ELVIS

To celebrate the Bendigo Art Gallery exhibition ELVIS: Direct from Graceland which opened in March and is on until 17 July 2022 and which I visited on the 19th of May 2022 I’ve been watching Elvis documentaries. I always liked his songs, mostly from his second incarnation, but wasn’t a huge fan. Belatedly I’ve become one. His story is so sad! The best documentary was Elvis Presley: The Searcher which I saw on Netflix but which is now available, I think, on Apple TV. You can also buy the DVD, which I have done.

When I couldn’t link to that one on this blog, I found this BBC documentary on YouTube. It’s only an hour and misses key parts of Elvis’s life – the army, Priscilla and, surprisingly, Aloha from Hawaii concert – but it’s a great overview, Elvis: The Rebirth of The King and you can see it here.

Both documentaries ponder the big question – why did Elvis allow the Colonel to control his career so comprehensively? With disastrous effects. Firstly in tying him to terribly onerous contracts in both Hollywood and then Las Vegas – I suppose the answer to that is money. Although the latter contributed to his early death at age 42. But two others are less explicable – not following up on the 1968 comeback concert and the second not following up the Memphis album. Both of which foreshadowed further artistic and commercial success for Elvis. As would have an overseas tour which Elvis himself wanted, instead he got the Aloha From Hawaii concert. That has subsequently been explained by the Colonel’s lack of American citizenship which no-one knew about at the time. He feared not being able to re-enter America if he ever left.

The Rebirth of the King documentary includes more of Elvis’s decline than The Searcher which had Priscilla’s full co-operation. Maybe that is why. It’s sad watching that. As someone says Elvis himself became the first of the Elvis impersonators. So sad.

You can also find lots of Elvis performances on YouTube, a few of which I’ve linked to below. Confirming the Gallery’s claim that he was the most iconic public figure of the twentieth century and one who continues to influence artistic and popular culture today. The Gallery was given unprecedented access to the Graceland collection of 1.5 million articles from Elvis’s life. From which they chose 300 pieces – to give visitors a rich narrative exploration of the life and style that is Elvis’s legacy.

This is the accompanying booklet which well worth the ten bucks. It includes lots of the photos from the exhibition and information about various items as well as essays from different people about Elvis’s influence.

During his lifetime Elvis had over 48 Top 10 singles. He was the first ever global rock phenomenon – it’s hard to understand now how incredible that was now that we’ve lived through the Beatles and others. But as someone says in one of those documentaries, there were four Beatles and only one Elvis and Elvis didn’t have any model to draw on. In the end he got into spiritualism a bit , asking the question: Why me?

The booklet tells us he spent 20 consecutive years in the Australian singles charts from 1956 to 1975. And that Australia’s Elvis Presley Fan Club erected one of the first Elvis monuments in the world – in 1977, just months after his death. It’s in the Melbourne General Cemetery.

We visited on Thursday 19 May 2022. Bendigo was buzzing with people attending the exhibition with lots of people wandering the street outside. The Gallery has done Elvis proud, lit up in glittering gold – shades of his Las Vegas years!

If, like us, people were looking for coffee and cake – they could only get it in take-away mode -because of staff shortages mean there’s no-one to wash the dishes! The after effects of Covid-19 linger. The gallery manages the exhibition well. Best to book tickets beforehand. They issue just enough to make it reasonably crowded – not crushingly crowded. Here are Joe and I outside.

And here are Jane and I at the entrance, enticed in by Elvis looking soulful in a publicity still for the movie Jailhouse Rock. He was so handsome! You have to book and I would recommend a two hour visit. There are no pass-outs.

The exhibition starts with a room recalling his early years. This is a well-known picture of Elvis looking cute in dungarees and tilted hat. It was taken in 1937 when he was just 2 years old. His parents – Vernon and Gladys – who are both looking pretty sombre. Probably because they were very poor. His father served a brief time in prison for fraud involving a forged cheque. Elvis never forgot his poverty stricken background.

Here’s the schoolboy, aged 8, in 1943 again with with Vernon and Gladys.

And one final picture of a serious young fellow – I think from 1946 or maybe a bit later – before he starts to look like the Elvis we know.

He started adopting his singular look in the early 1950s. Growing his side-burns, experimenting with hairstyles and buying clothes at a famous store, Lanksy Brothers, situated on what’s been described as perhaps the most famous Black cultural strip in the entire country – Beale Street, Memphis. Elvis said: Cat clothes are absolutely a must as far as I’m concerned. My favourite hobby is collecting these real cool outfits, and I’d almost rather wear them than eat! I think he’s still in high school in this photo.

The family was musical. His mother was always incredibly supportive Here the three of them at the piano. This is still in the early 1950s.

