Richard Moreno Interview
ARIZONA July 01 `2004

MM - Richard, first i want to thank you so much for accepting this invitation and doing this interview for our brazilian fan clubs: Elvis in Astrodome (Maria Mendes & Ana Mendes), Gang Elvis (Walteir Terciani & Marcelo Neves) and for the Elvis World Magazine (Bill E. Burk).
RM - First off, you are very welcome and I am honored to be answering your questions for you and feel free to ask me anything you wish.




MM - How long were you a security guard for the hilton in vegas? Which years?
RM - Ok, first off, it was 1969 that i joined the hotel, at that time it was known as the International hotel, and a year and a half 2 yrs later it became the hilton. but i was employed by them from 1969 thru 1973, and it was the fall of 1972 that i quit.

Maria holding the Richard Moreno LV Hilton Badges

MM - Ok, how did you get the opportunity to work with Elvis?
RM - There were at that time at the International Hotel only 30-33 guards employed there, because at that time it wasn't as large as the Hilton is today. But Barbara Striesand opened the hotel and then they gathered the guards together and said Elvis is going to be coming in next and we are going to hand pick everybody, so these are the names from day shift, swing shift, from midnight shift and from relief shift. Four guards from each of the four shifts were assigned to Elvis, and I was lucky enough to get one of those shifts, so that was it, we were hand picked by the security chief.



MM - What were your specific instructions prior to meeting Elvis?
RM - Those, aah(smiling), It didn't really shock us, because as I said we had Barbara Striesand 30 days earlier, but they told us when we were to meet up with Elvis, or when Elvis were to walk into the room or hallway, we were to act very profession, we were only to answer questions if they spoke to us, we were not to act like crazy little teenagers, we were supposed to mind our P's and Q's, and be very very profesional.





MM - What was your first reaction when you met Elvis and the Memphis Mafia? How nervous were you?
RM - The very 1st time was in an afternoon, we went upstairs and waited in the back hallway, it wasn't the 30th floor suite at that time, they were staying on the 27th floor, because at that time the 28-30th floors weren't finished at that time of the opening. So we went up the back hallway where we waited out there by ourselves. and shortly there after, Joe Esposito came around and he came out into the hallway and said "guys, Elvis will be out in a minute, my name is Joe Esposito", so we all introduced ourselves and we kept standing there like soldiers. Joe went back down the hallway and gathered everybody up and finally they came out of the door and started walking down the hallway. We could see them coming and all of a sudden it just kind of hit us, that "wow" here he is, the man himself. He walked towards us, and the entire time he was walking towards us, he and his body guards and Joe Espisito and everybody were clowning around, pushing each other against the walls, hitting each other in the arms, and just acting like a bunch of kids. When they finally got to up to the elevator area and confronted us, Joe said " this is your security escort from the hotel". Elvis became very staunch then and put out his hand and said "Hello, I am Elvis Presley", like we didn't know who he was. no matter what he was, he always introduced himself. Then he took our hands and shook them as we introduced ourselves. We then got into the elevator and the guards were against the walls and the rest of the them continued with their clowning around, hitting each other again and acting like kids, all the way down the elevator and until we got to the stage.



MM - Let me ask you about your TCB. How did you come across your TCB necklace? And how was it presented?
RM - I recieved my TCB the first part of 1971. I had a ladyfriend of mine from New Orleans escort me that night. I took her upstairs to the 30th floor suites and knocked on the door. When the opened the door, they were very solomn and said there wasn't going to be a party that night, but of coarse Richard you can come in and sit down with us. It was just going to be a closed sesion that night. So, we walked in and Elvis was across the room sitting on a couch. When he saw me, he stopped talking and he looked at Jerry Shilling and whispers to Jerry nudging him to get up and go to the bedroom. I kept walking over with my friend, and as we approached the couch, Elvis stood up and said "Richard, I got something for you". I was really puzzled, I didn't know what in the world it could have been. At that second, Jerry Shilling came out of the bedroom and walked over with a box in his hand. It was a small flat box with christmas wrap on it. When I removed the paper, I had a black jewelry box in my hand that had two folding doors on it. I opened it and couldn't believe my eyes, it was a TCB, a TCB for me! At the time I had seen many TCB, on family members, and the band members, and TLC's were on all the girls. You had to be pretty special to get a TCB. After I opened the box, Elvis reached over and took the box from me, unhooked the latches that were holding the necklace down, put the box under his arm, and reached up and placed the TCB over my head and around my neck. I did evrything I could to keep my knees from buckling and falling to the ground. I was dumbfounded, shocked. I didn't know what to say. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes and just kept shaking. I was shaking in my boots and Elvis had to hold me up, as we hugged each other. After a few minutes, he sat back down and all the guys came over and shook my hand and said "welcome richard, way to go". After about 15 minutes of hugs and hand shakes, I walked over to the gigantic doors that went out to the balcony. I pulled the curtains back so I could overlook the city lights and just started to cry again. At that time, Kenny, another guard and a Go-Fer, came over to me and put his arms around me. He didn't have to say a thing, but confessed to me he did the same when he got his TCB. And he hugged me and I just kept crying.

