It proved to be the perfect foil for conservative pundits, who nicknamed Elvis “the Pelvis” and rolled their eyes at the singing hip-swiveler christened with the cornpone name.

Yet Elvis Aaron Presley, who was born in East Tupelo, Miss., on Jan. 8, 1935, was hardly the first Elvis on the planet.

In fact, he was named for his father, Vernon Elvis Presley.

And according to Kevin Kern, media relations manager at Elvis Presley Enterprises, no one on the staff at Graceland knows just how Vernon’s parents came up with the name.

Some Presley fans believe the name has Cherokee roots, but most baby books state that Elvis is Scandinavian in origin and means “all wise.”

The name spiked in popularity in the early 1900s, then again in the 1950s and once more around 2000.

While Presley is the most famous Elvis of them all, a quick pop culture survey turns up others, such as football players Elvis Peacock and Elvis Grbac, ice skater Elvis Stojko, film critic Elvis Mitchell and singer-songwriter Elvis Perkins (son of actor Anthony Perkins).

Here in Memphis, dozens of Elvises live and work in near anonymity.

Seven of them — including one woman, a handful of African-Americans and a man who actually got to shake Presley’s hand — agreed to tell their stories.

If you’re thinking about bestowing the name on your next child, try heeding Southaven resident Elvis Banks’ advice.

“Names carry heavy connotations,” he cautions.

“I can take the humor with the best of ‘em, and I’ve learned how to deal with being Elvis, but I would never wish it upon anyone else.”

“It’s always been part of the picture,” Memphis native Elvis Goldsmith says of her first name, which came from her grandfather, Eli, who died six weeks before her birth in July 1924.

“I’m older than Elvis Presley, and besides, I had the name first!” she chuckles.

Nevertheless, Goldsmith says that it’s “really kind of interesting” being Elvis — particularly in Memphis.

“At least once a week, I get asked a lot of questions about it,” says the 83-year old, who still gets tickled by strangers’ reactions.

“I had a teenager ask me about my name, and when I told him it was real, he said, ‘Awesome!’ Then the other day, I was checking into the Atlanta airport, and the first thing the man said to me was, ‘Your name is Elvis, and you’re from Memphis!’ ”

“The next question they always ask is, ‘Your name is Goldsmith — are you connected with the store?’ ”

Again, she answers in the affirmative; her late husband was Robert Goldsmith, a descendent of the department store founder.

“It’s been a nice way to meet people,” says Goldsmith, who married in October 1958, when Presley’s career was going full steam.

“My husband and kids used to say I was a good sport about it, but for me, it hasn’t really been different than any other name.”

“Elvis [Presley] was a very good citizen. Memphis has always been proud of him. When we have visitors here, the first thing we do is take them to Elvis’ house!”

Born at St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1926, Elvis Paul Chambers pre-dates Elvis Presley by nine years.

“My mother and father named me Elvis, and I have the feeling it’s a family name, because I’m supposed to have some relatives in Switzerland,” says the 81-year old Chambers, who lives in East Memphis.

Because he was nearing 30 by the time Presley cut his first single for Sun Records, Chambers had no problem retaining his own identity.

Even so, he recalls Presley’s meteoric rise as if it were yesterday.

“It was quite interesting, because about that time, all these teenage girls were getting fascinated with the other Elvis,” Chambers says.

“They’d look in the phone book and see my initials, ‘EPC,’ and think it was a secret way of listing his name. I’d get several calls a day. Before they’d hang up, I’d tell them I wasn’t the Elvis they were looking for.”

A longtime MLGW lineman, Chambers took up photography in the 1950s.

The hobby eventually led him to a face-to-face meeting with Presley.

“I was in a camera club, and every once in a while, we’d take trips around town,” he says, “and I took a few pictures of Elvis at a show at Russwood Park.”

“Later, when he was more famous, he appeared down at the fairgrounds, on his motorcycle. We got to talk a while, although I’m sure he met a lot of other Elvises in his life.”

For Elvis Howard, the comments never stop. Howard was born in the Delta town of Tralake, Miss., in 1942 and moved to Memphis just a few weeks later.

“In high school, my classmates called me Elvis Presley, instead of Elvis Howard. Now I work with a gentleman named Bill Pressley, and we both get teased about being Elvis Presley.

“Even when I go to the store and present my credit card and driver’s license, people say ‘You’re named after Elvis [Presley]!’ ”

Even so, says the 65-year old Howard, “I’ve never considered changing it. Elvis is actually a family name. I got it from my great uncle. Over the years, I’ve come to find out that it’s a pretty common name, too.”

Elvis Wiley, a native, of Brownsville, Tenn., was actually named after a family friend, Haywood County resident Elvis Bond.

“I was born on Nov. 16, 1956, the same day that “Love Me Tender” opened in New York City,” says Wiley.

