The Bizarre Life of Elvis, Part Two: Public Fame, Private Chaos

Summary

Ridiculous History Podcast Summary

Episode: The Bizarre Life of Elvis, Part Two – Public Fame, Private Chaos

Original Airdate: May 14, 2026
Hosts: Ben Bowlin (Host 1), Noel Brown (Host 2)
Guest Expert: Jordan
Podcast: Ridiculous History, iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

The second installment of Ridiculous History’s exploration into Elvis Presley’s life shifts focus from the origins of the King of Rock 'n' Roll to the paradoxes, excesses, and eccentricities of his public fame and private chaos. The hosts, together with guest expert Jordan, dissect Elvis’s inner circle, unconventional habits, culinary infamy, brushes with law enforcement—both as an idolizer and a would-be member—financial troubles, and his complicated legacy. The episode masterfully blends trivia, humor, and pathos to illustrate how Elvis, despite mythic status, struggled mightily with impulse, control, loneliness, and the weight of fame.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Elvis’s Entourage: The Memphis Mafia and “Hamburger James”

• Payroll and Hangersons (03:25):
  Elvis kept a large circle of friends and family—"the Memphis Mafia"—on his payroll. Jordan notes, “…a lot of cousins and stepbrothers… were on some form of payroll. ...Other close friends and stuff, too. …Definitely people that were more on the fringe that were just kind of there for handouts” (03:50–04:10).
• Hamburger James Story (04:49–06:28):
  Hamburger James was “responsible for the production of, and the delivery of, procurement” of hamburgers (04:47). His tenure ended dramatically when Elvis accused him of theft and confronted him on a plane, slapping him and bringing James to tears (05:54).

  “Elvis reaches over while Hamburger James is looking straight at him, scared to death, and slaps him twice like in the movies. ...Hamburger James got a funny look on his face and wilted like a baby…cried and cried like his heart was broken. He said he was sorry he stole and he would give it all back.” – Jordan (05:54)

Indulgence and Diet Extremes

• “Fool’s Gold Loaf” Sandwich (08:01–10:31):
  Elvis’s notorious 8,000-calorie favorite: a loaf of French bread, hollowed and filled with an entire jar each of creamy peanut butter and grape jam, plus a pound of crispy fried bacon—sourced from Denver, Colorado.

  “They just crushed them with champagne and then flew back to Memphis. ...Those 30 sandwiches had a quarter million calories in them.” – Jordan (09:00–10:31)

Fame versus Happiness

• Simple Pleasures and Retreat (10:58–12:09):
  Despite his dizzying lifestyle, Elvis found joy in “simple things,” described as a “big old kid” with a penchant for goofing around, watching Monty Python, and hanging out in his private quarters upstairs at Graceland—a space strictly off-limits to most (11:19–12:46).
• Isolation and Control (12:08–13:54):
  The tension of supporting his “small business” (his entourage/family) versus his need for solitude is drawn out:

  “One of the most precious and finite resources you will ever have is solitude, is just being alone.” – Host 1 (13:54)

• Parallels to Michael Jackson (11:49):
  Both Elvis and Michael shared childhood trauma, “arrested development,” extravagant spending, and a need for close-knit entourages.

The Primate Sidekick: Scatter

• Pet Chimpanzee Antics (19:16–21:53):
  Elvis's chimp, Scatter, “reportedly drank alcohol, destroyed hotel rooms, [and] bit unsuspecting people” (19:16). Known for outlandish behavior—like pulling down women’s skirts and trashing MGM producer Samuel Goldwyn’s office—he was loved by Elvis but universally hated by staff and guests.

  “He referred to him as a quote: coconut headed little mother, which is beautiful.” – Jordan (20:28)
  Scatter was later banished after biting a maid and died under suspicious circumstances, possibly poisoned (21:45).

Elvis’s Fantasy of Law Enforcement

• Badge Collection and the Nixon Meeting (24:53–28:56):
  Elvis’s “almost childlike” obsession with law enforcement peaked with his collection of police badges and his infamous meeting with President Nixon, in which he was given a “sort of semi-fictitious narcotics badge” (26:08–26:32).

  “He loved cops. …He would give, you know, all the cops in Memphis huge bonuses every year. And he made a habit of collecting just badges from different police precincts whenever he was on tour.” – Jordan (24:53)

  • Nixon–Elvis photo: “The most requested image in the [National Archives]” (26:36).
  • Naïve belief: Elvis thought his badge would let him cross borders with guns and drugs (28:11–28:42).

Eccentric Cars and Volatile Behavior

• The Guitar Cadillac (29:53–31:53):
  Elvis owned over 200 cars—many given away—and famously commissioned a 41ft-long guitar-shaped Cadillac, now valued at over $200 million (30:51–31:04).
• Car Shooting Incident (31:54–32:10):

  “He wanted to get into his car and dramatically peel out, but it stalled out…he was so mad that he just shot the car.” – Jordan (31:54)

Financial Legacy and Graceland

• Dying “Cash Poor” (33:43–35:27):
  Elvis died with a net worth of about $5 million, primarily due to extravagant spending, a predatory 50% commission with his manager Colonel Tom Parker, and vast taxes (33:43–35:27).

