We can solve the mystery if we try

August 10, 2013February 8, 2026 / TY / 10 Comments

Frequent commenter Ray Faithfull recently emailed me the following mystery:

I watched a clip posted on facebook for the song “We Can Make The Morning”….then it dawned on me that it was longer than the Now album release and the FTD release by almost 30 seconds..I figured you would be the person to go to for some insight as to how many takes of this song were actually done and what and where have they been released??

Was take 1 the master take that went for over 4:30 and was simply faded at 3:48 for the final cut ??

I have included the link to the video i am referring to with the version i had not heard or at least not completely?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGIMKq-qwOM

Though I did not know the answer right off the top of my head, Ray had obviously placed a lot of faith in me (no pun intended . . . I think), so I felt compelled to research this for him.

First, I checked iTunes, where I have meticulously cataloged every unique Elvis track I own. To my surprise, the only version of “We Can Make The Morning” I have is the master recording, as released on Elvis Now. My iTunes version of the 1971 track, sourced from the circa-2007 Vic Anesini remastering effort as released on Elvis: The Complete Masters Collection, clocks in at 3:59. However, the last five seconds of that are silence.

“We Can Make The Morning” on iTunes

I pulled out my vintage 1972 vinyl edition of the Elvis Now album, and it indicated a run time of 3:54 for “We Can Make The Morning.” So, I had approximately six seconds more song than Ray’s 3:48 source, but nowhere near the 4:44 of the YouTube video. Though I am fairly obsessive about obtaining alternate takes of songs that Elvis formally recorded between 1969 and 1976, I certainly do not own every Elvis release. Perhaps this extended version was on an album I did not have.

Checks of the Elvis Now FTD edition liner notes and Ernst Jorgensen’s essential Elvis Presley: A Life In Music – The Complete Recording Sessions book provided no useful information in this case. Next, I went to my favorite source for alternate take information, the incredible Elvis Recording Data/Session Notes section of the Elvis In Norway site. There, I also found only one entry for “We Can Make The Morning,” the master recording (B-side single), with time listed as 3:54.

I only collect official releases, so my next thought was that the 4:44 version might be from a bootleg. Elvis In Norway’s Session Notes section fortunately does not muddy the water by including those, so I went to another reliable source that does incorporate bootleg information, the Recording Sessions section of Keith Flynn’s Elvis Presley Pages site.

There I found three matches for “We Can Make The Morning”:

A note on the May 20 / 21 page indicates, “Tape reel #2 from this session is missing, and this is the reel that would have included […] the outtakes of We Can Make The Morning,” so that effectively ruled out an alternate take of the song.

The undubbed master has apparently never been released, nor has the May 25 string overdubs version. Only the completed June 21 version, with overdubbed brass and strings, has been released (i.e., the one from Elvis Now).

However, the site lists the track as 4:11. That’s 17 seconds closer to 4:44, but still not enough. The 4:11 version of the song was released on the bootleg Unedited Masters: Nashville 1971 by the Venus label. There, “We Can Make The Morning” is listed as the “unedited, overdubbed master.” I do not have the album to verify whether the track fades at the end but, assuming the Venus information is correct, that leaves at least 33 unaccounted seconds that are in the video.

After all of this, I finally decided to take a listen to the YouTube video, which had been created by a fan. The visual imagery, interspersing photos of Elvis in life with photos of fans at candlelight vigils in the years after his death, was not to my liking, so I stopped paying attention to the video and just listened to the audio. Not only did it go to 4:44, but the song had not even fully faded at that point.

What was going on here? Though I did not detect anything the first time through, my guess was that a portion of the song had been re-looped somewhere (i.e., a part of the recording had been replayed to artificially make the song longer). On my second listen to the 4:44 video, I played the Elvis Now version at the same time. Whatever potential monkey business had occurred within the song was definitely happening near the end.

My third and fourth listens revealed that 3:28 in the video is a repeat of 2:48. For example, listen how Elvis draws out “night” at 3:33, which is an exact duplicate of how he sings it at 2:53 in the video.

Essentially, someone has artificially added at least 40 seconds to the audio track on the “We Can Make The Morning” YouTube video by repeating a portion of the song – most likely to suit the purposes of the photo montage. Other than the abrupt ending, the audio editing is actually quite seamless. However, I will stick with the original version.