“We lived in the rural part of the county, and he would take my sister to school events,” Wiley says. “My mother said he was so nice that she decided to name her son after him, and that was me!”

Being Elvis, the 51-year old claims, “is what you make of it.”

“If anything, it’s probably a dream for a lot of people.”

In 1979, Wiley came to Memphis to attend then-Memphis State University as a broadcast major. He obtained music and communications degrees, and met longtime Elvis Presley pal George Klein in the process.

“I’d listen to (Klein) talk, and I began studying a little bit about Elvis. It’s interesting how many things have happened to us on the same dates. In a small way, his life has become something I can compare myself with.”

Today, Wiley’s the most popular checker at the Kroger at Poplar Plaza Shopping Center, where customers bring their kids by just to meet Elvis.

“It’s been tough being a black Elvis,” says 51-year old Elvis Moore.

“Growing up, kids would tease me, but over the years, I’ve gotten used to it.”

Although Moore doesn’t know for a fact that he was named after Presley, he’s always assumed so because he was born in January 1957.

“My aunt selected the name, and my dad must’ve really loved her to have gone on and given it to me,” he says.

“I’ve lived in Memphis my whole life, but I’ve never been to Graceland. I’m really not an Elvis fan. The only reason I enjoyed his movies was because they had a lot of girls in them!”

The Navy veteran who works for MLGW says his name isn’t unusual for a black person. When he was stationed at Moffat Field, a California military base, in the late 1970s, there were “nine guys, all black, from all over the South, named Elvis.

“All of them, except for me, went by their nicknames,” he says.

“Elvis Presley wasn’t the first Elvis; he just happened to make the name famous. I’ll be honest: I don’t get people traveling around the world just to get to Graceland. I grew up in Whitehaven, and when (Presley) died, I was lying on the beach in Guam, so glad that I wasn’t in Memphis dealing with all the traffic.”

Banks knows he was named for Presley.

“My mother let my sister, who was 16 at the time, name me. Why she didn’t override her, I’ll never know,” says the 46-year-old Southaven resident.

“I was born in 1961, right in the midst of the civil rights movement, when we had Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr.”

“Why would you name me after a white rock and roll singer, when we were living in a world that was fighting black oppression?” Banks wonders.

Then, in his next breath, he notes, “Many blacks had a great admiration for [Presley] and named their children for him. There’s always been a rumor that Presley was racist, but this underscores the fact that he had crossover appeal. African-Americans saw him as a country boy from Mississippi, who was just enjoying life.”

Born and raised in Shaw, Miss., in the heart of the Delta, Banks says that being named Elvis was “no big thing, because it was all the kids had known.”

Then, as a teenager, he was the focus of taunts like “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog” and “Don’t step on my blue suede shoes.”

“During those formative years, I was self-conscious, and people were waiting to see just who this Elvis person was, which I found really unnerving,” he recalls.

In August 1977, Banks was a student at Hamilton High School, which is at Person Avenue and Elvis Presley Boulevard, right across the street from Forest Hill Cemetery.

“I could look out the window and see the people lined up for Presley’s funeral,” he says. “I felt a real sense of sadness. I thought Elvis radiated charm, and I thought that his music was great. I never really saw him in a negative light. I just didn’t want to be compared to him.”

Banks ultimately learned to exploit the disarming nature of his name.

“Once I became an adult, I kind of reconciled myself with it. Sometimes, I’ll start singing ‘Love Me Tender’ to show someone I have a positive mental attitude. Other times, I’ll sign my name, and put underneath it ‘The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ ” he says.

Being Elvis is toughest, he says, when he goes to work as a substitute teacher for Memphis City Schools.

“Whenever I’m wearing my school ID, I’ll hear some kid whisper, ‘His name is Elvis,’ or say ‘Hey, Mr. Elvis,’ trying to tease me.”

Elvis Harvey was was born in Queens, New York, in 1963, around the time when Presley’s 13th movie, “Fun in Acapulco,” was released.

“I’ve never asked my mom why I was named Elvis,” says Harvey.

“My father must not like Elvis, though. Instead of my full name, he’s always called me ‘Ellie,’ ” the 44-year old Harvey notes.

“In New York, Elvis is actually a very common name, especially among Latin Americans and Puerto Ricans. And for me, it’s become a springboard for conversation. When I introduce myself, sometimes it’s as ‘The King.’ ”

The name’s significance changed two years ago, when Harvey relocated to Memphis to work as an area general manager for HMS Host, the concessions company at the Memphis International Airport.

“I’m not really an Elvis (Presley) fan,” he confesses, “although I’ve learned more about him since I’ve moved down here.”

By Andria Lisle/Special to The Commercial Appeal

The auction will end on Tuesday, Elvis’ birthday, with a reserve price of $58,815 for the motorcycle, which is designed to look like Elvis’ 1957 black Harley-Davidson FLH Model.

