GoElvis.com,

Before Playhouse on the Square became a live theater, its theater was often Elvis Presley’s den of cin.

Cinema, that is. The King had his favorite seats down front in the former Memphian Theatre, 51 S. Cooper. (He sat in front because he didn’t want people turning around and watching him instead of the movie.)

Well, anything Elvis-related is bound to sell, including 14 red seats from the Memphis Mafia years.

The seats will be auctioned on eBay.com through Aug. 17.

“We talked to Michael Lightman, whose family owned the Memphian Theatre, and we’ve identified 15 chairs that Elvis most likely sat in,” said Michael Detroit, associate producer at Playhouse.

One of the 15 seats stays with the theater.

In 1985, the front seating area was removed to make room for the stage. The “Elvis” seats have remained in storage ever since.

The remaining theater seats were removed after a 1997 renovation and may be sold at a later time. But only those from the front section being auctioned come with a notarized letter of authenticity signed by Lightman, who witnessed Elvis’s seating preference firsthand.

Bidding starts at $500 per chair.

The quality of the chairs varies, Detroit said.

“They have unique imperfections. We’ve cleaned them, and I did take the gum off the bottoms, but they haven’t been restored or anything like that,” he said.

To find the chairs on eBay, type “Memphian” in the search box. For more information, call 725-0776.