From Graceland to the Holy Land

>> Schmelvis and Diversus Productions embark on a search for the King's Jewish genealogy

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

You know what always cracked me up? The way all these blue-haired white trash broads could never accept the fact that Liberace was queer. I mean, all the indicators were right there in front of them: the lacy frills, the makeup, the jewellery, the pretty-boy "personal assistant." But they just wouldn't bite.

I'm curious how the same old ladies will deal with this one: Elvis Presley was a Jew. In 1998, the Wall Street Journal ran a piece drawing attention to the fact that Elvis' maternal great-great-grandmother Nancy Tackett was Jewish. Since Jewish identity is matrilineal, that makes the King Jewish too.

Wait, there's more. His mother's gravestone, at Elvis' own request, bears a Star of David. Elvis also donated a room of his Graceland mansion to the Memphis Jewish Community Centre. He was photographed sporting a chai pendant, the Jewish symbol of life. Oh, and his middle name was Aaron.

Still unconvinced? That's where the gang at Montreal's own Diversus Productions kick into high gear. They're currently assembling a road trip documentary called Elvis: King of Jerusalem, with which they're going to blow the story wide open.

The gospel truth

"I knew this had to be either a book or film," says director Max Wallace, best known for co-writing the book Who Killed Kurt Cobain? "I'd already done the book on Cobain's murder and I didn't want to get typecast in the book world as this wacko conspiracy nut. I'd just started working here at Diversus, so we started talking about going down and giving Elvis a proper Jewish burial and all that. It all came together.

"I started doing the research and it went really deep. To the Christians in the Bible belt, Elvis is a god. They don't listen to 'Hound Dog,' they listen to the gospel songs. What they don't realize is that all this gospel music is rooted in the Old Testament--'Go down, Moses, go down to Israel land.' So Elvis always had this spiritual connection to the Jews. I found out that, as a teenager, he lived downstairs from an orthodox Rabbi. On the Sabbath, they're not allowed to turn lights on and off, so they would get a young Elvis to do this. He was a shabbos goy, it's called."

Now, every documentary needs its central figure. Given that Elvis is (supposedly) dead, the pressure was on to find a suitable stand-in. Enter Montrealer Dan Hartal, also known as Schmelvis.

King fu fighting

"I've been performing Elvis schtick at the Hospital of Hope for years," says Hartal. "It was one way to lighten up the patients in the hospital, kibitz a little bit. I'd bring my guitar and put on a nice, classy Elvis shirt, and play 'Hound Dog,' or even 'Simen Tov Mazel Tov' with an Elvis accent. That was my thing. Then I spoke to Max and he told me about this whole idea and it really caught on. I was really excited.

"The whole idea about Schmelvis is, if Elvis was to become a Hasidic Jew, he'd look like me. Elvis was a very spiritual man. There's a lot of things about his Jewish roots--he asked his manager Colonel Tom Parker if he should pronounce to the world that he was Jewish, and the Colonel asked him to keep it hush-hush, so as not to jeopardize his career."

The project came into focus as a dual road trip. The first leg will be a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, followed by a journey by Winnebago through the heart of the Bible belt to Memphis, timed to coincide with the massively-popular Elvis Week at Graceland in August. Along the way, Schmelvis is expected to leap out of the wagon and pester beady-eyed rednecks about their feelings on the issue. Here's hoping he picked up a few of the King's karate moves.

"Of course, I'm very nervous, going down to the Bible belt," says Schmelvis. "I don't know what kind of reactions we're going to get. There's a little bit of that trepidation, that mystique of the unknown. I think I'm supposed to be some kind of... uh, burnt offering for this project..." Then again, the crew may find themselves pleasantly surprised. "We're hoping that it will be a positive thing, bringing together Christians and Jews."

Keeping it kosher

Diversus have already lined out the itinerary for the Jerusalem trip, for which they depart on May 15. "One of the things we're going to do is plant a Jewish tree," notes Schmelvis. "In the Jewish tradition, when someone dies, you plant a tree in his memory to show the sign of rebirth. We're also going to trace down his lineage at the Diaspora Museum."

On the lighter side, they'll also be stopping by Jerusalem's Elvis Inn. "It's this wacky little café which is basically a shrine to Jewish Elvis," says Wallace. "There's a 13-foot statue of him outside, wearing his chai talisman. They seem, in Israel, to have had this connection with Elvis for a long time, too. This place was there before they knew he was Jewish, with all these Jewish Elvis impersonators congregating. When they found out, they erected the statue."

Later, they'll be off to Memphis, where they intend to recite Kaddish, the prayer for the dead, over the King's grave. Schmelvis will need to find nine more Jewish men to form a minyan, the circle of ten needed to elevate a soul to God. "To make sure everything's kosher," continues Wallace, "we're bringing a rabbi with us, Rabbi Rueben Poupko. He'll be on both trips. See, we were worried about how the Jewish establishment would react, that they'd think we were besmirching Judaism. But it's quite the opposite; he immediately saw the benefits of reuniting Judaism and Christianity. So yeah, the Jews are totally on board. One down, one to go."

Channelling the King

Though they have yet to depart on their quest, Diversus is already getting attention for the project. Previous efforts have focused on blacks in hockey and Nazi war criminals, but the balance of humour and solemnity this doc strikes has it fast-tracked to the front, flagging down the likes of England's Channel 4, the Sundance Channel, MTV and Keshet in Tel Aviv. "It completely exploded," says producer Evan Beloff.

Diversus is using their upcoming Chutzpah! soirée as a send-off for Schmelvis and his posse. Now three years in and growing, Chutzpah! is a local mini-fest celebrating Montreal's Jewish cultural scene, showcasing music, art and performance. It mirrors the current renaissance of Jewish culture and identity elsewhere, such as the avant-garde klezmer scene in New York--a renaissance likely to blow up even bigger when the doc hits screens.

Schmelvis isn't ready to rule out the possibility that Presley himself may be watching somewhere. "He may be alive in Israel today. There's all these conspiracy theories about him being alive, so maybe he's there. He may be working on a kibbutz. Who knows!" :

Chutzpah! happens at Jailhouse Rock on Thursday, May 11, 9pm, $5