The Elvis room

Antique store in Rockdale, Texas
On a related note, I heard on Elvis Radio yesterday that the nativity scene at Graceland is the same one used since 1969, and the Christmas lights out front are as they were in 1957.

"(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear"

"(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" was a US number-one hit for Elvis during the summer of 1957, and his third of the four that he would have that year. The lyrics were by Kal Mann with Juliard-trained pianist Bernie Lowe doing the music. It was part of the soundtrack to Loving You. Here is Elvis, looking too cool (for school), in the very same film:


Gotta love that technicolor.

Vive Le E!

Elvis with co-star Ann-Margret
Viva Las Vegas (1964) is generally considered to be one of Elvis' "good movies," as opposed to Blue Hawaii (1961) or Clambake (1967), two of his "bad movies." But calling it a good Elvis movie is a little bit like calling skin cancer a good cancer. There really is no such thing as a good Elvis movie. He just didn't make quality films, and pretty clearly he (and/or Colonel Tom Parker) really didn't care too much. Unlike Sinatra, Elvis doesn't have a From Here to Eternity or The Man with the Golden Arm or The Manchurian Candidate or even Suddenly to point to as being significant and serious film work. Viva Las Vegas does nothing to really change that.


Elvis with co-star Ann-Margret's lower half
But it does have Elvis, and it has Vegas as it was in 1964. So, despite being just another Elvis movie (really), Viva Las Vegas is a priceless historical document - preserving both Big E and Vegas in their prime. Regular visitors to this blog might have noticed I have an interest in "old Vegas," and the film provides several, quick glimpses of what it used to be like. Here is the title sequence, quite possibly the best part of the film:


No movie could successfully follow that!
Let's have a longer look at some of that in screencap form. Witness the beautiful neon display that was Fremont Street:










This long shot of Fremont Street comes as the Grand Prix race begins. Here is all that fabulous neon in motion:




By day, at the finish line of the Grand Prix
Glitzy hotels along Las Vegas Blvd., of which only The Flamingo survives. Today, it looks nothing like it did here, so this Flamingo is all but gone:

the eighty-foot neon "Champagne Tower"





Love is now the stardust of yesterday...
The music of the years gone by.


The Sands
The Landmark Hotel is in a couple of shots:





I can't end this post without mentioning the race. Since Elvis is after all "portraying" a race car driver named Lucky (heh) Jackson (heh), so they had to do a race scene, right?

Let me just say, first of all, that the whole concept of a Grand Prix is really kind of ridiculous, if you think about it. It makes sense it originated in France. It's the type of preposterous car race where there is no doubt racers will be maimed and injured, if not killed.



Ann-Margret reacts to the horrors of Grand Prix racing
Now, I understand that during the auto race, the cars are supposed to be driving across the Hoover Dam from Nevada into Arizona. And maybe it's just me, but it seems slightly implausible that one moment the racers can be here:



And here


To fairly suddenly being here:

Here

Here

And here


Finally returning back to here:
It just seems like somebody wasn't paying attention or something as the movie was being edited to together. More likely, they just assumed the audience wouldn't notice. I don't think I'm exaggerating too much here, either. You rent it and check it out for yourself.

But through it all, no matter what is happening on the screen behind him, Elvis (deep, deep in his character, Lucky Jackson) looks fairly nonplussed and relaxed.....Almost bored, really. Maybe even a little bit sleepy. I guess keeping a calm head is a good idea while racing in a Grand Prix, seeing as the possibility of a catastrophic death or painful, disfiguring injury is constantly near.


Elvis in a helmet just doesn't work. Bad idea.


"Luke! Use the Force."

