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“Charlie plays acoustic guitar, sings harmony with me, gets me a glass of water and hands me the scarves--and he is my friend.” This is the way Elvis described Charlie to us on-stage.
First I’d like to report that Charlie is home and doing fine recovering from triple by-pass surgery on February 4, 2000 following a heart attack. You can send cards and letters too Charlie at: Charlie Hodge Now for the rest of the story. We of course, all remember Charlie as the little guy with the smiling face that gave Elvis his water and scarves, but what was the man really like behind those mountains of scarves? Charlie was born, Charles Franklin Hodge, only a few days before Elvis in 1935. In 1956 Charlie was part of the Foggy River Boys and sang weekly on Red Foley’s Ozark Jubilee, an ABC network show out of Springfield, Missouri. The audience loved the 5’3” Charlie, as he carried an empty Coca-Cola crate on stage with him weekly. Being from Missouri, my parents watched the Ozark Jubilee regularly and I still remember how cute he was bringing out that Coke case, and stepping up on it to reach the microphone. Charlie remembers his first meeting with Elvis, while touring with the Foggy River Boys. He still remembers looking up one night as he was back-stage smoking and saw Elvis an Billy Smith strolling towards him. They walked right up to him and told how they had been watching him on both Red Foleys Ozark Jubilee and the night they won on Arthur Godfrey’s Professional Talent Show. The next time Elvis and Charlie would meet would be in 1958 when the US Army placed them in barracks down the street from each other at Fort Hood. They continued getting to know each other as they were then put on the USS Randall headed for West Germany together. The two built a friendship that would last through the army and continue through Elvis’ untimely death in 1977. Elvis and ‘Charlie can be heard singing together on recordings of “I Will Be Home Again” and “Could I Fall in Love.” Charlie, like the rest of the Memphis Mafia was given names by Elvis. He was affectionately nicknamed “Slewfoot” and Waterhead.” Charlie remained to be an important part of Elvis life for the remainder of his years. He was one of the three witnesses to Elvis’ will. He drove Elvis and Priscilla to Baptist Memorial Hospital the day Lisa Marie was born. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Charlie Hodge in Elvis Presley is owned by . Permission to republish Charlie Hodge in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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