Antiques Roadshow Detours

Adam Monahan: Were you an Elvis fan growing up? Do you like Elvis?

Marsha Bemko: Yes. I can tell you Elvis stories because my cousin Robert, who was much, much older than me, I'm from an old Boston family so my whole family lived in a triple-decker house type thing. And so… Robert was upstairs and then my uncle and they all had Elvis records, like the kind you put on a record player.

Adam Monahan: My boss, and GBH's ANTIQUES ROADSHOW executive producer, Marsha Bemko.

Marsha Bemko: I remember we would sit in their rooms and my sister and I would play them over and over again. And we would just fall in love with him, but we were pretty young.

Adam Monahan: I mean, the music's good, it's great music, and it didn't hurt that he was handsome as anything.

Marsha Bemko: So handsome, and so sad.

Adam Monahan: As I do so often I had called Marcia to remind her of an appraisal from our show. This one happened to feature the king of rock and roll. I love to surprise you so we can watch this together. I'm going to share my screen.

Marsha Bemko: Is this Elvis Standee?

Adam Monahan: It's Elvis Standee. Elvis Standee arrived at her event in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2011.

Laura Woolley: So Pattie, tell me what you brought in today.

Pattie: From what I understand, it's called a standee.

Adam Monahan: It's a six-foot-tall cardboard cutout of Elvis that was made to advertise his first film, Love Me Tender. This black-and-white Elvis is wearing a thin-striped button-down tucked into jeans, strumming his guitar, mouth puckered, mid-song, and looking just so cool. And Patty, the guest, was crazy about it.

Laura Woolley: You keep this by your bed?

Pattie: Oh, yes.

Laura Woolley: And you wake up every morning and see Elvis?

Pattie: Oh, yes.

Laura Woolley: So do you have any idea what it's worth or have you had it valued?

Pattie: Absolutely none.

Adam Monahan: The appraiser you just heard, Laura Woolley, priced it at a whopping 10 to $15,000. Not bad for a cardboard cutout. But we never knew if that number would hold up at auction, until now.

Marsha Bemko: Did you sell it? She sold it.

Adam Monahan: Well, that's what I'm getting at. We got another sale, I'm very excited about this one. Its pre-sale auction estimate is 10 to $20,000 at Julian's. I hope that this thing sells for bazillion dollars. She's just the ultimate Elvis fan, the fact that she sleeps with it by her bed.

Marsha Bemko: Yeah.

Adam Monahan: I mean, this has to be losing a relative to her.

Marsha Bemko: I can't wait to see what that hammer's at because we've seen it all. We've seen them hammer above and sadly we've seen them hammer below what we've said on Roadshow.

Adam Monahan: It's been 13 years since flat Elvis first rocked the Roadshow and he's back for an encore. The gavel is poised. Will this cardboard king score a chart-topping price or is he headed for the Heartbreak Hotel? I'm Adam Monahan and this is ANTIQUES ROADSHOW DETOURS. Today Elvis tries to leave the building. It was clear from the moment our guest rolled her Elvis collection up to the collectibles' table at our Minneapolis event that something special was going to happen.

Laura Woolley: I remember that day because our guest, Pat, I always remember the way she said her name, Pat, she was in line and she had a giant red flyer wagon full of stuff, and she was wheeling towards us. And she was wearing her Elvis t-shirt, I think she had an Elvis tattoo, and you could tell she was just so pleased to be there. And Kathleen leaned over to me and she said, "I don't care what this woman has, you have to put her on TV."

Adam Monahan: Laura Woolley is a familiar voice on this podcast and has been appraising items on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW for years.

Laura Woolley: I was thinking, oh boy, this is going to take a while because she has so much stuff in this wagon. And as soon as I looked up, I saw kind of tucked in the back of the wagon was this vintage 1956 Love Me Tender standee, and it was just stood out like a beaming light out of this thing. And I thought, where did she get this?

Adam Monahan: You know how people have a thing like I love beer and baseball, so people get me brews to try and Red Sox branded garments. Well, that's Patty and Elvis.

Pattie: I've been in Elvis fanatic my whole life. The town knows that about me, I have been given a lot of things. And to think that I was at work as a waitress that a couple that I waited on for years and knew about me with Elvis said they had something for me. Oh my God. They come walking through the red door at the Montana Cafe and, seriously, they're dragging Elvis. "Do you want this?" "Oh my God, do I want it? Absolutely."

Adam Monahan: This Elvis came to Patty in 2007 and, as Laura highlighted in her appraisal, he had already been through quite a lot.