It was to have been auctioned during Elvis week in August, but a flood of publicity for the 30th anniversary tribute to Elvis became too overwhelming, said Lisa Rossmeyer Wade, co-owner of the Southern Thunder Harley-Davidson franchise in Horn Lake, Miss., and the Graceland Harley-Davidson franchise in Graceland Plaza.

“In consultation with Elvis Presley Enterprises, we felt like … this as a fund-raising tool for Presley Place was going to be lost in the mix.”

The first bike in the series was sold for $100,000, with $40,000 going to the American Diabetes Society. Bikes two through 29 sold for $58,815 each, and Rossmeyer Wade said all proceeds beyond the reserve price on the 30th bike will be donated to Presley Place.

She said one of the 30th anniversary bikes will be used as transportation to the stage for the guest conductor of tonight’s Memphis Symphony Orchestra Elvis Birthday Pops Concert at Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.

- Michael Lollar: 529-2393

The movie was “Kissin’ Cousins,” in which Elvis played a dual role as an Army officer and as the officer’s hillbilly cousin. It was the hillbilly character, Jodie Tatum, who used the puppy pickup line on actress Cynthia Pepper.

“I played hard to get, but I succumbed,” says Pepper, 67, of her character in the film that still earns her residuals 43 years after its release.

Now living in Henderson, Nev., Pepper will be in Memphis Sunday to take part in an Elvis Insiders Reception and Graceland tour, part of a four-day celebration of Elvis’ birthday. He would have been 73 on Jan. 8.

For Pepper, “Kissin’ Cousins” was a brief chance to know — and kiss — a sometimes self-doubting Elvis. The movie was shot in only 17 days as part of the money-making formula that protected Elvis’ wholesome image, but wore on his patience.

“It was entertaining and innocent. The movies obviously were lighthearted. We all know he could have done a lot better. He was a better actor than the movies allowed him to be,” says the actress.

Pepper was a veteran actress by the time “Kissin’ Cousins” came along. Daughter of a vaudeville actor, she was on stage at age 4 with actress Julie Harris on Broadway. She had her own sitcom, “Margie” set in the Roaring ’20s; had a recurring role on “My Three Sons” and played Sandra Dee’s roommate in the movie “Take Her, She’s Mine.” After “Kissin’ Cousins,” she made guest appearances in several TV episodes, including “The Flying Nun” and “The Jimmy Stewart Show,” and last appeared in a cameo role in the 2005 film “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous.”

Pepper says she was given the part in “Kissin’ Cousins” on short notice. She got a telephone call and was given two days to report to the set.

“My agent said Elvis had seen me on TV and suggested me for the part,” says Pepper. Some of the cast members would become better known in other realms. Maureen Reagan, daughter of eventual President Ronald Reagan, had one line in the movie. Teri Garr, who would become a well-known actress, was a dancer in the film.

Pepper played an Army stenographer assigned to accompany a lieutenant (Elvis) to the hills of East Tennessee to negotiate the sale of land to build a missile base. There, they encountered angry property owners, including the lieutenant’s cousin (a hillbilly Elvis in a blond wig).

The hillbilly Elvis fell for Pepper in the movie, leading to a romantic scene in which Pepper says she kept “flubbing” lines in order to repeat a kiss with Elvis. “I got to do it six or seven times. I could have done it in one or two takes, but why would I?”

Pepper says she came to know Elvis as a “regular guy. He was a little unsophisticated at the time. He would sit around and talk about trucks and would say ‘Miss’ or ‘Ma’am.’ There weren’t any airs about him.”

As filming went on, Pepper says she realized Elvis wasn’t sure of himself at that stage in his career.

“I felt that he was quite insecure at the time,” she says. “He said to me one time, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing here.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘I should be back home driving a truck.’

“I think he had all the insecurities that we all had. I think that’s one reason he had all those guys (his entourage known as the Memphis Mafia) around him — to buffer himself from the outside.”

During her Memphis visit, Pepper will be a guest with former Elvis hairstylist Larry Geller and members of the TCB Band at a reception in Graceland Plaza, followed by a special evening tour of Graceland.

For more information or to buy tickets, go to elvis.com. Tickets are $44 for adults, $22 for children ages 7-12. To order tickets, call (800) 238-2000.

Michael Lollar

We knew last Sunday it would be an oven, when the Weather Channel offered this sunny outlook for the week.

Apparently, even global warming is an Elvis fan, arriving along with 50,000 others to pay tribute to the King of Rock and Roll on the big night. How many big honkin’ Caddies did Elvis own or give away as birthday presents? Yes, global warming is a card carrying member of the Elvis Fan Club.

