The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 5

10 THE TENNESSEAN, Thursday, August 18, 1977 Jill flrx' x'i mm jflUrjr VfeiSs 'v; Staff photo by Nac)f WarMck Mourner Overcome by Heat MEMPHIS An exhausted I Presley's Graceland mansion, .1 chance to view the entertainer Elvis Fans Tumultuous Scene 8r7s? Papers Headline Legend's Death LONDON British national dailies banner Elvis' death. Presley Death Saddens Admirers Around World heat and confusion to a first aid In Aftermath Of Elvis' Death: (Continued From Page One) announced the singer's death over the police radio Tuesday afternoon. Several Denver policemen had been recipients of Presley's generosity. While vacationing in Vail in January 1976, the singer, invited Capt. C.J.

Kennedy to spend some time with him. While in Vail, Presley bought Kennedy a $13,000 Lincoln Continental Mark IV. That started a buying spree in which the millionaire singer gave cars to two of Kennedy's subordinate officers and one of the policeman's friends. HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)-Near the "Elvis Presley Refunds" booth at the Hartford Civic Center yesterday was an active market in tickets for a canceled concert by a man who had died.

Although- the management offered refunds for a concert which Elvis Presley was to have given Sunday, many people were apparently keeping their tickets as souvenirs. Those who showed up to claim refunds found eager customers near the box office. A ticket-taker at the box office, James Sanchez, said few of the 11,000 tickets were actually being returned for refund. For some it was love, for others an investment. "WE GREW UP in the same era, the '50s.

The man was part of my life," said Eddie Arnold of Springfield, who bought two $10 tickets from a man returning his purchase to the ticket office. He said he would frame them. He said he saw many Presley concerts in the '50s, and he too had been a "greaser" with slicked-back hair. But Lamonte Stewart of Enfield said the $10 ticket he bought from another person waiting for a refund "is strictly an investment." UPI Telephoto rhythm-and-blues, His violence shook the 15- to 18-year-olds of the era. Supercharged, in revolt, they broke loose accordingly; today they are 40 years old, they have grown A Dutch newspaper wrote: "He twisted, he shouted, he panted and sweated.

At last there was somebody who smashed down the hammer and yelled out to the older generation: you made a mess of it, now it's our turn." Presley's death made front pages, often with photos and Banner headlines like The King isDead, in Switzerland, Israel, Mexico, Brazil, Denmark and Belgium. Communist party organs in France and Italy noted Presley's death with little comment. IN THE Soviet Union, where Elvis music was disapproved by the state but smuggled records and tapes were everywhere, the government newspaper Izvestia wrote: ''Enterprising businessmen transformed Presley into the 'idol of rock 'n' putting his talent and renown to work in the service of profits." Three weeks earlier, a commentary in the Literary Ga-' zette called Elvis an example of American exploitation. After a period of popularity, it said he had been "mercilessly tossed onto the scrap heap of those who have gone out of fashion." where thousands gathered for a body. Create some man.

Most strikingly, he seemed finally at peace, something that apparently had eluded him in life. PEOPLE CAME away from the experience shaken, many supporting one another during the long walk away from the, mansion. Only a small fraction of the crowd ever got near the mansion before the gates were closed at 6:30 p.m. At that, the house had been open 90 minutes longer than originally intended. Some of those who did get inside carried away with them leaves they picked up from the grounds as souvenirs, or they clutched wilted flowers they had forgotten to leave as, tokens of their affection.

"I don't believe this is really" happening," said one stunned', fan. i "It's just impossible to be-; lieve he's really gone," said another. "I've loved him my whole life. He's a part of my life like my brother. He can't be gone." MANY WERE outraged by the scene outside the gate, where the crush of the crowd prevented those who had already viewed the body from leaving.

"These people are maniacs," one fan said. "Don't they have any respect? This is horible! I loved Elvis for 20 years, and I didn't even get a chance to see him because I was pushed out of the wway; Elvis would just be sickened by' the whole thing." I Many retreated to grocery stores across the street or joined long lines at fast-food chains. Soft drinks were at a premium, food almost nonexistent. Some just sat at tables in dazed silence. A rack of Elvis songbooks and picture books was nearly sold out within an hour, and nickel postcards of Graceland were selling rapidly at $1.50.

Traffic along Elvis Presley Boulevard, mostly six lanes, was at a standstill and the local exits from the interstate were blocked off. Staff photot bf Nancy WariMck volunteer carries a victim of the station inside the gates of Elvis Bhnton invited Gov. Ray Blanton has been invited to attend funeral services for Elvis Presley at 1:30 p.m. today at Graceland mansion in Memphis, where he will also visit with Presley's family. The governor, in Presley's memory, has ordered all state flags flown at half-staff through today.

