Unless you’re a total newcomer to Ocean City, you know who Boardwalk Elvis is. It was always a special moment when you saw “Elvis” walking down the boardwalk. He’d be wearing either his black, white or red jumpsuit, carrying his boombox on his shoulder, and playing the kazoo along with the Elvis music coming out of the speakers.
What I have here are scans of 2 rare postcards Boardwalk Elvis aka Boardwalk Norman gave to me.
The first one he gave to me in the summer of 1994. I was standing on the boardwalk near Ocean Gallery (2nd Street) and he just handed it to me. I guess since I always said “hi” to him, he saw me as his buddy. That postcard is below.
This is the card that was available for years. I had it on the wall of my office, and I “lost” it (actually fell behind the desk). So the next time I was in Ocean City, I stopped B.E. and asked him if he had anymore postcards. He said he didn’t, but he knew the shop we were standing in front of sold his cards. He said he’d wait if I went in and bought one. So I ran in, got the card, and had him autograph it. As he walked away, I noticed the card didn’t say “Boardwalk Elvis” it said this:
So, Boardwalk “Norman”, eh? I doubt the Presley estate threatened to sue, so I always wondered why the manufacturers of the postcard changed it to his real name, Norman. I mean, not like there aren’t other people named Elvis. Is the town of Ocean City going to sue because they are using the name “Boardwalk”?
Anyway, both times he signed it Boardwalk Elvis. The first one he wrote “CULB Elvis” as you can see. I thought maybe he mis-spelled “Club Elvis” But then I thought maybe it means something like “C U Later, Buddy”. Any Elvis fans know if the Real King autographed things like that, and our buddy Norman was just following the lead?
ELVIS SIGHTING! Click on the little picture of BW Elvis below. It’s a link to a picture I took of BW at Springfest 2009, as he was dancing at one of the shows…
Ocean City’s “Boardwalk Elvis” Passes Away
Born on the Fourth of July in 1939, passed away at the age of 78 on June 16, 2018 at his home in Showell.