Wisely, the makers of the Viva Las Vegas decided it would be a good idea to have Elvis remove the helmet during filming of the performance scene featuring the title track. Supposedly this scene is the only one in Elvis' career to depict him performing an entire song, in one uncut take, and as shot by the lens of a single. And he's really good in it:

Elvis

the Gracecam

"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me"

Big E poured his heart into this one:


That's the Way It Is (1970)

Viva Las Vegas

Coming attractions for Viva Las Vegas (1964):

Another one in which Elvis was a racecar driver. Talk about your cookie cutter approach to filmmaking. At least the world got the title track out of it. A great review of Viva Las Vegas, complete with small screencaps, is here.

One night with Elvis

For Elvis Collectors Only (click on "Candid Central") has updated its Candid Central section with some fantastic pictures:

At Frank Senne's Moulin Rouge in Los Angeles with Kitty Dolan on March 11, 1958 (pic and caption from For Elvis Collectors Only)

Here's what the Moulin Rouge looked like, by the way:

From The US Gen Web Project
At designer Sy Devore's October 31, 1957, Halloween party with actress Jeanne Carmen, dressed as a "squaw" (pic and caption from For Elvis Collectors Only; click here to see a picture featuring Jeanne's assets)

Jeanne Carmen was/is quite a broad. The sometimes called "Queen of the B-Movies" got around, and she has held up amazingly well (the wonders of good plastic surgery):

Jeanne & Tony Curtis at his wedding to Jill Vandenberg: MGM Grand Hotel: penthouse suite: Las Vegas, Nevada (pic and caption from her official site)

Elvis, '73

Candid Central has a few "new" pictures of Elvis, backstage at an Atlanta concert on June 29, 1973. Then Governor Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn were there, too. Strangely enough, the majority of the pictures feature just Elvis and Rosalynn.....

Dr. Nick*

Candid Central has updated with three new, never before seen (probably) pictures of Elvis boarding the Lisa Marie with Linda Thompson in Atlanta on June 6, 1976. The third one (find "Candid Central" and click on it) gives you an idea of how hawwwt Linda Thompson was. It was good to be the King.


*Dr. George Constantine Nichopoulos

Specialist Fourth Class Presley in Germany

At his house on 14 Goethestrasse in Bad Nauheim, Germany sometime in 1959
Candid Central has updated with a couple of snaps of Elvis during his Army stint in Germany. As you know, he met Priscilla while he was stationed there. The Beaulieus (Priscilla's maiden name) were stationed in West Germany at the same time as Elvis. Priscilla was 14 years old when she met Elvis in Wiesbaden. That's not her in the picture, obviously.

The power of Elvis

"Bush, Koizumi pay their respects to 'the king'"
(AP PHOTO) Priscilla, far right, and Lisa Marie Presley greet President Bush and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

From the article:

Amid the ceramic monkeys, floor-and-ceiling green shag carpet and animal-head armrests of Graceland's Jungle Room, the delighted prime minister just couldn't hold back the Elvis lines.

"You're a pretty good Elvis singer," the president said, in an obvious prompt to his guest. Bush knew what was coming, having previously experienced Koizumi's tendency to burst into song when it comes to the late rock 'n' roll legend who is the Japanese leader's undisputed musical hero.

Koizumi quickly complied.

Draping his arm around Lisa Marie, he went on. "Hold me close, hold me tight," the prime minister crooned.

This is interesting footage of Elvis fandom in Japan, complete with a bit of Koizumi doing a pretty decent job of singing "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You." He recorded a CD of Elvis songs that went on to have huge sales in Japan.

No access to the GracelandCam™ today:

"Elvis.com webcams will be offline Thursday, June 29 at 5:00 p.m. to Friday, June 30 at 5:00 p.m. central time."

I'll bet there's some irritated tourists in Memphis today! Oh well, go to SunStudio or the STAX Museum of American Soul Music instead.

The great, Elvis picture site, Candid Central, has new scans of rare photgraphs:


Previous Graceland posts:

Christmas time at Graceland

Washington, Jefferson, Presley

tcb

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi wears Elvis style sunglasses during his tour of Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, accompanied by President Bush, not pictured, in Memphis, Tenn., Friday, June 30, 2006. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)