At one point in the evening I thought I might perish. It was 11 p.m. and I was standing absolutely still on the Graceland lawn, sweating so hard you couldn’t tell me from a sprinkler. I joked with Jack Soden of Elvis Presley Enterprises that we were just as wet as we were in 2002, the 25th Anniversary, when the proceedings got drenched by a thunderstorm.

The press room smelled like a locker room from all the sweaty reporters. When I opened one of the Peanut Butter and Banana Reece’s Cups being given away, I had to lick it out of the wrapper.

Another reporter and I discussed who might be the Vigil’s first victim of the heat — it had killed one person already that day. He’d spotted a guy in a black Elvis jumpsuit carting an oxygen tank. I had to see for myself.

Five minutes later, I located him, a nice fellow named Tom Vigil, from Denver. He was with his sister Lori Vigil and they’d planned this trip six months before. She made the suits herself, sewing on the beads and plastic gems while watching Elvis films.

The pair turned out to be a great interview and their story is in the paper today.

A secret to getting mentioned in the news, or your picture on a blog or to be videotaped for national broadcast is to make a spectacle of yourself. That makes it easier for us to find you. It was during my annual hunt for the craziest Elvis fans that I stumbled upon Roy Smalley from Tuscaloosa, Ala.

He’s been coming to the Vigil for 20 years, but for the last six he’s been serving with the Shelby County Rescue Squad, making sure people are relatively protected at the Vigil. Can you imagine being an Elvis fan, passing out from the heat and then waking up in a blur to see Elvis standing over you? If the heat didn’t kill you, that just might. Roy thought it was pretty funny himself.

As the evening progressed, Elvis Presley Boulevard was closed off and the street filled with people setting up their personal tributes. This one using hundreds of votive candles to spell out Elvis Presley’s signature was particularly cool, but very high maintenence.

Soon I found Peter Fischer, 29, in a lawn chair with some friends. They’d brought a cooler full of well-camoflaged beer, and a shrine to the King — mostly for the kitsch factor.

Next year, this is exactly how I’m going to do it: Hang out, people watch, listen to some music, and bask in the eternal craze that is Elvis Presley.

“It’s like music is going backward because it was good back then,” says Presley, who is stepping back in time tonight with a duet — with Elvis — of his 1969 recording “In The Ghetto.”

Lisa Marie recorded an earlier duet, “Don’t Cry Daddy,” for the 20th anniversary of Elvis’ death in 1997, but that song was not released commercially. “In the Ghetto” will be released as a single after its debut at FedExForum in a sold-out concert featuring Elvis on video accompanied by original band members and backup singers.

Presley said proceeds will go to a New Orleans version of Memphis’ Presley Place, the housing complex designed as a temporary refuge to give homeless families a chance to get on their feet again.

Elvis and his family got their own start in public housing in Memphis before moving to the suburbs, then to Graceland. Graceland was, at first, a walled refuge from the crush of fame and, now, a shrine.

Presley’s rise to fame was not just a classic rags-to-riches story, but a continuing saga that many believe has turned him into the biggest celebrity of all time. It is a story that Lisa Marie said is part of a disappearing tradition.

“What do our youth today even know? We’re not a culture that cultivates tradition. Some people may think Madonna started music,” she says.

“I think that honestly we have no morals or integrity anymore. The more you screw up and make mistakes in public the more you’re a celebrity. I think things are so crazy now that anyone can appreciate how it used to be.”

For her dad, that meant being rewarded for hard work and talent. “It was the real deal then. He worked hard. He was somebody who was hungry. He broke molds and worked to get what he got.”

Part of the equation was an indecipherable element of starpower or charisma that Lisa Marie felt, but didn’t understand. “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell said no one has come along with “even 50 percent” of Elvis’ charisma.

Lisa Marie said she used to sit in the kitchen at Graceland and know when her dad was coming down the steps because of a “presence” he radiated. She could tell whether he was at home when she drove through the front gates of Graceland because she felt that presence.

Knowing about and living with that charisma didn’t help her understand it. “I don’t think he understood it either. I don’t know whether he even knew what it was, but I think it was probably too much for him to handle. I have never met anybody like that — ever.”

Her former husband, Michael Jackson, also was known as charismatic at the height of his “Thriller” fame. “I don’t think he understood it either,” says Lisa Marie.

For Elvis, that charisma now is something that thousands of imitators try to capture through the growing impersonator phenomenon. This year Elvis Presley Enterprises began its own sanctioned contest, the Ultimate Elvis Contest, with 24 of the best tribute artists competing before a panel of judges.

“I understand it and that imitation is a form of flattery,” says Lisa Marie. “I’ve never really seen one perform. I think that would be very awkward. I love that they’re out there. I’m all for them, but it would be really weird for me.”

Her duet of “In The Ghetto” will be available for download through iTunes. As a metaphor for “people in need,” the ghetto in this instance is post-Katrina New Orleans. Presley said she made a whirlwind visit there Sunday.

