'Florida was his breakout state': New book digs up stories of Elvis Presley's time in the Sunshine State
TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa's Ft. Homer Hesterly Armory – now the Glazer Jewish Community Center – was once a castle for The King.
Bob Kealing, a former TV newsman who set out to see why Elvis saw so much of the Sunshine State, said that it's the only place where he played all four of his tours between May 1955 and August 1956.
"In 15 months, he played 59 live shows here in Florida," said Kealing. "If you took a dart and just threw it at the peninsula, chances are anywhere you would have hit, he would have played somewhere close by."
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Kealing wrote a book called "Elvis Ignited." Like many rockets that blasted off in Florida, so did Elvis. When some here criticized how Elvis used his pelvis on stage, Presley fired back in the press.
"He made a very cogent case for why adults need to lighten up and let kids have their fun," said Kealing.
His book came out at around the same time as the 2022 Elvis movie in which Tom Hanks plays Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’ manager. Kealing said Parker spent some time around Tampa in the 1950s.
"He became the dogcatcher in Hillsborough County, and he started pet cemeteries there," according to Kealing.
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He said Parker’s cemeteries were a scam, but he avoided prosecution. Kealing said Parker also began promoting entertainment in Tampa. He put on a show at the armory that featured Minnie Pearl, a big star among fans of country western music at the time.
Many of the stories in Kealing’s book are from first-hand interviews, like the one he did with "Gentleman" Jim Kirk, who managed an Ocala radio station.
"And I’ll never forget one of the things he told me," said Kealing. Kirk told him "Tom Parker was one unique individual. I often thought when we were having trouble with the Russians, we should have sent him over there."
Later the King would hold court in the Citrus County Courthouse in Inverness. He shot a courtroom scene for the movie "Follow That Dream," which was shot north of the Tampa Bay Area on Florida’s West Coast.
Kealing said Elvis came back to Florida many times.
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"I say that Florida was his breakout state," said Kealing.
The book, "Elvis Ignited" by Kealing, is available on Amazon, and he’s working on another book called "Good Day Sunshine State." It’s about The Beatles in Florida in 1964.