Richard Moreno`s TCB

MM - I can imagine that was a special night. Did your whole group get a TCB at the same time?
RM - No, as a matter of fact, there were only 2 guards at that time that recieved TCB's. It was Tom Miller and myself that were the only guards on the entire staff that recieved TCB's. And there was a lot of jealousy.

MM - We have heard about the parties in the Elvis suite, were you a part of those parties and what did you do at them?
RM - Well, this is a fluke, as it happened by accident. My roommate at the time, who was another guard there, and I were out dancing at a night club and about 3 am we popped into the hotel as it was on the way to our house. I got a hold of the operator who knew my connection with the Elvis group and told her to put me thru to Red. A minute later, she had Red on the line and he says "what have you been doing?" "dancing and stuff" " what are you doing now?" "nothing, we are on our way home" Then he said " come on upstairs" At that point i nearly dropped the phone, because no employee was allowed up to the 30th floor unless they were cleaning, or fixing something or asked to bring something. I told Red this and he just said "I invited you, so come on up." Just in case, we took the back elevators up to the 30th floor, went to the suite and knocked on the door. Rick Stanley opened the door and said come on in. I walked in and migrated towards the bar area, where Bill came over and greeted me as usual saying "what do you think, you crazy SOB" and I said "well, this is really gonna cause a lot of stink tomorrow at the security office." He said "don't worry about it, I invited you." So we stayed there a few hours and there were about 35 people talking with Elvis, sitting around him on couches and the floor. I just stayed by the bar and a lady came up and asked me for a beer. First, I was confused, then she asked again, so I figured yeah I wasn't there doing anything so I grabbed a beer and opened it for her. Pretty soon, a couple of more people came up and asked for some drinks. I new how to make some simple drinks, so I looked behind the bar, found the liquer and glasses and started making drinks for people. This when on for about an hour, til I started running out of glasses. So then I started walkng around the room picking up empty glasses and cleaning ashtrays and just generally cleaning up. At the end of the night, somebody from the group asked if the maids had been up to clean. Then someone said, "no, that was the maids, it was Richard, he walked around cleaning the glasses and ashtrays." So everyone started laughing and then one of them looked over at me and said "you did that good, why don't you come back tomorrow." I thought they were joking, so I said "ok, I be back". From that night on, I was always welcome up there.



MM - You showed me at the last Elvis Meet-up in Phoenix the picture Elvis took with Mohammed Ali. And I noticed that the picture is different than the one everyone else has seen. Can you explain why?
RM - Ok, well, the girls who take the pictures in the show room, whenever they take a picture, they always take two. The take the first one and say hold just a second, we need to take another just in case the first one doesn't come out or if someones eyes were closed. So there is always 2 pictures, one for a backup. So, that night I was on the baccarat table on guard duty for and hour after the shows were over, and the picture girls came up to me with an envelop. She said to me that she knew I was a good friend of Elvis and they wanted me to have this portrait picture of Elvis. I thought it was a gorgeous picture of Him and put it away until after my shift was over. My shift had ended about midnight, and the second show of Elvis didn't get over until about 2:30 am. So when the show was over, I was already upstairs ready for my assumed duties as bartender and stuff. I waited for the guys to come up afterwards, and when I got a chance, I went over and asked Elvis if he would do me a favor and sign the picture. He looked at it and asked if this was the results of the pictures from earlier that evening, and I said that it was, but the girls thought you looked so good that the cut everyone else out. He then sign my picture and told me to call down and get some made for himself. I called the girls as they were closing the shop and told them that Elvis wanted 12 8x10" and 24 wallets made. At that point, they got the developer to make some more, but he couldn't tell which negative was which as they were so similar. The girls said that they wanted to deliver the pictures to Elvis themselves, so when they were done, they called up and came on in to the suite. They got to meet elvis and get the original pictures they made earlier signed as well. As it turns out, the developer used the 2nd picture negative to make the prints for Elvis. So from what I understand was Elvis took these pictures back to Graceland and had them sitting there. Then one day, someone came in and stole one of these out of the hallway there and this is the one the entire world knows. But there are a few of us that got the 1st picture that night and only a few have seen it, everyone else has seen the other.



MM - How many shows did you see?
RM - While I was employed there, I saw 254 shows. 249 from back stage and 5 from the audience.

MM - you are so lucky! Were you there when the gun threat to Elvis happened?
RM - There were many actually. The biggest one that I can remember, that made the newspapers, He was threatened and we really beef up security. They brought in police, the FBI, they briefed everyone. They had people placed in the audience, in the rafters, extra people backstage. It was filled with security, and it was the most visible to everyone.