There were lots of exhibits here in display cases below the photos – library cards, comments from job interviews (he was a flashy dresser!), school photos and other bits and pieces. His father’s paint spattered trousers (I was not much interested in those!) and one of his mother’s dresses. He was very close to her and devastated by her death. He subsequently kept all of her dresses in a closet at Graceland.

The exhibition includes a facsimile of the entrance to Graceland which he bought in 1957 for his and his parents and where he continued to live until his death in 1977. There are nice pictures of the lovely grounds and it’s famous music themed gates, installed immediately it was purchased. From time to time Elvis would wander down to the gates to sign autographs for the fans who started gathering there almost straight after took up residence.

Here’s a full picture, along with the very flash convertable out the front. In a documentary Elvis describes getting his first car – a cadillac I think – that he parked outside his house, and it burst into flames overnight. Despite having lots of cars since, he still remembered and grieved for that first one. This is pretty flash. That’s Joe, dutifully masked, standing behind it.

There are recreations of some of the Graceland rooms on display. Including this one, which includes the gold telephone from Elvis’s bedside table. There’s another of his den, called the jungle room where he recorded his final studio album. And another of his television room.

There’s a gallery devoted to his films and television performances. Video screens play excerpts from various television and film appearances – all of which can be found on YouTube. They are a backdrop to all items from Graceland in display cases in the centre of the room. There are a lot of those but too hard to photograph. You could spend a lot of time there. I liked looking at the films – reminding us how terrific he was right from the get go. And so very young. I took this still from the video of his appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on 28 October 1956.

The still photo doesn’t do it justice. His dancing was incredible. Obviously from the get go. You can see the same moves in these early films as those in films of his later performances. This is from his second time on Ed Sullivan; in his first, in September 1956 (also on YouTube), he was filmed only from the waist up! The proximity of the two shows illustrate the speed of his elevation to stardom. It’s just two years since his first hit record. He’s only 21. The full clip of this performance is here.

During 1956 Elvis had a string of hits including Heartbreak Hotel which sold over a million copies. He appeared on prime time television 11 times and signed a deal with Paramount to make 7 movies with Paramount Pictures. Which Included, in 1957 Jailhouse Rock. Here’s a still from the video from that movie that was playing.

Again not doing the dancing justice, which you can see here. I’d better not keeping doing this otherwise I’ll never finish this blog!

Elvis made 31 films between 1956 and 1969. All of his films were hits and made money for the studio. I was interested to discover that the legendary designer Edith Head developed both his looks and those of his leading ladies. Their clothes were on display. Including what Elvis wore in some of them- not greatly interesting. He liked the shirts designed for Viva Las Vegas and so had more made up. But I loved these two dresses designed by Edith; the one on the left worn by Angela Lansbury in Blue Hawaii, 1961. The one on the right worn by Carolyn Jones in King Creole, 1958. These early movies were well regarded by critics; the later ones less so.

But my favourite of the costumes was this one, worn by Elsa Cardeñas in Fun in Acapulco.

There were also outsize photos around the walls. Here is Elvis in costume as a racing car driver for the movie Viva Las Vegas.

Outside this room we came upon a glass case containing the wedding outfits! Elvis and Priscilla were married on 1 May 1967 at the Aladdin Hotel Las Vegas. There was also a video of the wedding showing the media pack surrounding the happy couple. Apparently media speculation about his love life had required top secret wedding planning – the wedding dress was purchased off the rack and his tuxedo was bundled into the costume production for the movie Clambake (not sure whether that means it was from the film, or just made by the film’s costumiers). Later they had a private function at Graceland.

Then came some family mementos, including this cute little jacket belonging to Lisa Marie who was born nine months after the wedding – I suppose everyone was counting! There were other memorabilia regarding Lisa Marie – shoes and a bracelet etc. And photographs.

By the end of his time in Hollywood Elvis was unhappy and regarded as out of touch with the zeitgeist – the social and political protests and emergence of groups like the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Elvis was embarrassed, frustrated and creatively bereft. So the Colonel planned a Christmas special. Which turned into the ’68 Comeback Special.

I think I remember seeing this on television. It effectively relaunched Elvis’s singing career after his time in Hollywood. I was pleased to see the memorabilia here; excerpts from the film, of which I managed to get a couple of pictures taken on the fly.

This was Elvis’ first time in front of a live audience for about a decade and director Steve Binder recreated an informal backstage dynamic in which Elvis was relaxed and at his candid best. You can see how small and intimate it was in this shot.

It’s something of a mystery why the Colonel had wanted a Christmas special but Elvis and Binder instead delivered A potent combination of alluring attributes – his best music, the rough edge in his voice, visible emotion, and the mature masculine sex appeal of his wardrobe; all of which sent a clear message to the world: Elvis was back. The New York Times music writer, Jon Landau wrote: There is something magical about watching a man who has lost himself find his way back home.

