 Jack Lord Elvis Presley had
the ability to touch others’ lives as few human
beings ever could. Just as people were magnetically
drawn to him, so too, he had an almost fan-like
devotion to those he admired. Among that group was
Hawaii 5-0’s Jack Lord and his wife, Marie. Theirs
was a relatively brief but extremely intense
friendship so illustrative of the rapid magnet-like
attraction Elvis had for those comparatively few
people he ever really got close to once fame had
crowded in on him.
A few hours after the
shocking news of Presley’s death, I called Honolulu.
I had known for several years of the personal
relationship which existed between the Lords and
Elvis. They had never wanted to talk about I
publicly, but now, I thought they might want to
share their knowledge of Elvis with those of us who
care.
Mare answered the phone. Cautiously, I
asked her if she’d heard of the latest news. There
was a pause; then she said, "You mean about Elvis?"
I could hear the shock in her voice; she went on,
"Yes, we heard. It’s so ironic because Jack was just
sitting here writing Elvis a letter and getting
ready to mail him a package when his secretary came
in and told us the news. He was so stunned. So am I.
It just doesn’t seem possible." Her voice faded, her
words seemed to hang in the air.
I told her
of this special memorial issue to Elvis, and she and
Jack readily agreed to allow me to include something
that I’d know about for several years but had never
written before.
Early in January, 1973, Elvis Presley was due
in Hawaii. There, on the 14th, a little past
midnight, he was to appear live at the Honolulu
International Center in a concert that would
simultaneously be beamed by satellite all around the
world live except for the United States. Shortly
before the day of the concert arrived. Co. Parker
had personally come to the condominium where the
Lords live. By way of the manager, he had left a
message inviting them to be Presley’s guests at the
concert.
The following day Elvis’ road
manager had called the Lords to re-emphasize how
much it would mean to Elvis if they could come. As
Jack had told me several years ago, "Ordinarily,
Marie and I live like monks during the time I’m
shooting. Both of us are up by five in the morning,
so we never go out late during the week. But the
invitation was so gracious that Marie and I just
couldn’t turn it down."
The Lords went to the
concert and were seated in the special section along
with the rest of the Presley party. Midway in the
show, after Elvis had introduced everyone of the
members of the band and vocal group, he said, "My
favorite actor in the world is sitting in the
audience and I want to introduce him."
Then
he called Jack by name. The Lords, celebrities that
they are, told me that as if they had been floored
by the introduction and that it had been an almost
unbelievable tribute from one artist to another. So
Jack stood up and taken his bows, live for all the
world -–except the U.S. – to see. Afterwards, they
had gone backstage and met Elvis up close for the
very first time. But as Jack would later say, "The
moment we met and shook hands it was as if we had
known
each other all our lives."
 Elvis then told
Jack and Marie that he’d love to see them before he
left Hawaii and asked if they could have dinner
together.
Marie, at the time, had said, "Well, I’m sure you
don’t go out to restaurants." Elvis had smiled back
and said,
"Well, no, but I could come to your house."
The next days were busy ones for Jack on the set.
Quite frankly, he and Marie had almost forgotten
about seeing
Elvis again – perhaps subconsciously thinking that
with Presley’s schedule and Jack’s, a second meeting
would never come off anyway.
Still, one
evening a few days later, according to Marie: "I was
in the kitchen fixing us an early dinner. The phone
rang. Jack answered and then came in and told me it
had been Elvis. It was his last night in Hawaii, and
he’d said that most of his group had already gone
back to the States but he asked if he could come
over and say good-bye to us. They had arranged it
for eight o’clock."
Promptly at eight o’clock, the doorbell rang.
Marie called out over the intercom and asked who it
was, and a voice answered, "Elvis." Marie opened the
door and he was standing there – "a slim Adonis,
looking gorgeous in a white suit with a white silk
shirt that had a ruffled collar and cuffs." He
kissed her as he came in – bringing seven members of
his party!
As soon as Elvis sat down, Marie
offered them drinks. Then, much to her horror, she
discovered that none of the Presley group touched
hard liquor! It was ironic because neither she nor
Jack drink except on rare occasions. So,
fortunately, their icebox was also full of diet
sodas. A few of the guys did have beer, Marie said,
but the six-pack was gone in a minute, so all of
them sat there sipping soda drinks – and Marie could
have dies. But Elvis didn’t seem to mind; he just
seemed happy being there.
After about 15
minutes, he said to Jack, with a kid-type smile on
his face: "I brought you a present, Jack. I tried to
think of something to bring you that you don’t have.
The only think I could think of was this." Inside
the box he presented to Jack was a solid gold
Walther revolver. Elvis explained that he had
ordered a matched set from Germany a year before but
that they had just arrived. "But I don’t need two
guns, so I want you to have this one," he said to
Jack, "plus six bullets – just in case you ever need
them!"
Jack and Marie were speechless. The
golden gun was a pure work of art. While Jack was
still recovering from Presley’s generosity, Elvis
had turned and said, "And I haven’t forgotten you
either, Marie." He then handed her a tiny jewel box
and watched eagerly as she opened it. There, sitting
on a mount of velvet, was a gorgeous ring. Elvis
took it out of the box and slipped it on her finger.
As a former fashion designer, Marie knew only too
well what the status of the gem was, but Elvis, like
an eager kid, told her, "Those are emeralds and
diamonds." She was absolutely floored.
