Monthly Archives: July 2019

Elvis Pseudo-Stamps with Bonus Artwork

Not many Elvis stamps from foreign countries have featured a picture of Elvis this cool. This looks like it could be real with a country of origin (Republic of Central Africa) and a postage amount. But it’s not. It’s made of embossed 24kt gold making it impractical use in mailing an envelope. So, they are offered not as stamps but as “tributes” in a 1995 brochure promoting them.

 

 

I found this flyer in the Elvis stuff I’ve been saving for decades. Here’s the picture from the brochure containing the pseudo-stamp.

 

 

The combinations of the tributes and the Elvis artwork on the backing cardboard are referred to as “issues”. There are six of them in this set. Here is the art on this one blown up.

Elvis appears to be wearing his famous white suit from the ’68 Comeback Special. There’s a big jukebox behind him and a bunch of 45s floating around leaving trails of smoke behind. There’s a lot other stuff in there, but I can’t make out what any of it is. I guess it is all intended to look groovy, in late-60s lingo.

 

Here are the rest of the issues.

 

 

Let’s take a look at that “highly detailed, intricate embossing” close up.

Look close and you can see three Elvis images. There’s the big head shot in color, plus in the embossed part, there is Elvis’ body with the mike up to his mouth, and a larger frontal face. They weren’t kidding about that “highly detailed, intricate embossing.”

 

I love the big Elvis face dominating this one, but I’m unclear what the drag racer car or the Saturn rocket relate to.

 

The embossed image on this one is simpler and easy to make-out

 

 

The accompanying text says this issue features five images from three Elvis movies. Well, the two on the stamp are clearly identified as from “Easy Come, Easy Go.”

 

The artwork shows “G.I. Blues” Elvis wearing the helmet. “Spinout” is nicely represented by the other two. Overall, I like this image a lot..

 

I’ve shown these last two issues in the same sequence they appear in the brochure. I guess that both being from Mali makes them companion issues. Or maybe it’s the repetition of the five picture/three movie theme.

 

I’m glad the stamp identifies the two Elvis images are from “Girls, Girls, Girls,” because I might not have figured it out.

 

This is not one of my favorites in this set, mainly because of the blue Elvis on the right. I don’t know if that is supposed to be from “Viva Las Vegas” or “Tickle Me.” The other two are easy to place.

 

 

I can’t see the connection to “When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold.” The jalopy looks similar to the one in the movie “Loving You.”

 

This is the second stamp from the Republic of Central Africa. I never heard of this country, so I looked it up.

 

Well, the name certainly fits the location.

 

This would be my least favorite artwork in the set. It would be better with more Elvis and less hot rod.

 

 

They should have left off the chin cleft, because Elvis never had one.

 

Wow, could you cram any more American Pop Culture into one picture than they did here? Besides Elvis, there is popcorn, a hot dog, soft ice cream, big red tail fins, and stacks of 45s. I’m not sure I get the inclusion of a bottle of champagne or the bird on the right. What is that just below the popcorn? Looks like a mushroom. ?????

 

The price on the full set was $68 back in 1995. I never bought it, but now I kind of wish I had. These stamps with bonus artwork just might be worth something today. It seems to me that this original Elvis art could have been utilized in other ways for us fans to enjoy.

 

 

© 2019 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net

 

 

Elvis, Elvis Presley, and Graceland are registered trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.

 

Some Elvis Pictures I’ve Never Seen Before – Part 13

This is a nice picture of Carl Perkins and Elvis surrounded by fans wanting autographs. Carl certainly wasn’t blessed with outstanding hair like Elvis.

 

But Carl Perkins’ hair looked considerably better in 1982 in this photo with Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis.  They sure look like they are having fun.

 

How do you like this strong picture of Elvis? Believe it or not, it came from an online catalog image of a double-sided blanket throw. Very nice artwork.

 

Young Elvis in a wistful mood.

 

This is interesting. Somebody found these two photos and put them together on Pinterest. Tommy Dorsey blows the trombone with Frank Sinatra and Elvis decades apart. Very clever.

