Senior Editor, Jason Shrum’s, Trip to Elvis’ House
When I made the move to Nashville roughly six months ago, from Seattle, one of my very first thoughts was, “Now I’ll be closer to Elvis”. It’s true. I am a fan. Maybe fanatic is more the nomenclature. I love Elvis and it’s all because of a trip my family took to Memphis, Tennessee around 1988. I was 14 at the time and my younger sister, Kim, was playing in a soccer tournament that drew us out of Florida and into the real South. I had heard of Elvis Presley, of course, and I knew his hits. I even did a slightly decent impression of him for laughs with friends and family, but never knew who he really was and what he was honestly about. That changed when Kim’s soccer team got the invite to play in this select tournament.
My sister was a good soccer player. I mean really good. It would ultimately pay for college and shape her career path, as she coaches a women’s high school team now. So, as a family, we went to many towns and cities to watch her play. And as a family, we were always looking to explore those places to stay entertained when a game wasn’t happening. On this trip we decided that this explorative fieldtrip would take us to Graceland. What I was about to witness would forever shape the person that I am today. That probably sounds ridiculous to you, but it’s absolutely true.
Here’s a quick rundown of how it shaped me. In high school, I took on the name Elvis (like Cher or Prince, just the one word). It’s because I continued to sneer and to talk like him. I performed at talent shows as him and if you peer into the closing pages of my senior yearbook most of the girls signed it “Dear Elvis”. One close acquaintance even signed her name “Priscilla”. Years later when I got into standup comedy my initial stage name was “Elvis”.
I love his music, his sense of style, the mythology, the way he carried himself and that voice. There is no denying that voice. So, there you go. I love The King, and I haven’t been back to visit him since. That changed with a 222-mile drive due west.
I decided on a Friday night that I would leave promptly the following morning. I got in the car at 7am and took the 3 hour and 15-minute drive, cranking up Elvis CD’s as loud as I could. Yes, I have a CD player and a cassette player in my car. The more miles I drove that morning, the more excited I became. I went to Graceland three times during the weekend that I visited as a teen. Once with my family and two more times with two other families that had a daughter on my sisters club. I told you I fell in love.
I am now nearly 50 and that passion for Elvis has not faded. In fact, it’s definitely grown since then. New books and new movies have reared up lately and I read and see them all. I absorb all this Presley. I was now returning not only to a place that I hold dearly as an iconic landmark for musical royalty, but I was returning to a really joyous time in my life.
I will try to wrap this up in the next, let’s say one thousand words, but I feel like this could very well be the beginning to my novel. I arrived at around 10:30am, as I had stopped for gas along my travels. My tour of the mansion wasn’t scheduled until 1:15 , so I had a few hours to visit some of the other sites that Graceland adjacent has to offer. A ticket for $82.50 allows access to all the amenities that a true follower would want. All those places exist across the street from the Presley home, and I was going to see them all. I started with the planes.
Elvis had purchased a 1958 Convair 880 in April of 1975 and named it Lisa Marie after his daughter. He spent more than $800,000 having the jet remodeled. I’ll spare you all the details but it had everything that one would want for luxury travel. Elvis’ also had a smaller Lockheed Jet Star, customized by Elvis with a yellow and green interior that was primarily used for taking Elvis’ manager, The Colonel, and his staff from city to city on his concert tours. He was the biggest star in the world and is still probably in the top ten. THe absolute best part of these airborne limos is the insignia on the tail. Elvis’ famous “TCB” with a lightning bolt included. This meant “Taking Care of Business in a Flash”. Not a lot of people know this, but I had drawn that logo on my Chuck Taylors when I did comedy.
Seeing this lavish lifestyle may turn off some people but here was this poor kid from Tupelo who grew up with nothing and now he could afford everything. Can’t take it with you to the other side. I went from planes to automobiles as I gazed upon his stable of cars. There are about 20 cars to see and all of them are top of the line for the day, but the star of the show for me was the 1955 Cadillac Fleetwood Series 60. It’s pink of course.
