"The Wives' Perspective" was the theme of the talk. But since the talk was part of this year's "Elvis Week" activities at Graceland, it was perhaps inevitable that these wives would at times express as much enthusiasm for the King of Rock 'n' Roll as for their own husbands.
"He really was a beautiful man — just gorgeous," marveled Donna Tutt, who was a 19-year-old stewardess who had exchanged Elvis for the Beatles when her soon-to-be-husband, drummer Ronnie Tutt, introduced her to his musical boss in 1972. The impact of the actual Elvis left the lads from Liverpool in the Memphis/Tupelo dust.
"It was almost as if we were all hypnotized," agreed Linda Stone, wife of Elvis tour manager Charles Stone, as she tried to describe the impact of the in-person
Elvis. "I don't think a film or photo can show all that."
Such testimonies to Elvis' charm were presented Aug. 14 to an audience that probably lacked a single skeptic: The 400 or so fans — mostly women — gathered in the TCB Showroom at The Guest House at Graceland for "Inside Elvis' World: The Wives' Perspective," an afternoon panel that passed the microphone (literally) to a trio of women who were "part of that Elvis life," in the words of moderator Tom Brown, a former Turner Classic Movies executive who has become an Elvis Week ambassador, hosting many of the events that fill the nine-day "week" that culminates with the annual Candlelight Vigil, in recognition of the death of Elvis Presley on Aug. 16, 1977.
The "Wives" were Donna Tutt, who was married to Ronnie Tutt — the famed session drummer who played onstage for years with Elvis and then Neil Diamond — from 1973 until Ronnie's death in 2021 at the age of 83; Linda Stone, the wife of Charles Stone, an Elvis tour manager and promoter in the 1970s, who worked closely with "Colonel" Tom Parker, Elvis' manager; and Bonnie Morales, widow of Armond Morales (who died in 2022 at 90), the velvet-voiced bass vocalist in The Imperials, a gospel group that performed and recorded frequently with Presley.
The wives were upbeat and proud of their associations with show business, even as they agreed that the "Elvis life" was notable for irregular hours and long separations from touring husbands.
Morales said her husband and the members of The Imperials would try to go to bed relatively early during their Las Vegas residencies with Elvis, but they often would be awakened in the wee hours by a phone call from Elvis' suite: "They'd say, 'We can't get Elvis to bed, would you guys please come back up and sing?'"
Gospel harmonizing, apparently, was the one thing that would "relax him, to bring him down so he could sleep. That happened many, many times," she said.
Did a grown man require such coddling? Stone said that even in the 1970s Elvis projected a certain innocence and vulnerability that inspired, in those around him, "an urge to protect him and take care of him." Addressing the fans, she added: "I kind of feel that's the way you all do," meaning that she believes that today's fans similarly try to protect Elvis, when they cherish his memory and legacy.
Said Brown: "You're all part of the Elvis story."
John Beifuss is an entertainment writer at The Commercial Appeal. Contact him at john.beifuss@commercialappeal.com.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: 'We were all hypnotized.' Wives of Elvis insiders recall the King