 

This photo makes me sigh. It does not look like the best of times for Elvis. I guess it was taken at the racquetball court because he is in a jump suit. Maybe not. Anybody know?

 

Definitely better times for Elvis in this picture. Wow. Of course, it is from the bordello scene in the ’68 Comeback Special.

 

That’s Elvis’ right hand behind his head. Look what some joker did with this picture.

 

 

The caption on this one said it was taken on July 1, 1966 at the MGM Studios in Culver City, CA. Elvis looks younger than his 31 years. In fact, he struck me as a college student carrying books across campus. That reminded me I had a couple of similar photos of Elvis in other collegiate-looking wardrobes.

 

This is Elvis on his 22nd birthday.

 

Here he looks absolutely preppy.

 

And in a role reversal, Elvis is now the teacher for a group of teenagers

 

The first thing that attracted me to this photo was Elvis’ big eyes. But just for fun, we could say that fellow in the bottom left was taking a selfie of himself and Elvis.

If selvies had been around during Elvis’ time, he would have been in a ton of them.

 

I’ve already posted my favorite picture of Scottie Moore and Elvis. This one of James Burton and Elvis is excellent because they are both atypical. James is not playing the guitar, and Elvis is playing the piano. That’s a nice smile on James, while Elvis shows the emotion he is putting into the song.

 

I couldn’t find out the story behind this. You can see there is an Elvis timeline in the background, so the original must be much bigger for people to be able to see the images, and especially to read the text.

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This came from a trading card. It appears to be colorized, so we don’t know whether Elvis really had brown hair when it was snapped. But he does look good.

 

Well, Movie Life magazine got this one wrong. I would love to read all the bogus stuff they had to say about Elvis and Ann Margret being married.

 

Let’s end with a bonus picture on the 50th anniversary of the USA landing on the moon.

 

It’s hard to believe I’ve found enough new pictures to do this 13 times.   I like doing these posts, and it seems like you readers like them, too.

 

© 2019 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net
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Elvis, Elvis Presley, and Graceland are registered trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.

 

Celebrating National Hot Dog Day with Elvis

The TV news I watch in the morning likes to point out some of these unusual “National Days.” If I can find a few pictures connecting Elvis with them, I like to put them on ElvisBlog.

 

This is actually a picture disc. “Hot Dog” was one of the songs in the movie Loving You. It was the song Elvis was singing when his female manager engineered a riot. I don’t know why “Hot Dog” deserved a picture disc. It was a fairly weak tune in the movie compared to the title song and rockers like “Teddy Bear”, “Mean Woman Blues”, and “Got A Lot of Living To Do.”

In the song, Elvis is not talking about food. Hot dog is a happy exclamation about how his baby is coming home to him. Hot dog is mentioned 12 times in the lyrics.

 

I have this book, but soon it will be available the next time I offer some more stuff from my Fuzzy room for sale.

Actually, that is not a hot dog on the cover. It is a Brat, but that’s close enough.

 

 

Have a great National Hot Dog Day.

The Good, the Bad, and the Mildly Amusing

One of the things taking up space in my Fuzzy Room of Elvis stuff is a stack of old ShopElvis.com catalogs.

 

I don’t know what motivated me to save them, but they are headed to the recycle bin now. Before they go, I thought it would be fun to feature some of the more interesting offers here on ElvisBlog.

 

SUMMER 2007

 

The Good:

Although this light is pretty expensive, it is very cool. Turn it on and have the red lights blink in sequence while “Don’t Be Cruel” plays. Perfect for a party.

 

The Bad:

 

This is just pathetic. The sunglasses look fine, but those phony sideburns hanging down from the temples are lame. I’d be embarrassed to wear this. The wig sucks, too.

 

The Good and Bad:

I like the bottom plate because of the good color picture of Elvis and the simple clear message. The top one is stupid. RCK N’RL just doesn’t work, and the Elvis picture isn’t near as good.

 

The Mildly Amusing:

This shirt is pretty dark and hard to read, but that’s part of its appeal to me. Say you’re walking toward someone wearing this shirt; the first thing you could make out is FREAK. “Hmm, what’s this?” Then Stone Cold Natural comes into focus. “Hmm, who is it?” And finally, you see the answer is Elvis. Okay!

