It has been a one-off opportunity for fans of the King of Rock’n’Roll. Many of the 400 or so items that have taken centre stage in the UK exhibition had never left Elvis’s Graceland mansion since his death more than four decades ago. They were deemed so personal and precious that they were kept at the icon’s home in Memphis, Tennessee. Yet they were finally brought to this country last year, as the UK had always held a special place in the singer’s heart.
The items on display at Direct From Graceland: Elvis include his “man box” that he kept in his bedroom at Graceland, which has never been open to the public. It contains his aftershave, moisturiser, jewellery and black hair dye.
Angie Marchese, who has held the keys to Graceland for decades, says this box was special to Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie, 54, who was buried at the mansion after her death in January last year.
The curator says Lisa Marie would hold it during moments of grief after her father’s death in August 1977.
Also on show are the King’s prized Ferrari Dino GT4, his gold lamé suit worn in the 1950s, a gold-plated rotary dial phone from his upstairs bedroom and Lisa Marie’s baby clothes.
Other noteworthy items include the crayon box he took to school, the keys to Graceland, his first job application, his military and football uniforms, his TCB Super Trike motorcycle, his array of jumpsuits and the cape he famously tossed into the audience at the end of a show.
Angie explains: “The UK was always a huge part of Elvis’s career. When Elvis was alive his largest fan club base was in the UK. Elvis always wanted to tour England.”
While the exhibition charts the pop icon’s humble beginnings to his meteoric rise to fame – Angie says she designed it to be “intimate and personal”.
And she says it’s clear Elvis still holds a quasi-religious significance for thousands of UK visitors, several years after his death. Fans opting for the “VIP experience” where they can hold items while wearing white gloves, say they have been particularly overwhelmed.
Angie says: “It’s just amazing to see their reaction to some of the pieces. They cry, they laugh, they sing. There’s always a lot of tears.
“They’re very emotional. They connect to Elvis as the person. They connect to his heart and to that little boy.
“It’s always fun when you hand over something Elvis wore and they’re literally shaking because it means so much to them. Bringing exhibits like this to London is the closest a lot of people are going to get to Graceland.”
The exhibition in 11,000sqft of gallery space at the Arches London Bridge ends on September 1. It will mark the 47th anniversary of Elvis’s death with a vigil on August 16.
Angie says: “Each generation is introduced to Elvis in a whole different way. “The first listened to his music on the radio. The next was introduced by parents, his records and watching him on TV.
“And many youngsters go down the Elvis rabbit hole after watching movies about him, like the recent Baz Luhrmann film. So we put Elvis on the screen as well as videos that were filmed in the 1950s and 1960s, and kids are mesmerised.”
She adds: “We want visitors to get a feeling for what it’s like to be in Elvis’s own world.
“We wanted to make this exhibition personal and intimate – to give visitors an up close and personal feeling – like you’re really getting to know who Elvis is.”
Angie, 52, who started working at Graceland as a summer job when she was just 17, has welcomed several celebrities among the 600,000 annual visitors to the Memphis mansion. They include Princes Harry and William, Sir Paul McCartney and actors Tom Hanks and Sir Anthony Hopkins.
And she admits her time at Graceland has seen her fall in love with the King: “I became fascinated – not just about what Elvis did to change the face of pop culture, but about the man who sat on that sofa every day, who ate around that dining room table, who was a loyal son to his parents, who was that humble man, that faithful friend, and that loving dad to Lisa.
“And the fact he was able to go out on stage and touch the lives of millions of people he never got a chance to meet in person.
“He impacted their lives and continues to do that today.”
- Tickets for Direct from Graceland: Elvis are available at elvislondonbridge.co.uk. Additional reporting by Bella Stanley.
