In his early days, Elvis Presley was dangerous, and not just because he shook parts of his body that civilized people weren't supposed to shake. He sang dangerously. He'd say he loved you, but a wild wind blowing through his voice left you breathless, sometimes afraid.
At the same time he was sweet; he approached the world with the perfect manners of the boy next door. Of course women screamed — he fulfilled every fantasy. He snarled like a devastating lover; he crooned like a tender, ideal husband.
Not that he understood any of this. He had no agenda, and let his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, steer him into profitable schlock. Yet there are moments, even in his dumbest movies, when his presence alone is electric; in Vegas, there were times when he'd stop singing and, while his band played on, laugh for minutes on end, maybe at himself.
On the 13th anniversary of Elvis' death, a new, two-volume video, Elvis: The Great Performances, offers film, TV, and concert excerpts that show us how devastating he was at his best. But because he made so many careless records and empty films, finding him at his best can be hard. For those who want to remember or haven't yet discovered why he was the King, here is a guide to the essential Elvis.
On the trail of Presley's ''Great Performances''
Because the images come from a home movie, they blur slightly. Even slowed down they jerk around a little. But you can still identify Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins. They look extremely young, and they should, since the four are backstage at a 1955 high-school concert in Lubbock, Tex.; Presley was only 20. ''When I took the pictures, they weren't big,'' says Ben Hall, 66, who also performed that night. ''I had an old 8-mm camera that somebody gave me in high school. It was a hobby.'' Only now, 35 years later, will the public see Hall's candid shots of these pre-legends, including an unself-conscious Elvis, in Volume One of the new home-video release Elvis: The Great Performances (see review,27, August 17). Here is Elvis before he was King, even before he was rockabilly's Crown Prince. Here is Elvis before he became Elvis.
Today, 13 years after Elvis Presley's death, it seems incredible that something new about the man could still turn up. No other recording artist — in fact, no other celebrity in history — has been anthologized, repackaged, documented, and analyzed the way he has. But Elvis: The Great Performances offers some astonishing tidbits of unseen or little-seen footage among its 30 musical numbers. The two-volume compilation includes home movies filmed by family members and associates, clips from mid-'50s TV shows that were aired only once, and Presley's first screen test at Paramount Pictures. Perhaps the biggest revelation isn't seen but heard: Elvis' very first recording, a fairly obscure tune called ''My Happiness,'' which was never released and was once thought lost.
''Finding this material was a matter of hard work and luck,'' says Jerry Schilling, creative-affairs director for the Presley estate and producer of the new video. ''In the course of this project, we found seven rare pieces. We were hoping to find two or three.''
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