Thanks for the great question, Ray, and for inspiring today’s post.

Case closed.

Close-up of ELVIS NOW back cover (1972)

REVIEW: Stay Away, Joe CD (FTD)

July 28, 2013January 30, 2026 / TY

SAJ_cover

Stay Away, Joe CD (Follow That Dream Records, 2013)

I never quite know what to make of Stay Away, Joe. The first time I tried to watch the movie as a teenager in the early 1990s, I couldn’t get past the non-stop party scene near the beginning. The whole thing just seemed so unbearable.

Yet, over the years, I have come to love most of the five songs Elvis recorded for this film. While Elvis performed many country songs in his career, he rarely delved into “outdoor” country songs that celebrate nature like “Stay Away” (“Greensleeves”) and “Goin’ Home” do. Elvis infuses a passion into these numbers that makes them stronger than the lyrics might otherwise suggest.

“All I Needed Was The Rain” is much the same, but this time with Elvis making the most of an otherwise lesser blues number.

The rollicking “Stay Away, Joe” is a song that had to grow on me. Somewhere, I’ve seen it accurately described as a “campfire song.” Taken in that spirit, “Stay Away, Joe” is just as much fun as it needs to be.

The outlier is the awful “Dominic,” which Elvis recorded against his better judgment after securing a promise from producer Felton Jarvis that it would never be released on record. Though it appeared in the movie, RCA did not release the song until the Double Features series in 1994 – long after the deaths of both Elvis and Jarvis.

I’m torn about whether “Dominic” should have ever been released. On one hand, Elvis lost the right to decide what should and should not be released once he passed away. Surely, had he lived, he would have been against quite a few of the releases that have kept us Elvis fans going over the years. Of course, had he lived, many of those releases would not have been necessary. On the other hand, “Dominic” is such a wretched song, even among the already low standards of Elvis movies, that maybe his music label’s current Elvis team should have respected his wishes in this one instance. Releasing it served no purpose other than to please completists.

FTD’s Classic Albums series edition of the Stay Away, Joe soundtrack supplements the movie tunes with two far more commercial recordings made during the same period, “Too Much Monkey Business” and “U.S. Male.” My first exposure to “Too Much Monkey Business” was watching the 1981 documentary This Is Elvis on TV in the early 1990s. Though “Too Much Monkey Business” is not heard in any of Elvis’ real movies, I’ll always associate it with them due to its perfect use in the montage sequence of his Hollywood years. Elvis’ take on the Chuck Berry hit certainly fits within the spirit of many of his better movie songs, anyway.

Penned and first recorded by Jerry Reed, “U.S. Male“ acts as a natural follow-up to Elvis’ 1967 recordings of Reed’s “Guitar Man” and Jimmy Reed’s “Big Boss Man” – the evolution of which are chronicled in the essential FTD release Elvis Sings Guitar Man. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Elvis plays up Southern “country boy” stereotypes in “U.S. Male,” including his wonderful ad-libbed clarification at the song’s conclusion: ‘. . . the American U.S. male.’ As with “Guitar Man,” Jerry Reed provides guitar support on Elvis’ cover of his song, making it far more authentic than it otherwise would have been.

Unlike Elvis Sings Guitar Man, which felt like a true album, albeit imaginary, the master recordings portion of the FTD Stay Away, Joe feels disjointed. Seven songs do not an album make, and the listener is never treated to the illusion that this is an album that “might have been.”

While it would have padded the “album” out to a more plausible length, adding in the Live A Little, Love A Little soundtrack session would have only made for an even more disjointed experience, given the entirely different themes of those recordings. FTD has done the right thing by sticking to the October 1967 and January 1968 sessions that make up this release.

I should clarify that the label does not even try to pass this off as an imaginary album anyway, forgoing the usual “Side One” and “Side Two” divisions in the track listing. Given this, I believe the ideal sequencing of these particular sessions would simply have been to present all of the songs and takes in the order recorded, rather than front-loading the masters. There is a definite “party” atmosphere to these sessions, particularly in the studio chatter, which is lost by FTD holding firm to its routine, scattershot approach. Though normally intended to create a better listening experience, it fails in this case.

