by PL

Just a few comments on these two paragraphs from Billy Stanley’s 1989 book:

First, we have another example of this ridiculous “If Linda…” nonsense, in this case Stanley saying that Linda Thompson would have been “alert” and would not have slept until Elvis slept. So, what we are to understand here is that no female in Elvis’s company was ever “allowed” to sleep unless Elvis was already asleep, lest they be tagged as irresponsible, young, naive, unaware, or whatever (all these words used in the pejorative, of course)? The question of sleep is really all-encompassing: Elvis gives you a narcotic and then sits in bed with a book…and you have to stay awake? Elvis goes to another room to read…and you have to stay awake? Elvis does anything in any other room of the house…and you have to stay awake? Do these people think that health emergencies and sudden deaths do not occur when people are sleeping? Was sleep Elvis’s only protector, that if he was asleep nothing would befall him, and thus his female companion could also get some sleep? Really, who comes up with this stuff?

What if Elvis was asleep and his companion was also asleep? Who’s responsible for Elvis then?

According to Stanley’s wording here, if Elvis had died in his sleep, while his female companion was also asleep, then everyone would have said, “Why didn’t you do something? Why were you sleeping?” Right? If Elvis required literal babysitting 24 hours a day, while awake and while asleep, then no one could sleep in his presence. This is what we are being told. The risk of a sudden death was theoretically the same whether he was asleep or awake. Ginger (or anyone) going to sleep only after Elvis was asleep is an absolutely ludicrous notion; he was a ticking time bomb and could die, or face a medical emergency, any time of the day or night, asleep or awake. They didn’t realize this?

Or did they realize this, but they needed someone to blame?

If Elvis was asleep and his female companion was also asleep, who could have been “on duty” to check on Elvis? Any guesses? (We’ll leave “he could find no one else available” for another time.)

Finally, on the sleep issue, Stanley writes, “As soon as Elvis left her side she went to sleep.” This is wrong, how? What was she supposed to do, lay there in bed, staying awake, while Elvis went into the bathroom to read? Are you serious?

Second, Stanley writes that Ginger “was a kid really,” and she was not “fully aware of the dangers.” In this one statement, he is, in fact, exonerating Ginger from any and all responsibility for Elvis’s care, isn’t he…? Ginger was not aware of the dangers so she’s off the hook…right…? So says Billy Stanley. But there is a far more important point to be made here, and that is the way the word “danger” is used. Here we have a grown adult male with a known prescription drug addiction, and Billy Stanley, while not employed by Elvis but certainly still aware of the situation, refers to “the dangers” inherent (due to the addiction) in being with/around this man. But what about all the people who say Elvis was fine, no drug problem, nothing to see here, folks…? Were they aware of “the dangers”? Of course they were. Billy Stanley is saying Ginger was not aware of these dangers, and by implication, everyone else was aware of these dangers. And yet they did nothing.

He is also saying his brothers were aware of the dangers.

How many of us have been warned of “the dangers” of being around someone? Probably none. If a friend said to you, “Fred is a great guy, but you should be aware of the dangers being around him,” you’d probably think twice before hanging around with Fred, right?

As I have said before, it is fascinating that this large group of people was aware of these dangers (overdose, accident, injury, firearm mishap, vehicle accident, etc.) and yet it appears that almost no one in Elvis’s immediate circle had medical training. And then on Elvis’s last day, when he needed someone around who was “aware of the dangers,” no one showed up. Why was that day any different?

To close, now we have drug storage in the refrigerator?