  “Voracious spender… passed away in 1977 with a net worth only around $5 million. …With inflation, that would put him at around 20 to 27 million in today’s standards.” – Host 2 (34:39) Priscilla Presley rescued and transformed the estate into the Graceland tourist attraction known today (35:27–35:32).

• Graceland Mystique (36:18–37:23):
  The upstairs remains untouched since Elvis’s death (36:42–37:23), and only family and, uniquely, Nicolas Cage (who married Lisa Marie Presley), have visited.

  “The story that the curators say is that it is left exactly as it was the day Elvis died. ...No one is allowed up there. ...Nicolas Cage...sat in Elvis’s bed.” – Jordan (36:41–37:12)

The Guns

• Gifted Firearms (38:32):
  Elvis bought and distributed guns as gifts—over 32 in 1970 alone. He even gave President Nixon a .45 pistol during their meeting (38:32–39:28).

Elvis and the American Myth

• Legacy (38:32–end):
  The hosts reflect on how Elvis went from humble Tupelo roots to become an American metonymy—“a stand in… for the idea of American culture in general” (38:32–38:46).
  • Elvis as myth: eccentric, tragic, and larger-than-life.
  • Closing speculation if Elvis “is still up there watching Monty Python and eating gold loaves” (37:38).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On “Hamburger James” and Loyalty:

  “Elvis reaches over while Hamburger James is looking straight at him, scared to death, and slaps him twice like in the movies... Hamburger James got a funny look on his face and wilted like a baby.” – Jordan (05:54)

• On Elvis’s Happiness:

  “He enjoyed simple things and it made him really happy. I mean, he loved... He was a goofball. He loved Monty Python.” – Jordan (10:58)

• On Graceland’s Upstairs:

  “It’s truly like a Willy Wonka. Like, nobody ever goes in, nobody ever goes out. ...It is left exactly as it was the day Elvis died.” – Jordan (36:41)

• On Elvis and Law Enforcement:

  “He had like, an almost childlike interest in law enforcement. ...That’s basically Elvis’s whole take on cops.” – Jordan (24:53)

• On Icon Status:

  “Now we have seen a musician rise from humble origins in Tupelo to become a global symbol, like more than a man.” – Host 1 (38:32)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:25 - Memphis Mafia: Payroll & loyalty
• 04:49 - The Hamburger James saga
• 08:01 - The “Fool’s Gold Loaf” and culinary excess
• 10:58 - Was Elvis happy? Reflections on pleasure and isolation
• 11:49 - Parallels between Elvis and Michael Jackson
• 19:16 - The chimpanzee Scatter: chaos and conspiracy
• 24:53 - Elvis’s obsession with law enforcement and badges
• 26:08 - The Nixon meeting and the infamous photo
• 29:53 - The extravagant guitar Cadillac
• 31:54 - Elvis’s rage: Shooting his own car
• 33:43 - Dying cash poor; the estate’s turnaround
• 36:41 - Graceland’s preserved upstairs and lore
• 38:32 - Elvis’s guns as gifts; legacy symbolism

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Flow & Tone

The episode is lively, irreverent, and steeped in dark humor and empathy. The hosts and Jordan lean into the absurd and tragicomic aspects of Elvis’s life, balancing fun anecdotes (a hamburger fetcher; a chimp named Scatter in people clothes) with deeper observations about psychological pain, isolation, and the burden of mythic celebrity.

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Essential Takeaways

• Elvis’s life, as recounted here, was a blend of indulgence, loneliness, and tragic impulse—marked by oddball routines, precarious relationships, and a desperate search for control.
• Surrounded by a motley crew on his payroll, he cycled through hangers-on, pranks, and grand gestures. Frequently exploited by his manager and public, he craved the validation and symbolism of institutions (like law enforcement) he could never truly join.
• The King was, perhaps most ironically, the prisoner of his own legend—his private chaos fueling the mythic status that endures.

Transcript

[Host 1]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartradio. Fellow ridiculous historians, thank you as always so much for tuning in. This is part two of a two part series on the bizarre saga of Elvis Presley. So with a shout out to our super producer, Mr. Max Williams. You gotta listen to part one folks.

[Host 2]

Oh you must. And now that you're done with that, why don't we just dive on in headlong in media res or in medias re into part two? This is an iHeart podcast.

[Host 1]

Guaranteed Human.

[Robert Smigel]

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier this week. My guests, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Sydal help an acapella band with their between songs banter.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

[Robert Smigel]

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Timbo (Sports Slice Host)]

Last night a blown call changed the game. This morning the Internet lost its mind and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source. The athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports slice on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slice Life 12 and the TikTok Podcast Network on

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[Host 1]

Did Elvis Presley pay his entourage? Because it seems like it was similar to what we would later see with the entourages of, say, Lil Wayne or most famously, MC Hammer.

[Host 2]

Whether they drew a salary or not, he supported their existence, Right?

[Host 1]

That's the question. Did he pay them a salary or were they just hangers on?

