Anonymous Works: Elvis Hair

http://anonymousworks.blogspot.com/2010/08/elvis-hair.html

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2010

Elvis Hair

An opportunity to own Elvis' hair! For all you Jurassic Park fans that fantasize reanimating the King, this is your chance...

Here's the auction house description:
From the King's Personal Barber: A Large Quantity of the Hair That Fascinated the World for Decades. An incredibly rare opportunity for the serious Elvis Presley collector. We offer not just a strand or two, not just a small lock, but uncounted thousands of strands cut from that trademark Presley pompadour by his personal hair stylist, Homer M. Gilleland. Elvis Presley's hairstyle, though it evolved a bit through the years, was as much a part of his "brand" as the swiveling hips, curling lips, and versatile vocal stylings. At the beginning of his career, he made the decision to die his mousy blond hair a deep black and fashion it in a ducktail with a long pompadour front and long sideburns. This style was instantly copied by millions of young men worldwide. Adolescent girls (of all ages) also loved his hair and were horrified when, on March 25, 1958, Elvis received his famous first G.I. haircut after which he remarked, "Hair today, gone tomorrow" to the press. A recent survey taken in the U.K. concluded that, even in 2010, a full 50% of men favor Elvis's trademark "quiff" (British slang for a prominent forelock) and sideburns over any other hairstyle.

Throughout his twenty-plus year career, Elvis had one preferred personal hair colorist and stylist. Homer M. Gilleland worked at Goldsmith's Department Store in Memphis as a hairdresser; he was known to his clientele as "Mr. Gill" and one of his regular customers was Gladys Presley. After achieving his early fame, Elvis asked his mother's hairdresser to cut his hair; thus began a long and deeply personal relationship. Gilleland was given a credit card so he could travel to anywhere in the world where Elvis needed a color touchup or a trim. Throughout the years, he saved a quantity of the hair that he cut from the head of the King. One large quantity of that hair was gifted to one of his best friends, Thomas Morgan, Jr., who was not only his friend but an old friend of Elvis himself. Morgan had grown up in Memphis knowing the young Elvis, and later, as Administrative Assistant to the Sheriff of Shelby County (Memphis) Tennessee, would be the person who was responsible for commissioning Elvis as a Special Deputy. Morgan, following the untimely death of Presley and at the request of Elvis's father, would coordinate the Sheriff's Department's duties for security at the funeral and at Graceland. Gilleland chose to give Morgan such a large group of Elvis's hair clippings because of their mutual friendship with, and love for, the King. Gilleland passed away in May 1995.

Available at Heritage Galleries.

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