Priscilla Presley selling sheets in Melbourne

[A*O]

Melbourne Age newspaper

In bed with Priscilla
By Chris Johnston AKA Danielle Steele
March 2, 200

A PUBLICIST tells the photographers they can now take an "eye-shot", one by one. But hurry up. The flashes start strobing. She's sitting on a bed at Myer. The queue for autographs is immense: 1000 people, all wanting a moment, the briefest of moments, something to take away.

They want to say that they met Priscilla Presley, the woman who married Elvis. They want to say they touched her or glimpsed her, had a close encounter, however fleeting.

So it's crazy, it's intense, as it always is around fame. People are told to do this and that, line up here, wait there. There's security everywhere and an army of those publicists and image-makers.

And then there's Presley, who is 61; a small figure within it all, tiny even, but serene, extremely calm and dignified within all the adoration and clamour. It's that famous surname, Presley. That's what does it. She was married to Elvis for six years from 1967, having met him when she was 14 in 1959.

It still shocks her that people turn up when she launches a product or goes to a Hollywood party or does even the merest thing in public.

"I thought I would get maybe 60 people coming along in Melbourne," she says later. "One thousand come and I'm like, 'Wow, amazing.' But, you know, it's not true to say it's just because my name is Presley. When Elvis and I divorced I had plenty of enemies. I had to build up trust from the public. People felt so close to him and also very close to his passing. We'll never see the likes of that again. So I certainly don't take Elvis's fans for granted."

They're a dedicated bunch. Obsessive. Nuts. There's a man lurking around the back of the crowd who has the hair and the belt buckle and even a tie with his hero's image on it. A group of older women from Geelong cry and shake in a huddle. People shout, scream.

Greenvale woman Mary-Anne Britt has come with an odd piece of Elvis ephemera. In 1977 — she was 15 — she posted him a koala bear and a love letter, to "Graceland, Highway 51 South, Memphis, Tennessee, USA 38116". He received it, and signed for the delivery, but then died. The parcel was sent back, with Elvis's signature on the postal form, signed on August 15, the day before he died. She wanted to show Elvis's widow.

And Anne Wright, 52, from Burnie in Tasmania. She got up at 4am for a 6.30am flight and came straight to Myer in a taxi. After Presley's launch yesterday (a range of bed linen), questions were invited. Mrs Wright chose to ask if anyone would ever be allowed into Elvis's bedroom at Graceland, which of course was Priscilla Presley's bedroom too, for a while. The answer: "No. That's private."

An hour after, people are still there, waiting for their piece. A fan hands her a baby. Others clutch the autobiography, Elvis and Me. Many have Elvis belts, ties, bags, hats. They're here to see her because she was with him. "She's only tiny," says someone from the crowd. "She's had a facelift," says another. No one digs too deep. They just want a second. A split-second will do.

[HWBL]

I have a message for you, you old greedy hag>

Your name is NOT Presley!!!! You dropped it in 1973, and after 1977 you snatched it back!

[Elvira]

^ ^ ^
Ditto.
Guess she needs more cash to pay for another plastic surgery proceedure.

[LynnieD]

^^Yea, I was wondering what the hell she needed money for! You are right! Greedy SOB.

[PrettyGirl]

Jesus Christ there are some die-hard Elvis fans. In this case I don't think she's the idiot, she's just selling fricken bed sheets. The idiots are all those Elvis fans who can't let go and stand in line to meet her like she's an appendage to their idol. Truly sad.

[HWBL]

Originally Posted by PrettyGirl

Jesus Christ there are some die-hard Elvis fans. In this case I don't think she's the idiot, she's just selling fricken bed sheets. The idiots are all those Elvis fans who can't let go and stand in line to meet her like she's an appendage to their idol. Truly sad.

You really have no clue, do you? This has nothing to do with being an Elvis fan or not. It has to do with the fact that Ms. Beaulieu LEGALLY returned to her maiden name in 1973 when she divorced Elvis. She turned in his name, because - as she adamantly claimed - she didn't want to continue to be seen as his property (yes, that's how she called it in interviews from those days), and she wanted to make it on her own terms with her own name. She started "designing" clothes and opened a boutique with her own designs together with a friend. The boutique was called "Biss and Beau", a play off both their last names (Beaulieu, remember?).
Elvis died, and before the body was even well under ground, she changed her name back to Beaulieu-Presley. I think that halfway through her run in Dallas she completely dropped the Beaulieu part and returned to her deceased former husband's name Presley. By that time, she was already with her current significant other, Marco Garibaldi, and soon after that she gave birth to their son, Navarone Garibaldi.
The reason why some of us, and it's not just Elvis fans but simply people who've witnessed her shenanigans over the years, can't stand her for purposely not marrying the father of her son and re-claiming her ex-husband's name, simply for financial reasons.
From her standpoint it's obviously been one brilliant move. But it proves what this woman is all about.