I couldn’t find the whole concert but you can see most of the numbers he played on YouTube individually. There’s one clip of four songs you can see (persevere past the add after the first song) here. The items on display included one of the two of the three outfits he wore, this black and red number and the white suit, but not the leather pantsuit unfortunately. It included the chair – which we are told was the same as those on which the audience were sitting – and not properly designed for a guitar player I overheard someone say. Even though the concert was a famously successful the Colonel ensured the director, Steve Binder never worked with Elvis again as he explains in the BBC documentary.

Of course the most amazing costumes were those that Elvis wore during his long stint in Las Vegas. These were an amazing sight, all grouped together in a large display. Amazing.

And while I’d have said I wasn’t really interested in this aspect of Elvis, they are really worth seeing. Incredible creations. And when you see films of Elvis in concert you see why he wanted costumes like this – he’s amazingly acrobatic in performance. These are all made of wool gaberdine with all sorts of ornamentation, silk embroidery, studs, beads, etc. These were designed by American designer, Bill Belew, and made in America with huge input from Elvis.

I’m tempted to say they got sillier and sillier but that sells them short. They were all given names! The one below is called Orange Sunburst and is from 1973.

And this one is Black Conquistador; based on a Spanish floor tile design. There was one made one in white as well.

The capes were also amazing. This is a black suede cape and King of Spades suit.

The jumpsuit approach suited Elvis’ high action performance on stage which was in part derived from his training in karate which he took up while serving in the army. He was serious about karate all his life. Which explains his extraordinary flexibility on stage. There was a display of his suits.

Lots of scarves. They were an Elvis thing – in concert he threw them into the audience, but he wore them at home as well.

Lots of different sorts of shoes – some from specific performances. Here are two pairs – blue (disappointingly they’re not suede) and brown (this time with some suede – orange according to the label but I think it looks red).

There’s also jewellery on display. Like this bracelet. He had them made for members of his entourage and this is his own – his name and Crazy engraved on the gold tube. There are also flashy rings and pendants – though none of the really expensive ones. He liked his bling.

Another outfit for another filmed special – this time to it was a behind the scenes look at him preparing for his 1970 season at the International Hotel in Las Vegas and footage of the concert itself. The film Elvis: That’s The Way It Is was a great hit and there are lots of excerpts on youtube. But we watched the DVD – worth getting if you can pick it up as we did in a second hand record store. He clearly loved and was energised by live performances, although in this day and age his engagement with his fans is a bit confronting (full on kisses and hugs).

Amazing performances – they actually filmed his first six. This is one of the outfits he wore to rehearse. A point made in the documentary is that Elvis was responsible for the totality of the show, he didn’t have a producer or director. He was choreographer and conductor leading the band at all of the Las Vegas concerts although by the time he got to Hawaii he had a director.

Another outfit on display is the one he wore to meet with Richard Nixon in December 1970. He was in part, very conservative, opposed to hippies and drugs (which makes his addiction to prescription drugs so sad). In any event he wanted a federal narcotics badge and showed up at the White House dressed in this – also with a colt pistol he was going to give Nixon but that got confiscated at the door. Hard to photograph. We’ve got a postcard of this picture that we got on a visit to the Nixon Presidential archives.

Elvis had asked for the meeting because he wanted the items pictured below – an identification badge of the US Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and cufflinks and bow pin pendant embossed with the Seal of the US President. So he got them.

One last picture of an Elvis outfit – this is his army uniform. He was conscripted in 1958 and spent time in Germany. There’s a great video of him being interviewed when he got out of the army where he reveals his approach was to go with ’em ‘cos you can’t beat ’em and you’re either going to have a miserable time or just get on with it. Smiling all the while. There’s a letter from his commanding officer praising his behaviour during which he didn’t use his professional status to differentiate him from his comrades in arms.

Some have wondered at his call-up because it was during a period when not many young men were being conscripted. The suggestion being this was another publicity stunt from the Colonel. It’s not been substantiated. But his service did provide him with an image of all American boy. Emphasised when he wore this US army dress uniform jacket on Frank Sinatra’s television show in 1960. Looked resplendent in same.

