Category Archives: COOL STUFF OUT THERE IN ELVISWORLD

The Muppets present “Great Moments in Elvis History”

Posted on December 7, 2019 by | 2 comments

As mentioned last week, the elves in the Muppet Classic Theater DVD were dressed in Elvis-type garb and had Elvis hair. And all three of them spoke and sang like Elvis. The picture above shows the three Elvises making blue suede shoes.

For those of you who got the incomplete postings last week on my first two tries, you missed the video of The Elves and the Shoemaker segment of the DVD where they do their stuff. This is fun, so here are two ways to check it out if you haven’t already.

The full 9-1/2 minute skit:

 

The 5 minute edited version showing the Bad Shoes Blues song sequence and a bit more:

 

The Muppets returned to TV in 1996 in a new show called Muppets Tonight. It was very similar to the original The Muppet Show.

It ran for three seasons, which was long enough for three more appearances by the Elvises in a recurring feature, “Great Moments in Elvis History.”

The concept is interesting. They chose three great moments in world history and substituted Elvises for three of the main characters in each.

 

The Declaration of Independence:

Sorry for the lame picture quality. The video I grabbed it from is the only one I could find. The story has some fun with quibbling going on between Washington and Jefferson, particularly when John Hancock tells them that all ties with the king have been severed, and they argue about who really is The King.

When Ben Franklin arrives and tells them he has discovered electricity, they cheer and bring up their electric guitars. They break into a song using the melody from “Blue Suede Shoes,” with brand new lyrics.

One if by land,
Two if by sea.
Let’s all rock for democracy.
Don’t you, don’t you tread on me.

At the end of the skit, we get a fake preview of next week’s Great Moments in Elvis History. This is Elvis of Arabia, but it was five more weeks until the next Great Moments is shown, and it was not Elvis of Arabia.

 

Elvis the King and His Knights of the Roundtable:

Here we have Guinevere, King Arthur, Lancelot, and Merlin. The gag here is that the dragon has captured Guinevere. Merlin goes to rescue her, and the dragon is glad to give her back. The song parodied in this skit is Jailhouse Rock, with these lyrics:

The dragon has captured Lady G.
Don’t you worry, Excalibur is here.
Everybody knows that dragon is hot.
We’re rockin’ here in Camelot.

I like this front shot of Muppet Elvis Merlin.

 

The gag preview at the end of this skit is Tarzan of Graceland.

 

Elvis Caesar:

Here the Elvises are playing Brutus, Mark Antony, and Julius Caesar. There is no singing in this short skit, but there are plenty of gags.

The bit with Brutus brandishing a large knife was interesting, considering the actual facts of Caesar’s assassination.

 

The gag preview at the end of this skit is Sir Elvis Newton.

 

Someone has put together a YouTube video that combines all three Great Moments in Elvis History. Check it out.

 

I hope you enjoyed my three-part series on The Muppets and Elvis.

 

© 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.

 

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Posted in COOL STUFF OUT THERE IN ELVISWORLD, ELVIS and OTHER STARS, Main Page, THE MOST UNUSUAL ELVIS ARTICLES ON THE WEB

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Graffiti Artists Rev Up Their Imaginations with Elvis’ Name

Posted on November 16, 2019 by | 12 comments

For years I have been adding Elvis graffiti to my files –  some are images, and some just his first name. Let’s take a look at the variety of ways creative people have presented ELVIS. The one above is interesting to me because of the splotchy yellow background and the white and blue stripes inside the letters.

Also, please note that it is all capital letters, except the i. It seems the favorite way for the graffiti people to spell Elvis is ELViS.

 

 

 

How about this one painted on railcar in Vienna. It’s got multi-hues of turquoise, white, and a little green inside the letters. There are cool little snowflake-like dabs of white in between the letters. So, it’s got a whole icy feel to it. I love the dot over the i, and I’ll pass on writing anything about the part below it.

 

This one from Frankfort, Germany has Elvis spelled the right way. It is interesting for two reasons. It includes a decent reproduction of the famous photo of Elvis during his return to live performing in 1969. And the colored stars were a nice touch.

 

Here’s a variation from Soumi, Finland. That looks to be two-story building, so that’s a really big ELViS. The S is the most normal one in this collection. There are quite a few wild ones. Note the two white stars in the L. There’s a few more of the Elvis graffiti coming up that have additional artwork inside the letters.

 

I’m not too crazy about this one from Ottawa. The letters are too jammed up. No artwork in the letters or around them.

 

This one is nicely spread out – maybe too much with that column in there. Is that a period at the end of Elvis?

 

You might have to gaze on this one for a while before it comes into focus. It’s easiest if you just concentrate on the light tan tops of the letters and then follow them down through the orange-tan and mustard. Those pink and red edges of the letters are colorful, but distracting. I like the little white balloons between the letters. The message at the bottom right is interesting, and London at the other end tells you where it was painted.

 

Here’s one from Evansville, Indiana. I am impressed with the many different shapes and styles of these five letters we are seeing in this pictorial, and there are some strange ones coming up.

 

Like this oriental-looking design from New York City. I can’t figure out the meaning of the numbers painted inside the letters.

 

See anything weird about this one from Miami? At first glance it looks like an ELVIS graffiti, but if you look close, it spells EVILS.

 

Speaking of spelling, this sure looks like Alvis to me. It’s from Vienna, so maybe this is some sort of Germanic version of Elvis.

 

Earlier, we looked at Elvis spelled out in free-form, icy-looking letters. This one is also from Vienna, so they both may have been done by the same artist. It must take some talent to make it look like the faces of the letters are covered with Slushies, about to melt off.

 

Another from New York City. The design is is nothing special – except for the E. The artist turned it into a face, complete with sunglasses.

