BLUE HAWAII
– Postcard production and… the beginning of the Presley formula-
(part 4)
Elvis Presley Blue Hawaii… In addition to the aforementioned actresses, a small cameo in Presley’s new film was also played by the then twenty-two-year-old Miss Arizona of 1959, Pat Fackenthall, who, as she recalled, learned about the auditions for “Blue Hawaii” from her friend. “I couldn’t believe it when they told me (Norman Taurog and Hal Wallis, author’s note) that I got the part ,” she said in an interview.
Making her big-screen debut, Fackenthall played a stewardess whom Elvis (whom she met two minutes before filming began) kisses just after getting off the plane to make his girlfriend jealous. “The scene required us to kiss Elvis ,” the actress said. “We rehearsed it four times and then they filmed us from three different angles. In total, we kissed about 14 times .”
Of course, given the circumstances, the young actress couldn’t avoid questions about how the famous singer kisses. “I think most actresses would consider it a professional secret, but I would say it was a good way to get to know him .”
Interestingly, after appearing in “Blue Hawaii,” Pat Fackenthall withdrew from showbiz altogether, claiming that “after the kissing scene with Presley, anything else she could do in her film career would be a disappointment .”
And although for most of the film Elvis was surrounded mainly by a group of beautiful, often scantily clad girls, it is hard today to even imagine this Paramount Pictures production without the participation of several truly outstanding actors who, together with the popular singer, created several unforgettable on-screen characters.
Roland Winters (or rather Roland Winternitz, because that was his real name) was cast in the role of Elvis’ father in the film, Fred Gates. The unforgettable detective Charlie Chan from the popular series of films based on books by Earl Derr Biggers in the 1930s and 1940s.
Winters, who before taking on the role of the famous investigator had only played small episodes in such productions as “Citizen Kane” and “13 Rue Madeline”, took over the role of Khan in the legacy of Warner Oland, who died in 1938 – the previous actor who played the aforementioned character – and then, between 1947 and 1949, he starred in as many as six films about his adventures: “The Chinese Ring”, “Docks Of New Orleans”, “Shanghai Chest”, “The Golden Eye”, “The Feathered Serpent” and “Sky Dragon”.
The character of a Chinese detective living and operating in Honolulu, Hawaii, turned out to be the first and, paradoxically, the last such significant role in Winters’ career. In the following years, the actor appeared in numerous film and television productions, such as “Abbott And Costello Met The Killer”, “Killer Shark”, “The West Point Story” and “Top Secret Affair”, but he usually received only more or less important supporting roles.
It is worth recalling that shortly after his performance in “Blue Hawaii,” in the summer of 1961, Winters’ name appeared again in the cast of a film starring Presley. This time, the comedy “Follow That Dream,” in which he played the character of a judge.
Fred Gates’ business partner was Jack Kelman, played by an experienced American film and theatre actor, John Archer (or rather Ralph Bowman, as that was his real name), known to viewers from such productions as “Hi, Neighbor”, “Police Bullets”, “Shantytown” and “Affair in Reno”.
Archer – a graduate of Hollywood High School and the University of Southern California (the oldest research university in California), has over the years skillfully combined film work with Broadway performances and participation in popular television series, including the legal drama “Perry Mason” and the westerns “Colt 45” and “Bonanza“.
Also cast in a small role in “Blue Hawaii” was Howard McNear, a popular character actor best known for his role as Floyd Lawson in the comedy series “The Andy Griffith Show.”
McNear, or the film’s Mr. Chapman, the owner of the travel agency where the main characters in the new film starring Presley work, played the role for over six years (from 1961 to 1967). Even when he was already partially paralyzed as a result of a stroke he suffered in 1963.
Throughout his career, interrupted by his premature death in 1969, the actor also appeared in many popular radio programs (in the years 1952-1961 he provided the voice of Doc Adams, the hero of the radio play “Gunsmoke”) and television programs (he appeared as a guest in the series “Peter Gunn”, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The Twilight Zone”). He also starred in dozens of films, including three productions starring Elvis Presley. In addition to the aforementioned “Blue Hawaii”, McNear could also be seen in the comedy “Follow That Dream”, where he played a bank manager, and in “Fun In Acapulco“, where he played Dr. John Stevers.
Steve Brodie (or rather John Daugherty Stephens, as that was his real name) and Ralph Hanalei also had cameos in Presley’s Hawaiian film.