MM - How was Elvis feeling? Wasn't he afraid?
RM - he didn't care, he did the show. That stuff never scared him. He went on with the show as normal as could be, and everything went off perfect. Nother became of it. The threat lasted 36 hrs. and that was it.

MM - How big was the stage? the audience? How many people did the theater seat?
RM - The room sat about 2000 people. But they always brought in small cocktail tables and chairs. They would line these tables around the stage and stairs and hallways. They weren't supposed to due to fire regulations, but if they really wanted to crame people in, they usually ended up with 2200 people.

MM - You gave me a picture, a very nice picture of you and Elvis. Elvis signed this picture "To Richard, Watch that water!" What was it that Elvis was trying to say here? I guess it's a joke, cause Elvis was a joker?
RM - Yes, it was an inside joke. Ever since the very begining, when we were told to act very professional. Just go allong with the crowd, as an escort should. Everytime we were walking down the halls, all the Elvis group would run up to empty dinner carts, pull back the table clothes and looking for any kind of container with some sort of liquid in it. Whether it was diluted soda, water, whatever. They would stick their fingers in this and flick it at each other. They would "fight" like this to see who could get the container with the liquid off the cart, who would get the most liquid flicked on them. As the years went by, they continued to do this constantly. It was an everyday occurance. So when Elvis signed my picture, He signed with that sentiment, "to morino, watch that water." It comes from them being joker and throwing water on one another.

Elvis and the Hilton bodyguards, including Richard

MM - You mentioned last time about a fire hose incident?
RM - Oh my gosh. It didn't just stop at water glasses, later on in our relationship, Red and Sonny would have us run down to the store and get then water pistols. So, inbetween shifts, we would bring them back begining of the nect shift, sneaking them in to the crew. The escorts would fill them up and then they would play cowboys and indians up and down the halls. But it didn't stop there, it graduated to throwing full pitchers of water on each other and more. Then, one day, I don't know how it came about, but Red had gone into the hallway and taken down the fire hose. He had stretched 75' of hose down the hall, and had someone waiting to turn the water on on command. So, when the first person came out of the room, the water came on and a 2" stream of water wet down the hallway. It was chaos, I tell you, chaos.

MM -The whole world knows elvis as a very gernerous human being. Did you see Elvis giving gifts? like everyone knows he gave so many cadillac and jewelry and stuff like that.
RM - Yes, I was there one night when Sammy Davis, Jr. was visiting down in his dressing room. After a couple hours, he came out and we had to escort Sammy up to the stage and to where his car was waiting. When he came out, his face was just glowing and he was grinning ear to ear because Elvis had just given him a 10-12 carat black saphire ring. I have also seen Elvis give one security guard in 1973, a diamond that was at least a 20 carat diamond ring with 2 diamond side stones. He couldn't wait to come and throw it in my face, as he was the next guy after me that recieved something from Elvis.

Gifts Richard Moreno received from ELVIS

MM - You know Richard, that on July 5, 2004, the world will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Rock and Roll. It was 50 yrs ago this day, that Elvis recorded Thats All Right Mamma. What I want to ask you here is how do you feel having met the person who changed the way the world hears music? How do you feel having met the guy who dared to rock?
RM - Well, I have to answer that in 2 parts. The first part stems back to when I was a teenager going to the Elvis movies. I had this special young lady in my neighborhood that I would ask to go with me. And she would sit there in the theater and when Elvis came onto the screen, she would swoon and swoon, like I wasn't even there. And that made me angry. So I kept that in the back of my head all those years. Later as a guard at the International Hotel, and I was told I wasto be guarding Elvis, those original memories came rushing back and I thought I might just give him a piece of my mind. But that night, when the door opened and Elvis came down that hall, and there stood Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, all those memories just went right out the window. My jaw dropped to the ground and I looked at him and thought this is really rezlly something. He was electric, you could feel his presence when he enter a room. I considered myself one of the luckiest people in the world at the time because I was in his presence.




MM - One more time, Richard, I want to thank you so much for giving me your private time and for this interview.
All the Brazilian fans will be so glad to hear all those stories and the readers from Elvis World Magazine will really enjoy this.
RM - You are very very welcome. And to all those fans out there of Elvis' in Brazil and the US and who ever else might read this article, I only wish you could have met Him for just a second, your life would have changed enormously. Your life would have gone in a different direction. I saw people come to the shows and stare at him and walk out in amazement and in completely different world. If any of this touched you out there, I am more than happy to have shared this moment with you.

MM - Til we meet again, God bless you, adios.
RM - Thank you very much.

Maria Augusta Mendes
Elvis in Astrodome Fan Club President
CURITIBA, PR - BRAZIL
Richard Moreno interview given in TEMPE, AZ - U.S.A.
July 01 `2004