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American Morning
Fans Flock to Graceland
Aired August 14, 2002 - 08:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: He may have left the building, but he definitely definitely hasn't left in many of our hearts. It's the 25th anniversary. As Elvis Presley's death approaches, you can bet one place is being flooded this week with fans who want to pay tribute to the King.
And Gary Tuchman is out in the middle of them at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, as the celebrations go on.
Good morning, Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, good morning to you.
Not only flooded with the fans, maybe flooded with rain. It was raining very hard this morning, expected to rain very hard this afternoon.
Nevertheless, about 20,000 tourists are expected to come here today, to the place Elvis called home, Graceland, 23 rooms inside that beautiful mansion, sitting on 14 acres. He bought it for $102,000 in 1957. It is said to be priceless now. And the tourists are lining up to go in when Graceland opens a little later this morning. You can look at them right now.
This guy standing here, you may recognize him. Maybe you don't recognize him, not Elvis Presley, but one of the many people who come here that look like Elvis Presley.
What is your name, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Tom Organz (ph).
TUCHMAN: Tom, where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Las Vegas, Nevada.
TUCHMAN: I assume you didn't always look like this. You're a big Elvis fan, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was born, I had the sideburns. But I got to fall in love with Elvis, so I started dressing up like him.
TUCHMAN: May I ask when you were born, did you have the gold and silver chains?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, those were given to me by the nurses when I was wiggling my leg. They thought, hey man, here. TUCHMAN: You got your act down, buddy.
This lady right here, where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from New Jersey. In 1977, I came to -- we tickets to his concert. he died six days before the concert. That was a big disappointment in my life, so then in '77, we came down for the funeral. And Graceland has changed so much. It is so commercial, so zoo-ish compared to how it was. It was so beautiful back then. But just to see the two differences, but it's still -- just watching all the fans, all the energy and everybody.
TUCHMAN: Is it fair to say you like Elvis Presley?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're hitting it right on the head. My house, I'm going to call Grace's Land. I have everything. I'm Grace.
TUCHMAN: Your name is Grace?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Grace, and it's going to be Grace's land after I finish all my little shrines and stuff. So yes, it's fair to say, I love Elvis.
TUCHMAN: Grace says is going to be zoo-ish, and that's very accurate, because they're expecting a total of about 100,000 tourists to march through these gates of Graceland. We will take you inside Graceland a little later during AMERICAN MORNING.
Paula, back to you.
ZAHN: I look forward to that, because I've been to Memphis a couple of times and never had time to do that. So we look forward to that, Gary, thank you so much.
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