“I came up with the idea three weeks ago,” she says. She enlisted Hollywood producer David Foster, found her father’s original tracks of the song and planned the duet as a charitable event for the 30th anniversary concert.

Presley said plans for the New Orleans version of Presley Place are still in the works. It would likely be through an existing charitable effort in the way that the Memphis version was organized through MIFA (the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association).

– Michael Lollar: 529-2793

In other words, every film Elvis made during his career as a movie star from 1956 to 1969 has been released to DVD.

(One movie is now out of print, however: Elvis’ second, “Loving You,” from 1957. You can find copies on eBay, if you’re interested.)

Only six of Elvis’ 31 dramatic movies had never made the leap to DVD before this year, and Warner Home Video released them to disk on Aug. 7. The movies are available individually or in a box set titled “Elvis: The Hollywood Collection.”

The new-to-DVD titles include “Ma & Pa Kettle”-style hokum (“Kissin’ Cousins”); an almost perfect Elvis formula musical (“Girl Happy”); pure girls-plus-comedy-plus-songs escapism (“Tickle Me”); a film that Elvis hopefully described as “part ‘Hud,’ part ‘Alfie,’ ” (“Stay Away, Joe”); an awkward attempt at post-Summer of Love frankness (there’s nothing coy about the premarital sexcapades of “Live a Little, Love a Little”); and a risky nonmusical faux Spaghetti Western (“Charro!”). Each DVD is packaged with five postcard-like stills and poster reproductions from the film.

Here’s a look at the new DVDs, with an emphasis on the

special qualities that define that peculiar one-man genre, “the Elvis movie”:

Movie title: “Kissin’ Cousins” (1964).

Elvis Is …: Both “Army critter” Josh Morgan, a lieutenant seeking a hilltop home for a missile base, and his blond but otherwise identical hillbilly cousin, champion “rassler” Jodie Tatum. (”What you doin’ with my face?” Jodie asks Josh).

Story locale: The hills and hollers of the Tennessee Smoky Mountains (”Tatum Teritoree — So Git!” warns a sign).

Girls! Girls! Girls!: Such “female critters” as Tatum sisters Selena (Pamela Austin) and Azalea (Yvonne Craig, Batgirl from the 1960s “Batman” TV show); Army typist Midge Riley (Cynthia Pepper); and “the curviest covey of backwoods babes you’ve ever seen,” the Kittyhawks, an Amazon-like tribe of “men-starved critters.”

Guest star(s): Fast-talking, hard-boiled Warner Bros. contract “dame” of the 1930s, Glenda Farrell, as Ma Tatum; and Hezekiah the hound.

Showoff moment: Josh tucks into a dinner of “possum tails, owl gizzards and grits, fried in bear grease,” slathered in a gravy of “goat’s milk with vulture eggs and mashed catfish eyes.”

Elvis pickup line: “You sure as purty as a little ol’ speckled pup,” Jodie tells Cpl. Riley.

Ad hype: “There’s girls in them thar hills — and look who’s driving them crazy!”

Memorable lyric: “Well I’ve got a gal, she’s as cute as she can be/ She’s a distant cousin but she’s not too distant with me. …”

Movie title: “Girl Happy” (1965).

Elvis Is …: Chicago nightclub singer turned spring break chaperon Rusty Wells.

Story locale: Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Girls! Girls! Girls!: Wholesome mobster’s daughter Shelly Fabares; bikini bombshell Mary Ann Mobley; and Kit Kat Club stripper, Sunny Daze (Nita Talbot).

Guest star(s): Jackie Coogan, also appearing at the time as Uncle Fester on “The Addams Family.”

Showoff moment: Elvis tunnels into a women’s jail cell, then dons drag to hide from deputies.

Elvis pickup line: “Just give me a minute to slip out of my suntan lotion.”

Ad hype: “Yes, everybody’s girl happy when Elvis invades the land of the bikinis!”

Memorable lyric: “Every girl I see looks good to me/ What a crazy, way-out way to be…”

Movie title: “Tickle Me” (1965)

Elvis Is …: “Prairie gigolo” Lonnie Beale, “a singin’, swingin’ cowboy … whose job is wranglin’ fillies on a dude ranch,” according to the trailer.

Story locale: Zuni Wells, home to the Circle Z ranch and the ghost town of Silverado (a location that allows screenwriters Ed Bernds and native Memphian Elwood Ullman to recycle spook gags they wrote for the Three Stooges).

Girls! Girls! Girls!: Stunning fitness instructor Jocelyn Lane; and ranch boss Julie Adams. (Elvis: “I thought this was gonna be strictly business.” Julie: “Oh, I mean business. …”)

Guest star(s): Allison Hayes, the title glamazon from “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” (1958), and frequent W.C. Fields co-star Grady Sutton.

