On April 26, Graceland.com posted a surprisingly brief news item.
“Graceland is pleased that an agreement has been reached for Elvis’ two airplanes, the Lisa Marie and Hound Dog II to remain at Elvis Presley’s Graceland in Memphis permanently. The planes have been available for tours in the Graceland visitors’ center since 1984.”
Pretty short on detail, and there has been no elaboration since. Lisa Marie had a little Twitter message the same day.
I guess the plan is to move forward with no mention of the battle that has been going on since last July between Elvis Presley Enterprises and OKC Partnership, the company that actually owns the planes. In case you don’t know the history here, Graceland has displayed the planes under an agreement that gives OKC an a specific percentage of the ticket revenue.
Things seem to have worked fine for all the years that Graceland charged separate prices for each attraction. Then, package tickets came into the picture, but you could still buy the individual tickets. Well, those days are over. You must now choose between two package plans, or simply see the mansion and nothing else..
These are two options on the cheaper package. The only difference is that the top one includes the airplanes for an extra $5.00. The more expensive Elvis VIP Entourage package works the same way. When this set-up started, it effectively established a considerably lower ticket income for the planes exhibit, and thus, a big drop in revenue for OKC. Which, of course, they weren’t happy about. So, OKC called EPE’s bluff by threatening to remove their planes.
From here on it was like a boxing slug fest, with each side making moves to get the advantage.
First EPE countered their bluff by saying okay, get the planes out of here. Might have been a smart move. Realistically, where could OKC set up the planes and attract as many customers as they get at Graceland?
Advantage EPE
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Soon, OKC announced a deal with Julian’s, the Beverly Hills, California, auction house to offer both planes, and they were expected to fetch between $10 million and $15 million.
Advantage OKC
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Uh, oh. The auction closed on February 2, and nobody bid on the planes. Same results when they tried to sell them on an aviation website and eBay.
Advantage EPE
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Earlier this month (April 2015), Shelby County’s land use board approved a proposal by OKC Partnership to move the planes to a 5.3-acre lot at 3850 Elvis Presley Blvd, not far from Graceland. The plan was approved Tuesday, April 21 by the Memphis City Council.
The approved plan called for the planes to be installed as an outdoor display and museum for tourists to visit. And the news release said it would be up and running in time for Elvis Week 2015.
Advantage OKC
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To show you how feasible this plan could have been, look at the location of the lot in question.
The lot is across the street from the Days Inn that is just down the street from the car museum. I stayed there on my first visit, and it’s no walk at all to Graceland.
This aerial view shows the property just to the right of the marker. Look above it and you can see the Graceland drive and the mansion behind the cluster of trees. A little higher and to the left you can see where the planes are now. So, OKC had a viable plan to move the planes, start their own attraction, and attract all the folks in town to see Graceland.
EPE had to cut a deal, or they would lose the planes. You can bet some hot and heavy negation went on, and now they own the plans.
Advantage EPE
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Yes, Graceland seems to have won, but the price had to be a lot higher than they originally expected.
Look at the aerial map again. Above the planes is the U-shaped Heartbreak Hotel. Behind it is the Graceland Trailer Park and a primitive tent camping area. In an ElvisBlog article last July, I speculated that if EPE wanted to move the planes to allow room for a huge entertainment complex, they might eliminate the tent area and put them there.
One other interesting fact came to light while I researched this story. There is another possible location where EPE might move the planes. Directly behind Graceland Plaza Visitors’ Center is a sixteen-acre property that used to be the Craft Manor Apartments. It has been razed and EPE has owned it since 2007. So the planes could be moved there as part of some new development. Like Lisa cryptically said, “We own them and have fun plans 4 them.”
Or the planes might stay right where they are. Either way, the fans win.
© 2015 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.
ElvisBlog Mini-Nuggets – #18
We haven’t done Mini-Nuggets in over two years, so I’m glad to have enough stuff in the files to do another one.
The ELVIS:
My son took this photo before he polished off the stack of waffles with peanut butter, bananas, candied bacon, chocolate and caramel sauce. Offered by the Superchefs restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, this tempting stack of pure indulgence is called The ELVIS. Just $9.95. Can’t you see Elvis chowing down on one?
