My Elvis Presley Blog

Author: June Juanico

Introduction by: Peter Guralnick

Refer to Previous Post: Elvis’s Women: June Juanico

The introduction is written by Peter Guralnick, the author of what is probably the best autobiography of Elvis in my opinion, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love.  These were the first two books I read about Elvis and so far, after a dozen or so later, remain better documentary evidence of Elvis then anything else I’ve read.  Peter states in his introduction that June, in contrast to all the others, has written this book herself.  It’s a good point and one I appreciate.  Every other book I’ve read with the “My Life with Elvis” theme has had a ghost writer, someone to write prettily and advise about enhancing one’s role in the life of the King of Rock & Roll.

June’s book was a long time in coming considering that June was Elvis’s girlfriend from June of 1955 through to March of 1957.  Published in 1997, 40 years after breaking up with Elvis, this is June’s story of what it was like dating Elvis just before his life took off into the Hollywood fast lane. It took her 20 years after Elvis had passed away to write it so it’s obvious to me at least, that June was reluctant to share her affair with Elvis with the world.  Yet eventually I think we all give in to the lure of the big bucks rolling in if we’ve got any kind of book in us.  And she certainly had that.

The book provides us practically a day by day account from the beginning to the end of the affair.  I have trouble with the affair word since they never slept together.  I always considered a “love affair” meant lovemaking but as I’ve learned lately, Elvis’s idea of lovemaking may have been a quite a bit different then mine so for the purposes of this review, we’ll call it an affair. 

As detailed in my previous post about June, her and Elvis met when he was performing at the Slavonian Lodge in Biloxi, Mississippi where June was born and raised.  He apparently eyed her up as she was leaving the restroom and almost instantly asked her for a date.  After the show, according to June, they spent the entire evening together parked in the car and talking.  Elvis completely spilled his guts out to her about all his problems, hopes, dreams and so on and then at sun up, took her home and laid a great big romantic kiss on her. And then he left the next day to continue his tour.

The story is mostly about the summer vacation Elvis spent in Biloxi and I believe Elvis probably enjoyed the best summer of his life with June in Biloxi just before he went to Hollywood to film Love Me Tender.  He was still able to maintain some privacy at this time and the account June gives indicates they had a perfectly normal summer love affair doing lots of summer like activities. From there, we’re told about how June accompanied Elvis on his Florida tour and the breakneck pace set by Colonel Parker that Elvis had to follow but for which no normal person could reasonably keep up to.   

Then Love Me Tender happened as did Debra Paget and things with June took a chilling turn with June breaking it off finally after becoming engaged to another man.  Dropped him like a hot potato, she did.  When June met him on the train he was taking back to Memphis to dump him, he did not pursue her to argue with her or plead for her not to leave him.  Since at this point he had fallen head over heals in love with Debra Paget (See Love Me Tender review) and had been introduced to the Hollywood lifestyle, I’m sure June looked small town and plain to Elvis after that. I know that sounds uncharitable but I’ll bet it’s true. 

This book was okay for me. I had no trouble sticking with it even though I sometimes found the dialogue between Elvis and June annoying with too many “Baby’s” (Elvis) and “Elvis Presley’s” (June).  I also think June overstretches herself in her portrayal of how important she was to Elvis. About how the book The Prophet, which she did give him, was the one he was reading when he died, (that’s not substantiated anywhere) and that this same book still sits on his bedside table at Graceland. (Maybe but it’s not the one she gave him because Priscilla burned that one).  I found I was rolling my eyes frequently while reading this book mainly due to the cheesy dialogue and the inflated importance she makes herself out to be to Elvis. She was certainly important to him when they were together but out of sight, out of mind was a real problem with Elvis.

Having said that, it was obvious to me throughout the book that June really did and probably still does love Elvis.  I also want to add that it was very enlightening to hear what Elvis was like before his gigantic ego kicked into overdrive and he became convinced of his own superstardom. There are personal photographs too of Elvis and June (and families) that are never seen before. June certainly doesn’t write anything negative about Elvis which is quite refreshing but she also doesn’t gloss over the more needy aspects of his character. It was a much more innocent time then and maybe some of the way June writes reflects that even though it comes off somewhat corny now.  Certainly the Elvis that June dated and loved was a whole lot more innocent during this period then in the days after he met Hollywood.

All in all, a worthwhile read if you are an Elvis fan.  

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On June 26, 1955, Elvis performed at the Slavonian Lodge, Biloxi, Mississippi, where he, Scotty and Bill opened the new club with air-conditioning to a sell-out crowd.  Elvis noticed June when she was coming out of the ladies room at half time at of one of his shows.