[Host 2]

They would. Yeah. On the payroll, as it were. Right.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

He had a lot of cousins and stepbrothers and things like extended family who absolutely were on some form of payroll. I think there were other. And then other close friends and stuff, too. I think there were definitely people that were more on the fringe that were just kind of there for handouts and got hangers on, as they call them.

[Host 1]

What's up with the hamburger guy? Was he part of Memphis Mafia?

[Host 2]

He was basically like the Snoop Dogg blunt roller equivalent of the day where he was just there providing hamburgers.

[Host 1]

I think it was Lil Wayne. I met some of his entourage, and he had a guy called Snacks, and his job was just to get snacks for Wayne.

[Host 2]

And was this cat grilling him up to order? Was he just going out and fetching hamburgers? Was other food involved?

[Host 1]

Was he Hamburger Cook or Hamburger Fetch?

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

It's my understanding that he was responsible for the production of.

[Host 2]

And the delivery of procurement.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

Svp. Of hamburgers.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Okay, so this man, I actually don't know his real name. He was only referred to as Hamburger James, and I have not seen his real name. Which perhaps makes sense when you learn the second half of this story. Hamburger James relationship with Elvis unraveled when Elvis became convinced that Hamburger James had stolen both money and private photos, shall we say, of his wife Priscilla. And when Elvis learned of this, Elvis, he had a temper. He learned of this when Hamburger James was about to leave Memphis on a public airplane. And so Elvis, you know, jetted to the Memphis airport, somehow convinced the airline to hold up the flight. He boarded the flight and walked.

[Rider Strong or Will Friedle]

Y'.

[Host 2]

All, we know they don't do that for anybody. I mean, that's.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

No. And he somehow he finds this guy on the plane. And this is an interview that Elvis's stepbrother Rick Stanley gave the people magazine in 1989. I want to read this part because it's so. It really paints a picture.

[Host 1]

Okay.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Elvis reaches over while Hamburger James is looking straight at him, scared to death, and slaps him twice like in the movies. A slap and then a backhand. Pow. And then pow again. Then the most amazing thing happened. Hamburger James got a funny look on his face and wilted like a baby. He cried and cried like his heart was broken. He said he was sorry he stole and he would give it all back. And he knew that he had done something that he couldn't ever be forgiven for.

[Host 1]

Okay, lesson learned. A bit of a parable. Did he continue to supply hamburgers?

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

I don't think so. I mean, that's the thing. It's definitely was like a, you know, in the court of the King kind of deal where people's favor rose and fell depending on.

[Host 2]

But Elvis wasn't a vindictive guy.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Right.

[Host 2]

Like, he would. I mean, maybe I'm, you know, oversimplifying, but did he give Hamburger James another chance or did he cut him loose?

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

You know, that. I don't know. I don't think he did.

[Host 1]

Well, yeah, it's kind of one of those cross me once things, as you said, an absolute monarchy. And he doesn't seem vindictive necessarily. I don't want to sound like a jerk with this. He sounds reactive and perhaps impulsive, but he doesn't sound as though he has these spider like machinations that take generations or years to come to fruition.

[Host 2]

Well, we certainly know that at the end of his life, his impulse control problems became quite apparent. And cheeseburgers also would play a role in his demise. Sadly, I'm not laughing. It's really quite tragic. And, you know, and he was one of those people that was just so surrounded by. Yes. People and people that were taking advantage of him. And at the end of his life, he literally was, like, held hostage by the Colonel and forced to be trotted out on stage like a dancing, you know, circus animal. And he was not well, and people were not looking after him in that respect. And he certainly wasn't looking after himself.

[Host 1]

They were de. They were definitely letting him eat some egregious things. That's something that I know we have to mention while we're on airplanes and food. Right. Fool's Gold. Yes, the fool's gold loaf.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

8,000 calories per sandwich.

[Host 1]

All right, describe it, Jordan. You have to, please.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Okay. It's actually, I believe I have. I want to. I'll describe It. But I also need to describe the problem.

[Host 2]

Is this a regional delicacy? Why do you have to fly to

[Host 1]

Denver for Denver, Colorado, by the Colorado Mine Company?

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yes. So, okay, you take a loaf of French white bread and you bake it until golden brown like a baguette. So we're talking a little fluffier. A little fluffier and wild fluffier. You hollow it out. You take an entire jar of creamy peanut butter, an entire jar of grape jam jelly, and then a pound of fried bacon, which is fried until crispy. And layer that on. On top, put the top part of the bread on it and then there you go. PBJ and bacon in a hollowed out loaf.

[Host 2]

And would you slice it to order or would you chow down on the whole?

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

I think it's like a sub or like a hoagie. It's like you go for the foot, maybe you cut it in half. But from what I've seen, it's like about a foot long.

[Host 1]

And so he would, he being Elvis, would fly with his entourage and maybe for a time with his hamburger guy, James, out to Denver. Can you do this too?

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Sorry, man, I only do. Hamburgers are my expertise. Yeah.

[Host 1]

And then slap and back slap.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

One, I think they were. Well, Elvis famously didn't sleep. Like he would just be up all night. Like he was kind of a nocturnal guy.

