The Gotta Have Rock & Roll Pop Culture Auction Spring 2022

Lot #35:

Elvis Presley "Frankie and Johnny" Film Used and Personally Owned Harmony Stella Tenor Guitar

Elvis Presley's "Frankie and Johnny" film used and personally owned Harmony Stella tenor acoustic guitar. Elvis used this guitar in the scene where he is singing a romantic ballad to his co-star Donna Douglas. Close inspection of the guitar in the film shows one string is missing , a fact that Charlie Hodge brings to attention in his letter of provenance that accompanies the guitar (he mentions that Elvis joked about it saying, "...how in the held am I supposed to play this beautiful romantic ballad with a missing string?"). Elvis decided to keep the guitar whereupon Charlie had the missing string replaced. The movie wardrobe for the film was supplied by Western Costume Co. and they supplied this guitar as well. Unusually for this production number with this guitar the brand name of the guitar was not blacked out as was most often the custom in Elvis's films, keeping with the Colonel's philosophy of "not giving away advertising for nothing." The "Western Costume Co. Hollywood Calif." stamp can clearly be seen in the sound hole. Accompanied by a letter of provenance from Elvis's close friend Charlie Hodge who first met Elvis when he was with a group called the Foggy Mountain River Boys. He and Elvis met again when Elvis was a U.S. Army GI on his way to Germany. Charlie lived at Graceland in a converted apartment that Elvis made for him. Charlie was Elvis's stage director and sang harmony on stage with him, and handed Elvis his scarves. He also helped him with the set lists for his concerts and appeared as an extra in many of his films. In addition to the letter of provenance from Charlie Hodge, the guitar is also accompanied by photos from the film showing Elvis with the guitar and a Gotta Have Rock and Roll Certificate of Authenticity.