10 Weirdest Elvis Memorabilia

10 Weirdest Elvis Presley Memorabilia

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Phil Arnold |

It would be impossible to come up with new, if there was a Guinness World Record for the most different Elvis searches.

The cool thing is that you never know what you’ll find if you scroll down the search results far enough.

For example, how about this photo?

When I clicked on the picture above, I linked to this:

Have you ever heard of Wikicollecting? It’s a new one to me. Like everything else on Wikipedia, Wikicollecting lets anybody post, update, edit, and illustrate any topic. So there is no way of knowing who created “The Top 10 Weirdest Elvis Collectibles” in 2012, and named the x-ray images above as the sixth weirdest. 
Whoever it was, they actually listed eleven items, including an honourable mention (looks like our list provider is from England, or at least doesn’t know how to spell honorable). He provided pictures of just four of the eleven items, and they were all rather small and posted out of sequence. So, here is the Wikicollecting list “The Top 10 Weirdest Elvis Memorabilia,” with additional text and images thanks to the magic of Google.

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Honorable Mention —  Medical Swab:

A medical swab used on Elvis was sold by Julien’s Auctions for $468.75 in 2010.  The swab was taken at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis on December 20, 1967 and was obtained by a medical technician at the hospital.

# 10  —  Signed Cast:

A cast signed by the King of Rock and Roll is being offered for sale by Elvisowned.com, a company specializing in the sale of items once owned by Elvis Presley. The asking price is $1,700. The cast belonged to fan Diana Henry who saw Elvis in concert in the Las Vegas Hilton in 1975. According to the website Elvis stopped his show and went into the crowd to sign Diana’s cast.

You will note that Elvis signed the cast twice. That’s because a drop of Elvis’ sweat fell on the autograph below the elbow and smudged his last name. Diana begged Elvis to sign it a second time, which he did.

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# 9  –  Strand of Hair:

(Could not find a picture of this one)

A single strand of Elvis’ hair was sold for $1,700 at a Henry Aldridge & Son auction in 2009.

The auction house said the strand was owned by Thomas B. Morgan Jr., an Elvis fan and former administrator at Shelby County sheriff’s office. Morgan told auctioneers he received the hair follicle from Homer Gilleland, Elvis’ personal Hairdresser for more than 20 years.

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# 8  —  Horse Blanket:

Another item available from ElvisOwned.com is a red horse blanket used by Elvis for his horse Rising Sun and his black horse. It was also used on Priscilla Presley’s horse and the website claims that hairs from the horses are still visible on the blanket. It has been in storage since 1977 and is offered at a price $1800.

Elvis’ cousin Harold Lloyd gave this to his friend Rhonda in 1977. Rhonda’s sister dated Charlie Hodge for almost 4 years. Rhonda is in the background of the last picture taken of Elvis Presley returning home from the dentist in the morning hours of his death. She had actually stopped by to see Harold when Elvis came home for his last time.

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# 7 — TV Remote:

(Could not find a picture of this one)

Elvis’ TV remote is being offered for sale by ElvisOwned.com for $1,800. The large remote, for an RCA 2000 television set, was owned by Greg Page, who owned the television after Elvis.

This remote must have sold since the Wikicollecting list was published, and its listing and picture disappeared from the website. Even the magic of Google search couldn’t come up with a photo of it.

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# 6 — Wrist X-ray:

A set of x-rays of Elvis’ arm sold for $3.500 at a Farm Bureau auction in 2008. The x-rays showed a wrist fracture that Elvis suffered during a karate session.

# 5 — Benadryl Prescription Bottle:

A prescription bottle for Benadryl 50mg, prescribed to Elvis Presley on 8/15/77 sold for $7000 at a Julien’s Auctions sale in 2009. The bottle was prescribed by Elvis’ personal physician, Dr. Nick (Dr. George C. Nichopoulas) the day before Elvis’ death.

# 4 — Dental Crown:

Elvis Presley’s porcelain dental crown, which came to be known as the ‘King’s Crown’, was bought by a dentist for $8,150 at Omega Auctions in March 2012. Presley had a gap between his teeth, which he found embarrassing. He decided to have one of his front teeth crowned to hide it. This crown was created by Henry Weiss, Presley’s dentist until 1971.

Weiss always kept an extra copy of the crown. When Elvis cracked his crown on a microphone during a performance, Weiss’s son, S. Lewis Weiss, flew the replacement crown to Las Vegas.