[Host 2]

He was also one of those classic rock star stories of like a pill to get up, a pill to mellow out, a pill to, you know, whatever, go to sleep. You know, he was constantly on a. On a. On a cocktail of uppers, downers, booze and sandwiches.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

So he existed in this real twilight time of day. So he and his entourage were hanging out at some ungodly hour. And then he got a hankering for this fool's gold loaf, which, as you said, was really only obtainable, or at least the proper. The official one was only obtainable in the Denver Mining Company establishment in Denver. And so they trekked down the road to the little airstrip where his private airplane was. And they flew, I believe, I forget how many. I think it was like 15 of them or something, out to Denver right on the spot. Went to the airplane hangar, 30 sandwiches were delivered. And then they just crushed them with champagne and then flew back to. Back to Memphis. And I crunched the numbers on this. I believe those 30 sandwiches had a quarter million calories in them.

[Host 2]

Wow.

[Host 1]

And they were what, like 50 bucks a pop back then?

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

That I don't. Well, you factor in the cost of transport.

[Host 1]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Also the gas and the plane and the pilot and. Gotta ask, this is a more abstract question for us, but do you think that Elvis Presley was happy during this time? I know it's a tough one to call.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

I mean, there's two answers to that. This is gonna come out wrong. And I mean this in the nicest way. He enjoyed simple things and it made him really happy. I mean, he loved. And he was a goofball. He loved Monty Python. He loved Peter Sellers and the Pink Panther movies. And slaps. Like same. Well, yeah, exactly. Like, he kind of like there was. There's definitely.

[Host 2]

Things are awesome. Yeah.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Like he had like, go karts and stuff at. And he would rent out, like, amusement.

[Host 2]

He was a big old kid, Right? Right.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah.

[Host 2]

He was almost at a state of arrested development. I mean, and you got to wonder if any of that had to do with the. The loss of his twin brother and the fact that his mother was such a. Struggled with that loss throughout his childhood. And he probably wanted to relive that childhood and have a brother and have. Be surrounded by, you know, brother, like friends kind of. I don't know.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

There's a lot of parallels between. I was gonna say. Yeah. With Michael Jackson. Yeah. Which is so weird that his Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie, married Michael Jackson. And, you know, and everybody was like, what? That's a strange pairing, but in a way it almost makes sense that you could be.

[Host 1]

She would be familiar with perhaps certain personality traits.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Host 2]

Oh, man.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

But I think that his world was very. He was not in control, and I think he knew that. And so he made his world when he wasn't forced to be on stage very small. He really. For the. Most of the daylight hours and most of the evening hours too, he stayed in his. The upstairs. The ground floor at Graceland was like the communal party zone. There was the media room, the pool room. There was, you know, places where everybody could hang out. But upstairs was famously extremely off limits. And that was off limits for tours.

[Host 2]

It was only for the family.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah.

[Host 2]

They mentioned that in the episode of paradise that I was right.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah. I mean, like, to this day, there's no photos that have been taken up there since after he died. And the ones. The few photos that do exist up there are. There's like, you know, maybe half a dozen of them. It was extremely private, and he had his. His private quarters up there. And he mostly stayed up there and watched movies in bed and hung out. He had an office up there too. But yeah, him and Lisa Marie or not Lisa Marie, he and his wife Priscilla. And then later when they left, he had a few girlfriends, Linda Thompson and a few others. They recall him mostly kind of keeping to himself up there, I think, because it was the only place he probably felt in control. I think in there he was probably happy because I don't think it took much to make him happy, but I think feeling the responsibility. You mentioned the Memphis Mafia and all the people on the payroll. He was very aware that he had a small business to support just by being himself. And if he didn't get out there and do it and hit his marks, it would all stop. And it wasn't just people depending on him, it was family depending on him.

[Host 1]

Yeah, that's a great point. Also, one other point you hit there, Jordan, that might be familiar to a lot of folks in the audience is when you're at that level of public imagery or being a public figure, one of the most precious and finite resources you will ever have is solitude, is just being alone. So I could totally see him. I could see him kicking it in front of the TV with a banana peanut butter sandwich and watch and seeing the phone ring and then just turning up the television just for like a night. Right. Just to get away. There's something scary about that because again, I think the Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley comparison is spot on. I was not aware until we started looking at some of your research together that just like Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley bonded with another primate. Can you tell us a little bit about what's this guy's name? Scatter.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Scatter. Scatter.

[Host 1]

Okay, this is a true story.

[Robert Smigel]

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Singer in the group the Worst. Yeah, me. Is there anything to the idea that because you're from Harvard, you only got in because your parents made a huge

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

donation to the group? To the group the Yard Birds. Right, that's the name.

[Robert Smigel]

The Harvard Yard. They're open.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Do you have a name suggestion?

[Host 1]

We're open.

[Robert Smigel]

Since you guys are middle aged, one erection. Listen to human Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Host 2]

Humor Me. I need some jokes to make me seem funny.

[Timbo (Sports Slice Host)]

Last night, a blown Call changed the game this morning. The Internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source. The athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight reel. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports slice on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slice Life and the TikTok Podcast Network.

