The Best of “Elvis’ Golden Caricatures” (Volume 3)
A gallery of artwork poking a little fun at the King of Rock & Roll in the ’70s
THE ELVIS OF THE ’70s in his fantastical jumpsuits and expanding waistline has found attention from many artists. While Elvis went through several “stages” in his appearance, many artists (and journalists and detractors) rely a nasty caricature of Elvis on the July 1976 issue of National Lampoon featured The artist portrayed Presley with a huge, floppy beer-belly (which he never had) and tree-trunk thick thighs (which he never had), both bursting the seams of his jumpsuit
Partly due to the National Lampoon and other unflattering caricatures of Elvis as grossly obese and sloppy-looking, many non-fans have it in their heads that he was gross and sloppy during his life. This was not true: the rounded, bloated look of his past few years was due to the extraordinary amount of drugs he ingested — not a slothful lifestyle. But
The image of the “fat Elvis” is the image that remains in many people’s memories.
The over-the-top take on Presley’s appearance of the National Lampoon caricature was in line with the generally crude humor that the magazine’s fans enjoyed. The July '76 cover actually received more…