# 3 — Exercise Bike:

An exercise bike owned by Elvis was sold by Guerney’s Auctions in 2008 for $12,000.

The gold exercise bike has a tension control knob and speedometer/odometer between handlebars. Odometer reads 69 miles. Manufactured by Barkleigh. In fine condition, with some light wear, the bike was accompanied by a COA from Greg Howell, the exhibition and collection manager of Graceland.

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# 2 — Autopsy and Embalming Tools:

In 2010, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers announced that it planned to sell the autopsy and embalming tools used on Elvis. The tools were offered for sale by an anonymous retired embalmer from the Memphis Funeral Home, and they were expected to bring $14,000. Shortly after the planned sale was announced, the parent company of the funeral home, Service Corporation International, claimed ownership of the tools. Due to this dispute over ownership, the items were withdrawn from the sale and have not appeared on the collectors’ market since.

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers had two lots of Elvis’ funereal memorabilia slated for the auction, including funeral invoices, a toe tag once attached to the King’s corpse, embalming needles, forceps, lip brushes, needle injectors, an arterial tub, and an eyeliner pencil allegedly used to prepare the body for the funeral.

The embalmer said he kept the items after embalming Elvis the night of Aug. 17, 1977. Service Corporation International, the corporate parent of Memphis Funeral Home, had questioned the authenticity of the items and said the embalmer had no right to take them from the business. “Rather than argue with anyone, it’s better to just withdraw the item,”

My Google Images search did not come up with a photo of toe tag, actually marked “John Doe.” This was used as a replacement after the original was stolen by an eager fan during the chaos at the hospital. Unfortunately, the original will probably show up for sale someday.

# 1 — Lockheed Jetstar Jet:

The last jet Elvis ever owned, a 1962 Lockheed Jetstar JT 12-5, was sold for $700,000 in 2008 by Kruse International. During his lifetime, Elvis owned three jets. The other two are in the Graceland Museum.

Okay, that’s what one person calls the ten weirdest Elvis memorabilia. I really don’t see what’s so weird about the TV remote, the horse blanket, or the exercise bike. The weird thing to me is some of the prices mentioned. $468 for the medical swab – you can buy Elvis autographs for less than that. $1,700 for a strand of hair – way too much.

Maybe the signed cast is worth $1,700 – it does have two Elvis autographs on it. I’m not sure about $700,000 for the Jetstar. Maybe if it came with photos of Elvis inside it or standing in front, but think about all the Elvis memorabilia you could buy for that kind of money.

The arm e-rays are certainly weird, as is the replacement tooth crown. And finally, two items are not just weird, but also in horrible taste. How sick is it to spend $7,000 on Elvis’ bottle of Benydryl? And the embalming stuff is just too grisly. I hope that Service Corporation Inonaternatil destroyed them after pulling them from the auction

© 2013 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net

Elvis Presley's New Orleans Mardi Gras by Scotty Moore via scottymoore.net (best Elvis site on the internet)

Elvis Presley's New Orleans Mardi Gras by Scotty Moore via scottymoore.net (best Elvis site on the internet)

On May 1, 1955, Elvis, Scotty and Bill performed at the Municipal Auditorium for the first time with three shows while on a new tour with Hank Snow's All Star Jamboree. 

Having toured with them on dates since February to an increasing popularity in the mid south and West Texas area, often to greater demand and much dismay of the headliners, this tour would take them into new territory as they traveled to Florida and the Southeast.

Peter Guralnick, in "Last Train To Memphis," wrote,

the tour began on May 1 in New Orleans, the day after Elvis' fourth Sun single, "Baby, Let’s Play House," was released.

It was billed as a three-week, twenty-city tour that would employ thirty-one different artists, some of whom would pick up and leave the tour at various points. 

Headliners were Hank Snow, Slim Whitman, the Carter Sisters with Mother Maybelle, and Martha Carson.

Faron Young would join the show in Florida. In a solution the Colonel devised to prevent the kind of thing that had happened on the last tour, there would be a first half of "younger talent" that included Jimmie Rodgers Snow, the Davis Sisters, and the Wilburn Brothers, with

"one of the newest though most exciting personalities in the Hillbilly field . . . [whose] singing style is completely different from any other singer in the field," Elvis Presley, appearing just before the intermission.

There were near-riots almost everywhere they played. 

Johnny Rivers saw the show in Baton Rouge, and decided,

“I wanna be like that guy."

