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On The Throne With The King
Author: Chuck Oliver
Published in paperback by Dowling Press, Nashville
ISBN 1-891847-06-6
"On The Throne With The King" is subtitled, "The Ultimate Bathroom Elvis Trivia Book." The throne in the title refers, of course, to a toilet, which is also depicted on the colourful cover of this collection of some five hundred or so brief items of Elvisology.
Author Chuck Oliver is announced on the back cover as being "a leading expert in Elvis," so it is perhaps surprising that such an expert would have chosen what can only be described as a fairly low appeal level for what appears to be his first book about Elvis. The items are grouped into 52 chapters: each chapter begins with a page of about ten questions; the rest of the chapter then repeats each question, followed by its answer. Oliver presents the answers in an often tongue-in-cheek fashion, sometimes even with some nice cynicism; he clearly has a healthy dislike for numerous members of Elvis's entourage and does not make any effort to hide his feelings about Tom Parker and Vernon Presley. Priscilla also gets a few brickbats, though Oliver also indicates that her business sense has reaped some good rewards, too.
The long-time Elvis fan will not find a great deal in "On The Throne" that they do not already know, though I must admit that a few of the items included were new to me: the story linking The Bangles' worldwide hit, "Eternal Flame" with Elvis's gravesite; Vernon's explanation to the Reverend Gene Maughn about where Elvis is really buried; the 1980 Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture's respectful categorisation of Elvis...
Unfortunately, along with so many other books about Elvis, "On The Throne" contains its fair share of errors. This is especially unfortunate, of course, for a book that might be used as a source of questions for Elvis quizzes! Some examples: "It's Now Or Never" was not Elvis's first release after returning home from the army, as explained in chapter 8, question 7); Elvis did record songs during his army days, contrary to what is stated in chapter 11, question 8; "C'mon Everybody" was issued as a standard RCA release, well before the 1991 date offered in chapter 14, question 5). There are numerous other errors, few of which can be excused "a leading expert in Elvis."
Equally unfortunate is the evidence of poor proof-reading that is scattered throughout the book, from incorrect use of homonyms ("rouse" instead of "ruse," 'pouring" instead of "poring," for example), clearly incorrect sentences ("Provide the Elvis movie from which each of the following locales in taken," for example, which is actually printed twice!), and even an apparently misplaced page (an additional question is included at the end of chapter 44, where it is clearly out of place -- the question is repeated in chapter 49). Question 10 of chapter 18 ends with, "The record eventually hit number one, staying there for four weeks." This might be extremely interesting, were it not for the fact that the question asks in which Elvis film Vincent Price appears and that the rest of the answer makes no mention of a record title!
Such errors do not promote confidence and why, oh why, is it so difficult for writers to use the correct names of and offer correct facts about important characters? Perhaps it is excusable for an American not to be able to spell Parker's real Dutch name correctly (Oliver writes "van Kuijik" -- it should be "van Kuijk"), but surely there is no excuse for writing "Lieber" instead of "Leiber" and referring to Elvis's paternal grandmother as "his Aunt Minnie Mae" is tantamount to sacrilege!
"On The Throne With The King" is a good enough concept, but its execution leaves a great deal to be desired -- there are just too many errors for it to be taken seriously.
David Neale Copyright February 2001