Half
an hour later Elvis asked if he could see the rest
of their home, and Jack took him on the grand tour.
"over the years, Jack and I had a collection of rare
musical instruments from all over the world," Marie
had told me. "When we first moved to Hawaii, we had
given most of them to the UCLA Music Department.
Jack had only kept a few, which he considered real
treasures. One was a rare six-string banjo which had
been tuned to play like a guitar. The moment Elvis
saw it he sat on Jack's bed strumming it. Marie was
in the living room when Elvis suddenly ran in
shouting, "Marie, Marie, Jack gave me a six-string
banjo!"
His eyes were wide again like a kid,
and he just couldn’t get over it – as though he,
himself, wasn’t the world’s most generous person and
as though he hadn’t just given Jack the golden gun
and Marie the emerald and diamond ring.
Before Elvis left that night, shortly before
midnight, he asked Jack and Marie to please be sure
to come and see him in Las Vegas whenever they could
or to come to his home and stay there anytime as his
guest.
One month later and a short break from
the Hawaii 5-0 series, Jack and Mare were headed for
San Francisco and Los Angeles and, by coincidence,
they learned that Elvis was just about to open in
Las Vegas. So, they called
Colonel Parker and told him they would like
to come.
The day they arrived in Las Vegas
was one that neither the Lords will ever forget. As
they walked off the plane, there, standing at the
foot of the ramp, was a tall Hawaiian man holding
garlands of fresh flower leis.
had called him, and he was
flown in especially from Hawaii with the flower,
just to be at the airport to greet the Lords. Then,
when they arrived at their hotel and walked into
their suite, Marie remembers that they could hardly
moved around for all the flower baskets that
surround them. It was an unforgettable moment.
That night the Lords sat at Elvis’ table and the
lights went down and Presley came on stage. The
curtains opened and there, on stage center, was the
six-sting banjo that Jack had given Elvis, on
display, a spotlight beaming down on it. Then, as he
had done at the concert, half way through the show,
Elvis introduced his group.
"I was in Hawaii recently and this great star
and his wife took me into their home," he said the.
Marie commented later: "He said it like he was some
poor little orphan we had adopted. Then he called
out Jack’s name, and Jack stood up. The applause was
tremendous. Elvis grinned and said, ‘Sit down, Jack,
you’re getting more applause than I am.’ Everyone
laughed."
After the show, The Lords went
backstage with Elvis and then up to his suite where
he had his own chef prepare a low-calorie dinner
which he always ate between show. During the meal he
looked at them sort of wistfully and asked if they
would come and see his midnight show.
The
Lords corresponded often with Elvis
The
Lords, still on their TV series schedule, were
early-to-bed people, but for Elvis they couldn’t
resist. After the late show, they again met with
Presley, and he coaxed them to stay on the following
day and come to see his show again that night. The
Lords would end up staying three extra days and
seeing the Presley show six times! They never left
Elvis or their hotel. It was as though neither could
get enough of the other, and for hours on end Jack
and Elvis had talked like old boyhood chums.
On the last evening, Jack and Marie were in Elvis’s
dressing room when they had previously seen
Presley’s fantastic array of handmade costumes on
one wall and, lining the other, hangers full of
custom-made jeweled belts like the hi-huggers that
Elvis wore over each of his jumpsuits.
One of
those they had seen had been a special belt that did
not match any outfit. Elvis had explained that this
costume designer had spent years making this
particular one, though it didn’t go with any of his
outfits, but he always carried it with him because
he loved it so. "It was an unbelievable thing,"
Marie said, "all embroidered with coral and jade and
turquoise and amethyst."
Anyway, on their
last night when the Lords walked into Presley’s
dressing room, Elvis stood up and in his hand he had
the special belt which he now held out to Marie. She
began to protest, but Elvis cut her short. He
explained that he couldn’t wear it because it
scratched him, and he even showed where there was a
gash on his hand.
But the Lords knew that
Presley was just saying that as Marie had personally
seen a girl at the last show grab for Elvis’ hand
and then bite it in her enthusiastic joy at being so
close to her idol. But Elvis wouldn’t take no for an
answer. Marie now has that very special Elvis
Presley jeweled hi-hugger framed on black velvet and
it hangs in a special place of honor in the Lord’s
home.
There were subsequent meetings and
exchange of correspondence between the Lords and
Elvis. There were phone conversations and yet, when
you totaled it all up, they really only knew Elvis
for such a brief few years. In fact, once he said
rather longingly, "Gee, Jack, I wish I’d met you
many years ago."
No he’s gone. Elvis Presley
that rare, talented, beautiful generous and yet
lonely man. Lonely as only a few people are who ever
reach such dizzying heights. A prisoner of fame and
fortune and of a self-made legend surrounding him,
but for those brief few years – especially during
those times when Elvis, Jack and Marie Lord were
together – when they were able to share the special
area reserved for the famous. Inside it, together,
none of them were lonely.
There will never be
another Elvis Presley, and Jack and Marie Lord feel
his loss so deeply.
They will never forget their special friend …and
neither will any of us.
Elvis acknowledged Jack Lord's presence in the
audience during the 1973 "Aloha From Hawaii" broadcast. You can hear
this on the new
BMG CD release.
By Marcia Borie
Top of Page
|
