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The summer of Elvis' freshman year of high school, his
dad Vernon bought him a push lawn mower. With the mower
and a couple of sickles, Elvis and his three buddies -
Buzzy Forbes, Farley Guy and Paul Dougher - started a
lawn business. They charged $4.00 per yard. This was the
beginning of the working life a young man who would very
soon become a millionaire.
Elvis received his
Social Security card # 409-52-2202 in September 1950.
That all he went to work as an usher at Loew's State
Theater on Main Street in Memphis.
Starting in
June 1951, Elvis held a summer job at Precision Tool. He
worked three months operating a spindle drill press at
this plant, which manufactured rocket shells for the
military. He made $27.00 a week. That same year he took
his driver's license test using his uncle Travis Smith's
1940 Buick.
In April 1952 Elvis returned to
Loew's State Theater as an usher, only to to be fired
five weeks later for an altercation with a fellow usher.
Some say it was started by the other usher, prompted by
his jealousy over a female employee's apparent fondness
for Elvis. Soon after, in June, Vernon Presley bought a
1941 Lincoln, which became regarded as Elvis' car. It is
said he spent more time pushing it than driving it.
In August 1952 Elvis applied at the Upholsterers
Specialties Company. On the application he gave his date
of birth as January 8, 1934, adding a year to his stated
age in order to qualify as old enough to work there. He
worked there one month, earning $109.00.
In
September 1952 Elvis worked for MARL Metal Products, a
furniture manufacturer. He worked the 3:00 PM - 11:00 PM
shift as an assembler. His mother Gladys made him quit
this job because he kept falling asleep in school.
On March 26, 1953 Elvis visited the Tennessee State
Employment Security Office. On his application he wrote
under "leisure time activities": "Sings, playing ball,
working on car, going to movies." The interviewer noted:
"rather flashily dressed 'playboy' type". On April 6,
1953 he visited the employment office again and updated
his application for work saying he wanted to operate
"big lathes".
On another visit to the employment
office on July 1, 1953, Elvis reported he needed to
"work off financial obligations and that he owns his own
automobile". This time he was sent to the M. B. Parker
Company for a temporary job as an assembler. He worked
there until the job ran out at the end of the month,
making 90-cents an hour or $36.00 a week.
Returning to the employment office in August 1953, he
indicated he wanted a job in which he could "keep
clean". He was sent to several places for interviews,
including a Sears & Roebuck store and a Kroger grocery
store. He was not hired from any of these interviews.
On September 21, 1953 Elvis returned to Precision Tool
company, operating a drill press for $1.55 a hour. He
continued to work there until March 19, 1954.
Elvis filed his first income tax return on March 6,
1954, listing himself as "semi-skilled labor" and having
earned at total of $129.74 at M.B. Parker and $786.59 at
Precision Tool for a total of $916.33.
On April
20, 1954 Elvis began working at Crown Electric for $1.00
an hour. He delivered supplies to the job sites and
hoped to train to be an electrician. He stayed at Crown
until mid-October 1954 after having recorded his first
record at Sun Studio and officially become a
self-employed entertainer.
In 1955, he reported
on his income tax return a total of $25,240.15 in
earnings. This figure would jump the following year to
$282,349.66. By 1958 he had earned over a million
dollars in one year. In a short time he had come a long
way from his days behind a push mower.
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