Showoff moment: As the Panhandle Kid, Elvis shoots a tossed coin and produces change.

Elvis pickup line: “I’ve never been kissed by my boss before.”

Ad hype: “When Elvis sings, dude ranch dolls drool.”

Memorable lyric: “I hear you’re pretty good at runnin’/ But pretty soon you’ll slip and fall/ That’s when I’ll drag you home with me, girl/ I’m gonna chain you to the wall…”

Movie title: “Stay Away, Joe” (1968)

Elvis Is …: Bawdy, brawling, bull-riding Navajo Indian Joe Lightcloud, “a direct descendent of great chiefs and mighty warriors.”

Story locale: Sedona, Ariz.

Girls! Girls! Girls!: Quentin Dean as a newly man-hungry 19-year-old; and Marya Christen as one Billie-Jo Hump (”She can chew on my moccasins any time,” says Elvis).

Guest star(s): Burgess Meredith — looking weirder than the Penguin in his “Indian” body makeup — as Elvis’ father; Joan Blondell as a shotgun-toting barmaid; and Dick Wilson (Mr. Whipple from 25 years of “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin” TV ads) as a car salesman.

Showoff moment: Eschewing a horse, 20th century cowpoke Elvis drives a herd of cattle into a corral from the comfort of his convertible.

Elvis pickup line: “Would somebody scratch my back? I got an itch.”

Ad hype: “He’s playing Indian — but he doesn’t say ‘How,’ he says ‘When’!”

Memorable lyric: “Dominic, Dominic why are you stallin’/ Don’t you hear love callin’ to you/ Moo, moo, moove your little foot, do.” (Sung to a lazy stud bull.)

Movie Title: “Live a Little, Love a Little” (1968)

Elvis Is …: Dune buggy-driving ad agency and Classic Cat girlie magazine photographer Greg Nolan.

Story locale: The beaches, bachelor pads and pools of Southern California.

Girls! Girls! Girls!: Wacky 1960s free spirit Michele Carey (”Would you like to make love to me?” she asks); and blond party girl Celeste Yarnell (whose poolside go-go dancing inspires Elvis to introduce the hit “A Little Less Conversation”).

Guest star(s): Elvis predecessor and 1920s crooner Rudy Vallee; voice-of-Winnie-the-Pooh Sterling Holloway, as a milkman; and Elvis’ Great Dane, Brutus, as Albert.

Showoff moment: Elvis lands two jobs in the same building in the same day by introducing himself to prospective employers with the apparently irresistible line, “Nolan is here with the truth.”

Elvis pickup line: To a scantily clad receptionist at Classic Cat magazine: “Aren’t you cold?”

Ad hype: Comments Brutus in the trailer, via doggie subtitle: “Hey Elvis! Down Boy!”

Memorable lyric: “I can hear strange voices echo/ Laughing with mockery/ The border line of doom I’m facing/ The edge of reality…” (During a “psychedelic” dream sequence.)

Movie title: “Charro!” (1969)

Elvis is…: Stubble-jawed Clint Eastwood-esque gunslinger and nonsinging former outlaw Jess “Charro” Wade. (Elvis does sing the title song over the opening credits, however.)

Story locale: U.S./Mexico border territory.

Girls! Girls! Girls!: Make that girl, singular: “Beautiful, no-good” Ina Balin, a saloon owner and old flame.

Guest star(s): Solomon Sturges — son of the genius director Preston Sturges — as a giggly cowboy psycho.

Showoff moment: Elvis shocks his tormentors by manfully struggling to his feet after being branded on the neck with a red-hot poker.

Elvis pickup line: “I’ll send for ya. You come when I tell ya.”

Ad hype: “On his neck he wore the brand of a killer. On his hip he wore vengeance.”

Memorable lyric: “And now you laugh in the devil’s face with your last breath/ You run a race with life and death/ But will you live to see tomorrow/ Charro?”

There were plenty of dogs at Graceland, including a basset hound named Sherlock, and Great Danes named Snoopy and Brutus.

Elvis once flew his chow chow Get Lo in his small Jetstar plane to Boston for treatment of a kidney ailment. The dog stayed for three months in intensive care and came home, but soon died.

Other dogs of various breeds he owned included Whoosh, Oswald and Honey.

Fans probably remember his Pomeranian Edmund, who became attached to Elvis’ Aunt Delta. The dog often would appear when people were touring Graceland after it opened in 1982. He would sit in the Jungle Room and howl if Aunt Delta left him, said Todd Morgan, Graceland spokesman.

Graceland was also well-known for the various horses Elvis owned, including his beloved golden palomino quarter horse Rising Sun.

But Elvis didn’t stop with traditional pets. He also owned donkeys, peacocks, guinea hens, ducks, turkeys, chickens, a chimpanzee, a monkey and a mynah bird.