The FTD release, of course, adds a multitude of alternate takes and false starts. However, beyond the false starts, there are not many completely new takes here. Whether this is due to unavailability of additional tapes or a budget-saving maneuver to avoid a second disc and requisite work on previously unreleased tracks remains to be seen.

Take 13 of “Stay Away, Joe” is a spirited version, with lots of hootin’ and hollerin’. As with the master, the acoustic guitar and Charlie McCoy’s harmonica drive the song.

An “alternate mastering” of “All I Needed Was The Rain” features some studio chatter and a false start. The song also fades later and includes Elvis joking at the end. Other than that, any other differences compared to the standard master are beyond my technical abilities to detect.

Take 3 of “Too Much Monkey Business” is a long false start, but notable due to the prominence of slightly different sounding guitar work reminiscent of what would later be heard on the master of “Burning Love” in 1972. As fans probably expect from a song with this many words, Elvis confuses some of the lyrics along the way, including an “…Army chow, Army clothes, Army jeep, Army car!” line that made me laugh.

The various false starts of “Goin’ Home” reveal that there was audio trickery involved in the studio chatter that appeared on the Collectors Gold release. The snippets heard on that 1991 boxed set are actually edited together from a few different moments. I’ve heard it that way for so long that it’s hard to get used to these snippets within their proper contexts.

Be sure to listen out for Elvis singing the line “You belong to my heart…” before the Take 11 false start of “Stay Away.” Elvis sang a tiny bit more of this while jamming with Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis at SUN Studios in December 1956, as first heard on The Million Dollar Quartet.

The most interesting parts of the accompanying booklet are reproductions of advertisements and other vintage memorabilia. The modern text is perfunctory and exhibits the same awkwardness all too often associated with FTD. Even if a professional proofreader were outside of the budget, it would still be a good idea to have someone else read these items before printing and selling them.

FTD’s Stay Away, Joe is a decent release buffeted in no small part by Jerry Reed’s guitar work on the 1968 tracks. While most of the tracks have appeared before on various releases, this CD offers the opportunity to obtain them all in one package. While not essential, Stay Away, Joe is certainly recommended to fans of these songs who might not have already collected key alternate takes.

About a year ago, I finally revisited Stay Away, Joe as a film. The majestic, opening title visuals, accompanied by “Stay Away,” are unlike anything else I’ve ever seen in an Elvis movie. That dreaded party scene follows shortly thereafter, but the rest of the movie proves watchable and, at times, entertaining. Elvis looks terrific and, as evidenced by this soundtrack release, most of the songs are more than worthwhile. Too bad “Goin’ Home” fails to make the cut (as with “Stay Away,” it was actually recorded after filming completed), while “Dominic” is there to remind us that “Old MacDonald” wasn’t such a bad song after all.

SAJ_booklet07

REVIEW: Elvis – The Complete Masters Collection (Part 6)

July 2, 2013February 8, 2026 / TY

This is Part 6 of an occasional series reviewing Elvis: The Complete Masters Collection. Read Part 5.

CD Vol. 8: Country Roots

This volume of The Franklin Mint‘s 36-disc Elvis: The Complete Masters Collection (mastered by Vic Anesini) presents songs that the booklet describes as follows:

“Elvis’ renditions of some of the biggest country songs ever. His tribute to country music and the legends who created it: Hank Williams, Red Foley, and many others.”

This sounds like a potential winner to me, but let’s see how it plays out.

Elvis: The Complete Masters Collection – Volume 8

01. I Love You Because: Of the 21 songs that make up this CD, the compiler could not have made a choice worse than “I Love You Because” to use as the lead-off track. When Elvis Presley made this recording at SUN Records in 1954, owner and producer Sam Phillips wisely rejected it. Shortly thereafter, Elvis, bassist Bill Black, and guitarist Scotty Moore “stumbled upon” the rock ‘n’ roll sound when horsing around with “That’s All Right.” Unfortunately, RCA Records – beginning a trend that would last for the rest of Elvis’ life – dug “I Love You Because” out of the rejects pile and issued a spliced version in 1956 not only on the Elvis Presley LP but as the A-Side of a single! The single failed to chart, and this recording is of interest only as a historical curiosity. (Recorded: 1954)

