Blue Hawaii - Paramount
1961 |
By: For Elvis Fans Only
Source: EPE
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Blue Hawaii |
Elvis Presley's eighth film was "Blue
Hawaii", filmed in the tropical paradise
of the Hawaiian islands of Oahu and
Kauai. "Blue Hawaii" was Elvis' biggest
commercial success. With fourteen songs,
more than any other Elvis film, the
soundtrack album spent a total of 79
weeks on Billboard's pop album chart,
with 20 of those weeks at #1.
Filming for "Blue Hawaii" began on
March 27, 1961 in the lush islands of
Hawaii. Location shooting took place on
the islands of Oahu and Kauai and was
finished by April 17th. The cast and
crew then returned to Hollywood where
filming continued until May 23rd. The
original working title of the film was
"Hawaiian Beach Boy".
After two years in the army Chad
Gates (Elvis), heir of an
pineapple-plantation, returns to
Honolulu. According his family he has to
take over the plantation and marry a
girl of his own standing. But he wants
to achieve something by his own and
starts a job as a travel agent, on the
same agency where is friend Maile (Joan
Blackman) works. He goes his own way and
finally he starts his own business
together with Maile.
The famous wedding scene was shot on
Kauai at the Coco Palms Resort Hotel
which had been in operation since 1953.
Unfortunately, the resort closed after
Kauai was hit with devastating Hurricane
Iniki in September 1992. In the 1800s,
the land where the Coco Palms is located
was the ancestral home of Kauai's last
reigning queen, Queen Deborah Kapule.
The "Call to Feast" featured in the film
with its ceremonial torch lighting had
taken place there every night at 7:30 PM
for 40 years until Iniki hit.
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Maile (Joan Blackman) greets
Chad (Elvis Presley) in Blue
Hawaii |
Elvis loved Hawaii. It was one of his
favourite places to vacation and this
movie provides us with a glimpse into
the beauty of these islands. That
combined with the romantic tropical
music Elvis sings creates within us all
the desire to visit "Blue Hawaii".
Elvis' leading lady in "Blue Hawaii" was
Joan Blackman, who
played Maile Duval. The following year
she played Elvis' love interest in
"Kid
Galahad". Elvis had dated the
actress when he first came to Hollywood
in 1956.
Roland Winters played Elvis' father
Fred Gates. Like Lansbury, he was a
respected character actor with many
films to his credit. One career
highlight was his portrayal of detective
Charlie Chan in several of the"Charlie
Chan" movies from 1947 to 1950, the
third actor to take on that role in
these films. He can also be seen
portraying a judge in Elvis' 1962 movie
"Follow That Dream". You might also
recognize him from the 1973 remake of
the movie "Miracle on 34th. Street" in
which he played Mr. Gimbel.
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Angela Lansbury & Elvis Presley
in Blue Hawaii |
Angela Lansbury played
the role of Elvis' ditzy mother even
though she was only 35 years old at the
time and Elvis was 26. She began her
career in 1944 in a movie called
"Gaslight", which quickly earned her an
Academy Award nomination for Best
Supporting Actress. She would go on to
achieve great fame and numerous
accolades in film and television and on
Broadway. She has starred in such films
as "National Velvet", "The Picture of
Dorian Gray", "The Harvey Girls", "The
Manchurian Candidate", "The Greatest
Story Ever Told", "Harlow", "Bedknobs
and Broomsticks", "Mrs. Santa Claus" and
"Beauty and the Beast" (voice for
animation). She is probably best known
for her role as mystery writer and
sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the "Murder,
She Wrote" television series.
To name just a few of her accolades, she
has received three Academy Award
nominations, thirteen Emmy nominations,
six Golden Globe wins out of fourteen
nominations, four Tony Awards and the
Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement
Award. In 2000, she was a recipient of
the John F. Kennedy Centre Honors.
Jenny Maxwell played Ellie Corbett.
She also appeared in the 1963 movie
"Take Her She's Mine" and a number of
television roles in such series as "My
Three Sons", "Bonanza", "Dr. Kildare",
"Wagon Train" and "Death Valley Days".
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Nancy Walters |
Nancy Walters played the role of
schoolteacher Abigail Prentice. Other
credits include the 1966 movie "The
Singing Nun".
Darlene Thompkins played Patsy Simon.
She worked on another Elvis film playing
Ms. Stevers in "Fun
In Acapulco". Other career credits
include working as stunt double for
Cheryl Ladd in the TV series "Charlie's
Angels".
Christian Kay played Beverly Martin.
Among her credits is the TV series "My
Three Sons".
Pamela Austin played Sandy Emerson. She
later worked on another Elvis movie
playing Selena Tatum in "Kissin'
Cousins". She also appeared in
numerous TV series including "Columbo",
"It Takes A Thief", "Laugh In", "The
Wild, Wild, West", "Hawaiian Eye", "My
Three Sons" and "Wagon Train". She and
Elvis dated for a short time.
John Archer played Jack Kelman. Father
of actress Anne Archer, he may be best
known for his radio announcer days when
he would voice the following line, "Who
knows what evil lurks in the hearts of
men? The Shadow knows!"
