Gladys dies in the hospital and Elvis and his father Vernon are inconsolable.
It’s painfully obvious from this picture just how sick Gladys already was even back in March of 1958 when attending the draft with Elvis and Vernon. Apparently obvious to everyone but those who loved her most.
Released: November 15th, 1956
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Directed by: Robert D. Webb
Film was #8 in the top 10 grossing films of 1956
This movie was the acting debut for Elvis and the first Elvis film I ever watched. I have always been sceptical of Elvis’s movies after reading and listening to so many fans criticize them for being nothing but fluff. I had it in my mind that I was never going to bother then with any of his movies because I wanted to know the real Elvis, not the one forced to perform in fluff movies.
After reading several books and learning of Elvis’s deeply rooted desire to act, I changed my mind about watching his movies. I began ordering them from Amazon in the order that they were released. However it wasn’t until quite recently that I actually started watching them. They sat unopened in my library due to a real need to not watch Elvis flop as an actor.
I couldn’t have been more misinformed. When I finally sat down one day to watch this, the first of Elvis’s films, I was mesmerized from the opening scene through to the last tear-jerking scene. He’s just so damned good looking that you really can’t take your eyes off him whether he could act or not and low and behold…he can act too!
The story summary goes something like this: Elvis plays Clint Reno, the youngest of the Reno brothers who stays home while his brothers went to fight in the American Civil War for the Confederate Army. The family is tragically informed that Clint’s oldest brother, Vance, (Richard Egan) has been killed on the battlefield. However Vance didn’t really die and comes back from the war to find that his old girlfriend, Cathy, (Debra Paget) has married Clint. Sure, Vance puts on the act that he accepts this union saying “We always wanted Cathy in the family”. Nonetheless, the family must struggle with this issue daily. While wearing the uniform and still a Confederate soldier, Vance is a party to a train robbery where he steals a significant amount of federal government money. His cohorts in the robber become enraged when Vance decides he is going to return the money and a gunfight ensues. Tragically, it is Clint who is killed in the gunfight at the conclusion of the movie.
We will visit with Debra Paget in another of my Elvis series, The Women in Elvis’s Life, as it is reported that Elvis fell head over heels in love with her while filming this movie together. The only real constant woman in Elvis’s life at this time was Gladys and she became so upset at the end of this movie about Elvis’s character dying that Elvis told Parker he didn’t want to do anymore movies where he dies so as not to upset his mom again.
Through the years, Parker insisted that Elvis would always sing during his movies. It was something that Elvis hated because it truly caused him never to be taken as a serious actor. Parker’s only motivation was the money that a soundtrack album could bring him but Elvis was motivated only by his need to be taken as a serious actor. Over the years many well placed critics and movie experts have lamented the fact that Elvis was never allowed to just act because he truly was extremely talented and would have been a great film star if not for the fluff movies that Parker locked him into.
Elvis could indeed act and I enjoyed this movie a lot. There were only 3 songs included in this film, “Love Me Tender” which to this day is probably one of Elvis’s most famous songs. “We’re Gonna Move”, a song that I happen to love and which was done in a believable setting with Elvis (Clint) singing for the family on the porch after dinner. The other song was “Let Me” which Elvis (Clint) played while on stage at the local fairgrounds, yet another fairly believable setting although throughout the movie there’s no real reference to Clint as a musician. It seems to be just understood. And I reference to “believable setting” because as you’ll see as we progress through his movies, Elvis was forced to break into song at some of the most ridiculous and absurd times when no real man would be caught dead doing so, for instance on the beach, in a speeding car, surfing, etc. Elvis was embarrassed by these movies and I think it was the beginning of his personal decline to be forced to continue doing them. At some point he knew that he wasn’t ever going to be taken as a serious actor.
Love Me Tender is a really good movie. Not only is the depiction of life directly around the time of the Civil War quite interesting to observe and true to reality so I’m told, but Elvis is really good in this movie as are his co-stars, Richard Egan and Debra Paget. Not all Elvis movies were tripe and Love Me Tender proves this to be true.
Elvis was in the hospital most of the day and evening with his mother.
Elvis performed at the Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana at 4.00 and 8.15 p.m.
If you know anything about Elvis, you know that prior to his mother’s death, he flew rarely and usually took the train. Gladys over worried about Elvis’s safety and always became very fearful whenever he was about to fly so he promised her that whenever he could, he would use the train rather then fly. Odd but today we know that trains can be just as deadly if not more so but Gladys felt better knowing her boy’s feet never left the ground. Furthermore, the pirate known as Tom Parker was able to travel ahead and promote the pants off Elvis while he was travelling by train from California after filming a movie back home to Memphis. Stories abound about train stops packed to the rafters with fans waiting for a glimpse of their hero, The King of Rock & Roll.
Elvis would have been 75 this coming January had he lived and celebrations will be happening all over the world. It thrills me to no end that we still celebrate events in Elvis’s life despite the fact that he is no longer physically with us. It proves that in fact, Elvis never really left the building. He resides in our hearts. As best I can, I will include all celebration events here.
