hushed space, a sigh of refinement in an otherwise bustling world beyond the tables set with Petite Fleur china.

We started with Champagne, then selected from among seven teas and savored our environment. In perfectly timed succession we were served our beverages,

a two-tiered arrangement of savories,

a basket of hot blueberry scones

and a a three-tiered array of sweets.

Delicious, but too much to eat. We left with a box of goodies hoping the maid at the hotel would find them as delicious as we did. Most of all, we left feeling like we were somebody at the Peabody.