Elvis Started to Sign Autographs as His Audience Violently Brawled
Even during some of Elvis Presley’s earliest concerts, audience members practically climbed over one another to get his autograph. The singer captivated audiences and was happy to see the effect he had on them. During one show, he even dodged a violent brawl in order to continue signing autographs for fans.
Elvis continued signing autographs despite his angry audience
During an Elvis show in Texas, a brawl broke out in the audience. What began as a fight between two men suddenly had most of the crowd involved.
“It was like one of those movie scenes that Elvis and I used to do,” his bodyguard Red West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “Just one incredible brawl with tables and bodies flying everywhere. There must have been more than a hundred people beating the hell out of each other.”
As men in the audience brawled, women rushed to the stage to be close to Elvis. West realized the situation had spiraled completely out of control and tried to get Elvis out of the venue. Elvis ignored him and tried to sign autographs for the eager fans who weren’t fighting.
“Elvis wasn’t taking any notice of me,” West said. “He’s now starting to sign autographs, and I figure any moment someone is going to get to him. He was encircled by gals. I grab through the circle of women and grab hold of him. When we get out in the open, the fight has now spilled out there. Man, it was one full acre of guys fighting, guys getting their heads splattered with beer bottles. Blood everywhere.”
Elvis’ focus on signing autographs showed his excitement at performing
West initially found the whole experience horrifying. He wanted to protect Elvis, and both the crowd and Elvis himself made this difficult.
“I got Elvis to the car,” he said, “and I took off like a bomb.”
Elvis, on the other hand, found the concert thrilling. He realized that he had the power to rile up audiences. He also had enough charisma as a performer to have people lined up for his autograph in the middle of a brawl.
“As we sped away, Elvis was laughing like a madman,” West said. “He had never turned a crowd on like that before, and he loved it. He was laughing, and then I started to laugh, too. There was a civil war back there.”
Red West recalled the first time Elvis seemed excited to perform
Elvis had gotten a rush from performing since before he was famous. Though he got nervous before performances, he liked to see the way he influenced a crowd. He first got a taste for this during a high school talent show. When his classmates and teachers burst into applause, Elvis realized he wanted to be a performer.
“At first Elvis just stood there, surprised as hell,” West said. “He seemed to be amazed that for the first time in his life someone, other than his family, really liked him. I’ll never really know when Elvis got bitten by the bug of loving the applause of the audience, but my guess is that it happened right then in Humes High School. At last, it seemed, he had found a way to make outsiders love him.”
