Is this Elvis industry’s swan song?

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">memphis: the king may be immortal, but his fans are not. that is the essence of the problem facing the elvis industry, which has hummed along quite nicely without him for 25 years, selling and reselling songs, movies, posters, books, clothing and every other imaginable form of merchandise. the 25th anniversary of elvis presley’s death will see the selling of new cd’s, coffee-table books, furniture, commercial tie-ins and even an animated disney movie with elvis songs in a crucial plot role.but now, with original elvis fans qualifying for senior citizen discounts, the biggest question is whether this year’s hoopla will be a comeback at all, or merely a last hurrah. joe dimuro, senior vice president of strategic marketing at elvis’s record label, rca records/bmg, which is orchestrating a yearlong international marketing campaign for the release of two new elvis collections on compact disc, said the goal was to spruce up what was essentially a timeworn product line. “for us, it’s about taking a property and figuring out, how do we make him hip, young and irreverent into a brand that’s relevant to this younger demographic,� dimuro said. that challenge was on full view this week at elvis’s grave, the last stop on the graceland mansion tour, where the elderly taking snapshots of his tombstone far outnumbered the young. dan saulsgiver, 49, had driven his wife, carol, and both of their mothers from hamilton, ny, near syracuse. but the real elvis fan in the bunch was his mother-in-law, marion sandquist, 77 and in a wheelchair. graceland officials insist that half of all visitors are younger than 35. but how many children are eager to come and how many are dragged by their elders is an open question. <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">nyt news service</span> </div> </div>