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The New Gladiators

E L V I S' L O V E  F O R  K A R A T E

Karate Moves, Las Vegas Hilton, 1972

Click here to listen to Elvis introducing Kang Rhee at a Vegas concert

In 1970 Elvis started training under Kang Rhee in Memphis (and gave him $50,000 to build a new school, as well as the obligatory Cadillac and the usual jewelry, guitars, etc), who had a Pasaryu school (basically Tae Kwon Do, as I understand it) in Memphis. He continued training with Ed Parker, who he also gave a Cadillac (Elvis told him "This car is cluttering up my driveway. Can you take it away for me?") as well as oodles of jewelry and the cape and belt he was supposed to wear on the "Aloha" satellite concert (which threw his costume designer into fits, since the things were thousands of dollars worth of material and jewels and Elvis gave them to Mr Parker only a few days before the show). Ed Parker toured with Elvis -- more as a friend than as a paid bodyguard -- when he could during the 70s, and would be on stage at the end of the show to help handle the crowd and hustle Elvis backstage to the limo. Elvis was so enthralled with kenpo that he had the patch sewn on to several of his suit in 1970 and, for most of his concerts from 1972 through the end of 1975, he affixed a big IKKA emblem on his black Gibson guitars -- a fairly conspicuous gesture which did not go unnoticed when the "Aloha" satellite broadcast reached an audience of 1.5 billion potential kenpo recruits. The only rough patch the two (who shared the same initials -- in fact, Elvis gave Mr Parker jewelry based on that similarity) -- ever had came in 1973 with the Parker-organized California State Karate Championships, held in San Francisco. Elvis got all excited about the tournament, even flying Mr Rhee out to Los Angeles to join in the expedition Elvis was leading up there, but when he got to the venue and saw a big marquee reading "Elvis Presley In Person" he got furious and turned the group around and back to L.A. -- to be fair, it seems that a promoter did that without consulting Ed Parker but Elvis, who was taken advantage of by more people than just about any other celebrity you could name, didn't like to be used like that.

During the '70s Elvis expanded on the non-physical side of martial arts practice. He had been into yoga, meditation, and a whole bunch of philosophy and other things (which used to be called "occult" but are now regarded as "New Age") since the mid-60s, but this huge posting would double in size if I started in on that. In 1973 he supposedly quit physical training for a while, but soon returned to it. On 2/18/73 a famous incident happened when three men stormed the stage (it turned out they were into something pretty criminal and weird) and were promptly dispatched. Depending on who you want to believe it was Elvis, his bodyguards, his bass player, or a combination of all of the above who took them out -- all I hear on a tape of the incident is a bunch of cheering and an obviously hyped-up Elvis saying "You want to shake my hand, that's one thing...but you want to get tough, I'll whup your ass!" Actually, that reminds me of another story (let's see how long this posting can get!) -- Elvis was driving down Sunset Boulevard in L.A. when someone at a corner gas station gave him the one-digit salute (whether he knew it was Elvis or not, I dunno). Elvis slammed on the brakes, backed up, and pulled into the station. He was carrying a gun (concealed). He got out, walked over to the group of people there, and said to the rude-dude "Did you shoot me the bird, buddy?." "I sure did." In a more composed voice Elvis said "Look, man, I don't like people talking to me like that" and on the last word the dude made his move but Elvis got there first and kicked him twice in the head, laying him out. Elvis got back in the car and drove off. I can't really vouch for this story's truth, but Elvis did crazy things sometimes (but usually not in a violent manner). However, one story that is definitely true is that of Elvis breaking up a fight at a gas station (with his love of things with wheels, I guess Elvis spent a lot of time at gas stations) in Madison, WI, on his last tour. Once again, his bodyguards were going crazy about Elvis exposing himself to a potentially violent situation, but Elvis defused the fight probably as much by his sheer presence as anything else.

Elvis financed a lot of martial arts enterprises -- including the legendary Tennessee Karate Institute co-founded by Red West (with which Bill Wallace - whom Elvis and Ed Parker tried to promote to 6th degree -- long story -- was associated, and to which Joe Lewis, Dominique Valera and others would come to train). Elvis trained at the TKI frequently, but while the others were practising full-contact kickboxing, Elvis stuck with "traditional" kenpo and self-defence sequences which looked very impressive and flashy, but required little actual contact. In 1973 Bill Wallace got kicked in his left (kicking) leg and put out of action with a severe contusion to his gastrocnemius (calf). Months of regular medical attention didn't help, so Elvis flew an acupuncturist to Graceland from California and "Superfoot" was completely cured within 15 minutes, and went on to remain undefeated from 1974-1980. Bill Wallace basically credits Elvis with saving his career and also for introducing to martial arts "...a lot of people...that normally wouldn't have gone into it. They took notice because of who he was." In 1974 Elvis financed the US Karate Team's Europe tour. He had special red-white-and-blue gis made by Tokaido in Japan, and had them flown rush to the USA. At that time a plain white Tokaido gi sold for $35 but these ones probably ended up costing Elvis about $400 apiece. Similarly, the custom gi Elvis is seen wearing in many photos (all of which came from the same session when Elvis was close to 40 years old) -- white with red satin trim -- cost about $500 according to one source, and the belt was made of two regular satin belts sewn side-by-side (supposedly Elvis thought the regular belts were too narrow, so he basically made himself a sash).

