always asked when I would back. One woman asked me when I’d be back, and I told her probably the following year. All she said to me was, “I might be dead by then.” For once in my life I was speechless.
I’ll never forget that one facility I was working for Jerry Samuels. A lot of times I brought my girlfriend with me, which was a big help setting up and helping with directions. Anyways, we were setting up one time, and one of the women yelled out, “He brought his girlfriend!” I didn’t know how to react to that one, I guess she thought she had a chance with me and didn’t want the competition. I guess I should take it as a compliment.
At times, one of my sons would go to the nursing homes with me. We got to one day and got all set up. The administrator came up to me and asked what I was doing. I said, “We are supposed to play here today.” She proceeded to tell me that she did not book us for that day! Then I called Jerry and found out that we were in the wrong place! We packed it all up again and did get to the other place we were supposed to be and did the gig! What a day that was.
Every year, Jerry would ask me if I could work at the Carousel House in Philadelphia. He would try to get all the entertainers from the agency to work there. It was a freebie thing to entertain poor children, disabled children, and all kinds of children in distress. I would do it every chance I could though sometimes I had a previous engagement. One time I was there as the emcee, which turned out to be interesting. Another time they had the mummers there, and we had a nice picture session. All the mummers wanted their pictures with me. The most interesting thing that happened to me at the Carousel House was meeting Donna Summers. What a nice, lovely woman. I asked her how she was doing and what she was doing. She proceeded to tell me that she got out of the recording industry and went into the ministry. I had no idea that she had done that, but I’m sure it was what she wanted. I wished her luck, said goodbye, and that it was nice meeting her.
CHAPTER 7
Getting the Bookings
After I started working for Jerry, I started looking for more agencies. I wanted to go full force with this. It amazed me how many people wanted to be entertained by me. Apparently, I was doing something right, and I was happy to see how I can excite the people who hired me. I found about a half dozen agents, which I never knew existed in New Jersey. I had thought that they were all in New York, Philadelphia, or just in big cities. Soon I was getting booked for a lot of occasions all over New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Thanks to my two sons, Ryan and David, my jobs went very well. They couldn’t be there for all of them, but when they were, I knew I had no worry about how it would all go. They were my two biggest supporters and fans, but they worked hard for me also. It was always a fun thing.
There were places I went that I had never heard of. One place was on a farm in a town called Towanda, Pennsylvania. Interestingly, several weeks after this gig, I was watching an Elvis movie called Loving You. Elvis was performing and behind him was a banner that said “Towanda.” Here I was playing in the same town that Elvis had played in the movie. That was about a four-hour drive from where I lived. I can’t remember how I got that job. The job went great though. They put me up in a motel for the night, fed me, and paid me $500! The farmer also raised snakes. He took me out to the barn to show them to me. He had a bunch of rattlesnakes and asked me if I wanted to hold one, saying they wouldn’t bite unless they think you’re going to hurt them. I said, “No, thanks.” He also had a boa constrictor which was about twenty feet long. He told me that he fed it chickens that didn’t lay eggs (poor chickens); he told me that it would take the snake about a week to eat it. They crush it then swallow it whole. At one time, he told me that he and three friends took it into town and stretched it out on the sidewalk. Imagine walking down the street and seeing a twenty-foot snake! He told me that it took all of them to hold it up. At that point, I decided to leave the barn, considering that the snake weighed over two hundred pounds!
One agent booked me for a job in a big hall for an act that had a fortune teller bringing me back from the dead. At that time, I had a smoke machine, and the effects worked great. The audience went nuts over it! Some of the ladies even threw underwear at me.
Another agent that I worked with out of Philadelphia, Jimmy C. (who by the way, I was not too fond of), booked me for a couple of nice jobs. One of them was at the Philadelphia convention center. That’s where I met a Frank Sinatra and Tina Turner impersonator, who were both very good. This was for a big senior citizen organization. I had a couple of female friends with me. I sang “An American Trilogy.” During the song, I had them stretch a big American flag out behind me. The people loved it so much that I got a standing ovation from a thousand-plus audience.
The most interesting job that Jimmy C. got for me was at Temple University. The theme was “Vegas Night.” We (Jimmy and I) got there kind of early. He told me to put my stuff in a large coatroom which was empty at the time. A blond woman came in and started talking to him. The conversation seemed a little strange to me, so I kind of blew it off. Then the time came to get changed. I was not prepared for what I was about to see. I walked into the coatroom, and there was clothes all over the place and about ten people in the room. The room was full of guys who were female impersonators. It was close a quarter in that room which made me a little antsy. I made the announcement that I had to change, thinking everyone would leave. They didn’t. They just looked at me and said, “So go ahead.”
Modest as I am, I tried to cram myself in a corner and do it as fast as I could, although nobody really cared. Jimmy C. walked in and started talking to the blond again, who had a cigarette in her hand. He started telling her that she was not allowed to smoke in there. They got into an argument, and in the course of their conversation, I realized that this woman was a transvestite! Now, you must realize that I was quite new to all this. She was wearing a netted type top and netted stockings. Curiosity finally got to me from what was being said. At one point, I turned around because she made the comment to look at the work they did. I couldn’t believe my eyes, there was nothing left to the imagination. This was a full-fledged transsexual!
I’ll tell you, you would never have known that was a man at one time. The job went well though, and when we were done, I told Jimmy that was a craziest experience I have ever had.
I did some other jobs for Jimmy but tried to avoid him for the most part. I had to stay on his back to get paid and get the amount he promised. I got to the point I had enough with him!
There was a guy that I met who had an agency called “Zippity Do Dah.” His name was Ange, and he was a great guy to work for although he didn’t get me a lot of work. I’ll never forget one job he got me. I had the deli at the time. He called me up and asked if I would sing to a woman’s boyfriend for his birthday over the phone. He said that he could pay me twenty-five dollars. I said, “Sure, what’s the story?” He told me all I had to do was call the guy on the phone and sing two songs. I waited for the right time and closed the deli for a few minutes, called the guy up, and sang two songs. Elvis never left the building and got paid twenty-five dollars! Too bad I couldn’t do that a few times a week.
Ange also had me do a wedding. Now when I did weddings, I would just arrange things with the DJ and come in as a surprise for the people. I went into the wedding and sang a couple of songs. As I was leaving, I heard the DJ say, “I always wanted to say this…ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.” And I’ll tell you, I have heard it many times since and left many buildings in my time as an Elvis impersonator.
One wedding I did was very interesting. It was set in a park. It was a mock wedding where I had to perform the ceremony. The groom wrote the whole thing and stated all that the wife had to do, like the dishes, the cleaning etc…it was a good time had by all with beer trucks all over the park. No one went home sober except Elvis.
I didn’t realize how popular being an Elvis impersonator was until I was on the computer one night. Someone popped up on my screen and started asking me a lot of questions about what I do and how I do it as Elvis. Finally, I asked who this person was. She turned out to be another agent based in Chicago. She had a national Elvis agency, which eventually went international. Nance has done well for herself.