They struck up a conversation… “You’re not leaving are you?” Elvis inquired anxiously. “No, I’m just going to sit down.” “I’d like to see you after the show,” Elvis announced. “Why don’t you show me the town?”

“Well there isn’t much to see in Biloxi,” June countered. “I don’t care,” Elvis replied. “Just show me what there is.” Still dripping with perspiration after gyrating wildly on stage in what would become his trademark pelvis-thrusting style, Elvis picked June up in front of the theatre that night in his 1955 pink-and-white Ford Crown Victoria.

“He said he wanted to change, so we drove to his motel and I waited in the car while he ran in,” says June. “We took in some floor shows and then talked until daylight. At dawn Elvis kissed me for the first time.” “It was the most memorable date I had with Elvis. We spent four hours parked outside my house. He suggested we see the sun rise together, but I told him I’d have to go if my mother’s bedroom light came on. As dawn broke, Elvis kissed me, ever so gently. Then he poured out his heart to me and told me about his twin brother.” June says it was clear from that first date that Elvis had a deep love for his family. He told her how his mother had named his stillborn twin brother Jesse Garon because she didn’t want a grave that simply read Baby Boy Presley. But what struck June most about Elvis was how much he was amazed at his own success. 

‘One of the questions I’m always asked is, “Did you sleep with Elvis?”,’ says June Juanico, the woman the star nearly married in 1956. ‘I tell ‘em no.’ Juanico talks of the couple making love in ‘their own special way’, of Elvis saying he wanted the first time to be special and of their agreement to wait until they were married. ‘There were a lot of virgins about in those days.’

‘Elvis was a very sensitive person, very tender, but on the outside he was very macho,’ she says. An outspoken and feisty teenager, June recalls a time when she stood up to Elvis in front of his band of hangers-on, who even then were beginning to accompany him everywhere. He grabbed her arm, took her into the bathroom and declared: ‘Look, you are so right, I am really sorry.’ He kept her there for five minutes, then swaggered out, his image intact.

The couple dated throughout 1956. Elvis would serenade June with the soulful ballad, IS IT SO STRANGE. “I loved that song,” recalls June. “So I asked Elvis to record it. just for me. The verse, ‘Is it so strange, I have no eyes for any other girl.’ still has a special meaning for me till this very day.” When Elvis recorded that song, he called the album, JUST FOR YOU. While Elvis and his ‘devil music’ were becoming the center of controversy, Hollywood was clamouring to get a piece of the action. “Elvis always talked about wanting to be in the movies,” says June.

On one of his frequent returns to Memphis, Elvis invited June home to meet his parents. For two weeks she shared his life. Friends dropped by, and Gladys was always ready with a Southern-style meal. Elvis wanted to hire servants, but Gladys wouldn’t hear of it. “Gladys was happy as punch just to cook because Elvis had outfitted the kitchen with every conceivable appliance,” says June.

Vernon (Elvis’ father) just sat around reading the newspaper. “Vernon wasn’t a man of many words, but Gladys talked non-stop about Elvis and how shy he was as a child. “She worried about his future. She hoped she had brought his up right, so he could put a handle on his fame.” Gladys and June shared a mutual admiration which bonded into more than friendship. Gladys insisted that June use her first name – “Mrs Presley just don’t sound right, we being as close as family,” she would say. “So, I called her Lovey, a derivation of her middle name Love. She thought was special.”

In March of 1957,  June made the most crucial decision of her life. “I couldn’t wait in the wings while Elvis got on with his career,” she says. “I said good bye to Elvis because he broke his vow – he was supposed to be true to me. It just didn’t work out that way.” “There was no one in particular in his life then, but I knew Elvis was not being true to me. We parted friends,” says June. Elvis told June she would always be welcome in his home, but for the next six years she had no contact with him as she pieced her life back together. It was not until 1963 that June plucked up the courage to face Elvis again.

She drove to Memphis to catch Elvis at Graceland, but Elvis was not home. Elvis’ uncle, Vester Presley told her Elvis was at the local movie theatre. “The moment I entered the theatre I picked Elvis in the crowd. He was sitting up front. Priscilla was sitting next to him,” June recalls. “Elvis was so surprised to see me, he jumped out of his seat and gave me a big bear-hug.” “Strange that Elvis introduced me to the rest of his entourage, but not to Priscilla.” “Priscilla didn’t even look my way. She kept her eyed focused on the screen the whole time. I guess, she was already used to girls falling about Elvis.”

