By 1962, Elvis Presley was about as famous as a young man could get.
What he didn’t have yet was a wife.
And 64 years ago this week, he told America exactly what he was looking for.
On Nov. 4, 1962, Parade ran Elvis’s thoughts on marriage. If you’re too young to remember it, Parade was the magazine that came tucked inside the Sunday paper. So when Elvis opened up in its pages, he was talking to a whole lot of kitchen tables at once.
He was 27 at the time. He’d been born on Jan. 8, 1935, and like plenty of men his age, he was starting to think about settling down.
But he admitted he wasn’t in any rush to pick just anyone.
“Right now I’d like to get married, but the older I get, the more choosy I become,” he said.
That’s an honest thing for a 27-year-old to say, especially one with girls screaming his name everywhere he went. He sounded like a regular guy who’d given it some real thought.
Then he laid out his list.
“To me right now the most desirable characteristics in a girl are a sense of humor, understanding and loyalty.”
Take a second and think about which of those he said was the toughest to come by. Humor? Loyalty? A lot of folks would guess loyalty, since a famous man has to wonder who’s around him for the right reasons.
Elvis picked a different one.
“I’ve dated quite a few girls, and women with those qualities are mighty hard to find, especially understanding.”
Understanding. Out of the three, that’s the one he said was rarest.
It’s a gentle answer, and a pretty grown-up one. He was asking for someone who would really get him.
It makes sense for a man whose life moved as fast as his did. Anyone who wanted to share it with him would need plenty of patience.
We can’t promise you’ll hear him say those exact words on tape. But you can still hear what Elvis sounded like talking to the press that year. This long audio recording comes from an interview in Hollywood on Aug. 17, 1962, and it’s a lovely chance to spend some time with the 27-year-old Elvis in his own voice.
Elvis talking with a reporter in Hollywood in 1962
Settle in for that one. It runs a good while, so save it for when you’ve got a cup of coffee and some quiet.
As for that wish list, Elvis did find his match. About four and a half years after the Parade story, on May 1, 1967, he married Priscilla in Las Vegas.
It’s sweet to look back at that 27-year-old in the Sunday paper, telling the whole country he was getting choosy, and knowing exactly which quality he expected to have the hardest time finding.