Blanton sent a telegram to Presley's father, Vernon Presley, yesterday expressing condolences. The telegram said, "Elvis set the pace for two decades of Americans changing not only our music but the style of our lives. "He was a great humanitarian who sought no recognition for his generosity. As Tennes-seans, we are proud of his accomplishments and mourn his tragic death." "I wouldn't have gotten in line to see him perform. I wouldn't buy any of his records," Stewart said.

LONQVIEW, Wash. (AP)-When Lynda Mathers, 30, heard that Elvis Presley had died, she went home and told her husband, "Honey, now you're No. 1." Mrs. Mathers and her two sisters were among about 200 fang who crowded into a hotel lounge here Tuesday night for what was to have been a week-long "Tribute to Elvis" engagement by entertainer Johnny Rusk. Instead, the show became a memorial for the man whose voice had accompanied thousands of sock hops, teenage crushes, breakups and adolescent longings.

Dressed in a white jumpsuit with gold belt, but looking thinner than Elvis, Rusk pranced onto the stage of the New Monticello Hotel and told his audience: "It's difficult to do a show on this day. But he always said he wanted to bring a lot of happiness to people. We know there is only one Elvis." Mansion and (Continued From Page One) impressive than one would expect the home of a "king" to be a graceful stone colonial building with four white pillars in front, shuttered windows on each of the two floors and elaborate iron grill work designed, presumably, to insure the seclusion that had been so important to Elvis in his last years. To the right of the house the turquoise sparkle of a swimming pool seemed oddly festive for the occasion. Armed guards lined the path to the house, checking visitors to make sure no cameras were taken into the premises.

A blue golf cart with "Lisa" (the name of the Presleys' daughter) painted on the side, and "I'm an Elvis fan" sticker on the rear, toured the grounds with a policeman at the wheel. Surrounding the portico in front of the mansion were dozens of flower arrangements from family friends and fans. Some of the more elaborate bore inscriptions such as "Elvis the King," "Elvis, We Love You" or "Now and Forever, Love," while an occasional single red rose added a simple counterpoint. WHEN THE public was admitted through the gates in small groups, the people walked rapidly to the mansion, some with nervous apprehension, some weeping openly, and some in what seemed to be dumbstruck grief. Inside the house they were Kermitted to glimpse Presley's ody for a few seconds where he lay in the hallway draped in red velvet, his coffin lined with white satin.

He was surrounded by nearly 20 protective friends and guards. The plush red carpeting had been covered with white sheeting to protect it from the horde of visitors. Presley's hair seemed a bit darker than many remember. He appeared definitely heavier than in his prime as America's rock 'n roll idol, but he was still undeniably a hand By The Associated Press Britain's favorite disc jockey called the death of Elvis Presley "a global disaster" yesterday. Weeping fans of the rock 'n roll king besieged European record stores to buy vintage Presley albums and his hits once again jammed the airwaves From Peru to Israel.

"Elvis was one of the few people in the world who actually did nothing but bring pleasure into the lives of people," said nationally known British deejay Jimmy Savile in Leeds, England. THE BRITISH Presley Fan Club said its 21st annual convention would go on this weekend, but an organizer said members would not watch two Elvis films as planned. "I don't believe anybody could bear to see them now," said Caroline Zetland. "I think there will be a memorial service instead. We are buying black arm bands." On Paris' Champs Elysees, a record store clerk said a woman in her 30s the Elvis generation was waiting at the door when the store opened yesterday morning, only hours after the singer died.

"SHE BOLTED right in when we opened the door and bought two albums, with tears in her eyes," the sales clerk said. A cashier estimated she Htm A ill Mt 'i tv it i IM A 1 1 A iSV 1 MEMPHIS A crowd rang up $1,000 worth of Elvis records by late afternoon, including a $140 sale to another woman in her 30s. "It is as if I had lost my brother. I cried all night," said Francoise Geysen, head of the Presley club in Brussels, where fans wept outside record stores. Disc jockeys broke into their normal programming in several European countries and Israel to announce the death.

Special memorial programs were broadcast yesterday and more were scheduled for later in the week. SPANISH GOVERNMENT television devoted two minutes of its early evening newscast to Presley, over a background of his ballad Are You Lonesome Tonight. Another Presley hit, Heartbreak Hotel, kicked off the day on a major West German radio network. While broadcast stations played the tunes that made Presley famous, newspapers were analyzing the sociological roots of that fame. "He woke up America of the '50s, but 20 years later the silent majority reclaimed him," said the influential Paris newspaper he Monde in a front-page tribute entitled The Demon of Rock.

"ELVIS PRESLEY at 19 surged with a very hard, savage and therefore subversive music, made up of country, ri I i ft in I pushes toward the gates of Fans I IotJ tranr Vv.t raimttffl Hlll Press for Chance To Enter Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion, left, to see the singer's body. Grieving fans leave the mansion ofter viewing the body, right..