Elvis has been entertaining us for decades, both with his music and with his movies. Even though he has been gone for many years, we still enjoy what he had to offer.
One of the movies that he is well-known for is from 1961. It is a musical, Blue Hawaii, and we can’t help but see his charisma in almost every note that he sang.
When it comes to music, Elvis Presley was in a class of his own. He was also well known for his good looks and he could put on quite a performance. It was his performance in Blue Hawaii that many people consider to be his best, although experts usually put it closer to the bottom.
If you haven’t watched the movie Blue Hawaii or if you haven’t seen it recently, it really is worth the time to watch. There are many funny moments throughout the movie and you can see Elvis is not only a singer, he’s quite a comedian as well.
Despite the fact that some critics give it mixed reviews, it is the 10th top-grossing film of 1961. At the box office, it earned $4.2 million, which was quite a payday in the 60s.
It wasn’t just the fact that Elvis was playing a former G.I. that gives up his father’s business to give people beach tours, it’s the soundtrack that really catches our attention.
One thing that many people tend to overlook or perhaps never saw were the bloopers and behind-the-scenes problems that are a lot of fun to watch these days. Here are a few of the gems for the next time you watch the flick.
Did you know that Elvis’s character in Blue Hawaii did not have a real reason to sing? Chad Gates would break in the song, but he would do so and unusual and unexpected moments. This could include rowing the boat or lounging on the beach.
After Blue Hawaii did so well, both as a movie and as a soundtrack, the producer decided to use it as a blueprint for any more Presley films that came out. Essentially, hire a few beautiful costars, put Elvis in an exotic location, and have them sing a lot of songs. It really worked!
When Chad steps off the plane, you can actually hear hundreds of fans screaming in the background. They were there to watch the scene being shot, and you have to turn the sound up to hear it, but you can definitely hear it.
It wasn’t only about Elvis Pressley, Joan Blackman also played her role in the movie as well. She also was not the first choice for the movie. That honor went to Juliet Prowse.
Juliet didn’t make the movie because she wanted a makeup artist from another studio and she wanted them to pay to have her secretary flown to Hawaii. She decided to walk away after her requests were turned down.
You may not consider Elvis to be one of the best actors, but he was genuinely good on the silver screen. In the case of Blue Hawaii, Anne Fulchino said that he found the experience humiliating to a certain degree. She would know because she was a publicity director who worked with him.
She said: “It was a while before he came over and talked to us, and when he did — you see at the beginning I used to call him Chief and I said, ‘Hi, Chief,’ and he just looked at me like he wished I hadn’t come.”
I said to myself, ‘If I was making these crappy pictures, I wouldn’t want to see anybody from my past either,’” she said. “That’s the reason I didn’t hang around.”
“He was obviously uncomfortable with what he was doing, he was frustrated and disgusted — it was all in his face,” Fulchino continued. “The emotion I respected most was that he was ashamed of it, which meant that he knew better — but you could see that he was trapped.”
Elvis Presley had a few problems as he was filming Blue Hawaii as well. Fans would crowd around to try to catch a glimpse of him and security was always at a high stress level. Elvis needed protection everywhere he went, so he didn’t get to enjoy a lot of the tourist spots on the island.
One thing that he did make sure to do was to take pro-golf lessons from Gary Player.
Gary said: “After I won my first Masters in 1961, I received an invitation telegram from Elvis – The King. A telegram, not as easy as a text is today. We were playing in Los Angeles and I went to the set of ‘Hawaii’ where Elvis was filming. He saw me walk in the room and yelled ‘CUT!’ The gentleman he was, Elvis went and put a jacket before he came to shake my hand. Elvis was just starting to play golf and asked for a few swing tips. He gave me a practice swing, and I swear, it was like a cow giving birth to a roll of barbwire. So, I adjusted his grip and told him he really had to use his hips during the downswing. He said, ‘Baby, you’re talking to the right man.’ And gave us all a little shake.”
Elvis was dating Anita Wood during the filming of the movie, and he decided to play a prank. Anita played along with him, and they pulled it off. The prank was for Elvis to pretend to be dead.
When Wood started screaming that he wasn’t breathing they went into a panic. Everyone rushed over to try and call an ambulance, only to find him sitting there and explaining, ‘I just wanted to see what you guys would do.’
After the filming, Hawaii became a very famous wedding location. He ended up filming three movies there, with some iconic scenes from the island.
One of the scenes was filled at an overlook on Tantalus Drive. That view is still available today and it’s a popular wedding location.
Despite the fact that he was dating someone else, Elvis Presley formed a bond with his costar, Joan Blackman. They had a very strong chemistry and Joan admitted to feeling a spark between them when they met in 1957.
“When we first set eyes on each other, there was a spark, a magic in the air… There was just that special something between us, sometimes so warm and wonderful you could almost reach out and touch it.”
Elvis had even asked her to star in more films with her but she declined, saying that she wanted work because she was capable, not because she was dating Elvis.
There is a blooper in the Almost Always True car scene. Maile’s hands mysteriously switch position on the steering wheel and Chad’s arm shifts from the seat back to stretch out behind her. That editing mistake made the final cut.
Ellie also stays in the car during the pineapple field scene but others had to stay in. Chad brings back some pineapples and Ellie has switched to the passenger side. It was all to stay within the shot.
Pay attention when Chad is strumming the ukulele during one of the songs. He may be strumming the strings but he isn’t changing cords.
Chad wore a patch on his uniform and it isn’t random. It’s the insignia of the third armored division of the US Army. That is the division that Elvis Presley served with when he was in Germany.
In March 1977, Elvis Presley went back to Hawaii on vacation. It would be his final trip, to a place where he had many fond memories.
