D. Edward Stanley Transcript

March 15, 2008

Announcer: You’ve been listening to Sound Authors, where authors sound off. If you’d like more information about Sound authors and Dr. Kent’s guests, visit soundauthors.com. Now, back to Dr. Kent and friends.Dr.

Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to Sound Authors. D. Edward Stanley was only 16 when he started to work for the King, Elvis Presley. He has a movie called Protecting the King released in 2007. Welcome to the show.

D. Edward Stanley: Thank you for having me.

Kent Gustavson: Tell me a little bit about your film.

D. Edward Stanley: Protecting the King is about my life with Elvis Presley when I’m 16 years old. At 16, I dropped out of school in the 9th grade and went to work for Elvis as a personal aide, and later a bodyguard, and the film covers from 72 to 77 about my life as the youngest bodyguard in rock ‘n’ roll history, and how I tried to protect the King from everyone, but ultimately the King himself.

Kent Gustavson: Now, are you a big guy? How did you protect him at age 16?

D. Edward Stanley: Well, when you carry a 9mm and a second-degree black belt in karate, you feel like you can take on anybody. I’m kind of a big guy, I’m about 6′3″ and weigh about 280. Always been a big kind of tough, salty kid. I didn’t get along in school so well with people and Elvis saw that.I lived at Graceland for 12 years before I even went to work for Elvis. I moved in when I was four years old as a result of my mother marrying Elvis’s divorced father, Vernon Presley. So Vernon was my stepfather, Elvis became my stepbrother. I moved into Graceland at 4, I didn’t know what an Elvis was, a Hound Dog was, I just had a new house, a new big brother.Twelve years later, Elvis said, “Hey, go to work for me. Join the so-called Memphis Mafia.” I was a young salty tough kid, at least I thought I was. And, basically, protecting Elvis was against aggressive fans and people having too much fun and jumping on the stage.But from time to time situations would arise where somebody would take a shot at Elvis. Fortunately, he had bodyguards such as myself and other to protect him from those assailants. But, unfortunately, his self-destructive demise was a element of his own decisions and unfortunately we couldn’t stop that. So, basically, that’s what the film is about.

Kent Gustavson: Did it really crush you when he died?

D. Edward Stanley: Sure it did. I knew Elvis not as a rock icon, not as a rock star. I knew Elvis had picked up a four year old kid 17 years earlier and gave me a hug and welcomed me into his family as his brother. So, he was no King to me, he was no icon to me. He was a human being who got involved in a situation that got out of control. He had no accountability, lived in denial. On August 16, 1977 at 42 years old, his decisions ultimately cost him his life.

Kent Gustavson: Now, I know that Elvis had a number of very close relationships. One of them was with the Carter family. He often stopped by down Florida. Did he have a different personality behind closed doors? Was he–

D. Edward Stanley: Well, he was a lot different. Elvis once said that the entertainer’s one thing and the individual’s another. Elvis was a very shy individual. He had a hand-picked group of people around him called the Memphis Mafia, that was what the nickname was. He was very much inward, unless he was on stage, and then he was he completely opposite. That’s where Elvis came out and shone.But, in his life, he got burnt out. Elvis was on top of the world for a long time. In ‘68 he came back, ‘69 he started doing live concerts, ‘70 he started touring. And he just burnt out. There was not a whole lot left for him to do. And unfortunately he got involved in prescribed medications in ‘72, ‘73, and that went from use to abuse. And with no challenges and no accountability, it just caught up with him.We see it every day. It’s a train wreck with Britney Spears, look what happened to Heath Ledger. Elvis was no different. He got himself in a situation to where he was just burnt out. Money couldn’t buy it all. Fortune, fame, money, power, prestige wasn’t the end-all, be-all solution. And unfortunately, Elvis mad those decision that, again, cost him his life.

Kent Gustavson: What did he like the best? I know that he and Bill Clinton share that peanut butter and banana sandwich, but what was his greatest joy?