Non-fans have no idea that “Stone cold natural freak” is part of an Elvis quote from his August 1, 1969 opening night at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. He was actually relating to his audience what they might be thinking about his return to live concerts.

“Hair flying everywhere, he’s gotta be a weirdo, man, I’ll tell you. Stone cold natural freak, man. That’s why he ain’t been in public nine years.”

I can’t believe Graceland ever authorized an Elvis T-shirt that calls him a freak.

 

FALL 2007:

 

 

The Good:

I own this book; bought it when it was first offered. It’s wonderful, filled with terrific jumpsuit photos. A real bargain. If there was a catalog Hall of Fame for good Elvis stuff, this book would be the first inductee.

 

The Bad:

Notwithstanding the history of this design, I think it’s way low on eye appeal. It looks like Elvis had Charlie or one of the guys iron white letters onto  blue T-shirts. And what does having “ElvisInsider’s.com” on the back add?

Here’s the shirt’s design history. Elvis Presley Enterprises sponsored a football team in the early 60s. Elvis is circled, and you can easily find Red West. If anyone knows that other players were Memphis Mafia, put it in Comments.   [Frequent commenter Gerard Montz has identified Alan Fortas to Red’s left, and on the opposite end of that row Sonny west.]

 

The Mildly Amusing:

This is amusing because it is both good and bad. The price of $115 is pretty steep. The big problem is that it’s terrible as a cookie jar. You would have to use both hands to pick up the lid. The good part is that probably nobody will ever put cookies in it. It’ll look fine on a shelf.

 

More Good:

$22 sounds like a very good deal for 3 CDs of Elvis Karaoke songs. In a tin, no less. They did a good job picking out the three photos. I never bought this set, and now I kind of wish I had. I’d play them while doing stuff like house cleaning, just singing away.

 

SUMMER 2008, Vol 2

 

 

The Good:

This item makes no pretense of being a simulated real gold record award, but they have done a good job creating a pseudo one. This plaque would look great hanging on a wall with other Elvis stuff. The record is gold-plated, the photo is colorful, everything is nicely arranged, and the matting is first class. I think it justifies the high $150 price tag.

 

The Bad:

I can’t figure this one out. Does the salt and pepper come out end of the guitars’ necks? If so, could there be room for more than one hole? That would take a whole lot of shaking to get anything out. How do the guitars stand up? Not worth $30 to me. We have looked at other Elvis salt and pepper shakers on ElvisBlog before, and they were all better than this set.

 

The Mildly Amusing:

The main item here is the Elvis shower curtain, and for some reason, I like it. My wife would never allow it, though. I wonder if you ladies would be intimidated by having Elvis in the room while you are undressed…or maybe not. If you want something a little less in-your-face, maybe the Elvis soap dispenser is more your speed.

The one part of this set I totally dislike is the Elvis trash can. It’s made of clear plastic, so a pile of used tissues and other junk will frame Elvis’ picture. Please, no. EPE failed to meet their own standards for objectional use of an Elvis image. I can’t believe many people bought a trash can with Elvis on it.

 

More Bad:

I’m sure my dog wouldn’t care if his collar had pictures from Elvis movie lobby cards on it. And his fur would cover them up so much I couldn’t see them, anyway.

The collar is made of leather and the images are not bad. Maybe they should just make it longer and market it as a belt for people.

 

SUMMER 2008, Vol 3

 

 

The Good:

The photo of this wallet in the catalog is about 1” by 1-1/4” so you could barely make out the embossed image of Elvis. But in actual size it is pretty good. $40 doesn’t seem outrageous for an Elvis leather wallet, so this one works for me.

 

The Bad:

I like the idea of a leather Elvis duffel bag, although the $500 price is way too much. But what ruins this item for me are the images of Elvis that are screen-printed onto it. Here’s a blow-up.

The one on the left is just bizarre. There is an Elvis head coming out of the top of another Elvis head. That’s bad enough, but the distended hand freaks me out. That’s just about the ugliest Elvis image I’ve ever seen. The other one is better, but the S in Elvis is part cut off. What genius came up with these two losers?

