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 ONE of the most exciting things that happened to HERMAN'S HERMITS was their memorable meeting with the KING, which every British group calls ELVIS PRESLEY. The meeting took place in Honolulu where Elvis was shooting Hawaiian Paradise and Herman was breaking all personal appearance records."One of my biggest ambitions has always been to meet Elvis. When I was in Hollywood filming When The Boys Meet The Girls, El's dad, VERNON PRESLEY, visited us on the set. He extended an invitation to visit Elvis at his home in Bel Air. Unfortunately, our schedule was too tight to accept," Herman told me. But until the meeting finally came about, some weeks later, Herman treasured a wire he'd received from Elvis, saying: "CONGRATULATIONS. WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD." "That seemed to be the end of it until we got to Hawaii, and received a phone call inviting us to have lunch with Elvis the next day. The yells and screams that followed should have been recorded," Herman laughed. "We acted like a bunch of typical fans. "I couldn't sleep," Herman confessed. "I lay awake all night just wondering what it was going to be like and what Elvis was really like . . . If he was going to be exactly like his pictures, or if his bodyguards would be around. Just everything! It was my biggest dream come true. We were actually going to meet Elvis. "Well, we met him the next day, and he was even more than I had imagined. We had lunch |
with him, and then he personally took us on a tour of the set. We talked about the music scene, both here and in England, and he told us that Herman's Hermits are one of his favorite groups, and that he had all of our records. It was really great, and I'm sorry that the time we spent together passed so quickly. It's an occasion I know I'll never forget." Few people realize that even a fantastically successful talent like Herman is a fan at heart. It is this wonderfully boyish quality that has endeared him to millions and has won the admiration from such greats as Elvis. There's another side of Herman that I discovered on the four days and nights 1 accompanied him and the Hermits on' their whirl wind: Herman is a kid at heart, a home-loving teenager from Manchester who misses his family like crazy. "I can't stand being away from my family for too long," he said. He's mad about his adorable niece KIM and his cute sister SUZANNE. And when he speaks of his parents it is with love, respect and pride. "I'll always be especially grateful to my mother because she didn't stop me from trying to break into show business. I couldn't have succeeded without her encouragement." "It's all been marvelous, but I can't wait to get home. It's not that I'm tired, or anything like that. It's just that sometimes I feel so far away I wonder what they're doing. You know? Maybe they're all visiting friends, or they've gone to see a film. Perhaps they're even thinking about me. Every so often I get these pangs of home-sickness which make me want to fly back to Manchester and find out. "None of the lads have much time to spend at home with their families. It's not so bad when we're on the road in England, but when we're away it seems different, somehow.
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