The Worst Photo of Elvis

Elvis was probably the best looking guy in history. Perhaps Rudolph Valentino fans would disagree, but I don’t think many are around to dispute the fact so in Elvisly Yours’ opinion Elvis wins hands down until you see the worst photo of Elvis ever. As I search my archives, not really archives, more like boxes and bundles of photos I have collected over the years, I come across some interesting photos. I have photos not only of Elvis but also from my 52 trips to Memphis, 40 trips to Russia and visits to many other countries on behalf of Elvisly Yours.

Of my entire collection I think this is the worst ever photo taken of Elvis Presley. He was pulling a funny face on stage in the 1970’s and it always cracks me up when I see it and thought I would share it with you. Perhaps some fans who were lucky enough to see or meet Elvis have an even uglier photo of Elvis. Please send me a jpeg of your worst Elvis photo and the best (rather worst) will be published in the next Newsletter.

Elvisly Yours Shops

Our lease at the Trocadero was precarious and they could give us short notice to vacate. The owners always wanted to make one large unit out of the various small units at the back entrance to the Trocadero so we knew our tenure was limited. But the nature of our leaving was dramatic and gave us no time to plan for a new store. 

The Trocadero Management at the end of 1999 decided to charge us an extra £17,700.00 per year in service charges. On investigation this was four times the rate per sq.ft of large stores in the complex. We still had to pay rent and rates and now a massive new charge. Rates alone were £16,500.00 per year so I objected and offered the same rate as large stores. We were evicted and they gave us SEVEN days to vacate the premises. Of course, we had no new shop to move to. Our store unit at the Trocadero remained empty for 11 months, time during which they would have received rent and we would have enough time to find a new location. Not only were we forced to move but notes we left at the shop for customers to contact us were immediately removed but if staff at the Trocadero asked what happened to us they said we were out of business.

At the same time Elvisly Yours was forced out to find a new store the London Beatles Store was also looking for a new location so we looked together. We wanted to move to Covent garden but rents were far too high and several premises we could afford did not want to have memorabilia shops. Eventually we found two shops next door each other that had been empty for five years on Baker Street. For two months we harangued the owners who were Abbey National and eventually we signed a lease and moved in March 2000. On one shop there was a sticker for Apple computers and on the other store in the dust and dirt on the window the name "Elvis" was written in large print. Immediately we knew the choice of shop and No. 231 would be the London Beatles Store (Apple) and No. 233 would be Elvisly Yours (ELVIS). As the stores had been left derelict for five years there was lots of painting and refurbishment to do and we opened eventually at the end of March 2000. WE were just two doors from the Sherlock Holmes Museum and we racked our brains for appropriate songs to combine Elvis, Holmes and the Beatles as potential promotional theme tunes for the new tourist location: "Hound Dog of the Baskervilles" and "She's Leaving Holmes"...awful I know but can you think of better song titles?

We have remained at 233 Baker Street, London NW1 until today. Our shop is just 100 yards north of Baker St Station and just 100 yards from Regents Park. We are open 7 days a week 10.30am-6.30pm. Give us a visit soon and bring a copy of this article on Elvisly Yours Shops and you will be given a FREE poster.

Old friends…

In the latter years of taking Elvisly Yours tours to visit Memphis and Tupelo we found a new friend who was named by Elvis as "Bardhal". The name Bardahl is a nickname given by Elvis and is actually a brand of oil. His real name is Will MacDaniel but everyone calls him Bardahl. He was a close friend for years with George Klein and Richard Davis and used to hang around with Elvis and the guys playing touch football in the 1950's.

It was either Aunt Loraine or Linda Gail Lewis who brought Bardahl along to meet the fans from our fan club tour to Memphis and he would hang around with our group during our stay in Memphis. Bardahl was always cheerful, always smiling, always lots of fun and would recount stories about the early years with Elvis. Our fans would often migrate to Hernando's Hideaway at the back of the hotel where we stayed in Memphis. Bardahl would join us bopping the night away, especially when the fabulous Linda Gail Lewis was performing. Some fans would roll out of Hernando's at 5am and missed the tours we arranged each day during our Trip. Apparently, the night club, Hernando's Hideaway and the premises are for sale at the moment.

