A lifelong friend to Elvis. They went to Humes High School together. They weren’t really friends, although Klein was aware of him (everyone was aware of Elvis. He wore pink suits to high school.) Klein went into radio right after high school and became a DJ. Their friendship launched once Elvis “hit”, and their paths crossed because of their respective careers, both in the process of exploding.
Up until almost the very end of his life, Klein hosted a Friday show on Sirius Radio playing Elvis songs and telling stories about Elvis, their friendship, the times they had. Klein was interesting because he wasn’t a Memphis Mafia “entourage” person. Their friendship was separate. He didn’t need Elvis for anything. He wasn’t on Elvis’ payroll. Klein had a very good very busy career all on his own. The man had a 60-year career in broadcasting. He was inducted into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame in 2013.
Elvis was best man at Klein’s wedding (hence the title of his book: My Best Man: Radio Days, Rock ‘n’ Roll Nights, and My Lifelong Friendship with Elvis Presley
There’s a very memorable story in the book about him sleeping over at Elvis’ house for the first time. This was the house on Audobon Drive (the house before Graceland, the first house Elvis owned, that the Presley family in general had ever owned. They moved into it from a public housing project.) At this point, Elvis and George were 20, 21 years old. They didn’t know each other all that well yet. Klein was in awe of what happened with his old classmate: that shy stuttering pimply classmate was now famous and sexy and notorious.
Klein was deferential towards Elvis, happy to be invited over, almost like he couldn’t believe his luck. Eventually the scales would balance out into an equal friendship, and what happened on this sleepover is part of why George becmae such a trusted friend.
Klein made a move to sleep on the floor and Elvis was like, “Oh come on, just get in bed with me”. They slept in the same bed (the image of this …) As they lay there, trying to fall asleep, Klein became aware of small knocks on the window, and murmuring whispering sounds outside. Raccoons? A bear? What the hell. Elvis knew what it was. It was hungry horny girls, who had tracked Elvis down, and were literally scratching on the walls of the house. !!!! Klein was freaked, but all Elvis said was, “This is why I have to move.” hahahaha.
Finally, they went to sleep. Klein described what happened next:
I woke up with a start and realized there was somebody standing in the bedroom. I bolted up in bed and reached over to wake up Elvis, but his side of the bed was empty. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I realized that the figure standing in the bedroom shadows was Elvis.
‘Elvis? You okay?’
He mumbled something and shuffled around the room a little bit. Elvis was walking in his sleep. Earlier in the night, Mrs. Presley had pulled me aside and said that if I was going to stay over, I should be aware that Elvis often walked in his sleep. She’d given me some tips on how to talk gently to him to get him back in bed, so that’s what I did now.
‘Elvis, why don’t you come back to sleep,’ I said softly.
‘Huh?’
‘Come back to sleep, Elvis.’
He mumbled something else and shuffled away from the bed. I started to get a little more concerned. I stood up, but I didn’t get so close as to startle him. He kept talking, like he was lost in thought trying to work something out. And I kept gently asking him to come back to bed. Finally, after a few nervous minutes on my part, he simply walked to the bed and, without any fuss, climbed in and was out like a light. As for me, I was thrilled to be in Elvis’ home, but my first night there, I didn’t sleep too well.
In the morning Elvis didn’t say anything about his nightwalking and I didn’t either. It was still early in his career, and early in our friendship, but already I knew that he was a guy with a deep personal pride, and I knew this was the kind of thing that was more likely to embarrass him than be something he’d enjoy kidding around about. He took a lot of knocks from the press and the mainstream public in his early days, and when he let somebody into his world on a personal level, he did it with a great sense of trust. I wasn’t going to do anything to make him think that trusting me was a mistake.
Klein kept that promise.
He was one of Elvis’ pallbearers. True inner circle (and it was a very small circle).
There are only a couple of “I knew Elvis” books that I recommend: June Juanico’s Elvis: In the Twilight of Memory
Rest in peace, George Klein. And thank you for everything! He devoted himself to keeping the Elvis flame alive. Not the gossip and the scandals, but the music and the man.
