All the King’s stuff headed for auction block

Friday, June 15, 2001 | 8:39 a.m.

Millions of dollars worth of Elvis Presley memorabilia will go on the auction block Saturday at Bally's, from where the event will be broadcast live over the Internet at eBay.com.

Items to be sold may be seen online at the website fleetwoodown.com, or in person at Bally's.

Organizers say it will be the first live auction in the United States hosted by the London celebrity auction house Fleetwood Owen.

The company was created more than a year ago by Mick Fleetwood, founder of Fleetwood Mac, and by Ted Owen, an expert on celebrity memorabilia.

The company's first auction, which featured Beatles items, took place in October in London. In March it conducted its Rock Legends Sale at London's Hard Rock Cafe and in July it will hold a film memorabilia auction, also in London.

Among the hundreds of items that will be sold at the Bally's auction are automobiles, clothing, musical instruments, costumes, guns and motorcycles that belonged to Presley.

"It's like walking into Graceland," David Stanley said.

Stanley, one of the organizers of the event, is Presley's stepbrother. He quit school at age 16 to go to work for Presley as a bodyguard and personal assistant, traveling with him from 1972-77.

"I was one of those who found Elvis' body," Stanley, 46, said of the King's death.

After Presley's death Stanley said he drifted for a while.

"His death was devastating," he said. "I pretty much lost it after that. All I knew was Elvis. I had a very surrealistic upbringing.

"I strayed into drugs and alcohol, (which) were pretty much a part of my life with Elvis. But after three years I said, 'Hey, get a grip or you're next.' "

Stanley kicked his addictions, got his high school equivalency diploma, went to college and founded the public relations firm of Stanley Media Group in Dayton, Ohio.

Stanley had moved into Graceland in 1960 at age 4 when his mother, Dee, married Presley's widowed father, Vernon.

"When I first walked into Graceland I didn't know what 'Hound Dog' was. I didn't know what a 'Heartbreak Hotel' was," Stanley said. "When I went into Graceland there was this man who walked up to me, he was just out of the service, and picked me up and said, 'Welcome to my family.' "

Stanley said he was too young to be impressed with Presley's status. He was more impressed with his kindness.

"He made me part of his life," Stanley said. "Elvis was 20 years older than me, but we were brothers."

As he got older, Stanley learned to appreciate Presley's stature.

"Watching the other rock 'n' roll stars show their love for Elvis, that made me appreciate him," Stanley said. "Watching him interact with Eric Clapton and Elton John opened my eyes."

Stanley has written a number of Presley books, including the "Elvis Encyclopedia," and is considered by many to be one of the leading experts on the star, who died in 1977 at age 42.

Although Stanley is an expert on all things Presley, he says he is more of a military historian.

"With Elvis, I can't quit," he said. "Someone will always ask me what it was like growing up with Elvis."

For one thing, he saw a lot of merchandise.

"I've seen some of the great things Elvis owned," Stanley said. "Some of the things on the auction block I would like to own."

One of the items being sold is Presley's white jump suit with the Phoenix on its back. "I can't remember how many times I helped him into that suit," Stanley said.

Then there are the guns.

"He was an avid gun collector," Stanley said. "Lots of guns, .45s, Berettas, .38 Specials. Those are some strong items being sold."

So are the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a motor home Elvis traveled in and a white piano that once graced Graceland.

"When I was 7 I would walk around the corner in the mansion and see that piano," Stanley recalled.

There are more than 200 "lots," with each lot containing one or more items to be sold.

"One lot is an entire museum put together by a private collector in Florida," he said.

Lot No. 1 includes, among other things: a 1977, white-on-white Lincoln Mark V; a 1965 Chevrolet Impala convertible; a Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL; a mirrored key chain from Elvis' last Cadillac, a 1977 Cadillac Seville; an array of original posters and the yellow velour, single-breasted, jacket worn by Elvis in the 1965 movie "Girl Happy," in which he starred with Shelley Fabares.

"This covers the gamut," Stanley said, "from automotive to musical instruments to jewelry."