Scarves

[Eve]

Scarves- Ed Bonja

One of the funny things that happened while I was with Elvis was about the scarves that he threw out from the stage. We were in Las Vegas in early 1975 probably late January, February for the engagement, and one evening the Colonel and I were not in the booth, we were standing in the back of the showroom and Elvis threw out a ton of scarves. He was just throwing them out like crazy. And Charlie was bringing them over to him. Boy they were going so fast. After the show the Colonel had Joe Esposito come up to the casino managers office and he asked him how much those scarves cost. And if I remember correctly Joe said they were like $25 each. Which I think is pretty expensive to keep throwing that many scarves out. Of course I don't have the money that Elvis had but anyway the Colonel said 'Boy that is getting expensive isn't it?' A little while later Arty Newman, who was one of the assistants at the casino, assistant manager, came into the casino office and he brought with him a gentleman who was from Korea, who was the leader of a gambling junket. And the man coincidentally owned sewing machine factories that made clothes and all kinds of other materials. And the Colonel got to talking to him and he said 'You know we have those scarves that Elvis throws out. Could you make something like this? Maybe even make it a little bit bigger, but nice fabric, nice material, so it look good. And maybe put Elvis name on it. Silk screen his name on it.' And the guy says 'Sure I can do that with no problem." And the Colonel said 'How much would it cost me to have those made? I would like ten diffrent colors.' And the guys said 'Well how many do you want?' '50,000.' He says 'Costs you 99 cents each.' Colonel said 'Let's put in the order.'

Weeks later we went back, we were at the studio, our offices at MGM Studios in Culver City and we got a phone call that the scarves were in, but that the customs officials would not release the scarves to be delivered to our office, because they were not labeled were they were from. Each scarf had to have a label on it saying Made in Korea. So the manufacturer had to hire a company to open each box up and take every single scarf out and put a label on it Made in Korea. Couple of weeks went by, they were finally delivered to our offices. When the Colonel saw the scarves with the labels he says 'Oh we can't have these Made In Korea labels on here, we gotta get rid of these. Eddie make arragements. Get these taken off.' So I called two of my brothers, called a couple of my cousins and brought them all down to the office. And for a week the took labels of all the scarves that had just put the labels on them.

Then we had all the scarves and we were gonna do two things with them. One we were gonna supply Elvis with scarves and two we were gonna sell them on Tour for $5 each, on Tour and in Las Vegas. So when we went on Tour the Colonel talked to Elvis and his father Vernon and made a deal with him instead of buying the scarves from this other guy for $25 he would buy them from the Colonel for $5. So he said 'Any time you want scarves sent Joe over to Seatte and give him as many scarves as Joe wants.' Joe would sign a receipt for the scarves. Picture of receipt signed by Joe Esposito signed for 250 scarves.

[elvislady]

Thanks for posting eve that was a intresting story i often wonderd who provided the scarfs, now i know.
elvislady

[Wendy56]

Thanks for this valuable info'

[cprimm]

I have seen several threads on scarves. While looking through the Elvis Insider's "Exclusive Images", I found this interesting bill from Mr. Guy and thought some would like to see.

This explanation was listed on the bottom:

This 1973 receipt for stage apparel reflects just how much Elvis cared about his fans. On average, Elvis usually gave to fans anywhere from 15-30 scarfs at most concerts in which he performed in the 1970s. Each scarf cost roughly $5.50 in 1973, which would equal roughly $25.60 today. However, any fan lucky enough to get one surely knows that it is priceless. So, every show, Elvis was giving away the equivalent of $560 today.

[utmom2008]

I have seen several threads on scarves. While looking through the Elvis Insider's "Exclusive Images", I found this interesting bill from Mr. Guy and thought some would like to see.

This explanation was listed on the bottom:

This 1973 receipt for stage apparel reflects just how much Elvis cared about his fans. On average, Elvis usually gave to fans anywhere from 15-30 scarfs at most concerts in which he performed in the 1970s. Each scarf cost roughly $5.50 in 1973, which would equal roughly $25.60 today. However, any fan lucky enough to get one surely knows that it is priceless. So, every show, Elvis was giving away the equivalent of $560 today.

He usually gave away more scarves in a "concert" show than he did in a Vegas show. I got my scarf on opening night of Aug. 73....and wouldn't part with it for any price!!

[cprimm]

He usually gave away more scarves in a "concert" show than he did in a Vegas show. I got my scarf on opening night of Aug. 73....and wouldn't part with it for any price!!

And, you are so fortunate.............keep it forever.

[Jungleroom76]

FASCINATING STORY EVE!!!

Thanks so much for sharing it with us!!!

TCB!
Mike

[Dovey]

Thanks for the post Eve ~~ it is refreshing to read one of your posts~~It has been awhile. Glad to see you back. Dovey

[nolvis]

Thank's alot for this great post and story!

[TotallyInsane]

He usually gave away more scarves in a "concert" show than he did in a Vegas show. I got my scarf on opening night of Aug. 73....and wouldn't part with it for any price!!

And, she didn't - she still has it.

[monk37]

I have seen fan shot footage of Elvis tossing plush Hound Dogs into the crowds too.

I never really thought about it, but Elvis is pretty much the only one who gave items to fans as a regular part of the show

I can't really think of anyone else who got down, kissed fans, let them (or their kids) on the stage, gave away toys, sometimes his rings

it sure beats the odd drum stick or guitar pick that others occasionally do.

[monk37]

I have seen fan shot footage of Elvis tossing plush Hound Dogs into the crowds too.

I never really thought about it, but Elvis is pretty much the only one who gave items to fans as a regular part of the show

I can't really think of anyone else who got down, kissed fans, let them (or their kids) on the stage, gave away toys, sometimes his rings

it sure beats the odd drum stick or guitar pick that others occasionally do.

[HappyTimes]

I have seen fan shot footage of Elvis tossing plush Hound Dogs into the crowds too.

I never really thought about it, but Elvis is pretty much the only one who gave items to fans as a regular part of the show

I can't really think of anyone else who got down, kissed fans, let them (or their kids) on the stage, gave away toys, sometimes his rings

it sure beats the odd drum stick or guitar pick that others occasionally do.

Elvis was so very generous

Thank you for pointing this out, Monk.

[lives]

Hi,Ive recently bought a blue stage worn concert scarf.Just under the Elvis part of the signature there is an impint of about 1 and a half inches
which is rectangular in shape.Looks like a label or something might of been there.I've also seen this on an older scarf,exact same shape .Does anyone know what might of been stuck on the scarf,eg manufacturing label etc.?