The last time June saw Elvis, was August, 1969 in Las Vegas. No longer under contract to Hollywood, Elvis took on the new challenge performing live. He went on a diet. Reduced his drug intake. And walked to stage looking more handsome than ever. For the next seven years, the mature, Elvis poured out his heart and soul to the screaming fans – always to a packed house. “Elvis told me he was being true to himself by performing before a live audience again,” recalls June. “I was never much of a screaming fan, but that night brought back old memories, and I felt the need to scream…”

Seeing Elvis in 1969, June never dreamed that a mere 8 years later Elvis Presley would become caricature of his former self. Tears spring to her eyes and her voice drops to a whisper as she remembers the day, 16 years ago, that Elvis died. “For years I couldn’t talk about Elvis. But now with all that ugly stuff being written about Elvis, I have the need to set the record straight,” says June.

She is writing her story, IN THE TWILIGHT OF MEMORY. The title is from a line in THE PROPHET. “If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more. We shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.” The book that June gave to Elvis in 1957 was found after his death, on his bedside table at Graceland. It is still there to this day.

Did Elvis love June? Probably but not in any long term forever way.  The timeline here crosses over when he was still dating Dixie.  She was in Memphis and June was in Biloxi.  I believe we’ll find as we explore this intriguing subject further that there are other women lurking in the shadows here as well at the same time.  So no, Elvis did not feel true unconditional love for June although I believe she did for him.  After all, what’s not to love?

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I was born in August of 1957 when Elvis’s career was just a little over a year in the making. So growing up, Elvis was not a big part of my music scene although I remember loving Return to Sender, In the Ghetto and Suspicious Minds anytime I heard it on the radio. Being of the age, I was into David Cassidy, The Monkees, Bobby Sherman etc.

Like everybody else, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the news came on TV exactly 20 years later in August of 1977 that Elvis had died. Despite never having been a big fan, I sat down on my couch and cried. The world had lost an icon, that much I knew for sure.

So 30 years later, in January of 2007, when I heard that Elvis would have turned 72 years old that month had he lived, it was startling to me when something clicked somewhere in my brain and I felt my world shift. It was a whisper that simply said “Elvis”. I can’t explain it and I’ve now given up trying but ever since that day, Elvis has never been out of my thoughts. And so my quest began.

I had the 30 Greatest Hits CD only because I got it erroneously from a music club and had never broke the seal or played it but had never returned it either. I also had the 2 CD set Christmas Peace that I only ever played during the holiday season once in awhile. I quickly broke open the 30 Greatest Hits CD and ripped it to my computer and sync’d it to my mp3 player. Since that day, I have listened to nothing but Elvis. I simply can’t listen to anything else because nothing else compares.  Listening to him sing gospel almost makes me believe again but listening to him sing anything brings me great peace of mind.  

Elvis recorded over 900 songs in his brief 24 year career and I now have more then half of those. Approximately 200 of these are on my favorites playlist which I listen to daily commuting back and forth to work and even work sometimes when I need to really buckle down and work. I stick an earphone in my left ear and I’m more productive then I am not listening to him. 

I’ve read over a dozen books about his life and music and will be featuring my reviews, my book reports in essence, here on this blog.  I have others on the nightstand waiting to be read and there’s a stack at amazon that are just waiting to be ordered.  I never do anything half heartedly and I’ll probably die before I have every book written about him, every movie he ever did and every song Elvis ever recorded.   

My affair with Elvis began full of lust, grief, bitterness and butterflies. For the first few months I almost couldn’t read the end of any of the books because they all ended the same.  Tragically.  I would put myself to sleep at night wondering what it would have been like to have known him, loved him, been loved by him, held by him.  It was lust and grief, then grief and lust.

After 2 years, my relationship with him is somewhat calmer although I still get butterflies in my stomach whenever I hear his voice, or look at a picture of him or even just think about him, and I think about him a lot.

And whenever he says “Yeah baby” during a song, my head bows, my heart flips and my knees get weak. But I don’t cry so much anymore that he’s gone and I don’t despise the people  who were around him so much anymore who did nothing to try to save him.  Oh there are a couple of people I resent deeply for their part in his downfall and you’ll read more about these as I discuss the books but essentially the downfall was Elvis’s doing.

I have finally come to terms “somewhat” with the fact that Elvis’s life was exactly as it was meant to be and nothing anybody did was going to change the outcome.  Bigger then life he was but inside, a shy naive southern boy with a huge heart who just wanted to be loved.  He is the undisputed King of Rock and Roll and his musical influence changed the world as we knew it.  

Elvis, we will meet again someday on that beautiful shore by the river of  life. Meanwhile, I will love you forever and this site is dedicated to your legacy.
My very first video made for E – Just Pretend_Elvis Lives

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