Elvis jumpsuits made in southern Indiana play big role in summer blockbuster

CHARLESTOWN, Ind. (WDRB) -- At B&K Enterprises in Charlestown, the glitz and spotlight have always been just a ring away.

"I answer most of the phone calls," Kim Polston said.

One she took a couple years back promised to be the biggest yet, but that’s the end of the story, and you haven’t heard the beginning.

Polston couldn’t help but falling in love with an Elvis fan, Butch Polston, who's now her husband.

"When Elvis died, I asked him, 'If you had your choice of anything of Elvis's, what would it be?'" Kim Polston said. "I figured he would say one of his cars, but he said one of his jumpsuits."

To bling like "The King" costs money, and the Polstons didn’t have it. So Kim made some jumpsuits.

A trip to the heartbreak hotel or the Memphis Days Inn and an encounter with an Elvis impersonator was about to change everything.

"He said, 'Oh these (homemade jumpsuits) are great. I'll give you $500 a piece if I could buy them,'" Kim Polston said.

It started with one for the money, two for someone’s show, then it became a booming business called B&K Enterprises.

"We've done a lot of stuff over the years for a lot of entertainers," Butch Polston said.

The kind of entertainers you know by one name like, Miley, Bruno and Costner.

Back to that phone call. It was Academy Award-winning costume designer Catherine Martin. She wanted to stop by the southern Indiana business.

Like Kim Polston, Martin also happened to be working with her husband, Baz Luhrmann, the director of summer blockbuster, "Elvis."

Only fools rush in, and Kim Polston remembers Martin was far from that.

"(She said), 'This is what specifically I would like, to make sure this looks like this, and this looks like this. Can you do that?'" Kim Polston said. "We did all the jumpsuits in the movie," Kim added.

"Next thing you know, we're doing business with them," Butch Polston added.

In all, 34 jumpsuits were made for the film, and 10 of them made the cut. When the Polstons walked into the theater and saw their creations on the big screen, they weren’t exactly "All Shook Up." More like touched and proud.

Their southern Indiana business played a big role in long-time Elvis fans feeling like they’re shake, rattle and rolling all over again.