 

This one from Belgium is notable for starting Elvis on a fence and continuing on to a wall. And that looks like quotation marks before and after ELViS.

 

Here’s a New Jersey original. I like the shapes of the letters and the multiple colors inside them.

 

This is painted on a railroad bridge in New Jersey. I guess the railroad is OK with it, because the artist signed it. Note, all lower case letters.

 

Another one from Vienna. There must have been an Elvis Graffiti contest there sometime, because six of these have come from Vienna.

 

As does this one. I’m not too fond of it. If the centers of the letters were gold, not black, I might like it .

 

This is my favorite, and it comes from Belgium. I love the variety of colors and designs inside the letters.

 

 

This was fun for me to put together. Someday we’ll look at the Elvis picture graffiti.

 

 

© 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.

 

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Posted in COOL STUFF OUT THERE IN ELVISWORLD, IMAGES, Main Page, THE MOST UNUSUAL ELVIS ARTICLES ON THE WEB

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World Space Week — Elvis Style

Posted on October 12, 2019 by | 4 comments

Have you ever heard of World Space Week? Me, neither. Of course, there are days and weeks for all kinds of things, and if you want to look at the list, the URL is at the bottom of this picture. I wonder who gets to pick them.

Anyway, I discovered World Space Week while surfing the net a few days ago. I knew I had to do a post on the connection between Elvis and World Space. That just sounded too good to pass up. So here are some images that work pretty well for me as an exhibit of:

WORLD SPACE ELVIS

 

I think this one nailed it. You’ve got Elvis, the world, and the space. The yellow color in the center is a nice touch. Unfortunately, not all of the pictures are this noble and mesmerizing.

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This one is such a mess. Elvis is riding through space on a flying guitar case, dragging balloons behind him. He has on a suit, but he is barefoot. And, he has a little Christmas tree sitting on his lap. It looks like he will have to change his direction if he wants to get to that world up ahead. So, it’s a stupid picture, but it covered the three things we’re looking for — Elvis, world, and space.

 

This is the Chalmuns Cantina located in the pirate city of Mos Eisley on the planet Tatooine. We’ve got Elvis and a space theme, but no world. Still, I like it, although the Photoshop work could have been better.

 

This one has two worlds and lots of space. I can’t decide if the floating musical notes are really needed, but they are different. I think the muted image of Elvis works well with the overall tone.

 

Here we have Elvis in name, but no picture. And, we’ll count the word planet the same as world. I showed this T-shirt picture before in an article inspired by this magazine cover.

I think World Space Elvis tops Planet Hillary.

 

I’m getting double usage out of this one, too. Although there’s no world in the picture, we do get a cool guitar that shoots out lightning bolts. Plus, Elvis has shoes on. Great picture.

 

I know I may hear from someone offended by this picture. Sorry. Elvis and space aliens. It looks like the Grand Poohbah is the blue guy on the screen. And they’ve got Marilyn Monroe back there destined to get the same treatment.

 

Back to the good ones. I like the way Elvis has stuck his guitar into the cloud. It’s just floating along beside him.

 

This is Space Dandy and his two loyal sidekicks. He’s wearing a jumpsuit — look at the red cape. And the hair. This is definitely a nod to Elvis.

 

This combines so much, but it’s still a stretch. The space connection is the Star Wars storm trooper outfit on a LEGO figure with an Elvis head on it. That’s a crummy Elvis face, though.

 

Although I rotated and cropped the original, this simple picture does offer everything in Elvis World Space. I don’t get what the message is with Elvis trudging along the top of that world, but I find this image interesting.

 

All it takes is an arm and a white jumpsuit sleeve to understand that it’s Elvis. It’s more difficult to understand what the point of this image is, but the touching fingers seems to be inspired by the art on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I guess we should just enjoy the design and not think about it too much.

 

This was a pretty simple Photoshop job, but I like it. A good one to end with.

 

I hope you enjoyed observing World Space Week — Elvis Style.

 

 

©  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.

 

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Some Thoughts on Elvis Caricatures

Posted on October 5, 2019 by | 11 comments

 

We have all seen caricatures of Elvis. When I started a file of them 14 years ago, the drawings were pretty simplistic and unmemorable, like the ones above. They did, however, meet the definition of a caricature:

Caricatures are images showing the features of its subject in an exaggerated way. Caricatures can be insulting or complimentary.

Don’t worry, none of the nasty ones will ever be put on ElvisBlog.

 

Artist unknown

 

Obviously, caricature artists have a highly developed sense of facial observation. They can look at the features of a face and know which ones could be best exaggerated while still keeping the full image recognizable. Back in January, 2005, a website with a very long name (www.drawing-faces-and-caricatures-made-easy.com)  had an interesting topic:

 

“What Makes Any Face Caricaturable? How About Elvis Presley?”

 

How about him, indeed. When I saw that title, I knew it was going to be an interesting article. An expert was going to analyze Elvis’ face for the benefit of aspiring caricature artists. Cool.

Anyway, the writer explained how he would draw several features of Elvis’ face. Here are the highlights of what he had to say. The first one is the most incredible description of Elvis’ hair that I have ever seen.

HAIR: “Big. Huge. Massive. Larger than life.” All the superlatives you can conjure up for that top-heavy, fifties, bow-of-a-ship, tough dude, frontal assault of a hair-doo.”

Artist unknown

 

The article goes on to state that effectively drawing Elvis’ hair is a challenge.

“The answer is capturing the 3-D mass of it all. How do you do that? Lots of contours and highlights. Elvis also has lots of loose dangling ends of hair that fall across his face. You’ll see that in almost every caricature of Elvis, artists capitalize on this.”

Artist – LockUp Wallace

Now that’s some serious 3-D Elvis hair. But there’s none of the dangling ends like in the first two pictures. If you scroll back up to check them out again, also notice Elvis’ chin.