[David Eagleman]

On TikTok, there are times when the mind becomes a difficult place to live. This is David Eagleman with the Inner Cosmos podcast. And for Mental Health Awareness Month, we're dedicating a series to understanding the mind when it struggles. I'm joined by doctors, researchers, and those with lived experience. We'll talk with singer songwriter Jewel about anxiety.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

I started living in my car, and then my car got stolen. I was shoplifting. I was having panic attacks. I was agoraphobic.

[David Eagleman]

And making it through hardship to be

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

present is a learned skill, and it's hard to be present.

[David Eagleman]

We'll talk with John Nelson about clinical depression and the brain implant that saved his life.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

What I learned is the procedure made

[Host 2]

me happy because I'm disease free.

[David Eagleman]

And we'll talk with leading experts like Jud Brewer about anxiety and John Hirschfeld about obsessive compulsive disorder and the science of how the brain can change. This is a month of deeply personal and honest conversations about what happens when the brain goes off course and what we can do about it. Listen to Inner Cosmos on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Rider Strong or Will Friedle]

Hey, everyone, it's Rider Strong and Will Friedle from podm meets World. And now the Pod meets Twirled podcast, where two men who were completely clueless to reality TV who now have covered Dancing with the Stars, Traitors. And we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor. So, yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of Survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just gonna remind you, I have watched some Survivor I obviously haven't watched enough.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Did people not like.

[Host 2]

Yeah.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

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[Rider Strong or Will Friedle]

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[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Ha ooh.

[Rider Strong or Will Friedle]

Again, we are experts, so make sure to tune into Pod meets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to Pod Meets twirled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

This is a true story. He had a pet chimpanzee named Scatter who reportedly drank alcohol, destroyed hotel rooms. Bit unsuspecting people.

[Host 1]

So that's our Keith Moon.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

Right.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yes. And he also had a habit of yanking down women's skirts, which I'm sure Elvis was charmed by. He fit right in. But Elvis is the Memphis Mafia. And Scatter, he would announce himself with an ear splitting woo whenever he walked into rooms and he would just terrorize visitors with just these unpredictable violent outbursts. And probably the most famous incident with Scatter was when he escaped and found his way into. I guess it was in Elvis's movie period in the 60s when he was making a lot of movies in Hollywood and he wandered into the office of legendary film producer Samuel Goldwyn at MGM and just tore the office apart. That's like wandering into like Steven Spielberg's office. Like that's an insane like of all the rooms. And I guess security intervened and escorted him out. But yeah, Elvis treated him less like a pet and more like a mischievous roommate. He referred to him, I don't know, I love this so much. He referred to him as a quote, coconut headed little mother, which is beautiful. But nobody else at the house. Both the entourage and the staff of Graceland appreciated Scatter's antics.

[Host 1]

Everybody else, yes.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

And they eventually they banished him to the outside. Elvis had to build a special little climate controlled building where Scatter was kept. And Elvis, he loved hanging out with him. He liked to dress Elvis, Elvis liked to dress the chimp in human style outfits. And then he like, he would do this prank where he would stop at traffic lights and duck and make it appear that Scatter the monkey was driving this car by himself and he just thought it was. He was endlessly entertained by this.

[Host 2]

This makes me think of that, that monkey TR movie every which way.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

At least with Clint Eastwood.

[Host 2]

Clint Eastwood, Yeah. Yeah. There was a golden time for pet primates and weird Michael Jackson, also primate owner.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

You were right though. The staff really did not like Scatter. And Scatter's life ended under mysterious circumstances. According to multiple stories from Elvis insiders, there's a belief that the chimp was poisoned after biting a Graceland maid.

[Host 1]

Oh, another conspiracy.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Elvis's cousin Billy Smith later said, we always thought she poisoned him. And it wouldn't surprise me because not long after that, after this attack, the monkey came up dead.

[Host 1]

And we've gotta. Oh, man. We've gotta. Also talk about the high drama that Elvis almost got involved with. The man himself is now known as being phenomenal pop icon. But, Jordan, as you were telling us earlier off air, Elvis Presley almost became a star of musicals as well.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah, a lot of film projects got filtered through the Colonel. And the Colonel, as we said earlier, had questionable taste. And they initially went to Elvis to play the role of Tony in West side Story, and they ended up turning it down. And then years later, Barbra Streisand really, really wanted him to be the lead in her version of A Star Is Born.

[Host 1]

Barbra Streisand?

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

Of Yentelfe.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Of Yentelfe. The one and only. And yeah, once again, I think he was just sort of talked out of

[Host 1]

doing it by the Colonel, who was a baby.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Wow.

[Host 1]

Okay, so we know that he could have been in more better movies.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

He was in third movies, 31 movies. And they're all bad.

[Host 1]

Okay, wait, wait, wait. What's the worst one, in your opinion? In your opinion. And we will quote this later.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

I mean, I haven't seen them all because I'm not that much of a masochist. I mean, there's one called Kiss and Cousins, which is pretty bad.