02. Blue Moon Of Kentucky: “Blue Moon Of Kentucky,” on the other hand, is a perfect representation of “Elvis Country.” A rhytym & blues-infused take on a country/bluegrass song, “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” served well as the B-Side of “That’s All Right” (a country-infused take on a rhythm & blues number). In some markets, “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” was more popular than the A-Side – likely because the song was a little more conventional for those audiences than the comparatively wild “That’s All Right.” (Recorded: 1954)

03. I’ll Never Let You Go: “I’ll Never Let You Go” is another 1954 SUN reject that RCA issued in 1956 on the Elvis Presley LP and as an A-Side single. While not stellar, this one is far more listenable than “I Love You Because.” This one features a slow start before eventually speeding up – a precursor of what Elvis would do not only on “Milkcow Blues Boogie” later that year, but also on live versions of “Hound Dog” years later in 1972. (Recorded: 1954)

04. How’s The World Treating You: “How’s The World Treating You” is a decent recording by Elvis. This one is slow and sleepy, as with the beginning of “I’ll Never Let You Go.” Unlike that track, however, this one stays slow and sleepy. (Recorded: 1956)

05. Old Shep: Elvis had been singing Red Foley’s “Old Shep” since childhood before he formally recorded it in September 1956. As a dog-lover, I find this melodramatic yet effective song hard to listen to at certain points in my life – depending on how my dog is doing at the time. I take these things to heart. A great, classic Elvis recording. (Recorded: 1956)

06. Your Cheatin’ Heart: I love Elvis’ take on Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” though I slightly prefer a more enthusiastic alternate take over this master. It would be years before Elvis made such an overtly country recording again. (Recorded: 1958)

07. A Fool Such As I: There is very little country left in Elvis’ iconic version of “A Fool Such As I,” a song that had been previously recorded by Hank Snow. (Recorded: 1958)

08. It’s A Sin: “It’s A Sin” was first recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1947. Elvis’ version is pretty, but a little lethargic for my tastes. (Recorded: 1961)

09. Just Call Me Lonesome: In addition to the How Great Thou Art sessions, another early sign of the comeback was Elvis returning to country music. “Just Call Me Lonesome” is a great representative of that return. What I love about “Elvis Country” is that instead of whining sounds sometimes associated with the genre, Elvis usually provides velvet vocals. (Recorded: 1967)

10. You Don’t Know Me: Elvis’ moving rendition of Eddy Arnold’s “You Don’t Know Me” was unfortunately buried on the Clambake soundtrack album. The first version I ever heard of “You Don’t Know Me” was actually by Ray Charles. The first time I heard it, in the original theatrical cut of Groundhog Day, I remember wishing that Elvis had recorded it. I was pleasantly surprised a few years later when the unknown-to-me Elvis recording surfaced on From Nashville To Memphis: The Complete 60s Masters I. Incidentally, Elvis also recorded a different version of “You Don’t Know Me” for the Clambake movie, but it is far inferior to this re-recording and was not released until after his death (other than in the actual movie). (Recorded: 1967)

11. I’m Movin’ On: Next up are some songs recorded at American Sound Studios in Memphis in early 1969, not long after the successful airing of the ELVIS television special. At first, “I’m Movin’ On” sounds a little too country, but then Elvis rocks into it to produce a spectacular version. (Recorded: 1969)

12. I’ll Hold You In My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms): “I’ll Hold You In My Heart” is an appealing little song that Elvis sings into the ground, ultimately going nowhere. (Recorded: 1969)

13. After Loving You: One of the huge highlights of the American sessions, “After Loving You” features the “new” Elvis at his best. Elvis had been playing around with this song at home for years, even taking a stab at piano on an earlier take at this session before giving up the keys. One of the best recordings of his career. (Recorded: 1969)

14. It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin’: “It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin'” is another pretty song that really does little to stand out among Elvis’ stellar 1969 recordings. (Recorded: 1969)

15. Little Cabin On The Hill: Versions of the next five songs were featured on the 1971 album I’m 10,000 Years Old: Elvis Country, often considered one of his finest. However, these mixes and edits are actually from the 1995 Walk A Mile In My Shoes boxed set. They do not match the original masters from Elvis Country. Here, Elvis launches into a Bill Monroe impersonation he had been fooling around with since at least 1956, as evidenced by the Million Dollar Quartet jam session. Good stuff. (Recorded: 1970)

