I assume all readers of ElvisBlog have seen the famous photo of Elvis and President Richard Nixon. It was one of twenty-eight photos taken on April 21, 1970 when Elvis made a surprise visit to the White House (and Elvis wore his trademark sunglasses in the first eleven). You can see the other twenty-seven at the National Archives website, but they are easier to access at this site by George Washington University. There is an interesting story to tell about this event, but that will have to wait for another column. Today we are going to have some fun with the iconic picture.
You may already know it is the best selling souvenir at the Nixon Presidential Library, and it is the most popular reproduction sold by the National Archives (even more than the Constitution or the Bill of Rights). It may also be the most Photoshopped picture in the world.
As a work of the United States government, the image is in the public domain. So, clever folks have put their imaginations to work and used computer photo manipulation software to come up with interesting variations. For example, suppose the heads were reversed. We would have President Presley receives rocker Dickie Nixon at the White House. Nixon doesn’t make much of a rock idol, does he?
Because the men’s heads were simply cut and pasted on the picture above, that switch seems like it was probably fairly easy. A greater challenge would be to switch the nose, mouth and chin, but not the hair of the two men. Nixon looks pretty good with Elvis’ hair, but Elvis with Nixon’s hair is bad news.
If you don’t like Richard Nixon, why not try two other presidents: Ronald Regan and George W. Bush. I used this photo in the February 3, 2008 ElvisBlog article titled “Fun With Elvis In Photoshop,” where both of these men are shown in individual variations of Elvis, as well.
If you don’t like American presidents, let’s have two Elvises. Personally, I would have switched the roles: young Elvis face with the cool outfit, and the thirty-five year old Elvis as the President.
Suppose you don’t like Elvis. What better than to show Bubba Ho-Tep going after him? (How did Bubba get past the Secret Service?) When he puts his boney hand the King’s shoulder, can’t you see Elvis spin around and say that great line from the movie: “Come on and get it, you undead sack of shit.” Could somebody do that and put it on U-Tube, please.
If you don’t like either Elvis or Nixon, I guess you could replace them with two cats. Looks like the Nixon cat sort of kept his hairline, doesn’t it?
A couple of months ago, I did an ElvisBlog column that showed two fake Elvis concert posters. It appears that this concept works for political posters as well. Notice who is at the top of the ticket.
And finally, here we have a bogus photo that supposedly came from the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library. This is so clever, and I wish I could give it proper attribution, but I copied it to my computer a long time ago and don’t have an Idea where I found it. If its creator contacts me, I will either give credit or remove the picture, whatever preference is expressed. Same on the other pictures. Anyway, here is a great reworking of one of the other photos taken during Elvis’ visit to the White House . Bill Clinton’s head is on Red West’s body, and Rush Limbaugh’s (Rusty Limbo?) head is on Jerry Schilling’s body. If you have any trouble reading the handwritten sentence on the photo, it is: “Elvis tells President about Billy Clinton’s Watergate Break-in idea.” What a hoot.
© 2008 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net