Laura Woolley: Well, as you can see, you do have a crease right there across his neck. That's pretty common, most of these were just in pieces by the time a film's run would be finished. The key with this piece, because it was his first film and the reaction to it was so great, there were reports that you couldn't hear the film because the girls in the theater were screaming so loudly that no one could actually even hear the dialogue when they were screening it because he was such a heartthrob at that time. So I would imagine that many of these were also probably torn to shreds by fans coming out of the theater who wanted a piece of Elvis to take home. So do you have any idea what it's worth or have you had it valued?

Pattie: Absolutely none.

Laura Woolley: Well, the good news is for you, you're one of a very elite group of Elvis collectors because they're only about two or three of these known to exist.

Pattie: Really?

Laura Woolley: So many were destroyed. So if I were going to put this into an auction, I would estimate at least 10 to $15,000.

Pattie: Oh my God.

Laura Woolley: So are you going to keep it by your bed still?

Pattie: Absolutely. You're kidding.

Laura Woolley: No.

Pattie: I can't believe it. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Adam Monahan: We are Patty enthusiasts around here. But I got to admit this Elvis mania, the stories of teenage girls going wild over a cardboard cutout, not to mention the high appraisal, it all seems a bit much. But I have to remind myself we're not just talking about any celebrity here, this is Elvis.

Bob Cottrell: Elvis really was an icon.

Adam Monahan: This is Bob Cottrell, author of the book Icons of American Popular Culture.

Bob Cottrell: And the core theme is the anti-hero.

Adam Monahan: Elvis was the quintessential anti-hero.

Bob Cottrell: He was born in 1935, Tupelo, Mississippi. He was a southern boy through and through. He got a guitar, I think, when he was 11. And he issued his first recordings '54 and '55. He got on some local and then regional television programs and through his performances on the Ed Sullivan show, he just exploded.

Adam Monahan: The Ed Sullivan Show was an immensely popular weekly variety show and Elvis's debut performance transformed his career and made TV history. It was September 1956, Elvis was 21 years old. This was the year he released his first single with RCA Records which sold over a million copies, and his first album hit number one on the billboards pop charts. Initially, Sullivan thought Elvis was too provocative for his family friendly program, but when Elvis's appearance on a rival variety show dominated the Sunday night ratings, Sullivan quickly changed his tune. He booked Elvis for three shows, offering an unprecedented $50,000, around $580,000 today, the highest some ever paid to a performer for a TV appearance at that time. Close to 61 million viewers tuned in that night. It was the perfect moment for Elvis to step into the spotlight.

Bob Cottrell: Elvis hit it big right in the mid '50s, and that's a time of change with more change to come in American life, history, culture. It's the period when the civil rights movement was beginning to burgeon. The Board of Education decision knocking down the notion of separate but equal had just been determined, May 17th 1954. And then you get a figure like Elvis, this white boy who dressed in kind of black attire. And he did that deliberately because rock and roll is this melding of black and white. And he brought to the fore this amalgam of characteristics that made him this larger than life iconic figure.

Adam Monahan: In terms of popularity, Elvis was truly the king. He sold the most physical albums and singles in recorded music history. He has the most top 100 US hits of any artist ever. He's been inducted into five halls of fame, rock and roll, country, gospel, rockabilly, and R&B. And then there was his film career. He starred in 31 films and was for a time one of Hollywood's highest paid actors. Not that the films were his claim to fame.

Bob Cottrell: They were kind of B quality Hollywood films. None are very terrific. None are very good. They made him a lot of money, but I think the acting career took some of that anti-heroic quality out of him.

Adam Monahan: Most of Elvis's films came after he returned from a two-year stint in the US Army in 1960. By this time, the once unstoppable momentum of his music career was starting to fade.

Bob Cottrell: He has a comeback of sorts right around when the Beatles are making their splash, '64. And then he makes another comeback near the end of the decade, '68, '69, television programs and on the stage in Las Vegas.

Adam Monahan: He released his last Billboard pop album chart topper in 1973, it was a concert album. Elvis, Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite. This live performance revealed to audiences an alarmingly bloated Elvis profusely sweating and visibly exhausted. He was hospitalized for drug abuse later that year.

Bob Cottrell: Elvis becomes addicted to all kinds of pills. His acting career suffered, his musical career suffered, his body suffered. And then it all comes to an unfortunate end, I think he was what, 42 in 1977 and his body just gave out. Right after Elvis had passed in August of 1977, John Lennon asserted "The king is dead, but rock and roll will never die. Long-live the king." And I think that really kind of encapsulates who and what Elvis was. Popular cultural icons are exactly that, they're iconic. And that iconic status endures. So you're going to have new baseball legends, but there's always Babe Ruth. And there's always a Muhammad Ali. And there's always Elvis Presley.

