As you walk along Tooley Street past the restaurants and bars that occupy the arches underneath London Bridge you see a name on the wall in front of you marking one of the last arches on the right. That name is “Elvis” and inside the arch is a collection of personal items and memorabilia owned by the man who is arguably the origin of most popular rock and pop music – Elvis Presley. All of your favourite acts will have been influenced by someone that was influenced by Elvis. He was the first to bring Rock and Roll to the mainstream audience and it is telling that even now, almost 50 years after his death in 1977 that he still holds the ability to draw a crowd to anything involved with his name.

On Good Friday evening I had the chance to attend the “Direct From Graceland” exhibition and a special white glove event and talk with the head curator of the Graceland museum, Angie Marchese. Angie has worked for Graceland for 35 years and the knowledge she has about all things Elvis is second to none. After spending an hour walking around the exhibition where you can see iconic pieces like the white jump suit and cape form “Aloha from Hawaii” along with lesser-known items from his private collection. A particular standout was his police uniform and light that he used when out driving and, for his own amusement, would pull unsuspecting drivers over and instead of giving them a ticket, give them an autograph and send them on their way.

At the end of the exhibition space, we were taken into a small room where the talk with Angie would take place. Those in attendance were then treated to an hour of stories about some of the items that were brought over from Graceland that we were about to handle ourselves. The personal highlights for me were a deputy sheriff’s badge that had diamonds at the point of each star. Angie told us that Elvis was a great collector of law enforcement badges and had several in his collection, having said that if he hadn’t been a musician, he would have pursued a career with the police. Probably explaining why he enjoyed the pulling people over prank from the exhibition itself!

Another item that led to Angie giving a story we may not have otherwise found out about was related to the solid gold key to the last car that Elvis drove, having taken himself to a dentist appointment on the morning of his death. Angie said that Elvis was a huge fan of cars, and the fastidious way that Vernon, Elvis’ father, had kept records meant that they could trace all of the cars that he bought during his life. Sometimes having them for as little as 6 months before trading them in or gifting them away. Sometimes he just bought cars to give away. There is a record in the archives at Graceland that showed that one day, Elvis went to a dealer and purchased 32 brand new Cadillacs and never drove a single one of them. The records also show who they were gifted to, with one being a lady who happened to just be in the dealership at the same time. The story is that the lady didn’t recognise Elvis and when he asked her if she liked the car she was looking at she explained that she did, but it was just a dream of hers to own one and she liked to come and look every now and then. A while later Elvis just handed her the keys and told her it was a gift.

The most prestigious item we got to hold was his famous TCB ring which stood for “taking care of business”. This was a favourite of Elvis and was the ring he was wearing in the casket at his funeral before it was removed before the casket was closed. He can be seen wearing the ring in several of the concerts that were filmed during his career and the TCB is an iconic symbol associated with him.

After the talk, we had photo opportunities with all of the items we saw that night, and Angie was kind enough to stay for over an hour after the event chatting to people and answering questions about other artifacts in the exhibition.

Even though the event was fantastic, I would say that the only slight drawback of the format of the talk was that when the artifacts were being passed around they understandably created a lot of excitement in the room. This meant that a couple of times Angie was drowned out by the audience and I felt that I might have missed out on some great information about one of the other items she had brought along.

All in all, I would say that the Elvis Direct From Graceland exhibition is a must for any fan of music, not just fans of Elvis himself. The chance to ask questions of someone with the encyclopaedic knowledge of Angie Marchese is a once in a lifetime experience and you should take the chance to go and see for yourselves before the exhibition “leaves the building” and returns home to Memphis in September 2024. 

Review by Ben Goodchid

To find out more about Elvis Direct From Graceland you can visit their website here.

If you like this review of Elvis Direct From Graceland you might also like my review of The Piano Works, Grubs Up – Places to Eat Around Theatreland and my review of Back to The Future.