This Market Isn’t Dead

An auction this month by Los Angeles-based Butterfield & Butterfield in Las Vegas offers further evidence that Elvis remains King when it comes to the unusual memorabilia business.

Among the items for sale:

* Elvis’ Phillips 66 Executive Courtesy Card, signed by the chief executive of the company.

* The King’s white pajamas, worn during his last tour.

* An unpaid parking ticket warrant issued in 1976 by a municipal court in Palm Springs. The ticket was issued to Elvis’ Cadillac, illegally parked at the Palm Springs airport.

* A moving violation citation issued in 1975 to Presley in Memphis, Tenn., for failing to have a motorcycle license.

* His membership card in the Palm Springs Police Officers Assn. and an application he filled out to become a special deputy in Shelby County, Tenn.

* A collection of chalk models Elvis won at carnivals, including Popeye, Pinocchio, Snow White and Rin Tin Tin.

Yo, Wall Street

Is Sylvester Stallone the next Warren Buffett?

As part of recent investments in the stock market, Stallone filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission identifying his “principal occupation” as not only a professional actor, but also as “investing and trading in, and owning and holding, securities for his own account.”

According to the documents, Stallone’s purchases are issued to him as trustee of an entity called American Arabesque. In a separate filing, Stallone is listed as president of White Eagle Enterprises of New Jersey. The Trenton-based company is a vehicle for Stallone investments in New Jersey’s Yardville National Bancorp.

Choosing Ito Over Levin

A number of media accounts of the proposed Time Warner acquisition of Turner Broadcasting portrayed Time Warner music chief Michael Fuchs as being left out in the cold the day of the deal was announced, purportedly because of a diminished role in the merged company.

But Chuck Ross of Inside Media found Fuchs--at least while Time Warner Chief Executive Gerald Levin and Turner Chairman Ted Turner were announcing the deal--was not out in the cold but rather safely inside.

“While the press conference was going on, Inside Media found Fuchs pacing impatiently in the anteroom, where Fuchs invited the reporter to check out the O.J. Simpson trial that was showing on a monitor,” Ross wrote.

Briefly. . .

Sort of Holy water: Modern Brewery Age reports that bottled water company Castle Spring plans to produce a special label for its spring water to commemorate this month’s scheduled visit to the United States by Pope John Paul II. . . . Recent winners of the Public Relations Society of America’s Silver Anvil Award include campaigns for the 40th anniversary of the Swanson TV dinner, the 30th anniversary of G.I. Joe, and the Citadel’s fight against Shannon Faulkner’s efforts to break the college’s all-male tradition.