The collection includes his Harley-Davidson motorcycles, a Stutz Blackhawk, 1963 Rolls-Royce Phantom V, 1962 Ford Thunderbird, 1975 Dino Ferrari, a 1956 Cadillac El Dorado convertible, and even the red MG from the film Blue Hawaii. And it’s not just his own personal cars on display. There are many of Elvis’ favorite motorized toys on display, including a like 10 golf carts (one of them Lisa Marie’s), a go-cart, dune buggy, bunches of three-wheelers, and a pedal car also in the museum.
These exhibits are full of everything Elvis. The archives are littered with old football trophies, the tv he famously shot, his karate awards, checks he wrote, photographs and so much more. There is even a wing dedicated to his military service, as a private in the United States Army. I was spinning and had I been alone I probably would’ve screamed aloud in exhilaration.
The other halls through this cavalcade of wonderment are lined with gold records and original 45’s, along with his jewelry, sunglasses, jumpsuits and shoes. However, for me, on this leg, the highlight was the leather suit that he donned for the 1968 “Comeback Special”. That seemed to be a really happy moment for him. He defied what “his people” were telling him to do on live tv. Just like he did in the beginning of his career. We go to watch the real Elvis doing his thing. I gazed at the television screen near the suit which was playing a video of Elvis from that airing, absolutely wailing song after song. I smiled because he was absolutely brilliant and he was smiling too because he was in control.
I realize now that I have just 500 words left in my promise, and I haven’t crossed the street yet. So let’s do it. Let us cross over Elvis Presley Boulevard and thrust through the pearly white gates. They aren’t pearly, or white, but there are gates.
In the spring of 1957, when he was 22, Elvis Presley purchased the home and grounds that were Graceland for roughly $100,000. From a plaque I read “Graceland was once part of a 500-acre farm that was owned by the S.C. Toof family. The land had been part of the family for generations and was named after one of the female relatives, Grace.”
The home was just the way I remembered it, I guess it has to be. It’s the way that it was set up in 1977. The dining room is big, especially for the time. It is said that Elvis sat with 12-14 people every night that he could for supper between the hours of 9 and 10pm. He love family and friends and gatherings of as many as he could host. The best china and flatware lay around the table and tv’s are in every room, which by todays standard seems normal. Heck, we carry a tv in our pockets now. The Jungle Room is always the room people tend to talk about, with its green shagged carpets, and its exotic and eclectic carved wood furniture. This room was once the exterior access to the family’s basement. In 1974, Elvis redecorated this room with items he stumbled upon at a local Memphis furniture store. This room became a family favorite and Elvis liked it in part because it was reminiscent of Hawaii. Lisa used to take her naps here in this ornate, large chair, which was said to be her favorite napping place. One of her teddy bears rests there now.
The room for me is the basement Billiards Room, which is just an amazing display of upholstery and tapestry. The pool table which sits in the middle of this mini-cathedral is simple enough. Nothing else is. The room is completely lined with 300 yards of pleated fabric in these fabulously elaborate prints. The pleats pull to the ceiling’s center, where the raw ends are disguised behind a fabric-covered medallion of sorts. It still has the same effect on my sense of wonderment from my former visit. Why? How? What was the inspiration? Or was it simply because he could. I’ve hit what I thought would be the end of the article, but alas, I am still going. Please indulge me as I wrap it up. I promise.
Listen there’s a ton more including his shooting range, the stables, more gold records, his father’s office, and an indoor racquetball court. Then there’s a sobering realization that washes over you as you begin to exit the grounds and cross through the meditation garden. This is where the bodies lay, and more have been added since I last stepped foot here. Lisa Marie now rests here, instead of in her daddy’s arms, on her favorite chair in the jungle room and she is joined by her son, Benjamin, as well.
Elvis’ grave is bordered by his mother and father and his twin brother (stillborn) sits with them as well. They were a real family. Real people that were on this earth for a short period of time and Elvis was the catalyst that launched them all into legacy. They may not have wanted all of this and maybe Elvis didn’t really want it all either, but he tried to make the best of it while he was here. He enjoyed the finer things, and those are on display at Graceland. The real takeaway is his authenticity and his gift to entertain millions, then and now. I had a grin on my face and a fullness in my heart for the entirety of the tour. I’m sure I’ll go back one day. Anyway, thanks for reading. Thank you. Thank you very much.
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