[Host 1]

Wait, 31. And they're. Seriously, they're all clunkers.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Some of the early ones, like King Creole's okay. Blue Hawaii's okay. There's one where he's a race car driver, which, like, kind of sucks. Um, let's see. One called Clambake, which is really bad. I mean, just the names alone. Let's. Oh, the one where Elvis. There's one called. I think it's called Stay Away Joe, where he plays a Navajo man in brownface. That's pretty bad.

[Host 2]

Oh, dear.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

That's not great. That's not great.

[Host 1]

Elvis. We also. We can dispel one common myth about Elvis while we're looking into this stuff. Similar to characters like Abraham Lincoln, Elvis has awful. Often been alleged to be a melungeon. And that's just something that's a tri. Racial isolate out of Tennessee. And it's something that pops up inevitably when people talk about his genealogy. But as we know, there's not really any proof of that, right, Jordan?

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Not that I'm aware of.

[Host 1]

Okay, okay, just dispelling that one. While we're, while we're on the way, we've got to talk about the cars eventually. But before we do any of that, we should emphasize that Elvis also saw himself as a fan of law and order. Despite his chaotic shenanigans. He really wanted to work for the feds, right? Yeah.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

He had like, an almost childlike interest in like, law enforcement. And because he liked the badges, like, when I was, let me put it this way, like when I was a kid, I wanted to join Boy Scouts, not because I gave a about like camping, but because I liked the uniform. That's basically Elvis's whole take on cops. Like, he loved cops. Wherever he went, he would, like you know, the security guards and stuff, he would talk to them. He would give, you know, all the cops in Memphis huge bonuses every year. And he made a habit of like, collecting just badges from different police precincts whenever he was on tour. And this hobby.

[Host 2]

Yeah, he was that blue lives matter kind of cat.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah, yeah. But it came from definitely like a, a, like, oh, they're the good guys, like, kind of.

[Host 2]

Right, that's what I mean, A simplistic view of law enforcement.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Host 2]

No, I, I, I just, I'm only bringing that up as a, as a more, you know, modern touch point for that kind of thing. But he certainly wasn't about oppression or any kind of negative aspects of law enforcement. He just, he just thought the, the policemen were the good guys.

[Host 1]

Like, like a turtle career day kid getting excited when the fire truck comes to the school.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yes. Like clapping his hands. Yeah. And so this kind of escalated to its illogical conclusion by 1970, when he met then President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office and Nixon gave him a sort of semi fictitious narcotics badge.

[Host 2]

That's what I'm thinking of. I remember that. That was sort of a bit of a PR stunt.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Oh, it is the most requested image in the national arch. Did you know that? It's a picture of Elvis and Nixon shaking hands. It is one of the most, I mean, understandably so. It's one of the most surreal images I've ever seen. And Elvis took the opportunity, which always made me really sad as a Beatles fan. He talks to Nixon about, you know, you got to do something about those Beatles. They're bad for the American youth. They're taking drugs, which, when those, because, you know, Nixon quite famously had everything in the Oval Office. And when those tapes came out and the Beatles heard it, they were really hurt because they were huge Elvis fans. But yeah, there was a movie made a couple years ago with Michael Shannon as Elvis. And I forget who played Nixon, but about this truly bizarre meeting at the White House.

[Host 1]

Right. Yeah. It's like a mockumentary style genre. Correct? Yeah. I think a lot of us have been fascinated by the Elvis meets Nixon story. Like you said. I did not know it was the most requested image in the archives, but it seems like it's his. I love your Boy Scout comparison because it seems like it's the ultimate merit badge for him. He wanted to be in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, but he didn't really seem to understand what that meant.

[Timbo (Sports Slice Host)]

Yeah.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Or maybe. Yeah, maybe he just thought that he could get free drugs from doing that. I don't know. Yeah. It was truly a.

[Host 2]

That is kind of funny how hot for law enforcement he was, considering what an illicit drug user he was.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

I'm looking at this great Smithsonian article from a while back by the journalist Peter Carlson, who outlines sort of the way the meeting came together and the idea that Priscilla Presley, in her memoir Elvis and Me, says Elvis thought that if he got this titular badge, he could legally enter any country with guns and carrying any drugs. He wished

[Host 2]

I didn't realize that immunity,

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

I did not know that was part of the rationale.

[Host 1]

Abstracted. I'm geeked. You know what I mean?

[Host 2]

That's hilarious. That makes a lot of sense.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Honestly, I didn't think he had it in him, to be honest with you.

[Host 2]

I would have thought that his naivety would have stood in the way of making that kind of connection.

[Host 1]

It's bizarre. But it is also, I think, telling that the President of the United States at that point in history, the most dangerous guy on the planet, it was. Was like, oh, well, I don't know. I guess we got. Give him a badge.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

What do we got?

[Host 1]

What do we. What do we got that we could give this boy? I don't know if we still have musicians who are at that level of. Of impact. Right. Or of influence, but.

[Host 2]

Well, we certainly have heard stories of even, like, Snoop Dogg getting in trouble for having weed in the Netherlands, you know, I mean, like, definitely. Yeah, I couldn't. I couldn't name one. I mean, he's about as big of a star as they come.

[Host 1]

Snoop didn't have the badge.