Adam Monahan: Yeah.

Bob Cottrell: And I think there will always be Elvis Presley.

Adam Monahan: While there will always be the Elvis Presley, this cardboard version is about to find a new home. After the break, we'll see if cardboard Elvis can hold onto his star power at the auction. Patty's Elvis standee had cost her absolutely nothing. Remember, it was a gift from the customers at the diner where she worked who all knew about her passion for the king of rock and roll. So discovering that it could be worth over $10,000, now that's a true roadshow success story if I've ever heard one. How did you feel when you learned he was like 10 to 15,000?

Pattie: Oh my God, I'm still in awe. I couldn't believe it. I've been an Elvis fanatic my whole life, and you know what? He came through for me.

Adam Monahan: So recently, though, we just got word that this Elvis standee from our show is going up for sale. Tell me how you decided to finally part with it.

Pattie: You know what, I'm 72 years old. None of my children, I have three, are into Elvis. And so I thought we could use a garage here in my little town. We live on 70 acres, but I could use a garage. Maybe it's time. I do not have a computer. I'm old school, I don't have any of that stuff. And so I called my buddy that got the tickets for me and I said, "Could you contact Laura Woolley for me? I've made a decision. Elvis needs to leave the building."

Adam Monahan: Roadshow appraiser Laura Woolley arranged for Elvis to be auctioned through Julian's Auctions.

Pattie: It was time for him to go to a new family, and whoever gets him is going to love him just as much as I do.

Adam Monahan: I wish you nothing but the best, Patty. I hope this sells for a bundle.

Pattie: To be honest, I don't care if I made $5.

Adam Monahan: There was just one snag complicating the sale. Laura's original appraisal of 10 to $15,000 was based on the idea that this particular Elvis item is super-duper rare. Unfortunately, after our show aired that rarity began to dissolve.

Laura Woolley: Within a year, one came up for sale. So this is kind of the road show effect, right? We always talk about this. We get on the air and we say, "This thing's so rare, these never come up. We've never seen one." And then the show airs and suddenly everyone who has one comes out of the woodwork and the first one that came out of the woodwork sold for $20,000. So even more than what I said. And since that time, two or three more have come out of the woodwork. And so they've come down from that price point. Hers is in some of the best condition of all the ones I've seen so that bodes well for her. But it's a tough thing. You have a rare thing and it really is worth all of what we say at that moment. And then you never know. It's been 13 years.

Adam Monahan: Laura and I got together on a video call to watch the auction in November 2023. I'm nervous.

Laura Woolley: I'm very nervous too. I'm far more nervous than I would be. Pat has changed the estimate today to lower it just to be sure that it sells. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Adam Monahan: Okay, good. Fingers crossed. Good luck to us all. All right. Let's tune in for a second. You'll be my play-by-Play analyst for a little bit. I'll share my screen. Let's see how it goes. So what is this auction? What are we watching?

Laura Woolley: So we're watching Julian's Auctions is holding a massive music sale over the course of three days. This is the evening session that they're holding in Nashville for the first time. And we thought it would be a great fit for her Elvis standee because there's a nice section of Elvis stuff in this sale because they're in Tennessee. Of course you're going to have Johnny Cash, there's some Dolly Parton.

Adam Monahan: All right, here we go. We're up next.

Auctioneer: Elvis Presley's 1956 love Me Tender film standee. Current bid right now is at $4,500, asking for 5. This is a very rare film promo standee of the king holding the guitar.

Adam Monahan: There were people bidding in person and online. The auction opened with a $4,500 bid from the internet.

Auctioneer: It's Elvis's first feature length movie, Love Me Tender 20th Century Fox. Current bid right now is at $6,000, asking for 7.

Laura Woolley: 6,000, there's bid.

Auctioneer: Asking for $7,000. You're lonely at night in a dark room.

Adam Monahan: Give us seven.

Auctioneer: You need somebody there to make you feel comforted? This standee is basically life-size.

Adam Monahan: There wasn't a lot of action happening, but we had a $6,000 bid. They'd lowered the estimate to 6 to 8,000, as Laura said, to try to make sure it sold. But then something happened.

Auctioneer: You don't have a $6,000 bid? Okay, so we do not have a $6,000 bid.

Laura Woolley: They just one back. It's down to five.

Auctioneer: Okay, so we're pulling that. Okay-

Adam Monahan: No.

Auctioneer: So we have a $5,000 current bid, asking for 6. Excuse us, I apologize there. $6,000 the ask, asking for 6.

Adam Monahan: Give us five.

