Robert Taylor (letterhead)
December 28 [1958]
Dear Colonel Parker—-
The answer to your letter of December 16th is—-“Yer damned right the sausage arrived and it’s good–mighty good!—-and if anybody tells you it ain’t you should slug ’em!”
Seriously, Colonel, thanx for your kind thoughtfulness—and I’m saving the name and address of the outfit who makes this stuff so’s I can order more.
Your special Xmas card also arrived and thanks again. We Taylors had a fine time on Xmas Eve and our young “Monster,” aged 3 1/2, is really starting to get into the spirit of things.
My best to you and Elvis–hope you had a fine Xmas too—and that 1959 will be a great year for all of you.
As ever,
Bob (signature)
Robert Taylor, ca. 1959
Elvis Presley, 1959
Col. Parker and Elvis, ca. 1959
Sausage
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About giraffe44
I became a Robert Taylor fan at the age of 15 when his TV show, "The Detectives" premiered. My mother wanted to watch it because she remembered Mr. Taylor from the thirties. I took one look and that was it. I spent the rest of my high school career watching Robert Taylor movies on late night TV, buying photos of him, making scrapbooks and being a typical teenager. College, marriage and career intervened. I remember being sad when Mr. Taylor died. I mailed two huge scrapbooks to Ursula Thiess. I hope she got them. Time passed, retirement, moving to Florida. Then in 2012 my husband Fred pointed that there were two Robert Taylor movies that evening on Turner Classic Movies--"Ivanhoe" and "Quentin Durward." I watched both and it happened all over again. I started this blog both for fans and for people who didn't know about Robert Taylor. As the blog passes 200,000 views I'm delighted that so many people have come by and hope it will help preserve the legacy of this fine actor and equally good man.
Robert Taylor Actor 
Ahhh, typical “Taylor tone”, fun, casual, lovable. I wonder how he became connected with Elvis Presley’s manager… or Elvis himself, for that matter. Frankly, I can’t picture Robert Taylor going into rock’n’roll!
In a way, I think he anticipated 1959 would be a great year for the Taylors. After all, this letter was written only few weeks before they moved to their dream home, the Ursulor Ranch, and also before they knew the “young Monster aged 3 ½” would have a little sibling soon.
Do you think he received that kind of sausage? Is that a long-established brand all over the US?
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Actually I don’t know what kind of sausage it was. Supposedly Elvis was a big sausage fan and he may have had a favorite brand. This was the best sausage picture I could find. RT was not, I believe, a fan of rock and roll. He wrote somewhere that he wished someone would explain the Beatles to him. I bought the 800 page Barbara Stanwyck book on Amazon-it goes up to 1940 and is obsessively detailed. The author is, however, not anti-Taylor as most Stanwyck biographers are. She’s really very fair.
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I’m reading this book right now. Just getting to the part where she meets Robert Taylor. It is a truly excellent book. Very detailed, fair, extremely well-written.
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It’s also fun to read, which is another plus. Thanks for commenting.
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Who knows how RT became acquainted with Elvis Presley’s manager but he obviously did. Maybe he met Elvis too. The 2 “country boys” of different generations might have liked each other. And Elvis’ repertory wasn’t entirely rock ‘n roll, How about “Love Me Tender,” “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You,” “Blue Christmas”?
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Good point about the two country boys. I think they would have gotten along. You’re right about the music too. Mr. Taylor liked romantic music so “Love Me Tender” might have been just right for him. 🙂
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I read in some book about Elvis, that when he was filming “Jailhouse Rock” at MGM Studios in may of 1957, Elvis met a lot of stars of that studio, like Van Johnson, Mario Lanza and also Robert Taylor. I guess that was the only conect point between them, because Bob as we all know was rather a conservative republican, and Elvis at that time was a rebel punk. Anyway,it would be great to watch some photos of the King Of Rock and Roll and the Great Bob Taylor together!!!!
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That probably is how they met. Despite his public image, Elvis was a polite and charming young man at this point so I can see how he and Mr. Taylor could have gotten along. Wouldn’t it be a treat to see a photo of them together! Thanks for commenting.
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