CHIN: “Elvis has a full rounded chin. About the only thing else I can say about it is when you draw it, think “sphere” or “square” and try to incorporate those shapes into the chin when you draw.”

Sorry, I don’t think it’s possible to incorporate square into anything about Elvis.

Artist – markdraws

 

Here’s another exaggerated Elvis chin. Nice job on the lip snarl, too. The article had little to say about Elvis’ snarl, but it did point out his cheekbones.

CHEEKBONES: “Whereas Arnold Schwarzenegger boasted really hard angles in his face, Elvis is softer edged. He has prominent cheekbones. They may drop low, because they have a mass to them. They also seem to rise high as they roll past the level of the eyes. You’ll see artists grab on that, too.”

Artist – Ron K

Note that Elvis’ eyes are closed in this one.

EYES, EYEBROWS, EYELIDS: “Women just plain love Elvis’ eyes. Even if this is what women find sexy, here’s what I see as the observable deal. It’s the low riding eyelids, almost that sleepy eyed look. You see Jack Nicholson and John Travolta do it. In any case, it’s the confidence and control factor half-mast eyes seem to exude. That’s what I think it is about his eyes women like. Then you couple the low eyelids with the slightly quizzical raised eyebrows, you get that come-on look.”

 

Artist – Bruce Stark

You have to say that this drawing has distinctive eyes, but they are not quite Elvis’ eyes. The legs remind me of Woody from Toy Story.

Artist Gabby Correia

Here’s a great job on Elvis’ eyes. The artist also nailed the big 3D hair. Also, you may notice that Elvis’ mouth is rather small.

MOUTH: “Traveling south down his face, you encounter the cheekbones, then rather full cheeks, then a relatively small maxilla behind the mouth (that’s the bone that holds your upper teeth). This explains why his mouth may seem small compared to Julia Roberts (who has a very broad, flat-at-the-front-where-the-teeth-are type of maxilla.) So, if you relate all that to Mr. Average, you could play up the forehead and cheeks and shrink the mouth.”

Artist – Benjamin Strobel

This drawing captures the small mouth, the high cheekbones, and of course, the big hair.

LIPS: “For a white guy, Elvis has pretty full lips. Even though, as mentioned above, the mouth overall seems on the small side (from corner to corner), the lips — especially the lower one — are very full.”

Artist – Tom Richmond

Here’s another full-lips drawing. This image of Elvis that has grown on me since I first discovered it. I think it is one of the best black and white caricatures of Elvis.

Several of the pictures above show Elvis in jumpsuits, but for some reason, that was not mentioned in the article as a major element for caricatures.

Artist – Zuo Chen

This one is a little puzzling. That’s a 50s Elvis pompadour, but he’s in a 70s jumpsuit. It is also an example of a frequently used caricature device – big head on a small body.

Artist – Carreno

 

NOSE: “You’ll see his nose drawn with a very broad root (where it comes out of the forehead between the eyes), that maintains that width right down to the sharp tip. A tip that has a dimple in it dividing left and right halves.”

I was surprised that the article made no mention of Elvis’ sideburns. Some of the photos above had big ones. Here is another.

Artist – Zack Wallenfang

These count as serious sideburns. This drawing has Elvis’ shades in it, but they are not really exaggerated. Not many of the Elvis caricatures I’ve found featured the glasses. That’s surprising, because they are a distinctive element associated with Elvis.

Here are a few more good drawings with a little comment.

Artist – Dan Adel

Another large Elvis head on a small Elvis body. This one shows young Elvis with a handful of fans up close and personal. Nice concept.

Artist – David O’Keefe

The big hair pictures generally seem to be young Elvis. And yet, here the sideburns are very subdued.

 

Artist – Alberto “Sting” Russo

Here’s a great Elvis caricature featuring his lip snarl. I guess I like the touches of color, but I’d like to see this one without it, too.

 

Artist unknown

I guess this is not technically a caricature because nothing is exaggerated. But I like it a lot, so we’ll end with it.

 

 

© 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.

 

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$13 Elvis T-Shirts — Winners and Losers

Posted on September 21, 2019 by | 5 comments

The year 2019 has provided a bumper crop of T-shirts for review on ElvisBlog. They made up ¾ of the items covered in a March post on new arrivals at the internet Elvis stores. Then there was the annual summer T-shirt review around Memorial Day. And now, ShopElvis.com has cut the prices on nearly a dozen shirts from $19.99 to $12.99. Some are pretty good shirts; some not so much.

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Winners:

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American Legend Eagle:

 

If you like to wear patriotic T-shirts on the Memorial Day or 4th of July weekends, and you like Elvis T-shirts, here is your chance to combine both. You will note the words American Legend below Presley up by the neck. I like the flag and the attacking eagle in the middle. It is interesting to see both USA and The United States of America on this shirt. This shirt really works for me.

 

ANTIQUE GREEN ELVIS PRESLEY UKULELE AND SIGNATURE:

 

There were several Blue Hawaii T-shirts in this $12.95 offering. Here we have palm fronds, flowers, a ukulele, and Elvis’ signature. The background color is different than what we usually see. Good shirt.

 

PINK ELVIS PRESLEY BLUE HAWAII:

 

This is obviously a T-shirt for the ladies, and I can see why you would like it. The flowers seem to be the same ones as in the previous shirt. Does anybody know what they are?

 

BLUE GROTTO ELVIS PRESLEY SIGNATURE:

 

This is about as simple as Elvis T-shirt design ever gets, but it has pleasant happy feel to it. I can see it will appeal to some Elvis fans.

 

Beige American Eagle Flag:

 

It might be a stretch to call this design an American flag, but its close enough to work as another patriotic T-shirt. I tried to blow-up the white stripes to see if they were guitar necks, but it got too fuzzy to tell.