16. I Really Don’t Want To Know: Elvis owns “I Really Don’t Want To Know,” one of the best on Elvis Country or any of his other albums. I love the piano work on this one by David Briggs. (Recorded: 1970)

17. Faded Love: I much prefer the shorter edit of “Faded Love” as released during Elvis’ lifetime than this overly long 1995 version. Anyway, Elvis does a fine, if forgettable, job on the Bob Wills classic. (Recorded: 1970)

18. Tomorrow Never Comes: Elvis delivers one of his most powerful performances on “Tomorrow Never Comes.” The song starts softly and slowly builds into a breathtaking, accusatory crescendo that Elvis actually had to re-record as an insert. Again, one of the very best songs of his career. (Recorded: 1970)

19. Make The World Go Away: I love hearing Elvis’ version of well-known songs, and “Make The World Go Away” is no exception. That voice. You gotta listen to James Burton on guitar on this one, too. Burton helped define the sound of Elvis’ final decade, and it is no wonder Elvis was reluctant to take the stage without him. (Recorded: 1970)

20. Green, Green Grass Of Home: I first heard Elvis’ version of “Green, Green Grass Of Home” on an RCA cassette tape I had in the 1980s called Elvis Country, one of two tapes by that name I owned – both of which had completely different lineups from each other as well as his 1971 album of the same name. Though recorded five years later for the Today sessions, this song would have fit in well on the real Elvis Country album as well. As with the much-maligned “My Boy,” this is the kind of dramatic song that often spoke to Elvis and that I, for one, enjoy hearing him sing. (Recorded: 1975)

21. Are You Sincere: Coming right after “Green, Green Grass Of Home,” Elvis’ voice sounds comparatively weaker on “Are You Sincere.” This goes against conventional Elvis wisdom, as this one was recorded two years earlier. They were recorded in different studios with different equipment, so any number of factors could be involved. Still, “Are You Sincere” is a worthy performance, first released on his 1973 album Raised On Rock. (Recorded: 1973)

While it contains a number of terrific country songs, the individual parts of this CD do not add up to a high-quality whole. Whether due to kicking off with the lackluster “I Love You Because” or the uneveness of the remaining selections, Country Roots never takes off as a compilation. Instead, it feels more random than anything else.

[Read Part 7.]

King Creole: A Stone For Danny Fisher

June 8, 2013February 8, 2026 / TY / 3 Comments

A Stone For Danny Fisher: Now A Major Motion Picture From Paramount

Herbert Baker and Michael Vincent Gazzo based the King Creole screenplay on the 1952 novel A Stone For Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins. Until I read the book, my knowledge of the author was limited to the following exchange between Jim Kirk and Spock in 1986’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Jim Kirk and Spock discuss language on 20th century Earth in STAR TREK IV

Jim Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) discuss language on 20th century Earth in STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (1986).

In the film, the Enterprise crew has journeyed back in time 300 years to 20th century Earth. Kirk has been trying to fit in with the natives.

Spock: Your use of language has altered since our arrival. It is currently laced with, shall I say, more colorful metaphors….
Kirk: You mean the profanity?
Spock: Yes.
Kirk: That’s simply the way they talk here. Nobody pays any attention to you unless you swear every other word. You’ll find it in all the literature of the period.
Spock: For example?
Kirk: Well, the collected works of Jacqueline Susann, the novels of Harold Robbins.
Spock: Ah. The giants.

With Vulcan sarcasm in mind, I was not quite sure what to expect from Robbins’ novel.

While I feel the acting potential of Elvis Presley was never fully realized, even I acknowledge that he probably would have been less than convincing in 1958 playing a Jewish boxer from Brooklyn. Who am I to say, though? Maybe he would have pulled it off.

While Danny Fisher morphs into a religiously-ambiguous singer from New Orleans in King Creole, the interesting thing about reading the novel is that it does feel like the same character. The book, then, acts as an excellent back story for the film. According to biographer Peter Guralnick, Elvis even read the novel as part of his preparations for the movie (Last Train To Memphis, page 450).

Guralnick’s claim is backed up by the sheer strength of Elvis’ performance in the role. The character seems more than what is on the page of the film script, and I believe Elvis reading the novel beforehand is part of what makes Danny so believable. This is a character who has already lived, already has a history, before the events of the movie begin. Compare that with Vince Everett of Jailhouse Rock, who seems to fade into existence just to serve the purpose of the movie.

