Elvis Presley Gave His Friend a Home for the First Time

Elvis Presley’s entourage worked for him, but each of them was also a friend. He’d met some of them as children, meaning they had close relationships. He spent nearly all his time with his entourage and gave them presents whenever possible. Once, Elvis even gave his longtime friend, Jerry Schilling, a home. 

Elvis Presley gave his longtime friend a house

Elvis met Schilling, a key member of his entourage, when they were children. He remained close to Elvis for years, even moving into his Beverly Hills home after his divorce. When Schilling began dating Myrna Smith, one of Elvis’ backup singers, he offered to move into an apartment. He worried about the way Elvis would react to the interracial relationship, but the musician insisted that he stay in the house. Schilling did, but he wanted a home of his own.

Eventually, Schilling moved to purchase the house of television writer Rick Husky but could not afford it. When Elvis learned this, he worked quickly to secure the home for Schilling. He called the writer at three in the morning and told him he was willing to write a check then and there. When everything was settled, he told an emotional Schilling that he wanted to be the first person to give him a real home.

“Jerry, you know why I bought you this home?” he asked at the housewarming, per the book Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick. “I know I drove all those other guys crazy buying you this house, but your mother died when you were a year old, and you never had a home, and I wanted to be the one to give it to you.”

Elvis Presley often gave his friends and entourage gifts

A house is a huge, expensive gift, but Elvis loved to give his entourage lavish presents. When he bought a ranch house for himself and Priscilla Presley, Elvis also bought trailers and trucks so each member of his entourage could stay on the property with him. He also bought horses for all of them and their wives so everyone could ride together.

Priscilla acknowledged that Elvis was a demanding boss, but he was also a generous one. 

“Elvis always came through for them, lending them the one thousand or five thousand or ten thousand dollars they asked for,” she wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “He was rarely if ever paid back. There was also no limit to the expensive gifts he gave them — television consoles for Christmas, bonus checks, Cadillac convertibles, Mercedes-Benzes. If he heard someone was sad or depressed, he loved to surprise them with a gift, usually a brand-new car. When he gave to one, he would usually end up giving to all.”

The musician took it personally when people didn’t like the gifts he gave them 

Elvis loved the way his gifts brightened the days of the recipients. Therefore, he took it personally when someone didn’t like the present he gave them.

“If he could put a smile on someone’s face, that made him the happiest. He loved giving gifts to other people and surprising them with gifts,” his former fiancée Ginger Alden told Smashing Interviews Magazine. “He would get really hurt if you didn’t accept a gift. Maids, housekeepers, nurses … I don’t know how many people have brand new homes and cars. He was so generous to so many. A lot of that came from the fact that he didn’t have a great deal when he was younger, and he thought that would just brighten their lives being able to do that.”