Elvis Presley's jumpsuit sets auction record

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Jumpsuit sets record

Elvis Presley's favorite performance costume, the peacock jumpsuit, sold for $300,000 Thursday, making it the most expensive piece of Elvis memorabilia sold at auction. Auctioneer Gotta Have It! described the seller as "a big Elvis collector" and declined to say who bought it. Presley paid $10,000 for the jumpsuit designed by Bill Belew. The record had belonged to the King's 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II, which sold for $295,000.

People

Dixie Chick, hubby split

Dixie Chick Emily Robison and her husband, singer Charlie Robison, have divorced. The San Antonio Express-News reported that Charlie Robison filed for divorce in January. The couple were at the Bexar County Courthouse in San Antonio on Wednesday when the divorce was finalized. The couple, married in 1999, have three children.

Mother knows best?

Usher's mother is back as his manager after a much publicized split in 2007. The 29-year-old superstar said Thursday that he ended his partnership with celebrity manager Benny Medina, whose clients include Mariah Carey, and rehired Jonnetta Patton. Patton had managed her son's career since he was a teenager.

Sick bay

Mr. Blackwell is ill

Acid-tongued fashion critic Richard Blackwell, better known as Mr. Blackwell, 85, regained consciousness in a Los Angeles hospital Thursday as he battled a serious infection, his publicist, Harlan Boll, said. "He appears to be cognizant of his surrounding," Boll said. Blackwell, a noted fashion designer in the 1950s and 1960s is best-known for his annual list of worst-dressed women.

Update

Freeman leaves hospital

Actor Morgan Freeman, 71, was discharged Thursday from a Memphis, Tenn., hospital after being treated for broken bones and other injuries suffered in a weekend car crash in Mississippi. "I left the hospital today," Freeman told "Entertainment Tonight." "I feel real good. I just really, I thank the staff at Elvis Presley [Regional Medical Center] and many, many thanks to my many well-wishers. It's great to know people care about you."

Sign of the times

Pot on the rise in Japan

The number of marijuana cases handled by police in Japan surged in the first half of the year, rising 12 percent from the same period last year to 1,202, the National Police Agency said. A major factor in the jump in marijuana cases was an increase in small-scale growing for private use, said a National Police spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy. Japanese law prohibits the growing or possession of marijuana for recreational drug use, but seeds are excluded and are readily available on the Internet.

Passages

Eric Dowling, 92, nicknamed "Digger" for helping excavate tunnels used in the breakout from a World War II German prison camp that became known as the "Great Escape," died at a nursing home near Bristol in southwest England on July 21, a day before his 93rd birthday. His son Peter Dowling said the character who most resembled his father was a flight lieutenant nicknamed "The Forger," played by Donald Pleasance.

Erik Darling, 74, the reedy-voiced guitarist and banjo player who stepped in when Pete Seeger left the folk group The Weavers, died Sunday in Chapel Hill, N.C., after battling lymphoma.

Today in History

1942: Six convicted Nazi saboteurs who had landed in the United States were executed in Washington, D.C.; two others were spared.

1963: Britain's "Great Train Robbery" took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.

1974: President Nixon announced he would resign after damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal.

Today's Birthdays

Actress Esther Williams, 87. Actor Dustin Hoffman, 71. Actress Connie Stevens, 70. Actor Larry Wilcox, 61. TV personality Deborah Norville, 50. Actor Michael Urie, 28. Tennis player Roger Federer, 27. Actress Meagan Good, 27. Britain's Princess Beatrice of York, 20.

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