Mama had a thing for Elvis

My mother was born in Asia Minor and moved to Paris after the catastrophe.

She lived in Paris for about 5 or 6 years, before she married my father and moved to the States.

Pop was from the same village and had gone to the States; he went to Paris to marry Mama.

She was a seamstress in Paris and was rather elegant and arty, making great clothes; she made all our outfits when my sisters and I were kids. She was creative in everything she did, from cooking to sewing to being very modern and allowing me to go to Art school and not insisting on me being a lawyer or a doctor as most Greek parents would.

I am just trying to set her up to try and maybe explain her infatuation with Elvis Presley.

I am not aware of her liking Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra or even Johnny Cash.

Elvis was something else. For some reason he was adored by Mama.

Our store on Surf Ave. was next door to the Tilyou movie theater, Mama went often to the movies but she wasn’t a great fan unless it was an Elvis movie. She would not miss one; she even took my future wife to see one, one of his Hawaiian ones, in the early 60s. Mama told Jeannine she loved Elvis because he bought his Mother a house. He was a good boy.

I wonder if that was the real reason and not his hip moves or his suits?

I would like to know who Pop had a thing for, Jane Russell, Marylyn Monroe

or some exotic Turkish Dancer?