[Host 2]

He didn't have the badge. That's true. I would love to pivot really quickly to a piece of news that came out recently that we actually talked about on our sister show. Stuff they don't want you to know. Elvis in the 70s had this dude named J orberg customize a Cadillac for him to make it look like a giant rolling guitar. The most non functional, kind of absurd sort of custom job you could imagine. And that has recently made its way back to the states in Desertland Park, Orlando. That's gonna unveil the car recently for public consumption or public viewing before undertaking a massive restoration project that guests are gonna be able to actually watch unfold inside of the Orlando Auto Museum. Do you know about this? This bizarre vehicle looks more like a parade float than a car you'd drive.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

I didn't until just this moment. And I just googled it and I. It's 41ft long.

[Host 2]

It's unbelievable.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

What in the world is this? This is crazy. I don't. How would you drive this?

[Host 2]

Because that's the thing. Yeah, it's literally something I think he would drive around Graceland as a look at me kind of situation. But I don't know that it was particularly practical to take on road trips. But it is valued currently, even in its current state, at more than $200 million. $200 million? Yeah. This museum, I think it's the most valuable piece in their collection. That includes cars from like James Bond films and Batman and film franchises like the Fast and the Furious.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

That's wild. I mean, if for no other reason that I don't know it as being a particularly special part of Elvis lore. I mean. Cause he's. The whole pink Cadillac thing is a big part of his myth.

[Host 1]

Shooting cars.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Shooting car. Yeah. There's a story where he was having a fight with his girlfriend at the time, Linda Thompson, and he wanted to get into his car and dramatically peel out, but it stalled out in front of her and he was so mad that he just shot the car.

[Host 1]

That reminds me of Mitch Hedberg's joke where he got mad at his girlfriend while they were camping. He was in a tent and he was trying to figure out how to zip it up angrily. You know what I mean? So eventually, okay, so Elvis, who was always strapped, apparently like Danny DeVito and always Sonny, he managed to shoot his car. He never got arrested for any firearm related offenses.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

That I don't believe. I know Elvis and cars. He had a special relationship with cars he bought. I believe in the Graceland record they indicate that he purchased over 200 of them in his lifetime. And he gave most of them away because I think for him, it was the ultimate status symbol. And there was a story. It's really kind of sad. He was a truck driver in Tupelo, Mississippi, and he'd pass all these shiny cars when he was driving these big rigs, and he would dream about getting a nice car. And when he first got a little bit of money when he was on Sun Records, prior to going to rca, when he was first starting out, one of the first big purchases he made was this car. And it was secondhand, but he really loved it. And he parked it outside of the hotel he was in when he was on tour and he just stared at it all night. He loved this thing. And then the next day it caught fire and burned up on the road.

[Host 1]

Oh, that's terrible.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

And he later said, I got a lot of cars, but none will ever take the place of that first one,

[Host 1]

which is of the one car you can't get despite the amount of money you have. Yeah.

[Host 2]

And as we're wrapping up, I'd love to kind of maybe go back to his roots and then trace back to his end, the end of his life. He did grow up in poverty. He did grow up around all these incredible black musicians that he was influenced by. He got his first guitar as a gift when he was very, very young. And he didn't pass away with a particularly high net worth, which is interesting considering all of the stuff that you're talking about, all the spend behavior, which is also very similar to Michael Jackson's story. He was a voracious spender and he died, passed away in 1977 with a net worth only around $5 million. And that was because the estate was considered mega, mega cash poor. It was falling apart. He made all these really bad deals, specifically an unfavorable 50% commission deal with the Colonel, who we've been talking about all this time. Really, really nuts. Yeah, 50%. That's unheard of. With inflation adjustment, that would put him at around 20 to 27 million in today's standards. But this guy is like legendary. I mean, probably one of the most famous musicians to ever live. That just seems absurd, unheard of to pass away with that little. And apparently a lot of it too, had to do with the fact that the estate was crumbling physically and they were paying incredibly high taxes, over 70% of value going towards all these taxes and fees. However, Priscilla did turn it around and turn it into Graceland that we know and, you know, quite a popular attraction.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

And that was out of necessity. I mean, they were going to lose out of necessity. It was their family home.

[Host 1]

Great point, Georgie.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

And they're still, at certain times a year, I think, around Christmas, and they take the plexiglass down, they take the velvet ropes down, and it becomes a family home again. And that's like. And the one spot and. And this has always fascinated me, the downstairs museum. You know, great tours. It was the public part of the house where, when Elvis was alive, that was where people would hang out. The upstairs is like a bank vault. No one like. It's truly like a Willy Wonka. Like, nobody ever goes in, nobody ever goes out. And the story that the curators say is that it is left exactly as it was the day Elvis died. There's a Styrofoam cup on a counter where he left it. The record on his turntable in his bedroom is the one he was listening to when he died. It is truly.

[Host 1]

I wonder if they left any of his guns there.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Oh, I'm sure.

[Host 1]

No, really.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

They go cleaning and like the chalk in the pool table, like in the little drawer on the pool table is the chalk that was there when Elvis was alive. They were cleaning some credenza or something in the jungle room. And I want to say they found like a knife or something. They found something strange in there and they. They put it back.

[Host 1]

Left it.