 

LOSERS

 

ORANGE ELVIS PRESLEY UKULELE DANCERS:

 

When I first saw this, I thought, “What’s with the stubby legs on Elvis?” Then I realized that the original picture from Blue Hawaii had been cropped. But why? There was plenty of room to show everybody’s full legs. I can’t look at this one without focusing on Elvis’ stubby legs.

 

DENIM BLUE STARS AND EAGLE:

 

Maybe I’m being too critical, but this just seems too dark.  You really have to look hard to see that it is an Elvis shirt. I suppose it is more recognizable when worn, and some folks might like it.

 

RED ELVIS PRESLEY FLAG FACE GUITAR PATTERN:

 

It’s a good thing the name for this one includes flag, face, and guitar. Otherwise, we would have no idea what those tiny images are. This might have been OK if they were three or four sizes larger.

 

PATRIOTIC GUITAR T-SHIRT:

 

This looks more like a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt than an Elvis one. And it looks like some kind of black bugs are eating up everything starting at the bottom. I don’t get it.

 

OTHER INTERESTING T-SHIRTS at ShopElvis.com:

 

HAWAIIAN-PATTERN AQUA ELVIS PRESLEY IN FLOWERS:

 

Here’s those Hawaiian flowers again. I love the background pattern. On sale, down from $29.95 to $21.95. That’s a pretty good deal.

 

ORANGE ELVIS PRESLEY HAWAIIAN SUNSET:

 

This could have been another good Blue Hawaii shirt. I love the palm tree background. But what fool decided to spell ELVIS PRESLEY:

ELVIS
PRES
LEY

Sorry, that ruins it for me. But if you like it, the cost is $21.95 on sale.

 

AMERICAN EAGLE JUMPSUIT PAJAMAS:

 

This is pretty clever. There have been American Eagle T-shirts that didn’t quite work, but these pajamas look pretty good. They could have skipped the blue scarf to make it even better. The best news is that the design is continued around on the back.

This is not a sale item and goes for $39.95. You also get more American Eagles on the pants.

 

BLUE WAVE ELVIS PRESLEY UKULELE AND PARROTS:

 

We’ll end with probably the most colorful Elvis T-shirt I’ve ever seen. Note, it is not necessarily a Blue Hawaii shirt, so those birds are fine even if they weren’t in the movie. This is the best of the shirts marked down from $29.95 to $21.95.

 

 

© 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.

 

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ElvisBlog Mini-Nuggets # 26

Posted on September 14, 2019 by | 6 comments

Energizer Bunny:

What’s the Energizer Bunny playing his drum have to do with Elvis? Not much. But there is some resemblance to Laid-back Elvis Hound Dog playing his guitar.

 

Maybe what we need is an Energizer Elvis Bunny playing guitar.

Or…maybe not.

 

Elvis Pins:

The August 13 Graceland Auction had some interesting collections of 1956 pins worn by Elvis fans. These pictures were blown up from tiny images, so they are a little fuzzy.

“I like Elvis” was a popular theme, and the message was done with several different designs.

They even made pins for the folks that didn’t like Elvis.

 

Here are some other interesting themes.

 

This has to be my favorite pin message.

 

Song titles connected with Elvis seem to have been popular, too.

 

I had to look this one up in a Yiddish Slang Dictionary. It said, “Exclamation of shock or fear. This is similar to the expression ‘oy vey’ but with a larger sense of doom.” So Elvis caused some people to feel a sense of doom??? Give me a break

 

Vince Everett:

You good fans will remember this was Elvis’ character’s name in Jailhouse Rock. With the help of Peggy Van Alden (Judy Tyler), Vince became a recording star. He and Peggy founded Laurel Records, and these picture sleeves represent the first three records Vince released during the movie. Here are the fake 45 RPM records in paper sleeves used during filming.

This record had significant screen time in the movie. Note that this sleeve is actually autographed by Elvis.

Elvis sang all five of these songs in the movie, making Jailhouse Rock one of his best sound tracks. The sixth song in the movie was “I Want to Be Free,” which I ranked #7 on my Top 10 list of Elvis songs in a 2012 post.

 

Elvis Karate Fight MARKER:

On June 24, 1977, while riding from the Madison, Wisconsin airport to his hotel, Elvis noticed a street fight in progress at E. Washington Ave and Stoughton Road. It was two young men pummeling a teen on the ground.

While his limo was stopped at the nearby red light, Elvis ran from the car and threatened the combatants with a classic karate stance, and reportedly yelled, “I’ll take you on.” The young men recognized Elvis and stopped fighting in favor of shaking hands with the star. Elvis reportedly left after ensuring that everything was settled and taking time to shake hands with several onlookers.

A plaque to commemorate the event was installed at the site. It shows Elvis with a guitar and describes the incident. The plaque is not in good shape now. A metal plate bearing a description of what happened that day has been pried from the stone. But the image of Elvis, remained on the marker.

Elvis had flown into Madison for a performance at the Dane County Coliseum, part of his final tour. Unfortunately, his death came just 53 days later

 

Elvis’ $1.8 Million Dollar Watch:

A 1960 Omega watch that once belonged to Elvis sold at auction in May 2018 for $1.8 million. Wow.

It set a record price for the any Swiss Omega watch brand ever sold. Wow.

The timepiece sold for 18 times the highest estimate. Wow

RCA Records gave Elvis the watch to commemorate him selling 75 million records.

The watch is a manually winding, 18ct white-gold Omega Calibre 510, adorned with 44 round diamonds. It features the logo of Tiffany & Co – the company that originally sold the watch.

