FLAMING STAR
– a demanding role for Presley –
(Part 8, final)
By Mariusz Ogieglo
Flamingo Star
Filmed in just over forty days, Flaming Star hit American cinemas in December 1960. Its premiere was planned to be released before the Christmas break in schools, as Jerry Hopkins writes in his book Elvis: The King of Rock’n’Roll. “He used this strategy in subsequent productions (another element was avoiding interviews) ,” the author explained. “In 1960, Parker received thirty thousand fan letters a month (there were already five thousand Elvis Presley fan clubs in the world at that time) and he knew that many of the writers of these letters went to see every film starring their idol multiple times. To make it easier for them, the release of subsequent titles was synchronized with school vacations and holidays .”
However, the first pre-premiere screenings of the new 20th Century Fox production took place on November 23 at the Loyala Theater in Westchester, California, and two days later at the Academy Theater in Inglewood, where viewers could see and hear Elvis singing not two but all four songs recorded for the film for the first and, as it quickly turned out, last time.
The title “Flaming Star” was sung during the opening credits. “A Cane And A High Starched Collar” only a few minutes later and “Britches” in the scene where Elvis and Clint Burton’s Steve Forrest are riding a horse and talking about Roslyn Pierce (played by Barbara Eden). Presley’s Pacer calls her a girl in pants. And maybe that’s why someone thought that the lyrics “Beware of a girl in pants. Yo-di-o-di-o. Never trust a girl in pants either ” sung by Elvis would fit the above sequence perfectly.
Apparently, however, the audience invited to the cinema had a different opinion and, as one could read in several later studies, after watching the said scene, there were outbursts of “sarcastic laughter ” in the hall.
None the less than the one that accompanied the ballad “Summer Kisses, Winter Tears,” which Presley performed while smoking a peace pipe by a campfire with the Kiowa Indians.
The audience’s reaction basically only confirmed the earlier concerns of the director, Don Siegel, who, right after the screening, recommended that the producers remove both songs from the finished material – “Britches” and “Summer Kisses, Winter Tears”, which, as it was later written, “made the film even more credible as a Western “
Despite this, the American press reported in early December that Elvis fans would be able to hear four new songs in the film. “As a half-breed Indian in ‘Flaming Star,’ Elvis Presley sings four sensational new songs ,”was noted, among others, in the text of “Presley At The Top!” published at the end of the month.
“Flaming Star” officially hit theaters nationwide on December 20, 1960. Its premiere was preceded by a carefully planned promotional campaign by Colonel Parker, including “dazzling” radio and television spots and a number of other marketing activities designed to attract as many people to theaters as possible.
The 20th Century Fox promotions department even sent special letters to local store owners encouraging them to display Native American and Old West paraphernalia in their windows, including toys dressed in Native American costumes, jewelry, and clothing.
Separate correspondence also reached the presidents of numerous Presley fan clubs scattered throughout the country. Their representatives were supposed to encourage club members to visit the cinema in return by offering them, among other things, occasional 8x10cm photographs of the singer.
In addition, Parker’s promotional machine also included a contest for teenagers to write an essay entitled “What ‘Flaming Star’ Teaches Us About Human Relationships” (the winning text was to be published in local newspapers and awarded with special gadgets provided to the editorial office by the film studio) and even organizing discussion groups on the subject of “brotherhood” in schools, of course using the film’s plot as a pretext for the conversation.
Unexpectedly, additional interest in the film was also aroused by the actions of some radio presenters, who, as reported in Variety and Billboard, began to present songs from the soundtrack on their shows right after the premiere. Despite the fact that these had not yet been released on any album!
Variety magazine was one of the first to describe the whole situation in its article “Bootlegging Presley Pic Soundtracks Sparks Twentieth Century-Fox Crackdown.” Its author told the story of a Denver DJ who brought a small portable tape recorder to a screening of Presley’s new film and recorded both of Elvis’ on-screen performances of the songs. He then copied them to a vinyl record and played them on his show.
Soon, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh stations followed suit, and other national radio executives began literally bombarding surprised RCA distributors with requests for discs of the film material. “Of course, it is very rare for a movie soundtrack to be so desirable that people will actually record it during local theater showings ,” Billboard tried to explain. “But the demand for Presley’s recordings is so great that a few smart people have already figured it out. And perhaps in this day and age of miniature tape recorders it will be hard to stop anyone from doing so .”
