ELVIS PRESLEY – BLUE HAWAII (Part 2)

ELVIS PRESLEY – BLUE HAWAII
– A postcard production and… the beginning of the Presley formula-

“Elvis Presley Blue Hawaii”… The film was originally supposed to be made as part of an agreement with Paramount Pictures that had been in effect since October 1958 (as indicated by a provision in Presley’s contract from November 28, 1960), which included making three films with Elvis in the lead role. The singer was to receive a fee of $175,000, $150,000, and $125,000, respectively. However, the terms of the above contract were never fully fulfilled because just a few months after the premiere of the comedy “GIBlues”, in January 1961, Colonel Parker and Hal Wallis renegotiated the terms of the contract * .

Under the new arrangements, Presley was now to appear in five films produced by Paramount Pictures, not three, and his salary was to increase to $175,000 for the first three films and $200,000 for the next two.

In this way, the comedy “Blue Hawaii” became the first film shot on completely new principles ** .

It is no wonder that while working on it Wallis wanted to have his closest and most experienced collaborators by his side, who – in addition to Weiss and Kanter – were joined at the end of August 1960 by Norman Taurog. The then sixty-one-year-old outstanding American director, screenwriter and Oscar winner for the film adaptation of Precy Crosby’s comic book, “Skippy” from 1931.

Over the years, Taurog, often referred to by people in the film industry as Uncle Norman, worked with the biggest names in Hollywood at the time. From Judy Garland to Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis to Bing Crosby. More importantly (at least from the point of view of the story told in this text), in the spring of 1960, Elvis Presley joined this impressive list, with whom the director met on the set of the hit comedy “GI Blues.”

“You may recall that at the beginning of his legend, Elvis appealed primarily to a young audience ,” Taurog recalled in Peter Haining’s The Private Lives of Elvis. “When it was first announced that he was going to try his hand at acting, it was the teenagers of that time who influenced many of the hits in his early films. But as time went on, many of them became young wives with children of their own, and then they became Elvis fans along with them.

I always found working with young people very educational. They listen to you and you are always young with them all the time… I always liked to demand a lot from myself and my actors but I never overdid it because I knew that was how you got the best results. You see, I really like to reward good performance. That is why I always carried some candy in my pocket which I would give out when the actors did a particularly good job in a scene. This was a trick that worked particularly well with Elvis because he loved chocolate !

In early 1961, the director and his wife, Susan Ream Broderick, personally traveled to Hawaii to scout the location and choose the most interesting locations for the next, eighth Presley film. His presence in the Islands did not escape the attention of the local media, which reported on its course as follows: “Norman Taurog, who will direct the next Elvis Presley film, arrived yesterday *** (in Hawaii, author’s note) for a few days of reconnaissance. The director revealed that he and three of his assistants will be selecting bays and other backgrounds for the film, which will begin shooting here in late March. The cast of the film previously known as ‘Waikiki Beach Boy’ will include Elvis Presley, who will play a descendant of the kamaaina family **** . It is possible that several outdoor locations will also be filmed on Kauai .”

Taurog himself admitted in a conversation with journalists that he had spent two months in Honolulu a few years earlier. “Since then, we (my wife and I, author’s note) have been simply in love with Hawaii ,” he said. “For me, it’s almost like coming home .”

The choice of Hawaii, which in 1959 became the fiftieth and youngest state of the United States of America, was also not accidental. In an interview with the Honolulu Star Bulletin, Hal Wallis clearly emphasized that “since my first visit to Hawaii, I have been patiently waiting for the right story to come along in which I could capture the beauty of these islands .” He added: “We put our whole hearts into this film .”

By “we”, the producer probably meant everyone involved in the new production. This included the actresses and actors who were to star alongside Elvis.

And the cast of the film included some really well-known and appreciated by both viewers and film critics. One of them was undoubtedly Juliet Anne Prowse, born in September 1936, a British-American dancer and actress, who just a few months earlier had created an unforgettable screen duo with Presley in the comedy “GIBlues”.

And perhaps it was this fact, as well as the desire to repeat his earlier success, that made Wallis choose her again for the leading female role, entrusting her with the role of the protagonist’s fiancée, Maile Duval.

Surprisingly, however, the actress who initially expressed interest in participating in the production, changed her mind after a few months, explaining to the press that “her role was devoid of character “. “I was one of three girls in Elvis’ life, one of whom – a sixteen-year-old, had a much more interesting role than me “, she complained in an interview.

But the main reason for the sudden change of heart was Paramount’s adamant opposition to hiring two of her close associates. “It all started with two requests ,” Prowse explained. “First, I wanted my own personal make-up artist to accompany me on the set. I have a face that’s just hard to do. So I wanted someone who knew me. Second, I wanted to bring my secretary with me. I said if they paid her fare, I’d pay her. I just wanted a companion because I didn’t know anyone in the band except Elvis, and he was always surrounded by a dozen of his buddies .”

The star of “GIBlues” had to be replaced by another actress. The choice fell on the promising Joan Blackman, who after her film debut in the 1959 western “Good Day For Hanging” also appeared alongside Dean Martin, Tony Franciosa and Shirley MacLaine in the drama “Career” and in the science fiction comedy “Visit To A Small Planet” with Jerry Lewis in the lead role. It is worth adding that the director of the latter title was Norman Taurog and the producer, Hal Wallis.

As she claimed in later interviews, Blackman had met Elvis long before filming began on Blue Hawaii. They had met in 1957. And, as the actress suggested many times later, it was to be the beginning of a long romance. “When we first laid eyes on each other, there was magic in the air… There was something special between us, sometimes so warm and so wonderful, you could almost reach out and touch it ,” recalled the actress who played Maile Duval.

The greatest off-screen bond between the pair, however, would come on the set of Blue Hawaii. “We had rooms next to each other in the hotel, so for two weeks we basically lived together ,” Blackman recalled in 1977. “He really wanted me to be his wife .”

• It is worth adding that in January 1961, Colonel Parker negotiated another film contract for Elvis. This time with MGM. As part of this agreement, Elvis was obligated to make four more films – “It Happened At The World’s Fair”, “Viva Las Vegas”, “Kissin’ Cousins” and “Girl Happy”
• Other films made under the deal include: “Girls! Girls! Girls!”, “Fun In Acapulco”, “Roustabout” and “Paradise, Hawaiian Style”
• The aforementioned visit of Norman Taurog to Hawaii took place in January 1961.
• Kamaaina is a word that refers to Hawaiians, regardless of their origin, who were born in Hawaii.

Information provided by Mariusz Ogieglo. EP Promised Land (Poland). http://www.elvispromisedland.pl/

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