Once Elvis, his father, Vernon, and Lamar Fike drove a limousine to Germantown to buy chickens, ducks and other fowl to stock at Graceland, Morgan said.

Fike rode in the back of the limo with the livestock, which flew around and messed in the car. The car was cleaned and fumigated, but it was never the same. Elvis sold it.

Graceland remained an animal-friendly place even after Elvis’ death. His horses lived out their lives there. Rising Sun is buried at Graceland, and horses live there now.

Listen up!

This should go without saying, but apparently not. A friend was at Starbucks recently and saw two dogs inside a car with the windows cracked barely an inch.

Another friend was at a fast-food restaurant and saw the same thing.

Last week, a Memphis couple received an animal cruelty citation in Collierville after they left two dogs inside a car for at least 20 minutes.

Animal cruelty is a crime in Memphis, too. Leaving your animal inside a parked car in this heat is torture. Don’t believe me? Take the test. Crack the windows, turn off the car and sit in it for five minutes. Not so bad? Try 10 or 20. Nothing ever goes as quickly as you imagine it will.

Just do your pets a favor and leave them at home. Don’t even think about bringing them out in this heat unless they are going inside with you or unless you are staying in your car the entire time.

Events

Annual conformation show: Memphis Toy Dog Club, noon-6 p.m. today and 10 a.m-4 p.m. Friday, Southaven Multipurpose Arena, 7360 U.S. 51 North. Admission to watch the shows is free. No pets or baby strollers allowed.

Adoptions

All animals are spayed and neutered and current on vaccinations.

Dogs: Horse Creek Wildlife Sanctuary, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. Saturday, Petco, 7680 Poplar in Germantown; $50. horsecreekwildlife.org.

Dogs, cats, puppies, kittens: Fayette County Animal Rescue, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, PetSmart, 7941 Winchester; $95. fayettefcar.com.

Dogs and puppies: West Tennessee Border Collie Rescue, noon-4 p.m. Sunday, Petco, 7680 Poplar, Germantown. Information: tnbordercollierescue.com

Dogs, cats, puppies, kittens: DeSoto Animal Rescue Society, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m., Saturday, PetSmart, 7941 Winchester. Dogs and puppies: $90. Cats and kittens: $75. (662)342-9448 or desotopetlovers.org.

Dogs, kittens: Good Dog Rescue, 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Bartlett Petco, 6015 Stage; $125 gdrescue.petfinder.com, 276-7751.

Cindy Wolff, the owner of three spoiled dogs, can be reached by e-mailing wolff@commercialappeal.com, or by sending mail to The Commercial Appeal, 495 Union, Memphis, TN 38103, or by calling (901) 529-5220. Visit her Blog at blog.commercialappeal.com/pets/.

I didn’t think so.

What about the Elvis beer can opener? Or the house slippers made in his image?

It’s always amazing what lengths “fans” (I shy quickly away from the term “obsessives”)will go to show that they’re “down with the King.”

Really now, people, let’s think about this. Is it absolutely necessary to adorn the drooly baby in the lop-sided stroller in a bib with sideburns on it? How much mileage will Grandma — who couldn’t make the sojourn so soon after her hip replacement — get out of the Elvis pot handle cooler?

Makin’ money on Elvis is nothing new. We’ve written about it in the paper. But out and about in the increasing chaos are some doozies.

Take for instance Entrepreneur #1: Now, this guy is an enterpriser. He shows up at an area convenience store, walks in and walks out with a skid of bottled water. Nothing unusual there.

Now, check this out: this genius pops the trunk of his car, takes out this envelope and retrieves a handful of Elvis headshot stickers.

 What happens next? You guessed it.

After placing  stickers over what looks like what were intended to be Ozarka labels on each bottle, he closes shop, grabs the first batch and heads right up to the corner.

“Ice cold water! Have a drink with the King” He’s yelling it at cars stopped at the light. And folks are rolling down their windows!

“Ice cold ELVIS water! Right here!” JUST $3.

By the time I stop laughing, I realized that I might have potentially missed out on a good hustle.

Too hot. Not that serious.

Can’t wait to see what “retail creativity” tonight’s candlelight vigil will bring, though.

Carlini then expertly applied black eyeliner in two deft strokes to his own lower eyelids, preparing to do battle in the most crucial of the dueling Elvis contests in a city bursting at the seams with jumpsuits for the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death.

Finals of the Ultimate Elvis contest come Friday night.

At the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, that means move over, Rachmaninoff. On Sunday, Elvis took

over a concert hall that’s normally a sanctuary for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. It became ground zero for Ultimate Elvis. “Peace in the Valley” would segue to “Polk Salad Annie.” Jumpsuits and gold lame jackets, sideburns and coal-black hair were like magician’s props conjuring the King of Rock and Roll as if he had never left the building.

