Elvis Presley, the King of rock and roll, made a secret appearance at a screening of his movie to mock himself. During his two years of military service, the “Jailhouse Rock” singer was friends with fellow singer Johnny Lang. According to aceshowbiz.com, the 88-year-old veteran recalls his “funny as heck” friend hurling insults at the screen while watching his 1958 musical “King Creole”.
“People don’t realize how funny he was,” Johnny told America’s Closer magazine. “Elvis yelled out, ‘This guy can’t act! He can’t even sing! I can’t believe he’s on screen.’ Somebody shouted, ‘Would you mind shutting up?’ Nobody knew it was him.”
Johnny, author of the memoir “My Army Days with Elvis: Friendship, Football and Follies,” quickly developed a close friendship with the “Blue Suede Shoes” hitmaker. They spent their weekends off base at Elvis’ house and bonded over games of football.
“We’d play football every Sunday. Elvis would come out and sign autographs for fans, and then we’d go play,” Johnny recalled. “I’ve never seen a guy who treated everybody with so much respect. He said, ‘God gave me the talent, but without these fans, I wouldn’t have what I have today’.”
Elvis valued Johnny’s friendship because he knew it wasn’t based solely on his fame. Johnny asked him why they were friends, to which Elvis responded, “You’d like me if I was a janitor – and thank God I’m not – but that’s why you and I are friends.” Loyalty was essential to Elvis, as Johnny explained, “If you didn’t have any loyalty, you weren’t in the group.”
The day before Johnny returned home, he visited Elvis for the last time. Despite being invited to see Elvis perform in Las Vegas, they never saw each other again. Johnny admitted, “I cried like a baby when I heard he died.”