When I was at Graceland in 2000 I snapped this picture of the actual RCA TV set that Elvis ventilated when he saw fellow crooner Robert Goulet show up on a variety show. Turns out it's probably a phony. Reports at the time indicate that Elvis had the TV repaired and then gave it to his uncle Earl Pritchard who was the head grounds keeper at Graceland. What is real was Elvis' hatred for Goulet. Here's an excerpt from the Elvis Information Network interviewing Elvis insider Marty Lacker: EIN: Robert Goulet: there is a real myth about the Robert Goulet on TV incident. Can you set the record straight.
ML: Elvis harbored some bad feelings about Goulet from back in the late 50's when he was in the army. Elvis' girlfriend Anita Wood was a singer and she did shows with Goulet and Buddy Hackett. Anita would often write Elvis in Germany and one time Goulet added a post script to one of them telling Elvis in a sly way that he was personally taking care of Anita. Elvis didn't like that and he never forgot so when he saw Goulet on TV, he shot the TV out.
I agree with you, Dave, that this television was not actually fired at by Elvis, nor anybody else. I thought that when a TV was shot out, that the picture tube implodes because the vacuum seal is broken. If this TV had indeed taken a bullet, there would be far more damage.
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