Few industries can thrill you one second and humble you the next quite like the music business—a tough lesson Mac Davis learned the hard way while enjoying a movie night with the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis Presley, at the Memphian Movie Theater in the early 1970s. During a 2013 appearance on The Music Row Show, Davis recalled receiving the invitation to watch a movie with Elvis and his then-girlfriend, Linda Thompson, after a show.
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“I’d heard, you know, all my life about these theatre things,” Davis said. “He would rent the whole theater, and you have free popcorn and beer. You know, I [couldn’t] believe it. It’s Elvis. I’m going to sit with him. I had met him, you know. I met him before that. But I’d never really, you know, gotten to go out and boogie with Elvis. I mean, this is cool.”
A Once-In-A-Lifetime Experience With the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll
And indeed, who could blame Davis for feeling like he had made it into the upper echelon of musical greats? Arriving just as the movie started, Davis grabbed his free popcorn and beer, walked down to the aisle where Elvis and his girlfriend were sitting, scooted over a man sitting at the end of the aisle, and plopped down next to Thomson. The trio enjoyed the “silly” movie, cracking jokes about the film.
Despite the luxurious details of the night, like the hand-carved silver tray Elvis used to hold his beer and popcorn while he was out at the movies, Davis said he felt like he was watching a movie with an old pal. “It was just really comfortable,” he said. “I was so happy to be there. I felt like such an important guy.”
Davis was, understandably, on Cloud 9…until a member of the Memphis Mafia confronted him in the bathroom. According to Mac Davis, he was finishing up in the men’s room when a man walked in and confronted him about where he was sitting in the theatre. As it turns out, it was the same man whom Davis scooted over to get to his seat in the first place.
The man told Davis that he wasn’t allowed to sit in the same row as Elvis. When Davis asked if Elvis had told him to say that, the man said no, but repeated that it was a rule and that he was telling him in the bathroom so as not to embarrass Davis. “I said, ‘You’ve embarrassed me. You have totally insulted me.’ And I got really, really incensed about the whole thing.”
Why Mac Davis Was “Incensed” at the End of His Movie Night With Elvis Presley
For whatever it’s worth, Mac Davis was no charity case that Elvis Presley pulled out of thin air. He was a prolific songwriter and the creative mind behind several tracks that proved to be major hits for Elvis, including “In the Ghetto” and “A Little Less Conversation”. Elvis might have been the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, but Davis was one of many songwriters who helped Elvis hold on to that title.
Elvis could tell that something was wrong with Davis when he got out of the bathroom. The “Blue Suede Shoes” singer tried to get Davis to disclose who told him about the “rule,” but Davis wouldn’t give up his name. “I just said, ‘You know, you just don’t understand what goes on around you. I don’t think you have any idea what goes on around you when you’re not looking.”
To Elvis’ credit, he tried his best to make things right with Davis before the songwriter left. When Elvis asked Davis what he could do to make things right, Davis asked for Elvis’ home phone number—the private line. Members of his Memphis Mafia bristled at the request, but Elvis insisted. Davis said he never called the rock icon at home. It was just his way of proving that if he was worthy of Elvis’ private line, then he was certainly worthy of the movie theatre of his choice, shared aisles or otherwise.
Photo by FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images
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