What better way to say “Aloha” to another weird summer than with Elvis? For a guy who never toured outside the United States, Presley owned the world of entertainment and managed some great working vacations, Hawaiian style.
The three feature films he made in Hawaii--Blue Hawaii (1961), Girls, Girls, Girls (1962), Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)--along with most of the others, are available for viewing on Amazon Prime. For legal reasons, Retrofit Drive In can only screen some hula bopping videos from those major works. However, a fabulous HD remaster of the historic satellite TV hook up Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii (1973) is ours to enjoy so hang loose.
Elvis first saw Hawaii at age 22 in 1957. His manager, Col. Tom Parker could not help falling in love with the island paradise while stationed in the Army there 1929-32. Elvis was about to begin his own military service. As it worked out, Hawaii would be the site of his last live shows for two years.
The first two were at Honolulu Stadium, not far from Waikiki Beach. On Sunday, Nov 10, 14,000 turned out for the 3:00 and 8:15 p.m. shows. The next day he rocked the house for 10,000 servicemen and women at Schofield Barracks at Pearl Harbor.
In Jan 1961, two days before Elvis’s birthday, the Colonel sat down with Hollywood producer Hal Wallis to amend the film contract first negotiated in 1958. Under the new terms his client would receive $175,000 each for his next three films, and $200,000 apiece for the two that would follow. The movies would be the three Hawaiian epics plus Fun in Acapulco (1963) and Roustabout (1964).
More than movies were on the agenda for America’s hottest new civilian. On Jan 11, 1961, Parker held a press conference at Honolulu’s Hawaiian Village Hotel. Here he announced an Elvis fundraiser to create a memorial for the 1,177 officers and crewmen of the USS Arizona, lost in the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
“You know, Elvis is 26, and that’s about the average age of those boys entombed in the Arizona. I think it’s appropriate that he should be doing this.” --Colonel Tom Parker
Elvis was greeted by 3,000 fans at the airport March 25, 1961. Actor James Stewart was on the same flight and left unnoticed. Presley raised $62,000 for the memorial that night. Before flying out of Los Angeles, he had recorded the Blue Hawaii soundtrack--three sessions in three days. The hit would be the theme to the film, a song first recorded by Bing Crosby in 1937. Principal photography began on Monday, the day after the concert. The Hawaii exteriors concluded on April 17. Elvis was only ten years younger than Angela Lansbury, who played his mother.
Similar time intensive schedules, including soundtracks recorded in 3-day marathons, followed for the filming of Girls, Girls, Girls in early 1962 and Paradise, Hawaiian Style in Aug 1965. After the four-week shoot for the latter, Elvis was back in LA for a much anticipated meet and greet with the Fab Four.
“Blue Hawaii restores Elvis Presley to his natural screen element--romantic, non-cerebral film musical.” --Variety
The Hawaiian films were exactly what the Colonel wished for Presley’s career at the time: silly sitcoms that came in under two hours and included at least a half-hour of the most forgettable songs of Presley’s career. There were exceptions. Blue Hawaii produced the major hit “Can’t Help Falling in Love” along with “Hawaiian Wedding Song” and was the #18 highest grossing motion picture of 1961.
Girls, Girls, Girls wasshot during the spring of 1962 when Elvis had gone mad dog for karate. He was smashing forty pieces of wood a night in his hotel room, until the Colonel, fretting possible injury, put a halt to the evening chopping. The movie itself was as forgettable as a fourth rum punch. However, it did include Otis Blackwell’s “Return to Sender,” which sold well over a million copies and rivaled ``Are You Lonesome Tonight?” as Presley’s top selling song of the 60s.
By the third and last of the Hawaiian features, the island formula itself had become a bit of a spinout. No singles came from Paradise, Hawaiian Style. Album sales were less than 250,000, a low tide mark for Elvis. The film’s budget was $2 million. At the box office it brought in $2.5 million. It was time to retire the rock-a-hula baby, but only for a while.
In January of 1972, the Colonel watched intently as President Richard Nixon’s trip to China was beamed in blurring colors live via satellite to the televisions of the world. Surely, there was an angle for Elvis here. On July 8, Parker announced a concert for the whole world to be aired by satellite “since it is impossible for us to play in every major city.”
The show was set for January 14, 1973, at the Honolulu International Center. Proceeds would benefit the Kui Lee Cancer Fund, in honor of the Hawaiian singer-songwriter who had passed in 1966.
The performance was indeed aired live to much of the world (including Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan) just after midnight Hawaiian time on the set date. Later in the day, the special aired in 28 European countries. The highlight of the evening, according to the Los Angeles Times, came when Elvis tossed his brand new $10,000 cape into the audience.
Because of the conflict with Super Bowl VII, the show aired in the continental United States April 4. It was NBC’s highest rated show of 1973. Adding all the audiences for all the airings, the show itself was seen by 1.5 billion people in 36 countries. It is considered to be the last great hurrah.
If bewildered and at ease can be combined, the King pulls it off. Physically he looks pretty good. He shed 25 pounds for the event, thanks to a special “Las Vegas Diet.” He is best when he rocks, but the show is heavy with retrospective ballads and odd greeting card farewells.
At 38, he is a legend in a white jumpsuit studded with 6,000 stones1 caught between generations. It is a time of Watergate and high gasoline prices. He is too old for Beatle fans and too young for the Sinatra section. As if to compensate, he offers Paul Anka’s “My Way” and George Harrison’s “Something.”
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.
Aloha from Elvis.
Live from Hawaii.
If you have been following the exciting Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), we reach the penultimate episode, Chapter 11, as the mighty captain (in a short cape no less) enters the “Valley of Death.” And the cartoon is simply not to be believed. “Elvis at the Gates of Heaven,” by Stan Lee. Honest to G-d.
Feature: ELVIS: ALOHA FROM HAWAII, LIVE IN HONOLULU (1973) (Full Concert) The Ultimate Experience
Serial: ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL (1941) Chapter 11 “Valley of Death”
Cartoon: ELVIS AT THE GATES OF HEAVEN by Stan Lee
In 1999, the original cape which was caught by sportswriter Bruce Spinks of the Honolulu Advertiser sold at auction for $105,250. It is the shorter of two capes. The first one, nearly five feet in length, was too heavy to wear on stage and is on display at Graceland. In 2008 the Bill Belew-designed jumpsuit “American Eagle” sold for $300,000, the most expensive piece of Elvis memorabilia ever sold at auction at the time.