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American Morning
Elvis Memorabilia Up for Auction Online
Aired June 15, 2001 - 11:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Don't step on my blue suede shoes, but if you can, buy them. If you've ever wanted a piece of the king, this may be your opportunity. Fleetwood Owen auction house is a place that has a collection of celebrity memorabilia.
It is putting some Elvis memorabilia on the block tomorrow through the good graces of eBay. And joining us from Las Vegas is Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac, the famous band, the famous drummer, somewhat of a legend in his own right. And I guess there will be an auction of your stuff a little later down the road. But in the meantime...
MICK FLEETWOOD, DRUMMER, FLEETWOOD MAC: Oh, my God.
O'BRIEN: ... let's talk a -- hey, welcome, first of all.
FLEETWOOD: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk Elvis for just a moment. Why do you think the enduring fascination with Elvis and, you know, it's so tacky it's kind of cool?
FLEETWOOD: Well, the reality is Elvis Presley, the icon he was, I think, we all forget sometimes how much he did for music and where everyone's -- a lot of people's influences came from. I think that's what really starts this whole session in terms of going towards things ending up at an auction.
Elvis Presley is -- is one of a kind and the more you learn about him outside of all the cartoon type of stuff and the tragic stuff, the reality was he was an incredible artist, absolutely phenomenal.
O'BRIEN: All right. We're taking a look at some pictures right now, Mick, of Elvis in -- sort of later day Elvis in one of the famous bird suits or the bird suit, if you will. They all sort of look alike to me.
But what about these suits? What is appealing about them and how much are they apt to fetch?
FLEETWOOD: Well, some of these suits in terms of -- it's all a matter of how they are in terms of continuity or authenticity, which we pay a lot of attention to. But a suit like this can go up over $200,000 and more... O'BRIEN: Wow.
FLEETWOOD: ... on the day.
O'BRIEN: That's about a dollar a sequin, right?
FLEETWOOD: Well, it can be, I mean, that's the phenomenal thing. Elvis along with the Beatles is probably the most collectible people in the entertainment business.
O'BRIEN: All right. Of course, guitars -- whenever you think of Elvis, you think of the guitar. What about some of the guitars you have to offer?
FLEETWOOD: Well, we have a myriad of guitars and one of them happens to be right here. This was a beautiful Gretsch guitar that he played in the early '70's here in Vegas.
O'BRIEN: Oh, that's gorgeous. Can you tilt it a little bit, Mick, so we can see it a little better? Oh, that is just beautiful.
FLEETWOOD: It's a beautiful guitar. I mean, this is a fantastic instrument, anyhow. It's the sort of thing guitar players in my world would go out and collect anyhow. The fact that this was Elvis' and it's all beautifully documented and pictures of him playing, etcetera. And it becomes an umbilical back to what this is all about which is the man, the legend and, sometime, of course, the myth.
O'BRIEN: Yes, of course, the myth. Did you bring any other goodies we can look at before we...
FLEETWOOD: Yes.
O'BRIEN: What else do you have?
FLEETWOOD: We have here one of the shirts that he was wearing in the early '70's.
O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh.
FLEETWOOD: And this when...
O'BRIEN: That is spectacularly bad, it's that?
FLEETWOOD: It's pretty wild. I mean, he was quite the historian.
O'BRIEN: It looks like bad drapes. But Elvis touched them and they're worth what?
FLEETWOOD: This shirt will probably go at -- for quite a few thousand dollars.
O'BRIEN: Wow.
FLEETWOOD: And this was his Beau Brummel touch that he was very ensconced in the British Beau Brummel look. And, of course, this horrendously high collar.
O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.
FLEETWOOD: And we've got some boots here...
O'BRIEN: Let's see them.
FLEETWOOD: ... that he was wearing. This is like something -- the patent leather touch. And these were all the stuff that he got into wearing and become majorly famous for.
O'BRIEN: You know, it's -- Mick, it's hard to believe it went out of fashion, isn't it?
FLEETWOOD: Well, I understand. He also was an incredibly astute -- he was a chief of police, I think, in every county known to mankind.
O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.
FLEETWOOD: And this -- chief of police down in Memphis...
O'BRIEN: Yes.
FLEETWOOD: This is one of his many beautiful -- comes in beautiful container.
O'BRIEN: Mick, you're betraying your age there as you put the badge down there to read it...
FLEETWOOD: I know.
O'BRIEN: ... the Memphis badge.
FLEETWOOD: This I can't sell you. This is our beautiful brochure.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's -- your favorite items, I'm told, are some of Elvis' gun collection. Tell me about that. You know there's a famous story about Elvis going to visit Richard Nixon.
FLEETWOOD: Well, there is. And there's a chap who has been with us this whole week, David Stanley, Elvis' step brother, one of his step brothers. And the stories are endless. But one of them was -- yes, he did, he got into a whole session of -- wanted to go to -- on a quest, if you like, like a policemen -- and went to the White House and literally pretty much knocked on the door and said, "I'm here," unannounced, "let me in," which they did.
Within 10 minutes he was in the White House with two guns, one of which he was going to present to Nixon and did try. Tricky Dicky, of course, couldn't exactly receive the utensil. But he did actually get into the White House with two revolvers, which was pretty unbelievable.
O'BRIEN: I can only imagine what the Secret Service was saying on the radio.
FLEETWOOD: I've no idea. But what Elvis wanted he usually got.
O'BRIEN: Indeed, he did. Let me ask you this, what did you draw from to gather together this remarkable collection?
FLEETWOOD: Well, we're basically the custodians of the things. This belongs to a massive collection from a gentleman of Florida.
O'BRIEN: One person owns most of this stuff?
FLEETWOOD: Well, a huge chunk of this collection going on auction on the 16th here at Bally's in Vegas, is one person's collection. We do have an incredible amount and array of other things, of course.
O'BRIEN: Can you tell us who it is?
FLEETWOOD: No. He wants to remain nameless. One of the guys here in Vegas who runs an Elvis museum has some stuff to sell.
O'BRIEN: Of course, there are probably some people out there who think it's Elvis?
FLEETWOOD: Well, Elvis -- one thing I have gathered through this few weeks of building up to show, Elvis is no longer with us I'm afraid.
O'BRIEN: Oh, really.
FLEETWOOD: That's one thing I have learned from David Stanley, that he was there when Elvis passed away at Graceland.
But we get this brought to us really by reputation, we hope, and we do as good a job as we can do, get as much as we can for our clients.
O'BRIEN: All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for Mick Fleetwood to leave the building. Thank you very much, sir, for your time, good luck on the auction.
And if you want to participate we invite you to check it out. I believe you go to eBay -- eBay.com. And you can, well, who knows, you can own that wonderful Beau Brummel collared shirt or who knows what else, the patent leather boots.
Mick Fleetwood, thanks for being with us. Good luck.
FLEETWOOD: You're very welcome.
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