The last tour we took to Memphis was in October 1992 and I lost touch with my dear friend Bardahl. I still hear about him from friends who visit Graceland and he joins  fans each 'Elvis Week' in Memphis.

Randall Lee Rose

For some years on Capital Radio the Elvis DJ was Randall Lee Rose and we had some great times with Randall in the mid to late 1980's. In those days Capital Radio used to run special Elvis nights at nightclubs and they were very successful so I don't know why they did not continue them. We used to do lots of promotions over many years with Capital Radio since 1981 when they displayed our life size bronze statue of Elvis for some months in their foyer. This occured when they had their radio studios on Euston Road before their move to Leicester Square in Central London.

The highlight of our successful promotions with Randall was when he recorded from Russia my visit in 1988 when we had an apartment full of all the greatest rock stars in the Soviet Union singing live over the telephone from Leningrad to Capital Radio in London. The Rock stars sang a repertoire of great Elvis numbers and they were all drunk at the time. I never did get to hear the show and wonder whether Capital radio kept a tape. It was really wild and a "first" in British radio history uniting East and West with live rock 'n' roll from a communist country and probably totally illegal in the Soviet Union.

Deliberate Mistakes

When we published Elvisly Yours magazines (1980-1992) we used to run regular competitions in each issue. My favourite was "Deliberate Mistakes" and this tested fans general knowledge about Elvis facts and history. 

Read through the text of this article below and send a list of all the mistakes. The first correct entry opened on July 20th 2006 will receive a pack of the new Elvis Playing cards.

How many deliberate mistakes can you find in this short Elvis history?

Elvis Jesse Presley was born on August 16th 1935 in the small Alabama town of Tupelo. His parents, Vester and Gladys, worked as share-croppers on the cotton fields and were very poor. As work was scarce in Tupelo, the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee where Elvis attended the County High School. 

After graduating, Elvis got a job working for the Crown Gas Company as a driver. It was during this time that Elvis made his first record, a Birthday present for his father, at Sam Phillips' Sun Recording Studio.

After hearing about Elvis from his receptionist, Sam invited Elvis back to record a few more numbers with the help of local musicians Bill Moore and Scotty Black. Elvis was able to re-create the sound of the black blues singers together with a hillbilly beat and the results were sensational. 

The records Sam released did well locally, and it soon became clear Sun Records just couldn't cope with National demand. Phillips sold Elvis' contract to Columbia Records for $35,000 but a change of heart by the executives there gave RCA the chance to sign Elvis up themselves. 

And so Elvis became RCA's biggest recording star with number one after number one on both sides of the Atlantic. Elvis' fame spread worldwide and the hits just kept on coming. Movies were next, and Elvis made the trip to Hollywood for his first film "Loving You". The fans flocked to see Elvis on screen and he also became one of America's most popular movie stars.

Elvis, just like any other American man, was drafted in 1959. He joined-up with the U.S. Marines and was stationed in France. It was here that Elvis met his future wife, Priscilla, the daughter of his commanding officer. After his national service was over, Elvis moved-in to his new home in Memphis called 'Graceland'. 

His career was unaffected by his years in the forces and a film of his adventures was quickly made. Throughout the sixties, Elvis continued to record great records and starred in many films, including "Roustaround", "It Happened At The Worlds Fair", "Spinoff", "Blue Hawaii", "Paradise Hawaiian Style" and "A Stone For Danny Fisher". 

But Elvis had not performed before his fans for many years, so in 1969 he was persuaded to make a T.V. Special for the ABC network. The show was a tremendous success and this encouraged Elvis to play a season of dates in the Las Vegas area. 

He later went on tour and performed another T.V. special in Hawaii during 1974. Other countries visited by Elvis included Canada, Scotland, West Germany and Japan, although British fans were sadly never to see him appear on stage.

The tragic news of his passing came on a sad January night in 1977. Elvis, in body, was dead, but his spirit and legend will live on forever. Send entries to competition@elvisly-yours.com