James Simpson Roaten
Contributed by Darlene Roaten Mauch
James Simpson Roaten was a self-made man. After working for the Frisco Railroad for 5 years, he went
into the machinery business, having, at one time, 3 active shops. He was a multi-millionaire when he died in 1981.
He invented the Delaurice Press Brake (named after his 2nd wife).
Elvis Presley's Home at 1034 Audobon Drive
In the 1970s, James owned Elvis Presley's first house at 1034 Audobon Drive in Memphis
Tennessee. He also considered purchasing Graceland, but decided not to and Elvis later bought that estate.
In 1956, Elvis Presley exploded on the national charts
with songs like "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel". His
appearances on the Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, and Steve Allan Shows made him a
household name. When he came home from these now famous recording
sessions, TV shows, and the filming of his first two movies, he didn't return
to Graceland, his famous mansion...
Elvis came home to a simple suburban ranch house in East
Memphis, Tennessee. This, the first home he bought, was the American
dream. This is the home he bought for his mother scarcely three years after
the family left federally subsidized housing. Given the improvements he
made to the house, we believe he would have stayed if the crush of fame and
fans hadn't demanded he seek the privacy offered by Graceland.
It was here, while living at 1034 Audobon Drive, that
Elvis defined the 50s', where his influence changed everything about music,
style, and youth culture. Here, at the start of his career, more
professional photographs were taken than were ever taken at Graceland for the
rest of his life. Some of these images are so famous they've become
synonymous with him, and they are remarkable because they capture ordinary,
un-posed family moments: his mother handing him a clean pair of underwear,
sipping a soft drink on the patio, wrestling in a half-filled pool.
It is these photographs that place Elvis in nearly every
room and document how little the house has changed. It is a home still
frozen in time and owned now by Cindy Hazen and Mike Freeman, authors of The
Best of Elvis and Memphis Elvis-Style.
UPDATE (May 2006): Cindy and Mike sold this home on eBay in May 2006. It
had an appraised value of $280,000 and was bid up from $460,000 to $905,100 in the final
day of frantic bidding. The winning bid was submitted by Peter Gleason, a partner in
a group that includes Israeli psychic Uri Geller. Their interest in the home is
in restoring it to its 1956 luster, down to the original wallpaper and floor
coverings, and eventually opening it to the public.
"We are unbelievably pleased, this is a piece of history," Geller said by phone
from England. "We intend to restore it to its old glory. We would like to bring
sick children there (for tours), Palestinian children, Israeli children,
American children," the Israeli-born Geller said. "Hopefully one day we might
get approval to turn it into a museum."
Presley bought the four-bedroom, two-bath house at 1034 Audubon Drive in Memphis in 1956 with a down payment of
$500. He lived there for 13 months before moving to Graceland, the now-famous
Memphis estate where he died in 1977. During his time in the white, ranch-style
house with an outdoor swimming pool, Presley's career took off with hits such as
"All Shook Up" and "Don't be Cruel."
Mike and Cindy Hazen bought the house for about $180,000. Geller had originally bid $300,000 last month
but a bidding war ensued and the price ballooned, he said. During the process he was
approached by dozens of people wanting to go in with him. He chose two,
New York lawyer Jim Gleason and Lisbeth Silvandersson, a Swedish-born jewelry
maker who lives in England, as equal partners. He had set a ceiling price of
$1.11 million, said Geller, who acknowledges a paranormal fascination with the
number 11. "As the clock closed on the bidding Sunday," Geller said, "I felt
intuitively I got the price. I was text messaging Gleason and it was exactly 11
on my mobile phone and suddenly the radio started playing an Elvis song. That
was Elvis telling me we got the house!"
Geller met Presley in Las Vegas in the 1970s after the "King of Rock and Roll" asked him to perform his "spoon
bending" trick for him, he said. Since then he has amassed a large collection of Presley memorabilia.
SECOND UPDATE (6/11/2006): The home at 1034 Audubon appeared to have been sold at auction on eBay for
$905,100 last month to Israeli-born celebrity psychic Uri Geller and two
partners. But, when they were unable to work out contract terms with Memphis
owners Cindy Hazen and Mike Freeman, the house was sold for $1 million to
Nashville record producer Mike Curb.
Geller and one partner, New York attorney Peter Gleason, cried foul, claiming
their high bid was unfairly rejected only because a higher offer came along.
Hazen said the bid was discarded after Gleason made contractual changes in the
closing papers, then could not be reached for two weeks while they tried to
close the sale. "At the end of two weeks we did not have an agreement. It made
me question their commitment or ability to follow through with the sale. This is
not a decision we made lightly," says Hazen.
When the sale to Curb closed Friday, Gleason responded by reopening an old
wound for Hazen and Freeman. He hired a Memphis attorney to see that a closed
bankruptcy case involving Hazen and Freeman would be reopened. The couple, who
recently divorced, had filed for bankruptcy in September 2005, and the case was
discharged in February 2006, excusing them of about $43,000 in debt. In the
petition, they listed the value of their home at its appraised value of about
$236,000.
The bankruptcy trustee, Barbara R. Loevy, filed a motion this week to reopen
the case. In it, she said, "The debtors had the unique knowledge of the true
nature and value of the property and withheld this information from the
Trustee."
