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"Hurry Home, Elvis" Donna Lewis's Diaries, Volume 1, 1962Ð1966
"Hurry Home, Elvis" is based on the diaries of an American teenager, Donna Lewis.
Indeed, the book is written in diary format, rather than as a narrative, using Donna's diaries from 1962 until 1966 as the source. As a result, the reader learns as much about Donna as about Elvis. Indeed the book does not in any way attempt to give any account of Elvis's life, except through the eyes of Donna and, as such, represents a refreshingly new approach in the ever-increasing stream of books linked to the phenomenon of Elvis and his fans.
Donna Lewis first met Elvis during a brief visit to Memphis in 1962 when she was just 11 years old, but it was not until 1965 that she began her diary in earnest. In that year she moved with the rest of her family from Cincinnati to start a new life in, of all places, Memphis. Their new house was located not a great distance from Graceland and Donna, often accompanied by other members of her family visited the gates frequently, becoming friends with Uncle Travis and his family, as well as other members of the Presley entourage who worked at or around the guardhouse.
Eventually, the Lewises were invited to a late-night movie show and this soon became a regular outing, almost on a nightly basis when Elvis was in town. Donna recalls each show, mentioning which films were shown, what Elvis was wearing and what kind of mood he was in. The chemistry between Elvis and Priscilla was not always wonderful, according to these memoirs, but this might result from Donna's own teenage fantasies Ñ she goes through a number of these, including one where she is certain Elvis has a crush on her mother!
The Lewises also made frequent visits to the funfair with Elvis and his group and Elvis's enjoyment of the dodgems and other fairground rides is well described.
Other comings and goings at Graceland are chronicled, as are the petty squabbles and tensions between various members of the clan.
Donna's description of her life as an Elvis fan in the sixties is, given her proximity to Elvis, rather different to that of the average Elvis fan, of course, but here and there little details will jog the memory: her enthusiasm when she buys new LP's and when she goes to see a new Elvis film, or watches one on television; her attitudes to other fans. She even orders an El-Cyclopaedia from Albert Hand in Britain!
Some of her entries are surprising: why was Elvis wearing a surgical mask on June 16 1966, for instance? And did you know about the car-chase that Elvis was involved in on December 5 of that same year, after which he was threatened with a broken Coke bottle? And why did Elvis nearly drown when filming Easy Come, Easy Go (this is actually answered in the book)?
What amazed me throughout the book, as a European reader, was the number of times young Donna missed school because she had been to a late-night movie, apparently without complaint from the school authorities, and the amount of hamburgers her family seemed to eat!
The book's title refers to Donna's yearning for Elvis to return from his frequent trips away from Graceland for filming in California.
"Hurry Home, Elvis" will not be everybody's ideal book (but which one is?). Nevertheless, it is an amusing and interesting look at the daily life of a young fan who was living in a very privileged position and here and there it contains some fascinating little snippets.
If "Hurry Home, Elvis" is a success, it is planned to publish a further 3 volumes, similarly based on Donna Lewis's diaries, continuing up to 1977.
"Hurry Home, Elvis" is a 226 page paperback, costing US$12.95 (US add $4 s&h; outside US add $9 s&h), published by
Busted Burd Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 429293 Cincinnati, OH 45242 USA
Fax: +1 513 745 9379
Visa and MasterCard orders can be phoned:
1-888-398-2438 (USA toll free) 1-513-985-6144 (overseas)
David G. Neale Copyright 1997