Howard McNear played Mr. Chapman in
"Blue Hawaii", the first of three Elvis
movies he appeared in. The two other
Elvis movie roles were a bank vice
president in "Follow That Dream" and Dr.
John Stevers in
"Fun
In Acapulco". The veteran character
actor was the original voice of Doc
Adams in the radio version of "Gunsmoke"
and he appeared in many roles for
television. His most famous role was
that of Floyd the barber on television's
"The Andy Griffith Show". You might
notice in watching him in this role
that, after the second year, he was
usually filmed sitting down. This was
due to the effects of having suffered a
stroke that impaired his left side.
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Joan Blackman & Elvis Presley in
Blue Hawaii |
Steve Brodie played troublemaker Tucker
Garvey in "Blue Hawaii". His two other
Elvis movie roles were Freddie in
"Roustabout"
and an uncredited role in
"Paradise,
Hawaiian Style". He too has had a
long career as a character actor. Among
his credits are the films "The Story of
Will Rogers", "The Treasure of Monte Cristo", "Anchors Aweigh", and "Thirty
Seconds Over Tokyo". His numerous
television credits include the series
"Rawhide", "CHiPs", "Bonanza" and
"Burke's Law".
Veteran character actress Iris Adrian
played Enid Garvey in "Blue Hawaii". Her
notable credits are too many to list as
she played hundreds of roles in films
and on television.
Frank Atienza played Ito O'Hara in "Blue
Hawaii". His other Elvis movie
appearance was in "Girls! Girls!
Girls!". He also had a recurring part as
a policeman in the Hawaii-based
television series "Magnum P.I."
Guy Lee played Ping Pong the houseboy in
"Blue Hawaii" and he played Chen Young
in the Elvis movie
"Girls!
Girls! Girls!". His career credits
include the films "Flower Drum Song" and
"Gidget Goes Hawaiian" and the
television series "Bachelor Father",
"Wild, Wild West" and "Bonanza".
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Blue Hawaii |
Richard Reeves had the role of the
harmonica playing jailhouse inmate in
"Blue Hawaii". His four other Elvis
movie roles were Officer Wilkins in
"Girl
Happy", a bartender in
"Tickle
Me", a Bedouin in "Harum
Scarum" and a man on the street in
"Frankie
and Johnny". He also had roles in
numerous television series including
"Man From Uncle", "Superman", "Loredo",
"Batman", "Gunsmoke", "Rawhide", and
"Perry Mason" to name just a few.
The screenplay was written by Allan
Weiss, who later wrote five other Elvis
movies:
"Easy Come, Easy Go",
"Fun In
Acapulco",
"Girls! Girls! Girls!",
"Paradise, Hawaiian Style" and
"Roustabout".
Soundtrack
- Blue Hawaii
- Almost Always True
- Aloha Oe
- No More
- Can't Help Falling In Love
- Rock-A-Hula Baby
- Moonlight Swim
- Ku-u-i-po
- Ito Eats
- Slicin' Sand
- Hawaiian Sunset
- Beach Boy Blues
- Island Of Love
- Hawaiian Wedding Song
- Steppin' Out Of Line (Cut)
Recorded at:
Radio Recorders Studios, 7000
Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood. March
1961.
Musicians:
Elvis Presley (vocals), Hank Garland,
Tiny Timbrell (guitars), Bernie Lewis
(steel guitar), Bob Moore (bass), D.J.
Fontana, Bernie Mattinson, Hal Blaine
(drums), Floyd Cramer, Dudley Brookes
(piano), Boots Randolph (sax), George
Field (harmonica), Fred Tavares, Alvino
Rey (ukeleles) the Jordanaires and the
Surfers (vocals).
An intensive two nights of recording to
cut the 14 tracks for this movie.The
success of the film at the box office
was also matched by record sales: the
single of "Rock - A - Hula Baby" sold
over a million copies and the soundtrack
LP racked up half that number in the
first three months of it's release.
Billboards review of the soundtrack
stated "This should be a big one."
Blue Hawaii - Paramount 1961
Directed Norman
Taurog
Writing Credits Alan
Weiss(story), Hal Kanter
Producer Hal Wallis
Technical Advisor Colonel Tom
Parker
Technicolor and Panavision
Cast Overview
Elvis Presley .... Chad Gates, Joan
Blackman .... Maile Duval, Angela
Lansbury .... Sarah Lee Gates, Nancy
Walters .... Abigail Prentice, Roland
Winters .... Fred Gates, John Archer
.... Jack Kelman, Howard McNear .... Mr.
Chapman, Steve Brodie .... Tucker
Garvey, Iris Adrian .... Enid Garvey,
Jenny Maxwell .... Ellie Corbett, Pamela
Austin .... Selena (Sandy) Emerson,
Darlene Tompkins .... Patsy Simon,
Christian Kay .... Beverly Martin, Lani
Kai .... Carl Tanami, Jose De Vega ....
Ernie Gordon.
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