Auctioneer: Go back to the story-

Adam Monahan: At least give us five.

Auctioneer: ... of lonely people. $6,000 is the ask. I know I would be in the mood for that. So [inaudible 00:19:47] it now at 6, asking 6. $6,000. Fair warning at $6,000. Bid it now at six. Thank you for bidding lot number 11. Here we are-

Adam Monahan: All right.

Auctioneer: ... Elvis Presley.

Adam Monahan: I'm all right with six. I'm all right with six.

Laura Woolley: Well, I don't think it sold.

Adam Monahan: My God.

Laura Woolley: I think that was not the reserve.

Adam Monahan: It sold.

Laura Woolley: No, I don't think it did.

Adam Monahan: You don't think it sold, 6,000 is not enough?

Laura Woolley: I think the reserve was six.

Adam Monahan: So explain to the people what a reserve is.

Laura Woolley: It's the price below which the consignor chooses not to sell it. If it doesn't reach this point, then they choose to keep it rather than sell it at that price.

Adam Monahan: In other words, there was a bid but it wasn't high enough. And so Elvis did not leave the building. So I'm hurt.

Laura Woolley: Yes. I'm gutted.

Adam Monahan: I'm a little hurt.

Laura Woolley: I'm gutted. It really is gutting because so many of those came out after we taped this, and I just wish she'd been the first one to market. But at the end of the day, she loved it so much and he was joking about it, keeping you company in your room. And that's what she did with it, she kept it in her bedroom. So he was the last thing she saw at night.

Adam Monahan: You have to open up an antique shop.

Laura Woolley: Yeah. I feel like maybe I should have found room in my home for an Elvis standee. This was my first center segment so maybe I need to look at this and reframe it, that this is a core piece of memorabilia for me.

Adam Monahan: Laura and I left that auction call pretty demoralized, but six months later we got a surprise update while we were on tour with the Roadshow. Elvis sold. And so tell us what happened, Julien's held onto it and then how did it wind up going up again?

Laura Woolley: So when it didn't sell at 10 to 15,000-

Adam Monahan: Okay.

Laura Woolley: ... and we called her, it was a whole ordeal for her to even ship it. So once it was in California in the warehouse, it was not like we were just going to send it back. She was so good-natured she said, "Well, you know what, just keep it. That's okay. We'll do it again." We offered to put it in another auction and she did.

Adam Monahan: Okay. Do you know what it sold for?

Laura Woolley: 4,000.

Adam Monahan: 4,000? So Patty would expect to see 4,000 or 3000 or what?

Laura Woolley: She'll receive 4,000 minus whatever seller commission she paid.

Adam Monahan: So maybe like 3,500, 3000. We don't know. But the more important thing is it's sold.

Laura Woolley: Yeah.

Adam Monahan: I thought there was a chance Pattie would be disappointed that things hadn't turned out as well as we'd predicted. But no, she actually had the best reaction a guest could have.

Pattie: Adam, I love you. I cannot tell you how much you have changed my life when it comes to Elvis. I knew he'd come through for me someday, and by God, he did. In more ways than once.

Adam Monahan: Oh, that's wonderful. I'm so happy to hear that, Patty. And I'm happy that it's sold and it actually had the ending I was hoping for is that you'll get a little cash in your pocket and you got to be on our show.

Pattie: Being on the show is more than the cash. And by God, we will meet again.

Adam Monahan: When the hammer came down this particular cardboard Elvis was worth less than we had hoped, at least financially. But let's be honest, for Patty, he was worth more than just money. The idea that she kept us in a room so that she could "Sleep" with Elvis the standee is one that we'll always remember.

Marsha Bemko: It reminds me of a boyfriend I had in high school who he got new tires and he liked them so much, he'd slept with them in his room. If you like something a lot, you just want to look at it. And so when you're laying in your bed, you can just look at it. And she just wanted to look at Elvis.

Adam Monahan: And he wanted to look at a pile of tires.

Marsha Bemko: It was just one tire.

Music: I know love is not a walk in the park, it's a once in a century storm.

Adam Monahan: ANTIQUES ROADSHOW DETOURS is a production of GBH in Boston and distributed by PRX. This episode was written and produced by Galen Beebe. Edited and mixed by Tyler Morissette. Our assistant producer is Sarah Roach. Our senior producer is Ian Coss, and Devin Maverick Robbins is the managing producer of podcasts for GBH. Marsha Bemko is the executive producer of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW DETOURS. And I'm your host and co-executive producer Adam Monahan. Our theme music is Once in a Century storm by Will Daly from the album National Throat. Thank you all for listening. Have a good one.