D. Edward Stanley: Well, his greatest joy was music. His greatest joy was singing. That’s what–his gift was to give, one, because he gave away more money than he made, and to sing. To make people happy. He had a god-given gift. He knew where it came from, and he shared that gift with the world.And here we are, thirty years later, the legacy continues as a result of the great entertainer and humanitarian he was. Elvis died a horrific death at a very early age, but it doesn’t take away the greatness that he left and the accomplishments that he achieved in the industry of music and entertainment business and as an American icon. There will never be another Elvis.

Kent Gustavson: Now, did you ever chat with him about music?

D. Edward Stanley: Oh, every day. I grew up with music. My house was full of instruments, and pianos, and guitars and music. Elvis was a gospel–he loved gospel music, he loved ballads. He wasn’t a big Beatles, and Stones, and Zeppelin, and Who fan like I was. That was my generation. He loved music and he loved gospel mostly, sat up all night singing. We used to set around and play music and sing at the piano all night long. That was his life, that was the mainstream of his whole existence.

Kent Gustavson: What did he say about the Beatles, and the Stones, and–

D. Edward Stanley: He didn’t like music that projected a negative ideology. He didn’t like tearing down the establishment. He didn’t like songs that lifted up drug addiction and things that were anti-establishment. In fact, he thought that was one of the biggest moral decays in our country was the influence of this type music in the 60’s that was steering our young people in the direction that he felt that was dangerous.There was some truths there. That generation survived, we barely made it, but lots of us didn’t. Elvis just felt that that kind of abuse of your talent was not necessary. The only communication Elvis had within the structure of his song was a love song and/or gospel. But he didn’t believe anything negative within the structure of music or using your platform to communicate your negative ideologies to what he felt, you know, an impressive America at the time.

Kent Gustavson: Did you ever talk to him about–I know that my own mother, she was born in–well, I’m not supposed to say–but she was a Baby Boomer and she grew up listening to jazz and things like that. Her father was a jazz musician, and he refused to have Elvis in the house. He said that Elvis was the one who was the heretic. What did Elvis think about that? There are a lot of people that said that he broke a lot of–

D. Edward Stanley: Well, yeah, he did. Well, Elvis moved on stage. He did things on stage that kind of freaked everybody out. It was mild compared to what happens today. But, at the time, when you have big band and jazz, and R & B down South, and all of a sudden this guy comes out and starts rattling the cage. It was just different. I don’t think it was his lyric as much as his movement. There’s a lot of difference in Hound Dog and some of the rap music we hear today about killing your parents and your students and your teachers and everything in between. Maybe it was his sexuality as a performer that rattled a lot of people because he was a mover and a shaker on stage.He did create something. He started a rebellion, the black hair slicked back, the clothes, the music, the style, the freedom. He started a fire, he just didn’t know it would burn as much as it has or get out of control, as some would say it has. He started something that we’ll never forget, that’s for certain.

Kent Gustavson: Tell me a little bit about the film itself. It came out last year, and it’s gotten some great reviews. On the New York Times site you got a four and a half rating out of five, how has it been received across the country?

D. Edward Stanley: Protecting the King is sex, drugs and rock and roll. It’s not high collars, sideburns and Graceland. Its a very behind the scenes look at life on the road with the biggest rock icon in the world. Unfortunately, during the last five years of his life, those were the last years that he lived. It takes you back behind those curtains and shows a man whose torn up, who has no challenge, who has no accountability, and a young boy whose trying to protect him.This guy that loves his big brother, but he’s on a self destruct that nobody can stop. Unfortunately, we see those dark days of Elvis and we see the medications intensify, the situations get worse. How it effects David Stanley, myself, my life, what’s going on during all this. It cumulates with me walking in his bathroom on the 16th of August and recreating that fateful day when I discovered his lifeless body on the bathroom floor. It’s a very hard look.I always tell people it’s not your mother’s Elvis. It’s not Blue Hawaii, its very dark. Its very real. Its the story that carries the film because nobody has ever seen anything like it. You go back to the image, the icon on the side of the Disney Tower when you see Mickey Mouse. Hey, there’s Mickey, and everybody has their opinion of Mickey Mouse. Well everybody has their same opinion of Elvis. You even brought it up with the peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Everybody has their cliche, everybody has their look, everybody has the “My Elvis” syndrome.Well, Protecting the King is David Stanley’s Elvis. Seventeen years this guy grew up and lived at Graceland, toured with Elvis and discovered his lifeless body seventeen years after he moved in. This is my Elvis. It’s a very hard look. It doesn’t degrade or put the King down, but it does remind us of the frailties of the human life. Even the King can make decisions that can cost him his life, and therein lies the message of the film. It’s not depressing, its very insightful; and quite entertaining; but very dark, and very survivability. How did David live through this, what did David learn from this?Obviously I’m alive today to tell about it. It’s a very powerful film. The reviews from some of the fans who are die-hard, dyed in the wool Elvis fans; they think Elvis is alive so they don’t like Protecting the King. They don’t like anything that has anything to do with the realities of Elvis Presley. But, mostly, the public has accepted it and world sales are strong and we’re happy with it. We’re happy with our first effort as a film and we believe that it’s continuing to do strong.

