The Duke and The King

This morning, I received an email about an article on an Army buddy of Elvis Presley that was posted in The Jackson Sun.

It is an interesting read, but what caught my eye was this section concerning Presley's funeral:

While Frankie Lax didn’t realize who his father’s friend was when they hung out, he began to realize the cultural effect Elvis had as an artist when he died. 

“Everybody remembers where they were when they heard Elvis died,” Frankie Lax said.
Frankie was a paper boy for The Sun in 1977 and had just finished his route in Bemis before stopping at Morgan’s Service Station for a grape Nehi. 

“They announced it on the radio while I was in there, and I went home, and Mama told me Daddy said to get cleaned up because we were going to Memphis,” Frankie Lax said.
Frank Lax got home and cleaned up, and they went to Graceland. 

“We got there, and this was maybe three or four hours after news had gotten out that he’d died, and I couldn’t believe the crowd that had gathered outside his gates,” Frankie Lax said. “Elvis’ uncle was his security guy who let people in, and he knew Daddy and waved us in. 

“There were so many people in the house, and Daddy told me to sit down in that first room on that long couch you see when you take the tour. And I sat there, got up and wandered around some, talked with his daughter Lisa Marie. I didn’t know then what I was a part of. I was just a 13-year-old kid sitting in the home of a man who’d died that afternoon.” 

Two days later Frankie Lax returned with his father to Graceland for Elvis’ funeral. He said he didn’t need to be educated to be in awe of the people that day. 

“There were all these celebrities there,” Frankie Lax said. “And to be a 13-year-old boy in the 1970s who grew up watching westerns, it was a big thing for me when I saw John Wayne at the funeral.”

Over the years, I've read conflicting reports about John Wayne being at Presley's funeral. Some said he was there, others said he wasn't. At least now there's a eyewitness confirming he was there.

This got me to wondering if Wayne and Presley ever met. According to Elvis's road manager, Joe Esposito, the two did cross paths several times in the 1960s when Elvis was making movies.

Above, Joe Esposito and Elvis Presley at Memphis Airport in 1974.

According to the Elvis Presley Expert blog:

Joe Esposito claims that Elvis, who admired John Wayne greatly, met John Wayne several times on the studio lot and on one occasion sat down together to share a meal during a break in filming. At one point John Wayne introduced Elvis to his son Patrick Wayne who starred in several of John Wayne’s films. 

It is left up to our imagination what the conversation(s) consisted of. But, one thing is clear and that is that Elvis liked John Wayne and vice versa.

To read more, go here.