A Stone For Danny Fisher is written in first person perspective, meaning in this case that Danny is actually the one telling his story. I could not help but imagine much of the book with Elvis as Danny.

As one would expect, the novel captures a much broader story than the film does. While the movie focuses on Danny at 19-years-old in 1958, the book covers his life from 8-years-old in 1925 up until 27-years-old in 1944.

Only touched upon in the film, one of the recurring elements of the novel is Danny’s house. Danny’s family moves from a tight apartment into a more spacious home. Moving day is his eighth birthday, and his father tells him the house is his present.

I turned and pressed my lips to the cool floor. “I love you, house,” I whispered. “You’re the most beautiful house in the whole world, and you’re mine and I love you.”

Danny’s father loses the house during the depths of the Great Depression in 1932, and they are forced to move again. From that point on, his relationship with his father is different.

That was the night when for the first time I admitted to myself that it was not my house, that it really belonged to someone else, and there was no heart left in me for tears.

As in the movie, Danny takes Nellie to see his old house, vowing to someday buy it back.

Nellie listens to Danny talk about his house in KING CREOLE

Nellie (Dolores Hart) listens to Danny (Elvis Presley) talk about his house in KING CREOLE (1958).

The movie version of the scene is illustrative of the issues in the relationship between Danny and Nellie. More so than any other point in the movie, Danny is being open with Nellie and sharing something that is extremely important to him. She misses this entirely, barely reacting at all. It is a telling moment, as the two characters appear to be in the middle of completely different conversations.

Danny: You see that house over there? Way over there. See it? That used to be our house. Pa bought it when I was about 8-years-old. It was kind of my birthday present. We sure had a lot of happy times there. I’m gonna buy that house back someday or one just like it. And I guarantee nobody’s gonna take it away from me. Nobody.
Nellie: I told my mother about you. I told her I met a million-dollar boyfriend in a five and ten cents store.

In the novel, Nellie is much more present in the scene. It draws them closer together, while the film version seems to distance them.

We were standing on a dark empty corner, almost ten o’clock at night, in a neighborhood in Brooklyn she had never even known about. I raised my hand and pointed across the street. “See it?” I asked. […] “It’s my house. I used to live there. Maybe soon we’ll be able to move back.”

A sudden light came into her eyes. She glanced quickly at the house, then back at me. Her mouth softened gently. “It is a beautiful house, Danny,” she said in an understanding voice.

My hand tightened on her arm. “Papa gave it to me for my birthday when I was eight years old,” I explained to her. […]

“And now you will move back here,” she whispered softly, pressing her face against my shoulder. “Oh, Danny, I’m so happy for you!”

As told through Danny’s eyes, the writing of the novel varies from crude to eloquent. Even the movie shows some of this dichotomy of character. Think of the crudeness of Danny propositioning the innocent Nellie outside of Room 205 versus the eloquence of him singing “As Long As I Have You,” for instance. While the overall tone is often gritty, I was surprised at the beauty of certain passages of the novel. Though a boxer and later a business man of questionable virtue, Danny has a poet’s soul.

I find Danny in King Creole to be a frustrating character because he seems to have a good heart, yet keeps taking the wrong steps or simply getting bad breaks. The novel version of Danny has many of the same qualities. Like his house, true happiness often seems just within his reach, before it is ripped away from him. Seeing this pattern, Nellie eventually becomes afraid of the house, afraid of what will happen when Danny finally obtains what he has sought for so long.

Reading the book made me realize that Baker and Gazzo’s screen adaptation represents a masterpiece of writing in its own right. It pulls bits and pieces from the novel and carves out a new, yet familiar story. To reference more recent Star Trek movies, King Creole feels like an alternate universe version of the Danny Fisher story.

It was almost as if I were watching this from a seat in the movies. I wasn’t really a part of it. It was another guy named Danny Fisher, and he had gone away two years ago and never really come back.

Though the fates of certain characters differ from the film, the book also offers the rare opportunity to find out “what happens next.”

While a departure from what I normally read, A Stone For Danny Fisher is a worthwhile, well-written novel that sheds more light on the story behind King Creole and the material that inspired how Elvis portrayed his character.

