Elvis memorabillia

For JFK I was in school. The principal came around and told each teacher. It's probable they kept the littlest ones in school but the oldest were sent home. I recall what seemed like all the teachers crying and the girls too. We just stood around outside stunned, all of us.
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With Elvis, if it had happened in the busyness of the working day it may have gotten by me too but the ship was quiet and at rest with only the duty crew aboard and I happened to be reading on the bow with my radio going. I wish I recall what book that was.

 

Yes, they have what seems, it all, then throw it away. I don't get it.
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He was nice to me but a very brief encounter that was.
I worked in a store I can only describe to this varied area group as a mini Target.
Unfortunately it was my day off when this occurred>
This store was on west Sahara avenue, essentially up the hill from the Strip and the International Hotel. Why they came to this store I never knew because a sister store was closer.
This store had a sporting goods department.
Because I had just seen his show I was called into the security office the next day to see this on tape.
Unannounced he came in in a long cape and with 4 or 5 security guys, each with a 3' flashlight..... I assume they were his personal guys.
They headed to sporting goods where he bought handguns as gifts for all the hotel security guards.
He did this with a credit card and in those days they were used on sliders for the imprint.
I have a copy of this receipt!
I wish I had a copy of that tape as well.

 

Welllll, Elvis Presley. When I heard of his demise, my first thought was, there goes Memphis biggest tourist attraction! We are located in the Memphis, TN metropolitan area. That day, a Saturday, I was next door experimenting with developing inverted negatives with a friend in her photography studio when my daughter and 2 friends (all ages 5, 6 & 7) came running it with the news. The little boy with them said his mother had heard the news. I said something like "there goes Memphis' one tourist attraction." My friend quickly hushed me and said that boy's Mom was a devoted Elvis fan and that she was probably in tears!

Since that time, on the anniversary of his death, hundreds from around the world line the street in front of "Graceland" with lighted candles. Back in the 70's - 90's use to be thousands, but in the last couple of decades the number has dwindled. They would come from Great Britain, Germany, India, Japan, etc... Reporters would be out in the crowds interviewing. It never ceased to amaze me that many said this was the high light of their lives, and they would go home and save their money for a few more years and come back. Some said it was the 5th time they had come.

One time I was flying back to Memphis from a New England visit. A couple from New Hampshire was in my section of the row. They were specifically flying to Memphis to be **married** in the front yard of Graceland. I had to bite lip to keep from saying something like hmmmmmm..... (remember the thread Greg running in the South)... "Bless your heart."
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/native-american-sled-racing-stereoviews.6511/page-2#post-89887

--- Susan

 

I wonder if they were as shocked as I was when I saw the 'hood' GL is in.

 

...but.....he really did have the most wonderful voice..........and I think a good but troubled heart

 

It wasn't so when he was living there. That neighborhood slowly went downhill from the mid 80s through to the 2000s with "white flight." What tremendous damage "white flight" can cause! The shopping centers and mall all but closed down. Around 2000 +\- entrepreneurs, foundations, etc... Started bringing more stores in and revamping the mall. "Magic" Johnson may have helped in redevelopment in that area?? His foundation or whatever has given scholarships to many Memphis area high schools.

>... but a troubled heart...<

I guess so. He was a country boy, who his manager may have taken advantage? It was common knowledge in this area of his womanizing and drug use. I have heard some refer to him as a "big frog in a small town" of Memphis - making a big splash in a relatively small city of that era. He did have a generous heart especially in his home towns of Tupelo, MS and Memphis, TN. He lavished money on many charitites around here like St. Jude's Hospital and cadillacs on friends especially during the holiday season.
http://www.elvis-history-blog.com/elvis-charity.html

--- Susan

 

G-d bless Elvis !

 

I think he was always a country boy at heart, but like a lot of people who find fame he ran into more than he could handle. He really could sing though; even my late father liked his voice, and Dad didn't like rock. I remember John Lennon getting shot, but my parents didn't meet until after JFK died.

 

Astonishing...

 

I can't believe you don't pack that up and send it to an auction house in Memphis..!

 

The pics at the bottom of the last collage, for the lack of a better word, are of Elvis & Debra Paget from the movie Love me Tender. I first thought they might be of Elvis and Dolores Hart from the movie Loving You, 1957. A bit of trivia, a few years later Dolorus Hart entered a convent in Connecticut, Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, CT - cloistered Benedictine nun. She is Mother Prioress Dolores Hart. She also was in the movie King Creole, 1958, with Elvis.

http://abbeyofreginalaudis.org/community-mdh.html

--- Susan

 

Thanks for the link Yourturn! I remember seeing the advertisements for Elvis's performances at Pontchartrain beach. It is probable that when he played for the beach open theater, he was also simultaneously booked at the Municipal Auditorium in nola.

He was very handsome and genuine, a great singer and performer.