“You are my life, my pride, my joy”

-Lyrics to My Boy, 1973

With Priscilla being eight months pregnant, Elvis remains in Memphis awaiting the arrival of their baby. He only travels to Nashville January 15^th to record Too Much Monkey Business and U.S. Male. On February 1^st, Priscilla goes into labor. Charlie Hodge, a longtime friend of Elvis, drives Priscilla and Elvis to Baptist Memorial. Arriving at 10:30am, the family spends the day waiting on the birth. At 5:01pm, Priscilla finally gives birth to a baby girl who they name Lisa Marie. She weighs six pounds fourteen ounces and is fifteen inches long. Both mother and daughter are healthy. Priscilla and Lisa Marie travel to Graceland four days later by limo.

Too Much Monkey Business

After a little break with the birth of his daughter, Elvis travels to Los Angeles February 25^th to begin filming Live A Little, Love A Little. A few days later Priscilla, Lisa Marie, and Joe Esposito travel to be with Elvis. Stay Away, Joe opens March 8^th and has horrible reviews, but the fans love it nonetheless. With the failure of this last film, Elvis heads into the studio to begin filming Live A Little, Love A Little.  By the end of the month, How Great Thou Art reaches gold and is Elvis’s 42 gold record.

April 6^th, Elvis and Priscilla travel to Las Vegas and watch Tom Jones’s act at the Flamingo. They end up hanging out in Jones’ suite after the show. After a fun-filled night, Elvis and Priscilla head back to Los Angeles so Elvis can continue shooting the next day. May 24^th, filming for Live A Little, Love A Little is complete and the gang heads to Hawaii to relax after the past few months of excitement. They return to Los Angeles in June to discuss plans for an upcoming television special titled Elvis. This would be his first live audience performance in over ten years.

June 12^th, Speedway premiered and has better than normal reviews. Nerves are high as Elvis goes into his final dress rehearsal for the television special June 21^st. Taping begins June 27^th with the completion on June 30^th. After the success of the completion, Elvis and the gang head out to Palm Springs to take a break and celebrate. After a much-needed break, Elvis heads back to Los Angeles to begin filming for his next film Charro! The cast travels to Arizona on July 22^nd to complete the on-location filming. The completion of filming will not conclude until early September.

A Little Less Conversation

By September, Elvis is beginning to have issues with his throat. He had the same issues in Germany. Once the film had been completed, he returns to Palm Springs for rest. There was a mass freak out when the Presley’s received a phone call on two separate occasions claiming Elvis had been killed in a plane crash. He had not been in a plane crash and was just fine. RCA released the single A Little Less Conversation from Live A Little, Love A Little on September 15^th. Finally, he returns to Graceland on September 25^th after being gone for eight months.

Only spending a few weeks at home, Elvis returns to Los Angeles October 13^th to begin shooting The Trouble With Girls. two days later, RCA released the single If I Can Dream from his television special and Edge Of Reality from Live A Little, Love A Little. The film Live A Little, Love A Little opens October 23^rd and the reviews are pretty bad. Elvis pushes on and begins filming for The Trouble With Girls. If I Can Dream makes its way onto the charts, but shockingly never goes any higher than #12. This is the highest any Elvis song has gotten since 1965.

If I Can Dream

https://youtu.be/iwqbuus8QPU

The television special is aired on December 3^rd and the ratings are amazing. Elvis is happy and is finally able to move past the horrible movies he had been making for the past nine years. Elvis and his family arrive at Graceland on December 19^th, just in time for the holidays. Elvis the LP from his television special hits the charts December 21^st and remains there for 32 weeks and gets as high as #8. This is a much needed Christmas present for Elvis. With this year being Lisa Marie’s first Christmas, Elvis goes all out. Vernon even dresses like Santa for his granddaughter. With the success of the television special, Elvis is ready to make music once again and back away from movies. 1969 does not disappoint.

TCB,

Little Sister