The back of the watch carries the inscription: “TO ELVIS, 75 MILLION RECORDS, RCA VICTOR, 12-25-60” – marking the date, December 25, 1960, when Elvis’ record sales reached that landmark.

 

Al Hirschfeld’s Caricatures of Elvis:

My son and his fiance treated themselves to a long weekend trip to New York City, and they took in a musical at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. His name sounded familiar, so I Googled him and found out he was regarded as the greatest caricaturist of the 20th century.

His biography included samples of his incredible drawings of famous people, including Elvis Presley. Here are three of the best.

This is regarded as the first published caricature of Elvis. It appeared in the July 6, 1956, issue of Collier’s magazine to illustrate a column criticizing the singer and his fans.

This one is titled Blue Suede Shoes and was a limited edition print (300 copies) in 1999. One sold at auction recently for $1,500.

A version of this drawing was published by The New York Times on December 1, 1968, in anticipation of the broadcast of the NBC-TV special Elvis two days later. This version was used to make limited-edition lithographs. An autographed copy sold at Heritage Auctions for $2,500.

 

That Al Hirschfeld link led me to another site with almost a hundred cool Elvis caricatures, and I had never seen 75% of them before. I can’t wait to do a blog post on the best ones.

 

 

© 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.

 

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Elvis and American Eagle Day

Posted on June 20, 2019 by | 2 comments

 

 

I didn’t know today was American Eagle Day until I heard it on the news.  But I did know I had several images in my files that combined Elvis and the American eagle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a wonderful American Eagle Day

 

 

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Elvis Goodies from the Fuzzy Room – Part 7

Posted on June 16, 2019 by | 6 comments

Note:  This item has been sold

 

I’m going to try it a little different this time. There will be just one item — a collection of 9 issues of The Star tabloid from the first years after Elvis’ death. I will write about the stories in each one, which you may find interesting even if you have no interest in buying them.

September 6, 1977 — Elvis What Happened

As you can see on the cover, there are four Elvis stories in this issue, and they total five pages. The first one on page 9 has the title, “Elvis: He was still pleading with ex-wife Priscilla to come back to him.” It’s a pretty favorable article for both Elvis and Priscilla. It says she flew to Memphis twice in his last year to be with him during hospitalizations. I didn’t know that.

The reason given for Priscilla falling for Elvis at such a young age was her quote, “He made me comfortable… He was very gentle. He was his own man, a very compassionate and understanding person.” That sounds like Elvis.

The writer of the article made a few errors that we fans would easily catch. There was a list of leading ladies in his films that Elvis dated, and it mistakenly included Natalie Wood and Anita Wood. I thought I knew the names of everyone Elvis ever dated, but the article mentioned Malessa Blackwood, Miss Memphis Southmen (World Football League team), and Diane Goodman, former Miss Georgia. I looked them up and the story had it right.

The biorhythm article is very interesting. If Elvis hadn’t died on August 16, He was at even greater risk with a triple critical day on August 18 when all three cycles intersected at their low points. I Googled biorhythm chart and put in my birthday. I’m in the clear for the next month. You might have fun doing it, too.

What you won’t have fun with is the article “Elvis What Happened.” It’s an excerpt from the hit-job book of the same title by Red West, Sonny West, and Dave Heebler. I read the book once, and that’s enough for me.

This issue of The Star is 48 pages long, and reading the rest of it is like a time capsule. There are articles about:

John Kennedy Jr passing a survival course at age 16
Bing Crosby and his wife Kathryn
Nick Nolte and his many girlfriends
Pet Crabs (after the Pet Rock craze)
Mick Jagger cutting up wife Bianca’s credit cards
John Travolta and Olivia Newton John — just friends, not lovers.

The Star generally doesn’t carry the outrageous stories favored by some of the other supermarket tabloids, but these two come pretty close:

“Working wives run the risk of growing beards”
UFO’s are time machines from the future”

All in all, this issue is loaded with interesting stuff about Elvis and a lot more. You would enjoy reading it.

 

September 20, 1977 — 8 Pages of Elvis. — Giant Full-Color Pull-Out

These eight pages are loaded with a variety of stuff about Elvis. Here is a list of the titles:

Stepbrother reveals: I gave Elvis a massage only hours before he died

Secret girlfriend says: I loved him for 5 years

The bodyguard’s tribute [Red West]

And more from the Book the World is Talking About [another excerpt from Elvis What Happened]

The Beginning, The Glory, and The End

Nurse became substitute mom to lonely idol [Marion Cocke]

Elvis and Priscilla were still legally married, her lawyer says
he bought a $35,000 ring – at 12:30am

The night Lisa Marie will never forget

$ Million ransom plot that nearly paid off [about stealing Elvis’ corpse for ransom]

Linda: He loved me to the end

Win fifty Elvis LPs [10 question quiz to enter in drawing]

Despite the cover tease, there are actually seven color photos and eight B&W photos in this section.

There were plenty of other stories compatible with the time capsule mentioned earlier:

Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti
Prince Charles and French society beauty
Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner
Caroline Kennedy and John Kennedy Jr’s Romances
Farrah Fawcett Leaving Charlie’s Angels

 

October 4, 1977 — Elvis: Fabulous Poster Offer

Even though Elvis didn’t make the cover of this issue, there is plenty for an Elvis fan to read including these titles:

Three Elvis Presley look-alikes pay tribute to the king [Yes, there were Elvis impersonators even before he died. Does anybody remember Jesse King, Alan Meyer or Bill Haley (not the one with the Comets)]

Elvis’ dad faces bitter courtroom battle over who should get the Presley millions  [Vernon’s ex-wife Dee trying to get her hands on money she didn’t deserve]

This Elvis poster in color is yours for only $1.75 [and 50¢ postage]

Private Presley joins the Army – and re-discovers his passion for guns

That last article says that on one 1970 shopping spree in Beverly Hills, Elvis bought 32 handguns, one shotgun, and one rifle. It sounds like Elvis bought firearms like he did cars and jewelry. The article also mentioned some of the ridiculous reporter questions he had to put up with. Like, would he buy blue-suede combat boots, and would he ask fans to send him Southern fried chicken.