The first of them, often called “the master of the cameo and supporting roles “, played the role of Tucker Garvey. A tipsy customer of a Hawaiian restaurant who hits on Ellie Corbett (played by Jenny Maxwell) during dinner and eventually gets into a fight with Chad (played by Presley), who defends her. As a result, both end up behind bars (where Elvis sings “Beach Boy Blues”).
As a curiosity, three years later, Presley and Brodie clashed in front of the cameras again. This time on the set of the film Roustabout.
In turn, Hanalei – known for his appearances in the series “Hawaiian Eye”, among others, brought a bit of humor to the film as Ping Pong. A charming and funny servant at the Gates residence.
In later years, the actor appeared alongside Elvis twice more, in the films “Fun In Acapulco” and “Paradise, Hawaiian Style.”
When talking about actors who accompanied Presley in front of Hollywood cameras at various stages of their careers, it is impossible to ignore Richard Reeves. The actor who played the role of a prisoner playing harmonica for Elvis in “Beach Boy Blues” in “Blue Hawaii.”
In the following years, Reeves appeared in as many as four other films with the singer – “Girl Happy“, where he played a police officer, “Tickle Me“, in which he played a bartender, “Frankie And Johnny“, in which he appeared in a scene with the song “Hard Luck” and “Harum Scarum”, in which he played a Bedouin.
In addition to professional actors, the film also featured as many as two hundred and fifty extras – residents of the Hawaiian Islands, hired for the production by Hal Wallis and Norman Taurog. Their presence on the set was to make the story seem even more authentic and realistic to the audience.
There was no shortage of people willing to play alongside the most famous singer in the world, of course. The casting was conducted by Ed Carlson, Paramount’s representative in Hawaii, and among the people he selected were Bella Richards, Lloyd (Elsie) Russell – the wife of the owner of “Russel’s Men’s Wear Stores” (in the film she played, as the Honolulu Star Bulletin reported, “an American tourist who someone confused with someone else “), a group of twenty-five Honolulu policemen (hired to pull out the net in the scene with the traditional hukilau * ) and Flora K. Hayes (or rather Flora Kekulalani Kaai Hayes, because that was her full name) – a Hawaiian-American actress and politician who played the role of the grandmother of the main character’s fiancée.
The role in Blue Hawaii marked Hayes, who had recently served in the Hawaii Territory House of Representatives (she served in the House from 1938 to 1959), a return to the big screen after a twenty-year hiatus. She had previously played a small cameo in John Ford’s The Hurricane (the director himself had talked her into the film). “Her last and only previous film was the 1937 John Ford production The Hurricane, ” the Honolulu Star Bulletin reported in its March 28, 1961, article “Mrs. Flora Hayes Returns To Screen To Play Elvis Presley’s Grandmother.” “She played a small role in the film as Mama Rua. Mrs. Hayes was on her way to the PTA International Convention in Richmond, Virginia. She stopped in Hollywood for the shoot.
And it was her participation in the aforementioned film that apparently contributed to her being cast in ‘Blue Hawaii.’ A production employee who had previously worked on ‘The Hurricane’ recognized her and helped her get the part in ‘Blue Hawaii .’
As in her previous film, Hayes only appeared as a guest in a few short scenes in Blue Hawaii, but it is worth mentioning right away that one of them almost immediately became a part of pop music history. It was for her that Elvis sang his timeless hit “Can’t Help Falling In Love”. It is no wonder that the Honolulu Star Bulletin quoted earlier called her participation in the film “the most significant role ever given to the Islanders “.
Hilo Hattie (real name Clarissa Haili) also had her moment in Presley’s eighth film. A popular Hawaiian singer, actress and hula dancer ** . In “Blue Hawaii” she played Waihila, a woman who, along with Maile Duval, greets Chad Gates on the runway as he returns from Europe.
Also appearing on screen at various points in the film were Frank Atienza, Lani Kai, Jose De Vega, Tom Carroll, Art Gilmore, Don Anderson and Kenneth Gibson.
And of course, there was the dog! The one you see in the “No More” scene, and the one who bravely brought Chad’s fiancée clothes when she lost the top of her bathing suit while taking a bath. In real life, the dog was named Blaster and belonged to Don Little.
- Hukilau is a method of fishing invented by ancient Hawaiians, consisting of throwing a fishing net lined with leaves from the shore, usually with family or friends. Hukilau was also used to refer to a ceremonial meeting on the beach.
- Hula dancing is a form of dance developed by native Hawaiians that expresses singing.
Article written and provided by Mariusz Ogieglo, EP Promised Land (Poland) http://www.elvispromisedland.pl/
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