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Britney Spears to be Wed at Graceland – Don’t Bet On It:
I haven’t seen Elvis’ face on a supermarket tabloid in years, so this one caught my eye. After a little checking, I think the outraged Elvis fans can probably cool it. This thing about Britney Spears getting married at Graceland is just hype.
For one thing, she’s not yet officially engaged to boyfriend David Lucado. Plus, she has not asked EPE or Lisa Marie if the wedding could take place at Graceland. And finally, would they even say yes to such a request. According to a source at www.dailymail.co.uk, “Britney wants to get as much attention and money for pictures with her third wedding as she did for her second.” Looks like the self-promotion has started early.
I learned two things researching this piece. Britney Spears is now 32, and she sure looks fine in an Elvis jumpsuit.
ElvisBlog Now #1 and #2 in Crummy Elvis Shit:
ElvisBlog was number 1 in ‘Crummy Elvis Shit’ in 2008 and again in 2012. Now in 2014, ElvisBlog takes the top two spots in Google’s results. The scary thing is that they found 1,080,000 results for ‘Crummy Elvis Shit.’ To find out why ElvisBlog gets these results, click here.
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Elvis’ TCB Ring Located:
Back in 2012, the second installment of Elvis’ Fabulous Rings showed this picture and the following comment:
“This has to be the most expensive ring Elvis ever had special-made for him, or at least in the top three. It contains 56 diamonds, including an 11.5 carat solitaire. Elvis paid $35,000 for it in 1974, which would be $163,000 in today’s dollars. So far, I have been unable to find if it has ever been sold at auction.”
Well, now we know why it has never shown up at an auction. It has been on display at the Graceland exhibit Elvis… Through his Daughter’s Eyes, that ended its two-year run on February 13. To celebrate the event, EPE created a 27 minute video of Lisa walking around the exhibit and reminiscing. And look what was inside a glass display case:
Man, that’s a whole bunch of diamonds.
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Alice Cooper and Elvis:
Here’s another Elvis-related story from a British tabloid website. According to www,mirror.co.uk, this story happened in 1971 at the Las Vegas Hilton:
“He had the penthouse – this was when he was at the top of his game. I had always been a fan as a kid, so I jumped at the chance to go upstairs and meet him. When I got to the lift I found it was me, Liza Minnelli and the porn actress Linda Lovelace.
“Arriving at Presley’s suite, the unlikely group were frisked for guns by the King’s security team. “I don’t know why they bothered – when we got inside the place was full of guns,” Alice recalls.
“Elvis took me into the kitchen, opened a drawer, and pulled out a loaded pistol, telling me to put it to his head. I recognized it straight away, a snub .32. I didn’t know what to do. “I had this gun in my hand and was expecting one of his security to come in any second, see me holding a weapon and shoot me dead.
“A little voice in my left ear was telling me, ‘Go on, this is history, kill him, you’ll always be the guy who killed Elvis’. In my other ear was another voice saying, ‘You can’t kill him, it’s Elvis Presley – wound him instead, you’ll only get a few years.’
“A fraction of a second later Elvis did a flying kick on the gun, and sent it flying, before tripping me and pinning me to the ground by my neck, announcing, ‘that’s how you stop a man with a gun.’”
If this really happened, I’m glad Elvis showed his moves before Alice Cooper could listen to the voice in either ear. Elvis saved him from becoming the most hated person in America.
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Linda Thompson – Song Writer:
I recently saw a bio on Elvis’ girlfriend Linda Thompson. It said she was a songwriter who had been nominated for an Oscar and a Grammy, and who won an Emmy. My first reaction was “Really. I didn’t know that.” Turns out that she has been a prolific writer of song lyrics, collaborating with a number of significant songwriters.
“I Have Nothing” was sung by Whitney Houston in the 1992 motion picture, The Bodyguard. Linda and collaborator David Foster (also her husband from 1991 to 2005) wrote the song and were nominated both for the Academy Award for Best Song in 1993 and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television in 1994.
Linda and Foster did win the 2003 Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics for “Aren’t They All Our Children” for the 2002 TV special The Concert for World Children’s Day.
Well, good for Linda Thompson. I will never again think of her as just an Elvis girlfriend with a pretty face.
© 2013 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 COMMENTARY MINI-NUGGETS, Main Page
Tagged Alice Cooper, Elvis Peanut-butter and Bannana, Elvis rings, Elvis' Graceland, Linda thompson