[Host 2]

Yeah.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Everything is left truly untouched. And no one is allowed up there. They've had visiting dignitaries, they've had presidents, they've had foreign leaders. And of course, everyone wants to see Elvis's private courts. Nobody is allowed up there. The only person who was not a member of Elvis immediate family who did was Nicolas Cage, who took the novel approach of marrying Lisa Marie Presley in the early 2000s. And so he apparently went up there and tried on one of Elvis's leather Jackson jackets and sat in Elvis's bed.

[Host 2]

Yeah. And it served as a symbol of his individuality and his belief in personal freedom. To any Wild At Heart fans out there, that's. That's what his interest is. Very Elvis coded in that movie. Clearly was a big fan of the guy.

[Host 1]

And this guy Elvis Presley lived such a life. He did more in his 42 years than many other people would do in 191, depending on what Elvis is up to today. Bringing that conspiracy back.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Maybe that's why they don't allow anyone up there. Maybe he's still up there watching Monty Python and eating gold loaves.

[Host 1]

We've got to follow the money. We've got to do the numbers on the Colorado Mine Company and see how their orders are spiking. On Fool's Loaf.

[Host 2]

And I mentioned the use of Graceland as a kind of set piece in the series Paradise. I don't want to spoil anything about the show, but all of the things that you're talking about, Ben, those questions that you're asking about, were there guns still remaining in the house, that record still on the record player, the off limits upstairs, the cars, all of those things play into it. Because if you think about it, it's kind of a genius plot device. Like think of roving marauders and all of a sudden coming upon this house that's left in the state, you know, that it was when the man died and all this. Have this absolute fleet of crazy cars that they could, you know, hijack. It's very, very cool the way it's used.

[Host 1]

Yeah. Because now we have seen a musician rise from humble origins in Tupelo to become a, A global symbol, like more than a man. This is now a stand in or metonymy for the idea of American culture in general. The guns play a huge part in that. Just I think we forgot to mention, he bought guns as presents for people all the time. In 1970 alone, he bought more than 32 guns just to give out, maybe to his mafia buddies, maybe to people he saw on the street, maybe at a show. And, and get this, we forgot to mention this. When he had his interactions with President Richard Nixon in 1970, he gave Nixon a.45 as a president, which I didn't know you could do that with presidents. That seems like a threat.

[Host 2]

Wasn't this also sort of. When I was mentioning the PR stunt of all of that in that photo op, wasn't that Nixon kind of trying to look cool and be kind of like, I'm hip, I'm with it, get what the youth are into. But by that point, Elvis wasn't cool with the youth. He was such a symbol of like the old guard and like the square set and like the kind of music your parents would have been into.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yeah. Elvis definitely had his own reasons for agreeing to all this. Yeah, no, there was something that. It was definitely because this was the era, I think when he, when Nixon went out to the, to the mall and started talking to like anti war protesters at like 4 in the morning. And like he was in a bad way. Nixon was in this era trying to desperately recover the cool factor that he never had.

[Host 1]

Exactly. Yeah. Searching for something he didn't have. What we had here is a phenomenal time. I don't know about everybody else, but even from being from Tennessee. I have learned a lot of stuff about Mr. Presley that I did not know. And Jordan, we cannot thank you enough for joining us on this special two part series about Elvis Presley. Where can people learn more about you? Where can they learn more about your work?

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Oh man. Well, let's see. Follow me on Twitter and yeah, give a listen to post most of the shows I'm working on there and give a listen to too much information. That's more if you like this kind of grab bag of facts from my hoarder's attic of a mind of trivia facts. Go there. I think you'll enjoy that incredible two

[Host 2]

parter, maybe even four parter Jordan on the history of the movie Titanic.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Yes, that one. It is twice as long as the three hour movie. So strap in folks.

[Host 1]

Phenomenal. Also good stuff, y'. All. Also another thing we forgot to mention on Air Jordan. One of the most fun parts about researching this, as with so many other topics in music history, is that I would run into a source and I would think, huh, this is pretty good. And then I would see it said something like People magazine. I would go, hang on, on, wait a second. And you wrote it? You wrote the stuff. I was looking up thinking Jordan might think this is interesting.

[Jordan (Guest Expert)]

Oh, that's so funny. Oh man, that's so nice to hear.

[Host 1]

Well, Jordan, thank you so much for joining us. We can't wait to have you on in the future for more strange music history and perhaps a deep dive at the Titanic. Ooh, that wording was rough and accidental. But we'll keep it. We'll keep it. Shout out to Cameron. Big, big thanks to our super producer, Mr. Max, Will Williams. Big thanks to our composer, Alex Williams. Noel. Who else? Who else? Who else?

[Host 2]

Well, of course Alex Williams, who composed this theme. Jonathan Strickland, the Quisner, A.J. bahamas Jacobs the puzzler.

[Host 1]

Big, big thanks to Rachel Dr. Big Spinach Lance. Even bigger Huger Fool's Loaf thanks to the rude dudes of ridiculous crime. If you dig us, you will love them. That's it for today folks. Tune in next week. We're going to getting even weirder with it.

[Host 2]

We'll see you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.