There were girls in every city, and after the show Elvis never lacked for company, cruising around town in the pink and white Cadillac he had just acquired to replace the Lincoln (once again he had his name painted in black on the door).

Jimmie Snow roomed with him on this tour.

Bill Black, Jimmie Rodgers Snow, and Elvis in Meridian, MS - May 26, 1955
Photo courtesy Jimmie Rodgers Snow

Postcard featuring The Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans ca. 1953

The Municipal Auditorium at 1201 St Peters Ave. in New Orleans, LA, adjacent to the French Quarter, opened in 1930.

One of the reasons it was built, says John Magill, head of research at the Historic New Orleans Collections, was to replace the French Opera House, which burned to the ground in 1919.

The auditorium was part of a planned municipal complex that was intended to fill much of what is now Louis Armstrong Park as well as extending along Basin Street.

But when the Great Depression set in, plans for the rest of the project were scrapped.

Mayor de Lesseps S. Morrison presents Queen Ethel Elizabeth Seiler at the Krewe of Hermes ball in the Municipal Auditorium - Feb 22, 1952

At the time it was considered one of the largest and most modern in this country with a total seating capacity of 10,000 that could be divided into two halls, one seating 6500 and the other 3500.  It had fourteen other meeting rooms and 75,000 sq ft. of space for exhibit purposes. It has hosted many concerts and events, perhaps being best known as the site of many of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Krewe balls.

Cleaning up the Municipal Auditorium after a carnival ball - undated
Photo courtesy New Orleans Public Library Louisiana Photographic collection

Krewes are the masking and parading clubs (or social organizations) for which New Orleans is both famous and infamous. Most Krewes developed from private social clubs that have restrictive membership policies. Today, in order to obtain a Parade Permit, all Orleans Parish Clubs must sign Affidavits agreeing not to discriminate in terms of membership, but many of the more established Krewes continue to allow membership by "invitation only."

It was on this tour that when Elvis was mobbed in Jacksonville, the Colonel was sold on Elvis' earning potential.

According to Oscar Davis, wrote Guralnick, that marked the turning point -- that was the real eye opener, the Colonel said to him. 

By the time the show got to Richmond three days later, it was as if Elvis had never been anything but the Colonel's boy.

reproduction of Times Picayune Aug. 12, 1956 ad
ad courtesy New Orleans Public Library

Their next (and last) appearance at Memorial Auditorium was on August 12, 1956, when Elvis, the band and entourage arrived in New Orleans from Jacksonville, FL for two shows.  This was the last stop on a ten day tour that had started in Miami, which, aside from this one, consisted of dates entirely in Florida.  Unlike their first appearance at the Auditorium which started their tours of Florida and the southeast, this would mark the end of appearances in that area, and touring on a regular basis for that matter.

Elvis arrives in New Orleans in his new Lincoln - Aug. 12, 1956 Photo © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's "Elvis Close Up"

As had often been the custom they traveled at night and slept by day.  Traveling with Red West and cousins Gene and Junior Smith, Elvis arrived in the new Lincoln Continental Mark II that he had purchased in Miami at the start of this tour.

Phil Maraquin backed by tour orchestra entertains the crowd - Aug 12, 1956
Photo © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's "Elvis Close Up"

Elvis is presented with a key to the city prior to a performance - Aug 12, 1956 Photo © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's "Elvis Close Up"

As had appeared on most of the shows on the tour, this show opened with performances by singers, Frankie Connors, Nancy Ford, The Jordanaires, and comic magician Phil Maraquin backed by the tour orchestra recruited by Al Dvorin in Chicago.  When Elvis finally went onstage he was presented with "the key to the city" and a scroll of thousands of signatures from fans.

The Jordanairse, Elvis and Bill Black at the Municipal Auditorium - Aug 12, 1956
Photo © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's "Elvis Close Up"

On the 13th, the day after the shows, the review in the Times Picayune went as follows:

Elvis performing on stage at the Municipal Auditorium - Aug 12, 1956 Photo © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's "Elvis Close Up"

Elvis Presley jerked his tortuous way across the stage of the Municipal Auditorium twice Sunday, "sang" eight or ten songs, thumped on a guitar, fell to the floor, knocked over microphones and set off a din of teenage squealing unparalleled since the heyday of Sinatra.³