“What makes it for me is if, for just a moment, I can believe,” said Elvis fan Jane Broadhurst of Brighton, England. After the first round, Carlini’s version of “Unchained Melody” and Edwards’ “Don’t Be Cruel” put them among her favorites.

Across town, Images of the King, which has been staging Elvis competitions here for 21 years, drew 87 contestants, opening Tuesday night at the Holiday Inn Select on Democrat Road at Airways.

It opened in the hotel’s 1,400-seat Grand Ballroom with a children’s showcase of male and female Elvis artists, then began a judging process that will narrow the contest to 15 to 20 finalists Friday and Saturday.

Ticket sales were nearing a sellout for the end of the week, said contest co-owner Michael Hoover, an Elvis tribute artist who helped get Tuesday’s crowd warmed up with his version of “Trouble.”

The trouble for the Images of the King contest (already barred from using the “Elvis” name) is that the best-known Elvis acts are drawn to Graceland’s own Ultimate Elvis contest. “It’s going to be tough to compete with. You’ve got a different caliber of competition,” said contestant Tracy Alan Moore of Seattle.

But contender Justin Edwards of Roland, Okla., was in both the Ultimate Elvis and the Images competitions. He didn’t make the top 10 of Ultimate Elvis, so Images is his second chance in Memphis this week. “I don’t think the new contest will hurt Images. They’ve been doing it for so many years.”

For years, a win at Images meant major bragging rights and promotional fodder for Elvis acts. Suddenly, the Ultimate Elvis contest is like the Oscars of tribute contests with Images like the Golden Globes. With Ultimate Elvis comes the potential of TV appearances and sponsorships through CKX, the New York company that owns the majority interest in EPE along with TV ratings juggernaut “American Idol.”

Images co-owner Bobbie Hoover bought the Images contest with her husband two years ago and was surprised when Graceland and EPE suddenly decided to stage their own contest in direct competition. “EPE is the head honcho, but we’re the original and it is our 21st year. We’re holding our own,” she said.

For contestants in each competition, there’s room for everyone. Generosity, like helping each other with last-minute makeup, is a long-standing tradition. “There’s a saying that ETAs (Elvis tribute artists) don’t compete against each other, but with each other,” said Donny Edwards as he left the dressing room to compete at the Cannon Center, where most competitors are full-time Elvis acts with well-traveled repertoires. They are what Graceland calls the “best of the best.”

Each won a preliminary contest at a festival or event sanctioned by Graceland and EPE with the same judging criteria as the Memphis contest. They must come as close to Elvis as possible — the look, the sound, the moves. Brandon Bennett, winner of the Tupelo Elvis Festival in Elvis’ hometown, wears starched khakis (”actually Dickies work clothes,” he says) with a few patches and gleaming black shoes for his rousing version of “G.I. Blues.”

Bennett, a former winner of the Images contest, got a standing ovation along with Shawn Klush of Pittston, Pa., who sang “My Way” and bills himself as “The Closest to the King.” Klush has been Elvis in “Legends in Concert” shows in Branson, Mo., Atlantic City and Las Vegas. To get to Memphis, he won the “Viva Las Franklin” contest at the Williamson County Fair in Franklin, Tenn.

At the Cannon Center they perform with the EAS Band before black velvet drapes as backdrop to a giant re-creation of Graceland’s iron gates suspended from the ceiling. The contestant who came the farthest to compete was Mark Anthony of Adelaide, Australia, who journeyed 9,724 miles. Three were from Canada and two from the United Kingdom. Kjell Henning Bjornestad of Lyngdal, Norway, seemed an unlikely contender, but, like the others, effected a mellow Tupelo twang.

In fact, when the first round was over, Bjornestad was among the top 10 with Carlini and Edwards, both of Las Vegas; Jeff Golden of Dothan, Ala.; Brandon Bennett of Ponchatoula, La., Paul Larcombe of Crewe, England; Jay Zanier of Guelph, Canada; Ben Klein of Spokane, Wash.; Joseph Hall of Lincoln, Neb.; and Klush.

A day later, Edwards, as if rehearsing for the finals, was among acts booked on the parking lot of the Elvis After Dark Complex just north of Graceland. In a big white tent, as if an Elvis revival, more than 1,000 fans crowded around the free weeklong attraction to hear amateurs and pros alike. “Some, like this boy (Edwards) are great, but some could use a charisma bypass,” said Iris Higgs of Yorkshire, England, seated at the edge of the crowd.

HOT TICKETS

Finals of the sold-out Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest begin at 7 p.m. Friday at Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.

Tickets are still available to the Images of the King tribute artist competition at the Holiday Inn Select, 2240 Democrat Road. It is at 2 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Ticket prices range from $15 to $30 with VIP tickets $150. Call 877-397-2660.

- Michael Lollar