One Antiques Roadshow star couldn’t contain her tears over the eye-watering value of an Elvis Presley cardboard cut-out as she embraced the expert who appraised it.
On a 2012 episode of the US version of the show, one PBS guest presented a black and white life-size cut-out of the Jailhouse Rock hitmaker which she kept beside her bed. She explained: “From what I understand, it’s called a standee. I am an avid Elvis lover.
“Believe it or not, some awesome friends of mine were clearing out a home that they bought to renovate, and lo and behold in the attic was Elvis. The minute they found it, they said, ‘We know right where this is going’.”
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The standee dated back to Elvis’ first feature film, Love Me Tender, by 20th Century Fox in CinemaScope. Expert Laura Woolley explained: “At the time, the film was supposed to be called The Reno Brothers, which were the title characters.
(Image: PBS)
“But his hit single Love Me Tender had already sold a million copies, so the song was so popular at this point that they actually retitled the film. But because it was his first appearance, he actually got third billing – which never happened again, obviously, because he was such a huge star.”
Laura went on: “They were made to decorate the lobbies of the movie theatres when the films came to town, and they would be passed on oftentimes to the next theatre. As you can see, you do have a crease – that’s pretty common, most of these were in pieces by the time a film’s run would be finished.”
The standee also featured a crease across the centre, around Elvis’ groin, which was put in on purpose for easy folding during shipping. Laura said: “There were reports that you couldn’t hear the film because the girls in the theatre were screaming so loudly because he was such a heartthrob!”
(Image: PBS)
She joked: “I would imagine that most of these were probably torn to shreds by fans coming out of the theatre who wanted a piece of Elvis to take home! There are only about two or three of these known to exist. So many were destroyed.”
Then came the whopping valuation, as Laura said: “At auction, I would estimate at least $10,000 to $15,000.” But the guest confessed she was “absolutely” going to keep Elvis beside her bed, bursting into tears as she admitted: “You’ve made my day. Thank you very much!”
(Image: PBS)
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The emotion clearly got the better of her as she went to hug Laura while choking back tears. Laura added: “Really the only people who have them are probably the very highest-end Elvis collectors. So you’re in that group!”
Though the episode in Minneapolis was originally filmed in 2011, a 2021 update on the piece revealed that it held its value – though it increased to around $20,000 in 2014.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
