'It gives me chills': Priscilla Presley on the life Elvis left behind

And yet since his death in 1977, at the age of just 42, Elvis seems to survive mostly as an intangible image (the vast trove of black and white still photographs that capture his astonishing beauty), and also in a genre of 'Elvis' films, such as Blue Hawaii, Kissin' Cousins and Girls! Girls! Girls!, which capture his swivelling hips and unrivalled charm.

'What you saw is what you got on stage', Elvis' former wife, Priscilla, says. 'You saw his personality. Sometimes he'd talk to the audience and was so transparent about things. He always had a lot of energy. But he was also a very caring man, very concerned about people. And he took care of his family.

'He cared naturally, and wanted to please his audience so much, he would visit his fans at the gates [of Graceland, the family's home] because he wanted to thank them for being fans', Priscilla adds. 'That's why people loved the show because you got to see a side of Elvis that people loved to see'.

Elvis: Direct from Graceland, a curated exhibition of more than 300 artefacts from Presley's private and professional life, opens next month at the Bendigo Art Gallery (with, COVID willing, Priscilla in attendance). The artefacts range from the eccentric - his first job application, and his first-grade crayon box - to the very personal, such as his wedding tuxedo, Priscilla's wedding dress and his military uniforms.

The exhibition was curated by Angie Marchese, the vice-president of archives and exhibits at Elvis Presley Enterprises, together with Bendigo Art Gallery, and with oversight from Priscilla. The full archive contains more than 1.5 million items. Drawing 300 from that trove to capture the essence of Elvis' life was a challenging task, Priscilla says.

'When I see them on display, it just gives me chills sometimes', Priscilla says. 'His father [Vernon Presley] is the one who saved everything. Everything. Not one thing was let out of his hands because he didn't want anybody to take anything and sell it.

'What's so crazy is that he had things that I haven't seen, or have been in storage for such long periods of time', Priscilla adds. 'To know that I'm sharing Elvis, stories, and artefacts that he owned, is great. I want to share them because I want people to know who Elvis was, how he lived, what he bought, what was given to him, his favourite things'.

Brooklyn-born Priscilla Beaulieu met Elvis in the late 1950s, when she was a teenager and he was 24. The couple were married in 1967 after she turned 21.

Elvis, already a star, would go on to win three Grammys and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at just 36. Songs such as Heartbreak Hotel, Love Me Tender and Jailhouse Rock, written specifically for the 1957 movie of the latter, were the tip of an iceberg of smash hits. Elvis-mania, like Beatlemania, was a byproduct of a wild era.

Now 76, Priscilla has agreed to sit down and discuss Elvis to support the upcoming exhibition. She describes him as innately shy, something that she understands is not easily reconciled with the stage showman remembered by his fans. 'People don't believe it when I say he was shy by nature, but he pretty much closed himself off to the world', she says.

'He had his guys who were around him, not only to protect him, but to be there for him, to fend for him, and that was basically our world', she says. 'And he didn't want to mingle that much because he just felt better with people that he knew. So, he would never go out'.

Privately, Priscilla says Elvis was self-deprecating. 'He never bragged, he loved his fans and wanted to do a good show and was nervous when he didn't do a good show', she says. 'As a human being, he was pretty special.

'I asked him one time, how do you know when you sing a song, how do you know the fans are enjoying it? Because sometimes they would be really quiet, listening to every word. But he said, when they start yawning, I know I am not doing my job. So he made sure that never happened. That's why he put on such a great show'.

Their marriage lasted just seven years, and Elvis died in 1977, four years after the couple split. And yet in the years that followed, Priscilla became the custodian of his legacy.

'I take it as a big responsibility', she says. 'I'm fulfilling dreams that Elvis Presley was never able to fulfil, and I'm straightening out the falsities that people thought about Elvis. It's just about keeping his legacy true to who he was and I do feel a big responsibility to that.

'We don't have many of us left any more, and I take it very seriously', she adds. 'I'm very choosy about what I do. I want to represent him in the way that he would represent himself, or maybe in the way that he didn't have the opportunity to'.

That responsibility also extended to Graceland, the eight-bedroom house on a 5.7 hectare estate in Memphis, Tennessee, where their daughter Lisa-Marie Presley was born.

As is often the case with such places, the architecture of Graceland has almost talismanic properties. For Elvis fans, it endures as something of a shrine to 'the king'. Priscilla's memories of it are different.

'I had to give it up, to be honest with you, and it was the hardest thing I had to do, to open up Graceland', she says. 'To me it is still a private home'.

After Elvis' death in 1977, there were concerns the estate did not have enough money to continue paying for the upkeep of Graceland. So, rather than lose the property, Priscilla brought in investment manager Jack Soden to take over Graceland and operate it as a tourist attraction.

It was not an easy decision, she says. But her mind was swayed when she sat in a meeting with the accountants and bankers. 'The accountant said, well, we just have to sell Elvis. Those words, I'll never forget. And I said, that will never happen, we are not selling Graceland, he never wanted to sell it, this was the home he loved, and that he bought for his mother. It's not being sold'.

Priscilla lives in Los Angeles now, but visits Graceland frequently. 'I was just there and when I go in, it's like I never left', she says. 'Everything is exactly the same. I do feel his spirit is there. There is a calmness. It's beautiful, and it's respectful'.

Graceland - at least, the public-facing side of the estate - is also home to the archive of items from which the upcoming exhibition is drawn.

Most of those are either Elvis' own possessions or surviving pieces from his stage and screen career. The bright red 1960 MG convertible from the movie Blue Hawaii is undoubtedly the biggest exhibit, but not the most personal.

That might be the pearl-encrusted white silk wedding gown (with accompanying rhinestone tiara and one-metre tulle veil) in which Priscilla married Elvis. His suit, a black paisley silk brocade tuxedo, made by one of the MGM Studio's tailors, Lambert Marks, is also on display.

Priscilla's dress was purchased from a store in the quiet LA suburb of Westwood. Had the pair been married in 2022 it would no doubt have had a designer tag on it. But it was 1967 'and we didn't hang out with designers', Priscilla says.

'So I went to a wedding dress store in disguise, and [guitarist] Charlie Hodge, who'd been with Elvis for a long time, went with me, pretending to be my husband', Priscilla says, laughing. 'First of all, I was very cautious about spending. And secondly, I did it all secretly. I was afraid to tell anyone, even if it was someone who designed wedding dresses. I was really nervous that it would get out. It was such a big, big secret'.

In one sense, the exhibition is a way for Elvis' fans to explore his life. But in another, it is a window into the man and his music for a generation who have never encountered him before. The preservation of Elvis' artistry, Priscilla says, is the most important thing.

'It's extremely important that people see the life he lived', she says. 'You get to know Elvis, the man, who he was, what he liked. And it's a rarity, to be honest with you, to have this many artefacts [away from Graceland at the same time] for people to come and really get to see the life of Elvis Presley.

'It opens the doors', Priscilla says. 'We all know his music, but this is a chance to know more about the man'.

Such exhibitions are rare, certainly on this scale. 'We don't do it that often, we really don't', Priscilla says. 'We've done it in London, but this one is huge. It's a big undertaking'.

And nobody would be more amused by it, she adds, than Elvis himself.

'To still have people, crowds, going to his home, he would just not believe it', she says. 'I just picture him with a smile. It's beautiful to see people talk about him, or write to me about him, that they still play his records. It's like the legacy goes on, and whatever I can do to help that along, I'm willing to do'.

Elvis: Direct from Graceland opens at the Bendigo Art Gallery on March 19.

Tickets available at bendigoregion.com.au/bendigo-art-gallery

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