Nevertheless, the problem was there and Colonel Parker and the people at 20th Century Fox had to do everything they could to stop the above procedure. Especially since RCA had no intention of releasing any of the songs from the film in the near future, either as a single or on Elvis’ new album. The ballad “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” (released as a single with the song “I Gotta Know” on November 1, 1960) had been dominating the charts all over the country for over a month, and the soundtrack to “GI Blues” was still one of the most important and best-selling albums of the year. On top of all that, the label already had plans to release another hit single. This time with the song “Surrender.” The album was to be released in early February 1961. “Flaming Star” and “A Cane And A High Starched Collar,” which from the beginning were considered only to supplement the film’s plot, simply did not fit into the above schedule.
Elvis himself was apparently aware of this, too. When asked by a journalist at a conference at the Claridge Hotel in Memphis on February 25, 1961, why none of the songs from his sixth film had yet been released, he replied somewhat evasively: “I don’t know. I guess they (RCA people, author’s note) feel they’re not very good for commercial release. But I don’t know, really. I leave that up to RCA Victor .”
The situation seemed to be at an impasse. After a meeting in New York, RCA and 20th Century Fox merely sent letters to all radio stations banning the illegally obtained songs from airplay, and theater managers were instructed to inform viewers before showing the film that recording sound during the screening was against the law. ” People who sneak into theaters with tape recorders to record the soundtrack from Elvis Presley’s ‘Flaming Star’ for use in their radio broadcasts had better stop doing so ,” warned the author of “See ‘Flaming Star’ But Don’t It With You.” ” This is an illegal and unauthorized use of the property of 20th Century Fox, which owns the film, the company’s management, Colonel Parker, Elvis’ manager, and the composers of Presley’s songs in the film .”
The solution was the release of the so-called fourth (extended play record), which RCA ironically titled “Elvis By Request – Flaming Star”. The record hit stores on April 1, 1961 and “by special request ” contained “two previously unavailable Elvis Presley songs “. The first of them was, of course, the title song and the second was the ballad “Summer Kisses, Winter Tears” – which, as the publisher assured, was a response to requests “from countless Elvis fans demanding a new love song “.
The other songs recorded for the film, “Britches” and “A Cane And A High Starched Collar”, at Presley’s express request, remained in the RCA archives for many years and saw the light of day only after his death.
RCA filled the second side of the EP, obviously with fans in mind “who have either used up their earlier copies or would like to have these songs on one disc “, with hits from the artist’s latest singles – “It’s Now Or Never” and “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”.
Paradoxically, however, as the earlier interest in film songs might have indicated, the hastily produced album did not turn out to be as successful as expected. “Elvis By The Request – Flaming Star” sold a hundred thousand copies, and the title track, as soon as it became officially available, began to appear less and less often on American radio stations.
In the spring of 1961, “Flaming Star” did appear on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, reaching number fourteen in mid-May 1961, but it dropped out after only seven weeks, displaced by Presley’s latest hit, “I Feel So Bad.”
By then, the western directed by Don Siegel had already been shown in almost all American cinemas, and the country’s most important critics did everything they could to give the most honest assessment of this very unusual role for Presley.
The New York Times’ A.H. Weiler called Flaming Star “an unpretentious but solid Western that takes its place and time and its characters seriously .” Elvis himself was “convincing in the role of the young redskin .”Variety’s reviewer echoed this sentiment, writing that while the film’s plot is “disturbingly familiar and not entirely convincing, this attractively edited and consistently distracting picture will entertain and engage the audience for which it was created .”
The new production of 20th Century Fox also caught the attention of Charles Stinson of the Los Angeles Times, who in his article appreciated both the film itself and Presley’s acting skills, about which he wrote that “he seems to be getting better with each subsequent film .”
Sean Axmaker also wrote that “Elvis was aptly cast .” He then added that “Don Siegel brings out his character through body language and action, allowing him to build the character he plays. As a nod to his fans (Presley, author’s note), he does slick his hair back and turn up his collar in a few scenes, and in the third act he even takes off his shirt, but apart from that he stays completely in character, and his only song is basically a family sing-along – thanks to which he creates a subdued and convincing performance .”
Some reviewers also paid attention to the actors appearing alongside the singer, especially Dolores del Rio, who was returning to Hollywood after nearly two decades.
”
I know I still have a long way to go, but every person should have a goal in life. And this is mine, ” Elvis, who has long dreamed of becoming a serious dramatic actor, said of his participation in “Flaming Star.” “The role I got in ‘Flaming Star’ is the least like me, but I would love to open up to new, more dramatic areas. I hope that in time I will only play serious roles .”
Unfortunately, Presley’s dreams were quickly verified by the poor results of his new film. Despite many favorable reviews and words of praise after the first nine screenings, “Flaming Star” brought in a gross of only nine hundred dollars (on a budget of $ 1.7 million) and at the end of 1960 (exactly on December 29), Variety magazine classified it as the twelfth best-selling film.