The other celebrity stories included:

G. Gordon Liddy
Jack Klugman
Princess Caroline
John Travolta
Phil Silvers
Farrah Fawcett and Lee majors
Burt Reynolds and Sally Field
Robert Blake
And, of course, lots of stuff about the cover subject, Jackie Kennedy

 

October 11, 1977 — Elvis: The Karate Man Who Stole His Wife

The cover story is another excerpt for “Elvis What Happened.” The three-page article has two color photographs. I don’t find Mike Stone a particularly handsome man.

That full-cover Elvis poster is back, and this time there is also a tote bag with the same image going for $3.50 plus $1 postage

In some ways, The Star paved the way for People magazine. Here are just some of the celebrities in this issue:

Liza Minelli
Greg Allman and Cher
John Mitchell and J.R. Haldeman
Tatum O’Neal and Michael Jackson — We’re in love
Cheryl Ladd joining the cast of “Charlie’s Angels [and eight large color photos of the Girls, but no Farrah Fawcett]
Behind-the-scenes look at in in-fighting and over-budget problems at Star Wars

And, in the weird category, how about a pyramid pendant that gives you bio-cosmic energy?

 

October 25, 1977 — Elvis family Album

The promised album contains four color photos of Elvis and Lisa Marie, plus one more of Priscilla, Elvis, and Lisa Marie. But that wasn’t all of the Elvis pages. There was also:

Inside story of the Elvis body-snatching by ex-Marine who tipped off the police

High school concert that launched Elvis Presley on the road to stardom

Elvis fans remember him in prayers

 

The celebrities with photos and articles included:

Elton John
Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson in the Hardy Boys TV show
Joanne Woodward
TV violence [Telly Savalas, Angie Dickinson]
Suzanne Somers
Brigitte Bardot
Cary Grant
Rod Stewart

One thing that made me smile was this title, “Billy Graham predicts his death within 10 years.” Fortunately he called that wrong.

Also, there is a short piece about a group of psychics who declared President Jimmer Carter to be “The Warrior President.” I guess they changed their opinion after his handling of the Iranian Embassy terrorism.

 

November 15, 1977 — $12 Million Elvis Rip-Off

The $12 million swindle is some pretty interesting reading. It seems to be for real because it had two quotes from the FBI and references a message sent to Elvis’ bank, the National Bank of Commerce in Memphis. The scam was to buy Elvis’ Convair 880 known as the Lisa Marie, do massive upgrades, and lease it back to him. I did not know that Elvis owned five planes over his life. There was also a Jetstar (Hound Dog Two), a Jetstream, a Falcon, and a Gulfstream.

Another article was titled, “Ann-Margret: I’m still stunned by his death.” I did not know that she attended Elvis’ funeral.

There was also a piece on the contest mentioned earlier [50 Elvis albums as prize].

The last Elvis story in this issue was, “Elvis Presley planned a private war against drug pushers.” It’s pretty bizarre and strains credibility. The first part is the familiar story of Elvis getting a federal narcotics badge when he visited President Nixon in the White House. Next is an episode where Elvis suspected a new guy on the payroll of stealing two rings. The guy tried to leave town, and Elvis learned about the flight he would be getting on to escape. Supposedly, Elvis and the boys rushed to the airport, where he went right out on the runway and flashed that federal badge in front of the taxiing plane. I’ve never heard about this before. Pretty strange.

And here’s a taste of the celebrities covered in this issue:

Rudolph Nureyev
Johnny Carson
Paul Anka
Bette Davis
Captain Kangaroo
Raymond Burr
Patty Hearst
Norman Mailer

 

August 15, 1978 — Special Elvis Tribute – One year Later

The Star obviously wanted to do something special to commemorate the first anniversary of Elvis’ death, and they did a good job on a 12-page pullout section. Check out this lineup:

A year after his death, millions still mourn

Memphis expects a stampede [50,000 expected visitors, 9,000 hotel/motel rooms] [ABC planning a three-hour TV special, with Priscilla, Charlie Hodge, and the Jordanaires]

The Elvis nobody knew – 11 rare photos [all common now]

The Elvis Industry [small potatoes compared to now]

A year later, Elvis’ bodyguards are still torn by the death of The King
[This is basically an attempt by Red West, Sonny West, and Dave Heebler to cool off the backlash caused by their crummy book.]

Inside Graceland – first pictures [Seven nice color photos, one I’ve never seen before]

Win 60 Elvis LPs [new contest, bigger prize]

Elvis – More popular dead than alive [analysis by two psychiatrists]

Psychics say: We have been in touch with Elvis’ spirit [I’d be more impressed if they had predicted how popular Elvis would be 42 years later]

In addition to the inside Graceland photos, there were 25 more color and B&W ones throughout this special section. Plus, a color montage of four Elvis drawings by artist Brian Clinton fills up the last page. I’ve never come across it before, so here it is for you:

Have you ever seen it before?

Here’s a sample of the other celebrities with articles and pictures in the magazine: Marie Osmond, Jane Fonda, Margaux Hemmingway, Ted Kennedy, Patricia Nral, George Hamilton, and Charlton Heston.

 

November 28, 1978 — Elvis family Secrets

The two-page, five-photo article about Dee Stanley Presley is the only Elvis content in this issue. Basically, she tries to polish up her image.

Of course, there were dozens of stories about a wide array of celebrities, but you get the idea without me naming them.