Elvis performing on stage at the Municipal Auditorium - Aug 12, 1956
Photo © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's "Elvis Close Up"

At matinee and evening performances before nearly full houses on each occasion (the auditorium holds 10,000), Elvis the Pelvis started each show with a small tiny belch and on each occasion brought the house down. It was that kind of show.³

Elvis performing on stage at the Municipal Auditorium - Aug 12, 1956
Photo © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's "Elvis Close Up"

He sang all the songs that are now a mark of jukebox America. "Blues Suede Shoes" and "When My Baby Left Me" and "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Tutti Fruiti" and "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" and a number of others equally deathless.³

Elvis performing on stage at the Municipal Auditorium - Aug 12, 1956
Photo © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's "Elvis Close Up"

To say that Elvis Presley sings is, on the strength of his New Orleans performance, giving him the benefit of doubt, for more often than not what passes for his voice is drowned out as often as it was audible. On the other hand he is not known for his voice. He is a personality, an entertainer who has made an incredible mark on a whole nation and in New Orleans he lived up to this latter role with all the vigor and aplomb of a veteran which he isn't.³

Some of the fans at the Memorial Auditorium - Aug 12, 1956
Photo © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's "Elvis Close Up"

His auditorium audiences were, by and large, made up of girls from about 10 to 16 who came armed with flash cameras, autograph books, photographs of their hero and who behaved in a way that scarcely reflects credit on teen-age America. At the evening performance he contorted his body in such a manner as to cause whole platoons to rush to the edge of the stage. Girls of 10 and 12 lunged to touch him.³

Bill, Elvis and DJ performing on stage at the Municipal Auditorium - Aug 12, 1956 Photo © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's Elvis Close Up

When police started to move in, Elvis jerked his way back to the center of the stage and comparative safety of the trio which backs him up.³

Elvis performing on stage at the Municipal Auditorium - Aug 12, 1956

He flings his limbs about and quivers in such a way as to make one think he might have a trick knee or hip, possibly from an old war injury. But this is not the case. This is just Elvis Presley. At each performance his appearance was preceded by singers, dancers and comedians, some of whom had talent far exceeding that of the star but none of whom who could touch the lad when it comes to showmanship.³

Elvis performing on stage at the Municipal Auditorium - Aug 12, 1956
Photos © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's Elvis Close Up

At each show he was onstage about 35 minutes, delivering the same songs that have become de rigeur for the nations disc jockeys. He was also presented with a key to the city and a scroll bearing more than 5000 signatures of youthful New Orleanians who would wish him luck and some who carried banners inscribed, "Elvis for President."³

Elvis and Bill on stage at the Municipal Auditorium - Aug 12, 1956 Photo © Jay B. Leviton courtesy Ger Rijff's Elvis Close Up

Whether he'll be around as long as the Davy Crocket hat remains to be seen.³

According to Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen in "Elvis Day by Day", the Colonel had guaranteed Elvis $500 a performance or $2,000 a day, whichever was greater, and Elvis received a total of $20,000, plus a $7,500 commission on souvenir sales for the ten-day tour. The band however, received their "working" salary of $200 a week.  After two long years on the road the days of constant touring were over. Ten days later Elvis would be in Hollywood to begin production on Love Me Tender, the first of four movies that he would make before entering the Army.  They would only make ten more appearances in 1956 and perform shows on three short tours in 1957.

Lawrence Welk Show at the Municipal Auditorium, Pete Fountain on clarinet c. 1958 Photo courtesy New Orleans Public Library Louisiana Photographic collection

The Auditorium in New Orleans continued to offer major attractions through the 1950s and into the 1970s at least.  In 1969 and 1970 it was home to the New Orleans Buccaneers one of the charter franchises of the American Basketball Association, founded in 1967.  It was the city's first professional basketball team but the team was sold and moved to Memphis in 1970.  During its inaugural 1974-1975 season the Auditorium was home to the New Orleans Jazz basketball team.  They finished in last place that season with a 23-59 record and moved to the Louisiana Superdome the following season.

Led Zeppelin in Long Beach - June 27, 1972
Photo by Richard Creamer

The venue hosted many of the major rock acts of the 60s, 70s and 80s.  Led Zeppelin performed at the Municipal Auditorium in August of 1971 and May of 1973.  They reputedly were said to have appeared there in 1975 (unconfirmed) on their American tour accompanying the release of their "Physical Graffiti" album and so did Rod Stewart and Ron Wood with Faces later that year.  Bruce Springsteen and the E St. Band performed there in 1976 and 1978. The venue also was a casino before the new Harrah's New Orleans building on Canal Street was opened.