Geller and Gleason's Memphis attorney, Douglas Alrutz, said Gleason's role in
stirring the legal pot was not an act of vengeance. "It's doing the right thing
for their (Hazen's and Freeman's) creditors," Alrutz said.
Hazen, however, said, "I think it says a lot about Uri Geller and Peter
Gleason that they want to dwell on the pain we've been through in the past
year."
She said she made no effort in bankruptcy court to conceal or downplay the
potential value of the Audubon property. "There were eight owners between Elvis
and us, and the house had never before sold for more than market value. There
was no way for us to know what somebody would bid."
Her attorney, Bruce Ralston, said, "Nobody in the world could have predicted
this," meaning a heated bidding battle on eBay and a final sale price of $1
million. The bankruptcy case now is set for a hearing at 9:30 a.m. June 26 to
determine whether the case should be reopened and assets from the sale of the
home attached to pay off creditors previously denied assets.
Meanwhile, Geller and Gleason have vowed to legally overturn the rejection of
their bid and sale of the house to Curb. "If I have to, I will take this to the
Supreme Court; If I have to I'll take this to the Pope," Geller said Monday.
10 Facts about 1034 Audubon Drive
1. The home was not built
for Elvis, nor was it a brand new home. In fact, it was built by Howard
and Ruth Handwerker for their family. They completed the home either in
late 1953 or early 1954. Howard was employed by a wood products company
and had experience in home construction. He designed his home with
special features; redwood wall paneling, pocket doors that slide into the
walls, and red oak floors. When the Handwerkers moved out in 1956, Elvis
bought the home, making the Presley family the second owners of 1034 Audubon Drive.
2. They bought the home in March 1956, not May 11, 1956 as many people have written. The
transaction papers were signed on March 8 and 12, 1956. The Presley family; Elvis, Vernon, Gladys,
and Minnie Mae, moved into the house the last week of the month.
3. It is also written
that they paid $40,000 for the home. Actually they paid $29,100, still a
lot of money in those days for a home. The erroneous information about
the date and price of this transaction stems from a newspaper article printed
on May 11, 1956.
4. Obviously, Elvis
provided the money to buy the home. But he signed the documents to own
the home with his mother and father, giving all three "title" to the home.
In fact, the following year all three would sign similar documents to
take possession of Graceland. These documents are further proof that
Elvis shared his success with his family.
5. Part of the legend is
that the neighbors did not like Elvis. Some of the neighbors were said to
regard the Presleys as "white trash, hillbillies." Or they viewed his
performances as crude or sinful. Apparently not everyone on Audubon Drive
shared those views. A few of the surviving neighbors are careful to
explain that they liked the family, but did not like the noise and confusion
surrounding them.
6. No matter how the
parents of Audubon Drive felt, the 60 or more children growing up on the street
loved having the King of Rock and Roll live "next door". For the young
girls entering their sexual awaking, he must have quite a treat. The boys
saw Elvis as the "leader of the pack." Elvis was accommodating to them
all; signing autographs, giving motorcycle rides, playing football with the
boys.
7. The Presley family
tried to be good neighbors. Those who met them particularly remember
Gladys feeding cookies to the nearby children, or showing off her vegetable
garden by the swimming pool. Vernon was not as friendly. They saw
less of Elvis, but he was always polite to his elders. The year 1956 was
the beginning of Elvis mania, when he was mobbed everywhere he traveled.
The Audubon Drive home became an unofficial tourism attraction in the
city, especially when Elvis was home. The Presleys understood that the
unbridled enthusiasm for Elvis was a distraction, but were unable to solve the
problem.
8. Many of the most famous
pictures of Elvis were taken at 1034 Audubon Drive. Elvis allowed Alfred
Wertheimer to follow him at close range for months that year. Alfred shot
Elvis, young cousin Billy Smith, and Vernon sitting by the patio table.
Elvis has cocked his head to one side to observe the photographer and is
holding a Pepsi bottle. This photo has been reproduced thousands of
times. An even more famous photo is of Elvis on his Harley-Davidson,
casting his eyes downward. It is the most iconic photo of moody, restless
youth of the 1950's. Actually, Elvis was not striking a pose, but was
disgusted that his motorcycle did not have gas in the tank. He could not
start it.
9. Eight families have
owned 1034 Audubon between the years 1957 to 1998. After all these years,
Elvis was the last homeowner to add a room to the house. Elvis converted
the outdoor patio into a large den; with a glass wall to look out to the pool,
two wood and glass trophy cases, mahogany wood paneling, custom made star
shaped light fixtures, and an acoustic tile ceiling. The room looks the
same today. Although he was the homeowner for one year, he made far more
changes to the house than everyone else after him.
10. Finally they knew that they had
to move into a place with more privacy and security than was possible at 1034
Audubon Drive. It is well known that the Presley bought Graceland from
Ruth Brown Moore, a member of a wealthy Memphis family who built that estate
home in 1939. Graceland was named after a relative of Mrs. Moore, but few
knew that Mrs. Moore swapped homes with the Presleys. She took possession
of 1034 Audubon Drive and rented it to another relative. Elvis paid
$102,000 for Graceland, half of that in cash, and half in the assessed value of 1034 Audubon Drive.
The following pictures were taken in May, 1984