 

The Mildly Amusing:

I don’t know how ShopElvis figured people would choose the socks based in these tiny catalog pictures of them. Today, everything is sold online, and you can get a big image with just a click. Much Better.

As I studied these socks, several were just a jumble of shapes and colors I couldn’t make out. I wondered what “Comic Elvis” really looked like, so I blew it up.

To me, this should be called “Angry Elvis.” It probably wasn’t a big seller. I sort of like the socks with the white suit from the ’69 Comeback Special.

 

FALL 2008

 

 

The Good:

I have stated in here many times how much I like Joe Petruccio’s artwork of Elvis. There just doesn’t seem to be any end to the wonderful images he creates. And, Graceland has been very liberal using them on all sorts of products. I think using them on flasks is a great idea. My favorite would be the Sundial Jumpsuit back view – the one Elvis wore at his last concerts.

 

The Bad:

Now that I’ve said good things about Joe Petruccio, I hope he won’t mind if I criticize one of his paintings. Sorry, but I just don’t find this image of Elvis attractive. Maybe in those big poster reprint he sells online the image will show better.

 

The Mildly Amusing:

When I first saw this, I said, “Hey, that’s a good idea, and $60 seems reasonable.” Then I realized with two of these designs your butt would be sitting on Elvis. Maybe that wouldn’t turn others off, but for me it would have to be a set of the signature bar stools.

 

More Good:

You know about the “Elvis Presley Boulevard” street signs that came out decades ago. Here’s a nice alternative. $13 sounds like a good deal for a 24” long sign. If I had one it would be installed over the doorway to my Fuzzy Room of Elvis goodies.

 

More Bad:

There are a number of die-cast models of different cars Elvis owned out there. I’m fine with that. But why did they do a 1957 Chevy station wagon? Elvis never owned one of them. Sometimes, they just go overboard trying to think of new Elvis stuff to sell us.

 

So that’s it. The first five ShopElvis catalogs in my stack. There are lots more, so we will do this again.

 

 

© 2019 Philip R Arnold, Original ElvisBlogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net

 

 

Elvis, Elvis Presley, and Graceland are registered trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.

 

Happy 4th of July, Elvis — Once Again

I posted the first “Happy 4th of July, Elvis” pictorial back in 2009, and repeated that topic regularly through 2014. Then I had trouble finding pictures that hadn’t already been used, so I skipped the next three years, did one in 2017, and skipped last year. I would like to reuse a picture from 2012 to start this year’s post.

 

 

The folks who have created these images usually include fireworks, bald eagles, the American flag or combinations of these patriotic symbols.

 

 

I have many other images of Elvis with the American flag that don’t specifically mention the 4th of July. Here are some of the more interesting ones.

 

 

 

This is the first Elvis figurine I’ve ever seen with him holding a small American flag. Nice touch.

 

 

I’m not sure why the artist put all that dark shading on the left side of Elvis’ face here.

 

 

 

 

This is very clever.

 

This wonderful creation was done by the outstanding painter Betty Harper. It’s just one of her many Elvis works.

 

Here’s another terrific Betty Harper painting of Elvis and the flag. Do yourself a favor and check out her website.  https://bettyharper.com/

 

I like the flag around Elvis’ face, not over it. This is a bit much for my taste

 

This is a little weird, but there is no problem seeing that this minimalist depiction is Elvis. I kind of like the curvy flagpole.

 

This is really outstanding.

 

Here’s some more great artwork, but I can’t make out the artist’s name. Did you notice the American eagle cleverly included?

 

This could have been a pretty good picture, but why does Elvis’ hair look green?

 

We all know that Elvis was such a patriotic American, and we salute him for that.

 

If Elvis was alive today, you know he would wear a pair of these with pride.

 

 

We’ll end by reusing a picture from the July 4th 2011 post.

 

 

 

©  2019    Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister    All Rights Reserved    www.ElvisBlog.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elvis, Elvis Presley, and Graceland  are registered trademarks of  Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.