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Bernard Lansky Interview
Before he was famous, Elvis used to admire the clothes he saw in the store
window of Lansky Brothers on Beale Street in Memphis. After he got famous
and had some money, he started to shop at Lansky Brothers. Bernard Lansky
of Lansky Brothers recalls Elvis Presley in this interview.
Q - Mr. Lansky, since your store is called Lansky Brothers,
how many brothers are involved?
A - Just my son and I.
Q - That's the way it has always been?
A - No. I bought my brothers out years ago.
Q - What happened to your brothers? Are they still around?
A - A couple of them died. Some of them are in different business. One's in
the hat business. One's an architect. There were six brothers and two died.
One was in the hair products (business). He died and my oldest brother died.
There are four of us left.
Q - Did your store mainly cater to musicians and show-biz
people when it opened?
A - We got out of the Army and our father bought us a store on Beale Street.
They were waitin' on me to come back from the Army. When I came back, my father
bought us the store, which I didn't like. I said 'this is not my forte'. Anyway,
we got in the Army surplus. The merchandise he bought for us, I threw away.
When I walked in and saw what it was, it wasn't me. So, I just threw it out
on the sidewalk and said 'we're gonna start something different.' We went out
to the Army Depot and started buying Army surplus. We did fairly well with
it. We were right on top of it. We had crates in there. We had tables in there.
Everything laid out. T-shirts and pants. Everything from Army surplus. We did
a very good job. Then, all at once, all this stuff started running out. But,
there was a void in the market down on famous Beale Street...high fashion.
So, my brother and I started out in high fashion. I went to the market. We
started picking up real sharp merchandise. As you know, Beale Street was an
all ethnic street. We had all the blues singers and bands. You had the theatres
down here. People used to come and walk up and down Beale Street. So, I started
doin' windows. I knew how to dress widows. I started makin' real sharp windows.
These bands would cut records for Stax Recording Company and they all started
comin' in. Word of mouth started bringing people in here. We were doing fantastic.
Q - You said you were buying clothes from the market. What
are you referring to? What market?
A - We went to Californian and New York markets, buying real high fashion merchandise.
Q - The market was what though?
A - That's a clothing market.
Q - All the designers would display their merchandise?
A - Exactly. We went to the market to see what's happening. We were cherry-picking
different things, what I thought would be sharp for my clientele.
Q - So, you don't design clothes?
A - Not at that time?
Q - But you do today?
A - Today. From then on, I started designing. I had my own tailor shop. I had
my own piece goods that we used to buy. We had cut making trim. You know
what cut making trim means? We'd come in, measure the customer. We'd tailor
for 'em. I had my own tailor shop. We had fifteen tailors in the tailor shop.
I was in charge of all the tailors, make sure everything was cut out. I used
to cut piece goods. I used to lay it out on the table and design it and had
them ready for them and things like that. We had tailor shops in our shop.
We had all our own piece goods...silk and wool, mohair, different piece goods
that we had. People would pick out what they'd want and we'd take the measurements
and we'd take it into the tailor shop and cut it out. In about a week or
ten days, we'd have it ready for them.
Q - And how unusual was that for a shop to do all that?
A - No. It's not unusual. You'd want something different and we were different.
We had piece goods that no one else had. We had real sharp merchandise.
Q - You first saw Elvis looking in the window of your store?
A - Right.
Q - You went out to greet him. Is that something you'd
normally do?
A - It was very seldom to see a white dude come down on Beale Street to look
and see what's happening. He was there 'cause he was interested in seeing what
we had in the window. The merchandise, the piece goods. Not only the piece
goods, but the way I had it laid out. You know, you had your shirts and your
ties; your silk and wool pants, your no back-pocket pants; your flair bottoms
and your bell-bottoms. I made it like they wanted. I'd come up with different
styles, different things that we had. It was different styles that we were
coming up with. Everybody wanted something different. A band didn't want what
the other band had. They didn't want the same piece of goods. We had walls
full of piece goods that we could lay out. We could do whatever we want with
it, or make it like they want it, like I want to give it to them.
Q - You sold him what?
A - No, wait a minute. As I invited him in, I showed Elvis around, not knowing
who he was. He said "I like all of this. It's fantastic. I don't have any
money now, but when I get rich, I'll buy you out." Elvis used to work at
the theater around the corner from us. He used to come down and look in our
windows. He used to walk up and down Beale Street and see the sharp windows
I had. That's what he liked. He had his hair all combed back in that ducktail.
It was real sharp. One day he came back in. Before that, he'd come in and
buy a couple of shirts. At that time, shirts were $2.95 or $3.95. He was
working at the theater. I don't know how much money he was making. He would
always come in on Friday and buy a shirt. When he really got coming up and
I knew he has something going for him, he was playing guitar and working
for Sun Recording Company. He came in and said 'Mr. Lansky' and I said 'yeah
Elvis, what do you need?' He said 'I've got a contract. I'm going to New
York and be on Ed Sullivan...Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey. I got some gigs
and I'm gonna be on television. I need some clothes.' I said 'fine, no problem.'
I put all the clothes out and showed him everything, all the different styles.
He said 'fine, I like this, but I have a problem.' I said 'what's the problem?'
He said 'I don't have no money.' I said 'Lord have mercy, what's next?' But
we took care of him and charged it out to him and he started paying. He started
coming in and being one of my regular customers. I saw him on television
and put all the clothes on him. I said 'I like them. That's my man! That's
my main man!' At first I didn't know what the hell he did. But after he came
up and I saw him on television, I said 'this guy's got to be something!'