Kent Gustavson: My true interest, actually, in Elvis is I love his early, early years. When he was in the rockabilly phase and he was hanging out with Johnny Cash and he was touring and he was a little bit wild. I love those early years.

D. Edward Stanley: Oh yeah, crazy Elvis. Even his crazy compared to now is mellow. Back then it was crazy but now it’s like “Is that it?”

Kent Gustavson: : Normal, yeah. Did he talk about Bill Monroe? Did he talk about all the pioneers that came before him?

D. Edward Stanley: There were no pioneers before Elvis. Elvis started rock and roll. Bill Haley, maybe. Elvis talked about singers. Elvis loved gospel music. He’d sit around and talk about J.D. and the Stamps, and the Caiman. Of course Hank Williams and all those guys were out there, but Elvis, he did something different from all of those guys. He went in there and started wailing on “Blue Suede Shoes” and “That’s All Right Momma” and “Heartbreak Hotel”, this was new stuff.He was influenced by down in Memphis. Sat down on blues street, Bourbon street, just kind of hanging out, playing the guitar with the gang, so to say. The old R and B rhythm thing. He didn’t talk much about others. Mostly gospel. He didn’t talk about rock much. Elvis only rocked in the ’50s. He started mellowing out in the ’60s and ’70s, like you said, his triumphant moments of rock and roll were in the ’50s. He pretty much set the bar for it.

Kent Gustavson: What’s your story? In a tiny little nutshell, I know it’s a horrible thing to ask, what’s happened since then?

D. Edward Stanley: You mean since Elvis died?

Kent Gustavson: For you, yes.

D. Edward Stanley: Well I have owned my company, Impello Films, I’m a filmmaker. I’ve done documentaries for BBC and Discovery Channel and the History Channel. I’ve done stuff for BBC, I’ve written two, three books. One best seller. I’m a corporate trainer, success conditioning speaker, I speak all over the world. Most recently, in the last five years, I’ve started Impello Films. We’ve came out with our first film, this one. Currently working on our next two in the next three years. So I’ve stayed busy.

Kent Gustavson: Why did you wait this long to come out with Protecting the King?

D. Edward Stanley: It was one of those situations where to I was setting down and I was doing production for all these other TV networks or cable companies, I said “Someday, I was going to make this movie.” The time was right, I went out and funded it, made it and put it out and that’s just the way it came out.

Kent Gustavson: What are these next two movies coming up?

D. Edward Stanley: One of them is called “Restoring my Father’s Honor” about a World War II combat veteran that loses his family to a bizarre set of circumstances and the other one’s called “Dachau: A Concentration Camp Story” about a German officer whose wife turns out to be Jewish. Two very powerful movies. Protecting the King was my springboard, kicked me into first base in the “business”.The next two are much bigger films and Impello films is excited about it. D. Edward Stanley, my real name is David Stanley, most people call me David, that’s what I’m doing and that’s what I enjoy doing. I always like to hear the end results, good or bad.

Kent Gustavson: Well its been a real pleasure having you on the show. People can find out about the movie on the web at protectingtheking.com.

D. Edward Stanley: That’s true, correct. They can go on there and read about it and purchase it. Also Best Buy,hollywood.com, Blockbuster and other fine stores. It’s all over the place.