Collectibles.com is issuing this stunningly beautiful commemorative electric train in honour of Elvis’s 75th birthday event. The first-ever Elvis® electric train collection officially authorized by the Estate of Elvis Presley, featuring the commemorative 75th Birthday Train Car and available only from Hawthorne Village. This collection features a classic diesel locomotive with a working headlight and illuminated passenger cars, each decorated with dynamic, full-color portraits of Elvis’s® most electrifying performances and even a golden replica of his signature! Plus, the 75th Birthday Car features images of Elvis from childhood through his lifetime as a legend, and the official 75th anniversary logo. This heirloom-quality train set is precisely scaled and designed to run on HO gauge track. Available exclusively from Hawthorne Village, this train set is a must-have Elvis tribute for all fans! But hurry! Strong demand is expected – order now!
I know I want one bad!
Location filming in Florida for Follow That Dream ended.
Release April 11, 1962
When the Kwimper family car runs out of gas on a new Florida highway and an officious state supervisor tries to run them off, Pop Kwimper digs in his heels and decides to do a little homesteading. He and his son Toby and their "adopted" children – Holly, Ariadne and the twins – start their own little community along a strip of the roadside. The fishing is good and the living is easy until the mob sets up a gambling operation and the state supervisor sics a sexy social worker on the Kwimpers in an effort to take away Ariadne and the twins.
Written by A.L.Beneteau {albl@inforamp.net}
Elvis performed at the Showroom, International Hotel, Las Vegas. This was the opening night of the engagement which was opened with a dinner show. More proof that Elvis could wear anything and make it look so good.
While Gladys was transported to the hospital Elvis completed his Advanced Tank Training.
I have several hundred of favorite Elvis tunes but one of my all time favorite songs recorded by Elvis is Guitar Man, a tune written and originally recorded in 1967 by Jerry Reed. For Jerry, this song began his singing career and put him on the Country Music Billboard for the first time. Elvis heard this tune on the radio and liked it so much he decided that Guitar Man would be included in his next recording session.
So on September 10th, 1967 in the RCA’s Studio B in Nashville with guitarists Scotty Moore, Chip Young and Harold Bradley present, Elvis attempted to record Guitar Man. However no matter what they did or how hard they tried, the musicians couldn’t get the sound that Elvis was looking for. Of course that sound was Jerry Reed.
So Elvis told somebody to get Jerry on the phone and maybe he could tell them how to achieve that “Jerry Reed” sound. Well Jerry was on a fishing trip somewhere out in the middle of nowhere but somehow somebody did manage to locate him and get him on the phone. Who actually accomplished this depends on whose account you’re reading but remember, nobody ever said no to Elvis and what Elvis wanted, Elvis got. Reportedly, Reed responded to the request to tell someone how he got that sound, he’d just “c’mon out there” and do it himself.
Felton Jarvis, the producer at this session, said that Reed arrived looking “like a sure-enough Alabama wild man.” Apparently from the fishing boat to the Nashville studio, Reed hadn’t stopped to shave, change his clothes or clean up in anyway. When Elvis saw him walk into the studio he said “Lord, have mercy, what is that!” But no matter, they all soon got to work to get Guitar Man in the can.
At first, Jerry struggled a lot with getting it right complaining that he hadn’t played his guitar all weekend. Shaking his fingers and making several attempts, he finally took his guitar out into the parking lot, telling Elvis to just hold on a second, he’d catch up. And catch up he did.
Finally Jerry, back in the studio, played the intro and says “You could see Elvis’ eyes light up – he knew we had it.” It’s reported that from there on in, Jerry took over the session. Coaching the musicians, egging them on, and encouraging them. There was no question that Elvis was engaged in the session finally as there was no horsing around, no self-deprecation or wisecracking. He is totally focused on the music. Around the 5th take, Elvis begins to play around with the song, introducing a hint of the Ray Charles tune “What I’d Say” on the outro.
For Jerry Reed, the session was a joy. “It was just a jamming session…I got pumped, and then Elvis got pumped, and the more he got pumped up, the more I did.” Jerry claims he was on cloud nine and that “once Elvis got the spirit, things really started to happen… one of those rare moments in your life you never forget.”
You can hear Jerry on Big Boss Man and US Male, both of which are also on my favourite song list. There was something magnetic about Elvis and Jerry Reed together in the studio. When you listen to as much of Elvis as I do, you get a sense after awhile of how or what he’s feeling while recording a song. He can be either completing disengaged and bored or he can be inspired and totally focused. With Jerry Reed in the studio, Elvis was always the latter. Elvis loved Guitar Man so much he chose to open his 1968 Comeback Special with it. Click on video link to the right to hear a really great Elvis Presley song.
Sources: Careless Love by Peter Guralnick, Elvis Presley: The Complete Recording Sessions by Ernst Jorgensen
Rehearsals for That’s The Way It Is with the entire show moved to the main stage of the showroom. For the first time Joe Guercio worked with Elvis and was leading the orchestra.
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