And he did. He was fantastic. Not only that, he was my p.r. (public relations)
man. After he started having these gigs with Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey,
he was on the Louisiana Hayride and getting gigs all over the country, he
started coming here. Everybody liked what he wore. Man, where'd you get those
clothes? Lansky Brothers down on famous Beale Street. Everybody started coming
in and buying what Elvis used to buy.
Q - Did you sell him the pants with the green stripes down
the sides?
A - No. That was a black pair of pants with pink stitching on it, and no back
pockets. Something different, with a flair bottom. Real sharp.
Q - Did you sell him that gold lame' jacket?
A - I made that gold lame' jacket for him.
Q - Would that have been the same one I saw on display
in the traveling Hard Rock Cafe' Exhibit at the New York State Fair?
A - That's right. That's the one I made. That one was shown in the Hard Rock
Cafe' in Vegas.
Q - How much did you charge Elvis for that jacket?
A - (laughs) That was NC...no charge. The guy was doing good for me. Why shouldn't
I give him something? Hell, it'll be fantastic. It'll be advertising for
Lansky Brothers on Beale Street. Everybody started seeing it and they liked
it. After awhile, everybody wanted a gold lame' jacket. You know you got
to give to receive.
Q - Did Elvis continue to buy from Lansky Brothers until
the end of his life?
A - We used to ship a lot of stuff out to Graceland. If I wasn't out there,
my son used to take stuff out there. When I'd go to the market, I'd cherry
pick stuff. Something different for him. He used to wear a lot of long coats
with fur collars, the leather coats and things like that. In 1970, it was Superfly
time. I made eight long coats for him, eight different kinds. I made leather
coats, fur coats, which he liked. I made a couple of hats for him. I started
putting hats on him too.
Q - Would you show Elvis samples of the material you would
use or did you make the whole thing?
A - I made it. I knew what he wanted. He wanted something different. He wanted
to be different. I knew that. I knew I had to plan out stuff, what he would
wear, what would be sharp. Elvis was my P.R. man for the whole world. Elvis
used to send people to Lanskys. He'd say 'that's where I buy all my clothes.'
When he used to come in, I had kids look in the windows and watch him. That's
Elvis.
Q - When Elvis got famous and he would come into shop,
would you close the store down? I imagine his fans would create chaos.
A - They would, but you gotta be nice to everybody. You start running 'em out,
that's when you lose your customers. You want to be nice to them when they
come in and nice will follow.
Q - You actually sell your clothes worldwide now through
your website?
A - Yes, we do that. We sure do.
Q - Do you have stores in other cities?
A - We have stores here in Memphis at the Peabody Hotel. We used to be down
on Beale Street for many years. We have four stores in the hotel. We've been
in the hotel twenty three years. We've been on Beale Street for fifty years
and we're still growing.
Q - Still growing?
A - Yes sir. You'd be surprised the people we get from all over the world...the
UK, Japan, all over. See Mr Bernard Lansky, Clothier to The King.
Q - Would you ever consider opening another store in another
city?
A - I got people coming in, why should I spread myself thin? I'm here at the
store. The people come to Memphis and can't wait 'til they see me. They all
come to Memphis. They all know where I'm at. I get mail from all over the world.
I still get telephone calls from everybody. I open these stores at six o'clock
in the morning. You never know who's staying upstairs. We got five hundred
rooms in the Hotel Peabody. The people that come in here...unreal. I sign books
for 'em. I sign autographs for 'em and everything.
Q - How long of a day do you put in?
A - I go home about five thirty...six o'clock. Ya never know who's gonna come
in to see me. And another thing, you like to be here when they come in, it's
oohs and aahs. It's so fantastic. It makes you feel good. I'm seventy six
years old and I'm still working every day.
Q - It almost sounds like you're a star.
A - Tell me about it. I'm on stage.
Q - When did you last see Elvis?
A - Not too long before he died. He was kind of big at that time.
Q - He wasn't ordering any clothes from you then was he?
A - No.
Q - You saw him at Graceland?
A - Yeah, exactly. I had carte blanch out there. I knew the Daddy and the Mama.
Gladys was fantastic. We all big buddies. It's just like, make a delivery
out there at three thirty in the afternoon and Gladys, the Mom, would be
cooking breakfast for the group. She said 'Mr. Lansky, are you gonna have
breakfast with us?' I said 'I'm going home. My wife is fixing dinner. If
I eat breakfast and go home in the next thirty minutes, and I don't eat dinner,
my wife's gonna be mad at me.' She said 'Oh I can understand Mr. Lansky.'
I said 'thank you, thank you very much.' She was a doll. A very nice lady...a
plain lady...and the Daddy, unreal. Vernon was a nice guy. They were real
good people. Elvis used to always call me Mr. Lansky. I said 'Elvis, I'm
Bernard, my father was Mr. Lansky.' Thank you. Thank you very much Mr. Lansky.
From the time I met him, 'til the time he died, he never called me Bernard.
Q - He always addressed people as Mr. or Sir.
A - Exactly. That's how he was brought up. He'd kill ya with kindness. If he
liked you, fantastic. You didn't have a problem. A real gentleman. Lisa Marie
is a doll.
Q - You know her too?
A - Oh sure. The mother, she's fantastic. She comes in here all the time. They
stay here in Memphis. They stay at the Peabody Hotel. The got the suites
up there. They come here maybe six times a year. They stay here and go out
to Graceland to see what's happening and we still talk...chit-chat. Talk
about what's happening and things. But, they're all good people.
© Gary James All Rights Reserved
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