In the 90's, fueled by the desire to bring more profitable events to the facility, the city decided to renovate and transform the Auditorium into a multi-purpose arena and auditorium.  The project involved building a regulation hockey rink inside the building flexible enough so that it could be converted back to an auditorium for other uses.  The building was able to go from a hockey rink, to a concert hall, to a basketball court, to a Mardi Gras ball setting in a one-day turnaround.⁴

View from the stage in Municipal Auditorium
Photo courtesy Louisiana Film and Television

The Auditorium was renamed the Morris F.X. Jeff Sr. Municipal Auditorium, after a former executive in the New Orleans Recreation Department who had committed his life to improving conditions and opportunities for New Orleans children.  Completed in October of 1997, the  200,000 square-foot building featured a 5,000-seat arena and was the new home of The New Orleans Brass, a minor league hockey team of the East Coast Hockey League (seating for stage events was 7,853).

View from the stage in Municipal Auditorium Photo courtesy Louisiana Film and Television

The Brass, a one-time East Coast Hockey League affiliate of the NHL's San Jose Sharks, lasted only five seasons (1997-2002).  The Brass averaged a home attendance of 4,300 (78-percent capacity) at the Municipal Auditorium during its first two seasons. The Brass moved to the New Orleans Arena for the 1999-2000 season, but the more cavernous confines of the New Orleans Arena made spectators feel further from the action.⁵

View of the stage in Municipal Auditorium
Photo courtesy Louisiana Film and Television

With the ECHL under pressure to release a 2002-03 schedule, the team suspended operations on July 18, 2002 as it struggled to hammer out a deal that would have designated Morris F.X. Jeff Sr. Municipal Auditorium once again as its home playing facility.⁵

Katrina floodwaters covering roadways and swallowing up buildings - Aug 30, 2005

In August of 2005 the auditorium suffered damage and associated flooding when Hurricane Katrina, one of the costliest and deadliest hurricanes to the hit the US, wreaked havoc along much of the north-central Gulf Coast. The storm flooded the basement and damaged the roof of the auditorium destroying all of it's mechanical and electrical systems located in the building's basement.¹

Aerial view of the Municipal Auditorium - 2007
Photos courtesy Microsoft Earth Data

Prior to and immediately after Katrina, the Municipal Auditorium was managed by SMG corporation, which also managed the adjacent Mahalia Jackson Theatre, the Superdome, the New Orleans Arena, the Pontchartrain Center and many other facilities nationwide.  In January of 2006 the city produced a two-page list of capital improvements and preliminary estimates to restore the auditorium (at a minimum of $7.5 million). By July of 2006, beyond pumping out the flooded basement and removing soaked carpet and water-damaged debris - all paid for with FEMA funds and completed by early December 2005 - nothing much had happened.  The city said that SMG's services were no longer necessary because the building was not being used and terminated its contract after March 31.¹

Aerial views of the Municipal Auditorium - 2007
Photos courtesy Microsoft Earth Data

According to a Recovery Projects Report published in June of 2008, there are no current plans underway to renovate the Auditorium. Aside from repairing the roof and exterior to seal the building from outside elements, repairs to the Auditorium are not high on the priority list to return it to working order. They have it listed as preliminary design stage phase, which is the fourth of nine phases. At present, attention is focused on the completion of the Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts, mostly because it is more of a multi-purpose performing arts facility and thus can be used by more organizations - ballet, symphony, opera, musical theatre. The Theater is scheduled to reopen in January, 2009. The Mayor's Office of Recovery Management is responsible for this information and recovery can be tracked at www.cityofno.com/recovery.⁶

Tyler Dixon in his Davy Crockett (Coonskin) Hat - July 2006

In the 1960s, Leonard Bernstein was quoted as calling Elvis “the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century.”  His popularity and that sentiment has prevailed and continues to grow still today.  The Davy Crockett (or Coonskin ) hat referred to by the Times Picayune writer was made popular in large part by Disney's 1954 television show "Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter" and its sequels, starring Fess Parker. The hat went out of fashion by the end of the '50s.

1955 Hank Snow All star Jamboree advertisement courtesy Ger Rijff's Long Lonely Highway.  1956 Times Picayune article courtesy New Orleans Public Library.