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April 10, 1979 — Elvis Family Photo Album

I never heard of photographer Sean Shaver, but I did find him in one of my reference books. Supposedly, he took 80,000 photos of Elvis, and here we see six small B&W ones and nine larger color ones, two of which are new to me.

 

Elvis Goodies from the Fuzzy Room – Part 7

OK, here’s the deal. I am selling this nine-issue collection for $30 delivered (and I’m covering probably $10 postage to mail them). They are not mint copies protected for the last 40 plus years in plastic sleeves, but they are mostly in pretty good shape.

I checked out most of the issues on eBay, and prices ranged from $7.00 to $13.50 delivered, so $30 delivered for nine issues is a deal. You will have hours of reading about Elvis if you get this collection. You will probably also read many of the stories about other celebrities, like I did. That’s the reason I’m late posting this blog.

So, if you want to purchase my collection of The Star tabloids featuring Elvis, let me know by email at philarnold@charter.net.  Do not put your message in Comments. As usual, first in gets it.

The price is for delivery to US destinations. Postage to Canada would be $15 to $20 more. Indicate if you can do payment by PayPal, and I’ll send you an invoice. If not, I’ll hold off mailing the magazines until your check arrives.

Somebody is going to be very happy they jumped on this deal. But if you come in late, don’t worry. You can try again when I offer my collections of National Enquire and Midnight Globe magazines with Elvis content.

 

Thanks very much for your support.

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Elvis T-Shirt Review – Summer 2019

Posted on May 25, 2019 by | 2 comments

The Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of summer, and that means it’s time for the 9th annual ElvisBlog review of the new arrival Elvis T-shirts. We’ll also look at some recently discounted shirts at ShopGraceland.com. It’s interesting to note what made them a hard sell.

New ones first.

 

ELVIS 68 SPECIAL BLACK LEATHER WOMEN’S SUBLIMATED T-SHIRT:

 

This is an excellent one to start with. Elvis looks great in the ’68 black leather. There’s a million shots of that around, but this one also shows the heads of the girls around the pit for the acoustic set. Nice touch. I don’t know what sublimated means; same with the red tonal graphic background it has, but they work just fine. Here’s a bonus — the design is on the back, too. $29.99

 

JOE PETRUCCIO JUST PRETEND MEN’S T-SHIRT:

 

I love all of Joe Pertruccio’s paintings of Elvis, and ShopGraceland was smart to use several of them on new T-shirts. This is the Sundial jumpsuit Elvis wore on his last concert in 1977. I can’t figure out why this pose is called “Just Pretend,” but it I love Elvis with his back to the crowd and disappearing into the shadows of the stage. $29.99 and worth it.

 

ELVIS KISSING GUITAR WOMEN’S SUBLIMATED T-SHIRT:

 

The website said this was a promotional photo from the early days, and it’s a good choice. I like the way the blue background varies from dark at the shoulders to brighter around Elvis. Of course, those floating hearts are supposed to be emanating from Elvis as he is lovin’ on that guitar, but I think hearts near Elvis’ head is a super concept for a women’s T-shirt. $29.99

 

ELVIS PRESLEY HEARTS PROFILE WOMEN’S SUBLIMATED T-SHIRT:

 

Or, if you don’t want to be subtle with the hearts, here is a beauty for you. Great graphics. And this one is double sided, as well. $29.99. Go get one, ladies.

 

ELVIS PRESLEY FOLLOW THAT DREAM COLD SHOULDER WOMEN’S T-SHIRT:

 

This is the first Elvis T-shirt to feature cold-shoulder cutouts. Unfortunately, the three-word cursive graphic isn’t very eye-catching. Hopefully we’ll see more of this style with better designs. $29.99

 

ELVIS PRESLEY KING OF ROCK N ROLL T-SHIRT:

 

I like red T-shirts, and this is not bad. It would be better if the image of Elvis was blown up about three times. $24.99

 

ELVIS PRESLEY SILHOUETTE COLLAGE 3/4 SLEEVE WOMEN’S T-SHIRT:

 

It looks like most of the best new arrivals are for women. No surprise. I like this one because of the different way they presented the Elvis silhouettes. The 3/4 sleeve and long tail give it a pretty unique appearance. Take another look at the Elvis silhouette on the right. It’s coming up soon on a shirt I do not like.

 

Next are three discounted shirts with numbers on them..

 

ELVIS ALOHA FROM HAWAII 45TH ANNIVERSARY ALBUM T-SHIRT

 

Well, it’s colorful and all, but this is just weird. There is fine print that says Aloha from Hawaii 1973-2018, but who can see it? That big blue 45 is what jumps out at you. All of these anniversary T-shirts get discounted the next year, and this went from $24.99 to $12.50.

 

ELVIS PRESLEY 41 LOGO T-SHIRT:

 

The website says, “2018 will be the 41st year of Elvis fans from around the world coming together to commemorate Elvis’ life and career.” I guess that’s the politically correct way of saying the 41st anniversary of his death. The out-of-date shirt has been cut from $24.99 to $12.50.

 

JOE PETRUCCIO ELVIS IS BACK 50 WOMEN’S T-SHIRT:

 

Okay, can you figure out what the 50 is all about? Elvis in his ’68 black leather suit should give you a clue. It;s a shame to see any Joe Petruccio arywork get used on a shirt that will be obsolete in a year and discounted.  This went from 29.99 to $20.99.

 

How about a couple I really don’t like?

 

GRACELAND ROCK GUITAR FRAME RAGLAN:

 

The website says this one is sold out, so somebody must like it. The raglan-cut long sleeve design is a plus. My big complaint is one I have voiced here before. Too much Graceland, not enough Elvis. It costs $29.99. Why bother when that much money will get you some great shirts that feature Elvis?