With all this emphasis on Elvis’ clothes we don’t get much of Priscilla’s. Apart from the wedding outfit, just two dresses – both beautiful. She said she was astounded when she first saw him perform which was in 1969 – during his first season in Las Vegas. He delivered 57 shows over 4 weeks at the International Hotel. The rule amongst Elvis’s entourage was that wives and girlfriends only attended opening night shows, leaving ‘the guys’ to work – and play – without distraction for the rest of the tour. Ugly rule. This was designed for Priscilla by Bill Belew for her to wear to the first night of Elvis’s 1970 season in Las Vegas. So she would have been there when the documentary That’s The Way It Is was filmed but she’s not seen. I wonder what she thought about all that kissing! By this stage we’re told she’s dropped the beehive look – wearing relaxed hairstyles and softer cuts of clothing. Anyway, great dress.

And so is this one, though more demur. Priscilla wore it to the 1971 dinner and gala at which Elvis was recognised by the Jaycees as on of the ‘Ten Outstanding Young Men of America’ for the year. Elvis gave his one and only formal public speech. He quoted the lyrics of Without a Song by one of his musical heroes Roy Hamilton (who is seen in the BBC documentary linked above). Elvis’s outfit, seen alongside it, is not so demur.

Finally some musical mementos. First up the five 45 RPM records he recorded with Sun Records. The story oft told is that Elvis turned up at the studio and played the usual type of ballad being performed by white musicians at the time – 1954. It all went badly until, fooling around during a break he started playing the music he really liked. The owner of Sun Records, Sam Phillips also really liked it and took the demo tape to the local radio where it was played two nights later – 14 times according to legend. Elvis was invited on for an interview and had to be pulled out of the cinema by his father to attend. The rest is history – overnight he was a star. He was 19 years of age. These records, perhaps treasured mementos, are – from 1954, That’s All Right / Blue Moon of Kentucky; Good Rockin’ Tonight / I Don’t Care if the Sun Don’t Shine; Milkcow Blues Boogie / You’re a Heartbreaker. From 1955, I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone / Baby Let’s Play House; Mystery Train / I Forgot to Remember to Forget. At least three of these songs are on Elvis’s Greatest Hits – I know because I’m listening to them at the gym!

And this is the cover of the first record that he made with RCA Records after meeting the Colonel who organised the deal. Heartbreak Hotel was composed after a news story about a young man’s suicide and his note saying: ‘I walk a lonely street’. It was released in January 1956 it went to Number 1 and sold over 1 million copies by April.

And this is Elvis’s first album. Released 2 months after his single it comprised tracks recorded in RCA studios in New York and Nashville and some unreleased Sun recordings. It was one of the first rock and roll long play records (LPs). It went to Number 1 in both the US and UK. The cover features an image from a concert in July 1955 in Tampa, Florida.

This blue record was issued by RCA Records in 1977. That year the RCA manufacturing plant in Indianapolis surpassed two billion records pressed. This milestone coincided with Elvis’s final studio album, Moody Blue, which was mostly recorded in the Jungle Room set up by RCA in 1976 in the den at Graceland. It also includes Elvis singing Unchained Melody in a live performance in June 1977 just two months before his death – he looks terrible, but sings powerfully. Amazing. Too sad for a link, although I think it’s going to be included in Baz Luhrmann’s forthcoming film.

And here is his custom made Gibson J-200 guitar made of ebony (wood) mother of pool. It was commissioned and given to Elvis by a fan in 1974. His first guitar was given to him by his parents on his eleventh birthday. This J-200 model was his favourite and he always used one from the 1950s onwards.

And here is an Australian connection. Elvis was a boxing fan and there’s a picture of him with Muhommed Ali and some boxing gloves but the picture that caught my eye was this one. Lionel Rose was in Los Angeles to defend his bantamweight title and Elvis asked to meet him. So Lionel turned up at MGM where Elvis was filming The Trouble With Girls. They chatted and sparred and two days later Lionel won his fight.

Lots of other exhibits, but I’ll finish with the outfit that has a room of it’s own, alongside a video showing him wearing it. This is his famous outfit from the Aloha from Hawaii … via Satellite concert in 1973. I was one of the thousands – perhaps millions who watched it. Excerpts of the concert were being screened in the same room. Here are some quick snaps.

The split screen gives more bang for your buck!

And you can see the full concert, after a lengthy introduction, but it’s worth the wait, here. The actual outfit is quite magnificent.

The cape was originally intended to be floor length, but it was too heavy. So a shorter one was made. Elvis threw it out to the audience in the emotion of his traditional final song Can’t Help Falling In Love. It was returned to Graceland when the person who had it died. Also magnificent!

So a great day out. As I said at the outset, you need to book. And I’d recommend a two hour visit. We had one and a half hours which was just a little bit short for me. Now I just have to wait for Baz Luhrmann’s move Elvis which has just been released at Cannes – to a fifteen minute standing ovation. Already some critics are getting stuck into it, but I’ve loved all of Baz’s films to date, so have high hopes. Although playing Elvis when there is so much film of him out there is a very hard ask. Check out the trailer here.