² excerpt from Mardi Gras: The Krewes and The Parades
³ "VOCALIST SHOWS USUAL TACTICS Quivers, Jerks in Rendering Favored Number" by Pen Wilson, Times Picayune Aug. 13, 1956
⁴ New Orleans Transforms Landmark Auditorium courtesy Graphisoft Virtual Building Solutions
⁵ "Frozen In Time: Six-year anniversary of New Orleans Brass folding" by Chris Scarnati, For The Times-Picayune July 17, 2008
⁶ courtesy Mary Beth Romig, Director of Communications and Public Relations, New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau

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Elvis' 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II on auction at the MGM Grand - Oct 9, 1999
Photos courtesy AMA Pro Racing

The 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II that Elvis bought in Miami at the beginning of his August 1956 tour remained in his possession for the rest of his life.  It was sold by EPE at auction at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in 1999 along with many other items from the Archives.  It is now on display at Townsend's Classic & Antique Auto Collection in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

All photos on this site (that we didn't borrow) unless otherwise indicated are the property of either Scotty Moore or James V. Roy and unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.

Printemps de Bourges 1987: Jerry-Lee Lewis et d'autres

JERRY LEE LEWIS, singer-songwriter, musician, pianist performs April 23, 1987 in Bourges, central France, during the 10th Bourges' Spring Festival.

 

FERRIDAY — Frankie Jean Lewis Terrell, the sister of rock-and-roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis, died suddenly on Sunday. She was 71.

Terrell was a well-known personality in Ferriday and to her brother’s fans from around the world who traveled to the Jerry Lee Lewis Family Museum, which she owned and operated in her home on Louisiana Avenue. Her family also has a drive-thru liquor barn and convenience store beside the home.

The following statement was is posted on Jerry Lee Lewis’ Facebook page:

“Jerry Lee and I ask for prayers and understanding as we mourn the sudden death of Jerry Lee’s loving sister Frankie Jean Lewis Terrell. May God grant us strength as we go through this... we love you all. And may God be with her husband, Marion, and their daughters Mamie Gale, Melinda, Marion Jean and son Wayne. And a special prayers also for Linda Gail and Eddie and their children, and our son Lee, as he is our strength, and Lori, Tiffany and Phoebe… we love you all. Jerry Lee & Judith Lewis”

