This hand-lettered invitation came in the mail. It read:
Mr. Alexander J. Burke, Jr.
President
McGraw-Hill Book Company
cordially invites
to attend a luncheon
on Tuesday, the fourteenth of November
at half after twelve o’clock
in honour of
ELVIS:
Based on the Recollections of
Lamar Fike and the American People
by Albert Goldman
The Luncheon: Based on the recollections of some of the guests at the luncheon:
R. Couri Hay, celebrity columnist for the National Enquirer and star and producer of his own celebrity-interview show on Channel C, local cable-TV station: “The invitation was first-class. All the important media people were there. The narrated slide show of Elvis was outrageous. I just couldn’t believe the dialogue. The lunch, I am sure, was very good. I couldn’t stay. I had to get ready to leave for the Coast. And ever since I’ve been on TV I haven’t been able to eat. I only wish I could have stayed, but I’ve got to rush off to the Coast.”
Milton Glaser, illustrator and graphic designer: “We should get a rebate on the avocado crepe with Louisiana crayfish, but I thought the tournedos of beef was wonderful and the julienne autumn vegetables superb.”
James McMullan, the illustrator: “It was very good, and I really appreciated the slides. This is my strongest impression of it: the focus wasn’t on the book to come but on Elvis.”
Anthony Delano, chief United States correspondent for the London Daily Mirror: “One has to be grateful for what it wasn’t. It was not melon, dried-up filet mignon, sloppy potatoes. They served a decent fourth-growth claret, and that alone was enough to distinguish it from a regular luncheon.”
Alexander Burke, president of the McGraw-Hill Book Company: “It was a luncheon where we had a lot of fine people that we asked to come. I thought the people were better than the food.”
A girl who wouldn’t tell anything about herself: “Did you know that they’ve just begun to write the book? What if the
author dies? Or Lamar Fike? Or the American people? Anyway, someone said that the book was to set the record straight, because Elvis Presley was a cultural institution and embodied the spirit of his age. Someone else said that Elvis Presley was an enigmatic personality. ‘Enigmatic.’ That’s a word I hate completely.”
—November 27, 1978