Generally speaking, Flyer staffers don’t interview each
other. But 10 years ago, I was a Flyer intern and Chris
Herrington was both a Flyer freelancer and helping the Guernseys
auction house with a very special project — what we called
the auctioning of Elvis.
In order to raise money for Presley Place, a transitional housing
development in downtown Memphis, Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE)
decided to sell items from its vast archives. They picked things that
were either duplicates or considered expendable: for instance, two
green (not blue) suede chairs.
It was my first cover story for the Flyer, and I remember
being driven to a nondescript storefront in Whitehaven, its windows
completely covered.
An organization that hasn’t let anyone see the upstairs of Graceland
for more than 40 years, EPE wanted complete secrecy as the auction
house did its work.
“Many of the items for the October 8th auction in Las Vegas are
documents: Elvis’ first RCA contract, his address book from 1956, a
packet of celebrity Christmas cards. There are also what the archivists
call the sexier items: Elvis’ black satin-like pajamas, his 1956
Lincoln Continental Mark II, his Army fatigues.
“Except for an oasis where a computer and digital camera are set up,
the rest of the room, like a garage the night before a garage sale,
overflows with old furniture and odd items: Elvis’ Palm Springs desk; a
globe with a heavy wooden base; one basketball, deflated; two
larger-than-life black statues; and a chair from Graceland’s fabled
Jungle Room.”
Not sure where any of those items ended up, but I can tell you
exactly where Herrington and I did.
