get me memphis tennessee....

 ...get me memphis, tennessee...

                                                                        chuck berry, 1959       

    This all got started when Kim and I took our son who had just been born to Memphis in August of 1980 to attend an Elvis memorabilia show, Butch Polston told me.  

  Butch and his wife, Kim, own B and K Enterprises in Charlestown, Indiana.  B and K has the exclusive rights to reproduce costumes with the unique designs worn by entertainer Elvis Presley, but their story goes far beyond just those costumes.  It's really about how hard work and ambition can pay off.     

  We were basically newlyweds and didn't have two nickels to rub together, he added.  

  How did going to a collectors show come about?  Did you have a lot of things to sell?  

  Well, I was a construction worker doing a couple jobs, he recalled.  I cleaned offices and banks after my day job and then I'd come home and work on making a couple Elvis type costumes.  It was just something I wanted to do.  I made four of them.  

  HUH?  What's up with that?

  That's an unusual clothing item to want to make. Did you know how to sew?

  Not really, but back in '78 and '79, I put an ad in about 20 fan magazines offering to buy the original costumes Elvis wore on stage, Butch said.  A couple collectors contacted me and told me they had a couple and wanted 40 thousand dollars for each of them.  Butch laughed as he said, That wasn't going to happen.  

  So you guys took off for Memphis.  Was this an organized show you went to over 40 years ago?  Where was it held? 

  Back in those days, there was a Days Inn that collectors stayed and displayed their merchandise in their rooms during the anniversary week of Elvis' death, he reminisced.  A friend of ours who had a bunch of pictures and stuff was going and he had to back out at the last minute.  He gave us his room and that's how we got to go.  

  So, you took the four costumes with you.  What happened while you were there?

  Kim and I laid the costumes on the bed and opened our door like everyone else had done, he relived. We didn't know what to do, so we just followed everyone's lead.  We were on the second floor and people started streaming in to see these costumes.  Pretty soon, a tribute artist came in.  

  I assume that's an impersonator.

  It's funny how times change.  Now, impersonator is politically incorrect, he amended.  Today they are called tribute artists.  Anyway, he went into the bathroom and tried on all four outfits and they fit him perfectly.  He told me he pays $2,000 for each costume he has to buy and he offered me $500 each for my four outfits.

  That seems easy enough.  A quick $2,000 (a little over $6,600 in today's dollars).

  It was.  But, I told him they weren't for sale.  Kim was pushing me to take it and said we could always make more costumes, he laughed.  We took the deal.  He pulled out a wad of bills you wouldn't believe and paid us cash!

  And, that's how B and K Enterprises was born.  

  That's it, he stated.  I didn't quit my other jobs, but it wasn't long before I was making more money with costumes than my part-time work.  

  Your designs are actually the same as the originals Elvis wore on stage.  How did that happen?

  When Graceland opened to the public in 1982, I decided I wanted to go to California and meet the original designer of Elvis' costumes, a guy by the name of Bill Belew who worked for NBC, Butch said.  He created all of the designs and I was afraid of being sued because mine were exact copies.  I flew to his office, we met and I told him my intentions.  He in essence sold me the rights because he liked me and he liked my work.   

  After you left California, you came back home and started reproducing these costumes.  

  Yes, we did, Butch smiled, and we've been doing it ever since.  After a few years, I quit all my other jobs, opened this business full time and here we are today.  

  How many Elvis costumes do you think you make in an average year?  

  We probably produce 200 to 300 a year, he guessed.  Last year was way off because nobody was on tour, but on average that's what we do.  Right before Covid, we were contacted by a studio to produce 40 costumes for a Tom Hanks movie.  He was going to play Elvis' manager, Colonel Parker in a movie.  We did it and sent them off, but I don't know the status of the movie.  

  Some of these outfits have to be time consuming.  They look like they have hundreds or even thousands of jewels in each one.  

  When I started, I sewed all of them by hand, every jewel, he responded.  I didn't really know what I was doing.  Then, when I met Belew in California, I also met Elvis' tailor, Cyril Romano.  He taught me how to really sew.  Elvis' designer for his last five years was a guy by the name of Gene Doucette.  He and Bill Belew introduced me to machines that do all the jewels and brass studs.  

  How long does it take to make just one costume?

  Probably 32 to 40 hours, Butch estimated.  It depends on the intricacies.  The one we call the King of Spades outfit is heavily embellished and takes about 40 hours.  

  What kind of money are we talking here?  I'm sure you have to get more than that tribute artist paid all those years ago. 

  If you go to our website, you'll see we get from $1,500 to $6,000 per Elvis costume, he stated.  It depends upon the volume too.  

  Do you and Kim do all this by yourselves?  

  Oh, heavens no, Butch smiled.  We have 12 employees full-time now.  

  Then you must do other costumes too, is that right?  

  Absolutely, he said.  We make outfits for other entertainers, television shows, movies...we've done the costumes for about 32 movies over the years.  We've made a lot of stuff for Ellen Degeneres, we just made a couple outfits for a ventriloquist in Vegas.  We're involved in a lot.

  Ever wonder how things would have turned out if you and Kim hadn't taken that trip to Memphis?

  I have thought about that, he admitted.  We're grateful for what we have.  I know we've worked really hard too.  

  And it's all right here in Charlestown, Indiana, a town of roughly 81 hundred people.

  That's right, Butch confirmed.  You just never know what opportunity is going to come along like it did for me and Kim.  

  I'd say the opportunity was there, but you guys made it happen.  

  Thanks, he replied. 

 

  Coming up:  meet a champion high school pole vaulter who made history; more POS (people over 60), and; a woman who traveled the world for B and W!

 

  And, in conclusion....,

  I managed to see Elvis perform on three different occasions, twice in pre-drug abuse and overweight days, and once after drugs and added pounds had taken their toll.  For all three opportunities, he wore those spectacular costumes Butch and Kim Polston reproduce today.  

  HUH?  What's up with that?