Anyone who has fed a toddler knows the drill. You put a nice healthy plate in front of them and turn around for one second. Half of it is on their face.
It turns out the King of Rock n’ Roll went through the same thing.
Lisa Marie Presley was born on Feb 1, 1968. She was the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. Years later, in 1985, Priscilla told the story of their life together in her memoir “Elvis and Me,” which she wrote with Sandra Harmon. Tucked inside its pages is a funny little scene from Lisa Marie’s toddler days.
Before we get to the dinner table, meet the little girl at the center of this story in this real 8mm home movie of baby Lisa Marie at Graceland.
Home movie footage of baby Lisa Marie at Graceland
Now to supper.
Lisa Marie had her own spot at the family dinner table, right between her mom and her dad. Most parents would recognize what happened next. One food on her plate became her favorite toy.
It was spinach.
Here’s how Priscilla described it in “Elvis and Me,” word for word:
“She would sit between Elvis and me at the dinner table, squeezing spinach through her hands and smearing it on her face. Elvis tried to convince himself that he found all this adorable, but the fact of the matter was that he was finicky about his food. With a good-natured laugh he would excuse himself, telling the maid, “We’ll be eating in the den. Lisa will join us after she’s finished playing with her meal.””
So there you have it. The man who could hold a whole arena in his hand couldn’t quite sit through a toddler mashing greens across her cheeks.
What makes the story so sweet is how gently he handled it. He laughed, excused himself and took dinner to the den, leaving his little girl to finish her messy masterpiece in peace. Then she’d come and find them when she was done.
It’s hard to blame him. And it’s hard not to smile at the picture of Elvis working so hard to find green fingerprints adorable.
If you want to see why he gave her so much room, watch Priscilla hold her baby girl in this short real clip from 1968, when Lisa Marie was just under seven months old.
Priscilla holding baby Lisa Marie in 1968
Priscilla’s memoir has other warm glimpses from those same years. She writes that she started taking little Lisa to parks and afternoon parties, and to swimming lessons as well.
And when Elvis was away working, Priscilla made sure he didn’t miss a thing. She kept mailing him regular care packages of pictures and home movies of Lisa growing up. Some of them held something even more personal, in Priscilla’s words, “including tape recordings of me teaching Lisa new words and Lisa mimicking me.”
It’s easy to imagine Elvis on the road, listening to his daughter try out new words in that tiny voice.