A Blue Velvet Elvis Shirt

Over ten years ago,at a pop menorabilia auction in Christie’s of London, British comedian Frank Skinner paid out the sizeable sum of £11,200 for a blue velvet shirt, purported to have been originally owned by Elvis Presley, and to have been worn by him during a famous hometown concert back in the 50’s. Frank believed his purchase to be genuine; “The picture used to illustrate it was from a concert that Elvis did in 1956. September 26th, 1956,in Tupelo”.

A letter authenticating the shirt was also provided, signed by Dave Hebler, who had acted as bodyguard for the singer, back in the 70’s; “From 1972 until 1976 I was Elvis Presley’s personal bodyguard. During those years I received a number of gifts from Elvis. Among those gifts was a royal blue velvet shirt which he wore on several occasions in 1956. Elvis indicated that he was very fond of this shirt, which was kept in its original condition over the years and was well cared for, as were all of the items Elvis gave to me”.

So, is the shirt genuine? Elvis did possess a blue velvet shirt back in 1956, and while the Presley myth insists that it was made by the singers’ mother, that is not so. In the summer of ’56, while working on his first movie, “Love Me Tender”, he was presented with a gift of matching blue and red velvet shirts by Hollywood actress Natalie Wood, which she had made by her own dressmaker.

Elvis wore the blue shirt a few weeks later, during the afternoon show at a concert in Tupelo, which marked the singer’s triumphant return to his hometown. (He wore the red one during the evening show.) A photograph from the show was displayed alongside the shirt, at Christie’s auction. A second photo was also on display, taken inside his home at around the same time, and showing him wearing the same blue shirt, But is the shirt in the photo’s the same one that Frank Skinner paid a substantial amount of money for?

A close look at all the Tupelo photo’s, and the Movie Tone newsreel of the event helps. It does not take long to discover, as Frank himself did, that the shirt worn by Elvis possessed only three buttons on the front, and opened just halfway down. Frank’s shirt opened fully. Quite simply, it was not the same shirt!

Furthermore, from the vast array of Presley photo’s from the 50’s, both concert and private, there is no evidence to show that the singer wore any other type of velvet shirt during that period of his life, other than the two given him by Natalie Wood. In an attempt to discover the truth behind the shirt, Frank Skinner visited Tupelo, Memphis, Nashville, California and Las Vegas, and put together an interesting TV documentary of his travels. (All quotes are from the documentary, entitled “A Little Bit Of Elvis”.)

While in Memphis, Frank called on Marty Lacker, a 60’s member of the Memphis Mafia, and Billy Smith, a maternal cousin of Elvis’, who lived at Graceland until the singers death. They were both of the opinion that, if Dave Hebler said so, then the shirt must be the genuine article!

With a hop, skip and jump, Frank was in Nashville, where he sought advice from Jimmy Velvet, said to own the largest collection of pop memorabilia in the world. After inspection, Velvet observed; “Any of the clothes that I’ve found from the 50’s or 60’s have been really discolored and worn.. They don’t have fresh threads. I can’t imagine something being kept (for so long), and looking that good”.

Remaining in the Country Music Capital, Frank dropped in on two other people. The first was Lamar Fike, long serving member of the Memphis Mafia, who had collaborated with writer Albert Goldman on the 1981 put-down book “Elvis”. Good ole Lamar was certain; “I think this is the one he wore at the Tupelo Fair. He also wore it in ’57”. Photographic evidence shows that Elvis wore a gold jacket, black pants and black shirt at the ’57 Tupelo concert!

Frank then called on a man who had been on-stage during the ’56 Tupelo concert. Scotty Moore was part of those great “Sun” and “RCA” recordings of the 50’s that helped change the world of popular music. What did the famous guitar-player think of the shirt? “I can’t honestly say. It looks identical to the one he wore. I was worried about being in tune, not about how many buttons he had on”. Towards the end of the interview, Frank commented with mixed emotions; “At least you’re the real Scotty Moore”. To which an amused Scotty replied; “You’ve got that right”.

Really racking up the miles, Frank next appeared on Santa Monica beach, Los Angeles, for a showdown with the man who had signed the authenticating latter, Dave Hebler. Unfortunately this interview turned out to be something of an anti-climax. (Maybe Frank was simply shit-scared of the man.) At first the former bodyguard appeared to be unclear as to what Elvis had said concerning the shirt. Did the singer mention 1956? “I think he did. The man said that to me. That’s what I put down there”. All very unclear and unsatisfactory!

If Frank failed to determine the origins of his shirt, he did end up a winner in Las Vegas. There he met the Jordanaires, the famous pop/gospel group that backed Elvis on stage, and on records, during the 50’s and 60’s. They had also appeared in the ’56 Tupelo concert, and thought the shirt might be genuine. Frank led the group in the singing of the old gospel favourite, “Peace In The Valley”. It was a good ending for his documentary “A Little Bit Of Elvis”.

At around the same time as Frank Skinner purchased the blue velvet shirt, a gold-leaf tuxedo similar to the one made famous by Elvis in the 50’s,was withdrawn from sale at another London auction-house, because it failed to reach the reserve price. There was only one such tux made in the 50’s, by Nudie Cohen, Hollywood tailor to the stars. The original is on display inside a glass-case at Graceland, Memphis home of Elvis Presley.

Pop memorebilia is an extremely lucrative business, and while most item’s can be genuinely authenticated, this is not always so. When big money is paid for a blue velvet shirt, advertised as Presley’s ’56 Tupelo shirt, which turns out not to be so, there is only one thing to say. Buyer beware!

sources ; all information for this article comes from “A Little Bit Of Elvis”. An Avalon Television Production, 1998.


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