 

ELVIS ALOHA FROM HAWAII 45TH ANNIVERSARY WOMEN’S T-SHIRT:

 

The large silhouette in this design is the one I told you to keep in mind earlier. However, here it looks like a raging Godzilla, mostly because the overlaid concert photography that makes him look scary. Here’s a blow-up.

Then there’s the little silhouette over his neck. That looks like Elvis is getting a radioactive charge that’s about to crumble him to the floor. This T-shirt is a complete mess. It used to be priced at $29.99, now reduced to $15. Good luck.

 

ShopGraceland also has a selection of $14.99 shirts – the original price, not a discounted one. I wondered if there were any pleasant surprises. No. I should have known why they were cheap.

 

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There are several more of these uninspired designs that feature Graceland with very little Elvis. If you had $30 to spend, what would you rather have two Graceland T-shirts or one good Elvis T-shirt? Like the one below.

 

JOE PETRUCCIO TAKE MY HAND MEN’S T-SHIRT:

 

I saved my favorite for last. It’s another Joe Petruccio painting, this time of Elvis in the ’68 black leather. The addition of the marquee stage sign with the lights in white, not red, is masterful. This shirt is no frills, but still packs a big punch. $29.99

 

 

 

© 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.

 

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Some Elvis Pictures I’ve Never Seen Before – Part 12

Posted on May 18, 2019 by | 16 comments

Elvis on his Knees - 1st April 1957 - Buffalo NY

This photo shows why Elvis had to ditch the gold lame pants. He liked getting down on his knees while performing, but after a while, the gold started to wear off. According to the tag on this picture, it was snapped on April 1, 1957 in Buffalo NY.

 

1957 Elvis Seattle concert

Here’s Elvis at it again later that year in Seattle.

 

Elvis' Smalest Crowd Ever

I labelled this one, “Elvis’ Smallest Concert Crowd.” To be honest, I screen grabbed it from an Elvis movie. Do you know which one it was?

 

Elvis Presley TCB Band

I’ve had fun trying to figure out who is who here. The easy ones are Charlie Hodge – top right, Ronnie Tutt – bottom right, John Wilkinson – bottom left, and James Burton top left,. I’m pretty sure that’s Jerry Scheff in front of Burton. So, that leaves the two guys in the middle. Any ideas? I did some research, and one of them has to be Larry Muhoberac, the keyboard player for less than a year before Glenn D. Hardin joined the group.

 

Two Elvis bootleg LP's that featured the Elvis Ed Sullivan recordings

This is the cover of a bootleg album. It featured the songs Elvis performed on the three Ed Sullivan shows.

 

Elvis and Mary Ann Mobley

Obviously, this shot didn’t appear in the movie Girl Happy, but Elvis and Mary Ann Mobley seem to be enjoying themselves during a break in the filming..

 

Elvis And Eddy Arnold

This is Eddie Arnold with Elvis. Neither one seems to be enjoying this encounter. Both have their arms folded, and Elvis is looking away.

 

Elvis Blocking the Light

I like to put photos of young Elvis into these pictorials. Unfortunately, the tag said nothing about where or when it was taken.

( Thanks to two reader comments, we now have the uncropped photo and an explanation of what is going on.)

This is cousin Gene Smith with Elvis on May 27, 1956. in Dayton, Ohio. They are playing a made-up game they used to play when they were bored to pass the time. It was possibly a truth or consequence type, where the loser would get smacked on the forehead when they answered wrong.

Thank you Sandy and Leon’a for providing this.

 

3AM Concert Labor Day, September 2, 1973

In the second Eye Candy for Elvis Fans post, I showed a poster for his 3am performance at the Las Vegas Hilton on September 3, 1973. Here is a photo that is supposed to be from that concert, but I don’t believe it. The audience is too big for a hotel ballroom.

3AM Concert Labor Day, September 2, 1973 - Blowup of Stage

I enlarged and cropped to get this view of the stage. It might hold Elvis and the band, but where would the Stamps and the Sweet Inspirations fit? The background is too plain for a classy hotel venue. This has to be somewhere else.

 

Dirty Elvis in Jailhouse Rock

This is the dirtiest you will ever see Elvis. It was on the screen in Jailhouse Rock for a just a couple of seconds, so you hardly had time to notice it.

 

Charlie Hodge, Lamar Fike, Elvis and Rex

The caption under this is hard to read, but it says, “Charlie, Lamar, Elvis and Rex (laughing) in front of the house with a dog.” Charlie Hodge, Lamar Fike, and Rex Mansfield were Elvis’ buddies when they served together in Germany. However, I don’t see a guy laughing.

Anyway, the house mentioned in the tag is this one:

Elvis' Home in Germany

 

 

Elvis in front of Jukebox - Warrior Hotel, Sioux City, Iowa, May 23, 1956

Elvis enjoying free time before performing at the Warrior Hotel, Sioux City, Iowa, May 23, 1956. Guess he hadn’t gotten into big, expensive watches yet.

 

Elvis Army Photo

Think about this. Your brother gives you an autographed Elvis photo he got while they were in the Army. Then a friend of yours who doesn’t like Elvis tears it up. That would make her an ex-friend in my book.

Reader Kathy Kessel says the other fellow in the picture is not her brother and wonders who he is. It’s a long shot, but does anyone have an idea?

 

Elvis in front of Gold Curtain

Let’s end with a splash. How do you like that gold curtain? I didn’t know that Elvis made curtain calls.

 

 

(Note: The movie with Elvis’ smallest concert crowd is Loving You, and he sang the title track.)

 

 

© 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.

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Posted in COOL STUFF OUT THERE IN ELVISWORLD, ELVIS and OTHER STARS, FRIENDS of ELVIS, IMAGES, Main Page, THE MOST UNUSUAL ELVIS ARTICLES ON THE WEB

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