Elvis Presley was an avid film lover. He would frequently rent out his local cinema, the Southbrook Theatre, where he would enjoy the latest movies in empty screening rooms with his Memphis Mafia pals and his family.
Elvis’ step-brother, Billy (the son of Elvis’ father, Vernon Presley, and his second wife, Dee Stanley) previously recalled how the King would go into these cinemas with an expectation of snacks and drinks.
Speaking on Spa Guy’s YouTube channel, Billy explained the unusual rituals Elvis had during these movie screenings.
“He didn’t like sitting on the side,” he said. “Even if it wasn’t that much. He wanted to be dead centre in the middle of the room.”
He went on to discuss the star’s food habits, saying: “When he came in there would be his water, Pepsi, popcorn, [and] Sweetarts.” The latter is a chalky sweet akin to love heart candies.
But it was Elvis’ actions with the Sweetarts that might not sit well with his fans.
READ MORE: Austin Butler made promise to be James Bond years before Elvis role
Billy recalled: “He would take Pepsi and put sweet tarts in it and so when you get finished with it, at the bottom they would be laying there and it’d be really soft, so you don’t have to really chew on them that much.”
Although this horrific sugary mush sounds dreadful, Billy assured fans: “They were good!”
On top of that, Elvis was served peanut butter fingers – one of his favourite snacks – on a silver platter during films.
He even had an ashtray ready and waiting for him so he could smoke cigars during the pictures.
The day before Elvis died he took his daughter Lisa Marie Presley and his girlfriend Ginger Alden to the cinema to watch the recently released Star Wars: A New Hope.
When the Memphis Mafia couldn’t get their hands on this movie, he settled for the iconic James Bond movie starring Roger Moore: The Spy Who Loved Me.
As usual, his friends and family in the Memphis Mafia arranged his snacks and drinks ahead of time so he could arrive and start eating as the movie began. This no doubt included the Sweetart Pepsi mixture Billy spoke about as well.
After the film came to an end, Elvis drove the three of them back to Graceland.
As Elvis was mostly nocturnal in 1977, he stayed up late with Ginger before going to sleep in the late morning.
He was found by Ginger in the bathroom in mid-afternoon. He died, aged 42, on August 16, 1977.
Elvis died of a cardiac arrest brought on by his addiction to prescription barbiturates.”