Message from Jerry's sister Frankie Jean to all Jerry Lee Lewis fans Jerry's sister Frankie Jean Lewis Terrell is running The Lewis Museum in Jerry's birth place Ferriday, Louisiana. The museum has a unique collection of pictures and memorabilia that can only be found there. Frankie asked us to help her generate donations to help her pay the taxes and keep this unique museum running. Any donation is more than welcome. Donations can be sent to: The Lewis Museum 712 Louisiana Avenue Ferriday, LA 71334 USA If you would like her to write back to you, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Museum puts on the 'freak show' FERRIDAY, La. — An Abba CD croons "Dancing Queen" as Frankie Jean Lewis Terrell reclines dreamily on a plastic chair inside the convenience store she owns in Ferriday, La. She ignores the stale smell of beer and gestures frantically behind her, to the Lewis Family Museum. "What do you do with a white elephant?" Terrell wants to know. A lopsided grin spreads across her face. "You put it on display and have a freak show." Terrell knows her fair share about freak shows. She's the caretaker of the Lewis Family Museum, a maverick stepchild to the official Southern shrine of Graceland — something certain to irk its namesake Jerry Lee Lewis, who outlived, but never outsold, Elvis Presley. With her crooked smile, pale eyes and wild hair, Terrell looks disarmingly similar to her famously rough brother, '50s rocker Lewis. She closes her mouth and narrows her eyes into hyphen-sized slits. "The Lewis Family Museum is the biggest freak show there is," Terrell, 66, preaches. In Ferriday, a Concordia Parish town of about 4,000 some 13 miles west of the Mississippi River, few people would disagree with Terrell's pronouncement that the museum is a temple to the weird. In its unapologetic display of one famous family's demons, the Lewis Family Museum transforms the painful into the hilariously familiar. Jerry Lee Lewis, who lives behind graffiti-covered walls on a ranch in Nesbit, Miss., turned 70 in September. In 2005 he won a Grammy for lifetime achievement. His star has waned, but the music hasn't died. Lewis' next CD, "The Pilgrim," slated for release later this year, likely will be his last. Twenty-two guest artists, including B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton, recorded with the Killer. The Lewis Family Museum affirms his ever-so-humble beginnings. Alcohol, drugs and lawlessness set the backdrop to the story of a poor sharecropper's son, Lewis, turned child prodigy near rock 'n' roll's advent. They chronicle a crooner's rise from the violent, booze-soaked nightclubs of Natchez, Miss., to his immortalization in the bars of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire." If sin had a soundtrack, it would sound very much like the wail of Jerry Lee Lewis' piano absorbing rage, which is why Terrell also believes people travel from all corners of the world — France, Japan, Australia — to walk across the floors of Lewis family history. "I guess people like that are a curiosity to all of us," says Joan Svoboda, who visited from Nebraska. "How come people visiting Memphis drive by Graceland?" Unlike Graceland, the Ferriday museum has few rules. Visitors may roam freely, from room to room. They may take photographs and touch most everything, except the pianos. One, its keys yellowed and jammed, is the first Jerry Lee Lewis ever pounded, and it stands in a bedroom, its lid covered with framed family photographs. Terrell says that ghosts of the living haunt this place, but the dead don't stick around. She keeps glass bottles of whiskey atop a black baby grand piano in the sitting room, a refusal to sugarcoat her brother's dangerous climb to stardom. "Once you come see this house and take it all in, you're never the same once you leave," says Terrell, who speaks with the frenetic pace of a street preacher. She confesses to curling up on her brother's bed at night, closing her eyes and pretending that time is capable of stopping and rewinding. She can listen to the past anytime she wants. She can replay it like a record. "At night when I close my eyes, I can hear Jerry playing the piano," Terrell says. She e-mails her brother at least once a week, through her sister, musician Linda Gail Lewis. Ferriday's other famous former residents, Linda Gail Lewis, Jimmy Lee Swaggart and Mickey Gilley, all enjoy corners of memorial in Terrell's museum, in the family home. Visitors may prowl the bedroom of Linda Gail Lewis, touch her makeup brushes (left on a nightstand) or let their fingers waltz across her dresses. The museum pays little attention to Jerry Lee's marriage to his second cousin, Myra Gale, when she was 13. The scandal sank Lewis' career at a time when some thought he would surpass Presley in popularity. "You don't get inducted into this hall of fame," Terrell cackles. "You get indicted." The infamous marriage license of Lewis and Myra Gale hangs on a faux-wood paneled wall. Visitors may think they've fallen through a portal to the 1950s. The oven in the kitchen holds shellacked bread baked decades ago on a Christmas morning by the now-deceased matriarch Mamie Lewis, who on Sept. 29, 1935, birthed the Killer on a four-poster bed exhibited in the home. The highchair of the man whose music helped define rock sits in the corner. His tattered baby clothes string a fine line above a bed. Their presence proclaims that even Jerry Lee Lewis had to start somewhere. "It's strange how life goes on in other places and it just stops here," Terrell says sadly. "It's incredibly strange," she repeats. Terrell says the home has always been a museum, but she officially started giving tours in 1960, lately adding a small admission fee because of rising costs. Her convenience store pays the taxes and utilities. A chronic pack rat, she could wallpaper three rooms with the letters she has saved since the age of 11. She claims to have started the museum when she was 6 because she knew "Jerry Lee was special." Neighbors came from miles to hear him play the piano, and Terrell didn't want anyone to forget the music. That's why she stayed on in Ferriday, a dust-laced Louisiana delta town about 100 miles north of Baton Rouge. "It's good to never change an address," Terrell says. "Jerry Lee can come back and see his baby shoes." She keeps a house in Ferriday, but sleeps in the museum at night. She eats all her meals in its kitchen. Even if she tried to leave, she says she thinks the house would drag her back. The house isn't officially haunted, but Terrell believes that memories, all great and terrible, have enchanted its rooms. After soaking up the Lewis saga — similar to a "Dallas" rerun minus the millionaires — museum visitors may sit with Terrell in her convenience store and drink something a Lewis would drink — usually whiskey, she says. Fans enter for free. Critics have to pay a dollar and only get to see one room. That's Terrell's rule.

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Printemps de Bourges 1987: Ray Charles, Jerry-Lee Lewis et d'autres - France 3 Centre-Val de Loire

Jerry Lee Lewis - Boogie Woogie Country Man (Bourges 1987)

Jerry Lee Lewis Printemps de Bourges 1987