Similarly, although with some exceptions, “Flaming Star” was also adopted outside the United States.
In Europe, the film was first shown at London’s Rialto Cinema on February 9, 1961. It is worth noting that in order to secure the title of European premiere, the screening in London had to be brought forward by almost two weeks! The new 20th Century Fox production hit the screens of other British cinemas only a week later, the day before Valentine’s Day, on February 13, 1961, and just like in the USA, it was very warmly received (for a film starring Elvis).
In a review published in the British magazine The Monthly Film Bulletin, one could read that “Siegel managed to bring a lot of emotion to the film thanks to his lightning-fast and inventive cuts and beautiful composition, especially in the scene of the first Indian attack and some realistically staged fragments of the fight, chases and battles “. However, the critic considered Presley’s greatest achievement to be the progress made on the big screen, about whom he wrote that “he is still not really an actor, but he is no longer a joke as a screen personality”. He added: “His full, masculine performance – he plays a half-blooded Indian with a gloomy personality – is surprisingly effective “.
David Thompson of Time Out magazine shared a similar opinion, calling Presley’s performance in “Flaming Star” “a remarkably authentic performance .”
Many years later, the president of the singer’s British fan club, Todd Slaughter, also spoke in a similar tone, writing in his book: “As the half-blooded Indian Pacer Burton, torn between white settlers and Kiowa Indians, Elvis gave a moving performance. He was also strongly supported by film veterans John McIntire and Dolores del Rio playing the mixed-marriage – his parents. In turn, the powerful scene in which the wounded Pacer rides away towards his ‘Flaming Star’ (the title ‘Flaming Star’, author’s note) created such an ending to the film after which you can forget that it was Elvis Presley on the screen .”
English fans who liked the songs performed by their idol on the big screen had to wait four years before they got them on album. The title track and the ballad “Summer Kisses, Winter Tears” were not released until September 1965 on the compilation longplay “Flaming Star And Summer Kisses” (alongside the aforementioned songs, the album includes songs from the film “Loving You” and two hits from the early sixties, “It’s Now Or Never” and “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”).
In France, on the other hand, the songs recorded by Elvis for the western “Flaming Star” were released much sooner, in the spring of 1961, but even here the content of the album was different from that recorded in the US. “It’s Now Or Never” and “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” replaced “Surrender” (which was also the title of the entire foursome/EP) and “Lonely Man”, a hit from Presley’s next film, “Wild In The Country”.
Regardless of the format and composition of the recordings, the soundtrack (if that’s the right term in this case) from Elvis’ sixth film sold well and quickly reached the top of the most important world charts. It reached number three on the Australian New South Wales Singles Chart, number four on the Canadian RPM Singles Chart. Similarly in Italy.
Most interesting, however, is the fact that a record of songs from Presley’s last film reached the top of the Radio Hit Parade charts in South Africa, a country where, in the spring of 1961, the authorities banned the showing of “Flaming Star” in local cinemas because of the film’s subject of mixed marriages, which the government said was “in conflict with strict racial laws .”
It was the first time that any production featuring the famous singer had been treated so harshly. Yes, in several European countries, “Flaming Star” had been given an “adult audience only” rating because of the issues it dealt with, which prevented many of Presley’s teenage fans from seeing it on screen, but it was never taken off the bill.
In South Africa, however, the Western appeared in cinemas only in early June 1961 after intervention by 20th Century Fox. The first screening was organized in Durban, but the South African Censors Board immediately stipulated that the film would only be available to European audiences.
In other places, such as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, showings of Flaming Star were still strictly banned for fear of inflaming the already tense racial situation.
With his role in the western “Flaming Star,” which grossed two million dollars in the United States and Canada alone, Presley won over not only the critics but also the Native Americans. Fern Lena Sluder of the Kiowa tribe, a member of the board of the Native American Music Association until the end of her life (she died in 2011), proudly recalled her collaboration with Elvis on the set of his sixth film (she was a technical advisor there). In turn, on the day of the premiere of the production described in this text, Presley was even accepted to the Indian Council in Los Angeles in recognition of the positive portrayal of Indians in it.
In one interview, Don Siegel complimented Elvis’ performance in “Flaming Star” by saying that “he went from Little Richard to Stanislavski to a ‘Method’ actor who throws himself at the viewer from the screen .” It’s just a shame that Hollywood never fully recognized this and decided not to use the singer’s dormant potential…
- “The Method” – a collection of acting skills developed by the Russian theatre director Konstantin Stanislavski
Article written and provided by Mariusz Ogieglo, EP Promised Land (Poland) http://www.elvispromisedland.pl/
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