Elvis was almost obsessed with the idea of making a high-quality martial arts movie, and in 1974 filming started on his "The New Gladiators" project (conceived by Ed Parker's student George Waite, who was also close to Elvis), which Elvis was financing, starring in, and narrating. The film was supposed to depict karate competitors and their training, leading up to tournaments (there were a few tournaments scheduled to be covered by this documentary) around the world. A segment of Elvis training and showing some chi exercises was shot on 9/16/74 and is the source of about 40 minutes of film of Elvis in that custom gi (as well as the stills), a snippet of which can be seen in the 1981 movie "This Is Elvis". Photos from that session were seen in the People magazine issue which marked Elvis' 40th birthday in January, 1975, and gave more exposure to Elvis as a proponent of karate. The project was never realized, nor was another project conceived of by Ed Parker and Elvis, which I believe was entitled "Billy Easter". In this movie, as the treatment goes, Elvis was to have played an ex-CIA operative who runs a karate school when his friend is murdered by drug dealers, against which Elvis goes seeking revenge. This role (non-singing, which Elvis desperately wanted to do) sounds similar to about 8 million movies that have since come out.

Martial arts even figured into Elvis' divorce from Priscilla. Elvis and Priscilla met Mike Stone while in Hawaii after their marriage (Stone was in a tournament organized by Ed Parker, who introduced Stone to the couple), and Elvis was really impressed by Stone's fighting ability. A few years later Stone met Elvis again, in Vegas, in his capacity as Phil Spector's bodyguard -- after Spector left Elvis backstage, Elvis and Stone went up to Elvis' penthouse suite (the whole floor, actually) and talked karate. Priscilla had been taking kenpo from Ed Parker and his students, then TKD from Mr Rhee, and then moved on to Chuck Norris. Stone used to visit Norris' school to train Priscilla and the two got involved in a relationship not just that of teacher-student. In October, 1973, Priscilla and Elvis were divorced.

Before I finally close this thing, I gotta tell you about Elvis' August 1974 season at the Hilton International in Las Vegas. For one thing, Elvis had a spectacular Chinese Dragon jumpsuit designed for his last couple of days there, homage to martial arts and probably his most colorful costume. He also had an excellent Tiger jumpsuit made -- probably his coolest costume -- which reflects the name Kang Rhee had given him ("Tiger"). Anyway, Elvis had as part of his repertoire his new release "If You Talk In Your Sleep" -- a funky soul thang -- to which he would do segments of kenpo routines. As the engagement progressed (he did two shows a night) the song became longer as Elvis incorporated more karate, and then he started doing even longer routines (wearing his black gi top and belt over his jumpsuit) to drum solos that interrupted the song. I've seen some of these demos and the speed of his movements is very impressive -- of course there are also a lot of cool stances and posing for maximum effect, but it's pretty neat (if I knew more about kenpo I would probably find some of these were unmodified kenpo browns, if that's the correct term). This was the engagement during which he received his 8th degree black belt and, after doing "If You Talk In Your Sleep", Elvis would launch into a really long monolog about martial arts, his own involvement, how it's a philosophy and way of life rather than a way to beat up people, and how just about anybody can take it up (in one form or another). The talks were actually quite interesting, and only Elvis could get away with interrupting his singing for that long to rave on about something the audience probably wasn't expecting. It seems that Elvis was really into karate at that time (the footage of him training was shot two weeks after the Vegas shows) -- the night after his closing show he attended a Tom Jones show in Vegas, was introduced, and got up on stage to give a 20-minute karate dem!

Well, there it is -- everything I could think of about Elvis as a martial artist. There's a lot we may never know, but the take-home message is that Elvis was a SERIOUS martial artist (as opposed to a dabbler) who was one of a relative few to be highly-ranked in this country in the early 60s, who kept at it for a long time, and who made every effort (and he was opposed in these efforts by the all-powerful Colonel Parker) to spread the word and bring karate out for the general public. He deserves recognition for at least that, and that's why this question about Elvis as a karateka (which keeps popping up here in rec.martial-arts) probably should be a FAQ even though Elvis was nowhere near Bruce Lee in technique nor innovation. But have you ever heard Bruce sing?...

BILL WALLACE ON ELVIS: "He was pretty good for his age and, for the amount of time he had to spend on training, he was extremely good. He was 40 years old when I started working with him."

ED PARKER (who wrote a whole book on Elvis and used to attend Elvis fan club meetings as well as kenpo seminars): "Elvis was a damn good black belt...by any standards. He had a lot of guts and pain didn't bother him. If he got hit while we were working out he took it like a man. In fact, if you did hit him he'd come right back after you. He was tough and had a lot of courage."

Copyright (© Shane Paterson, 1995).

EP WITH WAYNE CARMAN