“Jailhouse Rock”

Private Presley traveled by train to New York and boarded a ship for West Germany. In New York, there was a press conference with the Colonel in attendance. A band played “Tutti Frutti'’ as Elvis walked up the ship's gangplank.

Elvis's records sold well in Germany, and there was a crowd waiting for him when he landed. There was a three-day open house for the press at his post, but then the press left him alone, on army orders. Elvis was a scout jeep driver. He lived off base with Vernon and Grandma Minnie Mae in a house that had a sign posted: “Autographs Between 7:30 and 8:30 PM.”

Elvis worried that his fans would forget him, but the Colonel worked to ensure Elvis's popularity. Elvis got as many as 10,000 fan letters a week. RCA worried that there wasn't enough material to last throughout Elvis's army stay, even though they were releasing the already-recorded singles slowly. There were no Elvis Presley songs on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in 1959, for the first time in almost three years. The company repackaged old material. The Colonel announced that the first movie Elvis would make when he got out of the army would be G.I. Blues, based on his experiences in the army.