My grandmother worked in the ticket booth of a theater for decades. I dedicate this series of movie posts to her, who would have turned 103 this year. I often remember her when I watch movies.

Never say goodbye to Aloha From Hawaii

April 5, 2013February 8, 2026 / TY / 10 Comments

NBC aired the Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii special on April 4, 1973

Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the United States television broadcast of Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii on NBC. The special had been taped in January 1973 during a “live via satellite” broadcast to certain parts of the world. With all of the hype surrounding the first live satellite broadcast by an entertainer, many Americans to this day wrongly believe they saw 38-year-old Elvis perform the show live. Little did they know that he was watching the TV special, too.

The NBC version of Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii aired from 8:30 PM to 10:00 PM on April 4, 1973. It became the most-watched show of the week. Among the viewers was indeed Elvis himself, who tuned-in from his home in Los Angeles. This edition of the show included the one-hour January 14 concert as well as four post-concert insert songs that Elvis recorded after the audience emptied from the venue.

Among Elvis fans today, the show receives mixed reviews. Some see it as the pinnacle of his career and success, while others see it as one of the first indicators of his decline. My Mom is one of those who adores Aloha From Hawaii. An Elvis fan since 1956, Aloha From Hawaii represents her ideal version of Elvis. I have a hard time getting her to watch anything else Elvis-related with me, unless we look at this one first.

As a second-generation fan, I wasn’t even born when Aloha first aired. In fact, I’m now the same age (almost to the day) Elvis was when he performed this show. While I prefer the ’68 ELVIS special and 1970’s That’s The Way It Is, I definitely enjoy Aloha From Hawaii. Though it was not his best show ever, in many ways it represented his final triumph in the eyes of the world.

Elvis Aloha From Hawaii, 2004 Deluxe Edition

Though the show had appeared on home media several times before, Elvis Presley Enterprises and BMG released an ultimate version in 2004 as the 2-DVD set Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii – Deluxe Edition. Here are the contents:

DVD 1
1. January 9, 1973: Elvis Arrives and Greets Fans (17:30)
2. January 12, 1973: Rehearsal Concert (56:39)
3. January 14, 1973: Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii Concert (1:04:18)

DVD 2
1. January 14, 1973: Post-Concert Insert Songs Session (27:00)
2. April 4, 1973 (broadcast): Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii NBC TV Special Version (01:16:39)

Contents of Elvis Aloha From Hawaii, 2004 Deluxe Edition

2004 was a milestone year for Elvis fans. On the same day as the above, EPE and BMG also released the 3-DVD ELVIS: ’68 Comeback Special – Deluxe Edition set. I could barely contain my excitement when both sets arrived at my house nearly a decade ago now.

Executive Produced by Gary Hovey and the late Todd Morgan, both of these deluxe sets turned out to be among the most important Elvis releases ever. For obsessive Elvis fans like me, these DVDs represent essential viewing. I return to them often.

Though DVD 2 also holds interest, when it comes to Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii – Deluxe Edition, I tend to watch DVD 1 most often. The 2004 re-edits of the rehearsal and satellite shows represent the best releases of this material to date.

Last night, however, I plopped in DVD 2 in order to watch the April 4, 1973, version of Aloha From Hawaii. Before “Burning Love” could even finish, to my horror, the image on my screen began pixelating. It finally froze. An examination of the disc revealed scratches. I skipped ahead to the next song, but the problem kept occurring. I ended up watching about twenty minutes of the show in fits and starts.

I think I am very careful with my discs, so I’m not sure how these phantom scratches sometimes occur. I guess I have to chalk it up to equipment oddities. Either that or my dog plays my CDs and DVDs when I’m not around.

In any event, the reason I was horrified was not due to having to halt my 40th anniversary viewing of Aloha From Hawaii, but because I knew Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii – Deluxe Edition was now hard-to-find.

In fact, only a few months ago I had searched for it as a potential Christmas gift for someone. At that time, it was only available from third-party sellers at three times the original price. I love Elvis, but I refuse to pay exorbitant prices to such speculators. A quick check last night revealed the pricing to be the same.

Naturally, I did what any self-respecting fan would do in such a situation. I took to twitter to whine.

By this time, it was around midnight. I do not always get along with the twitter late at night, so I managed to tweet the following message to myself: My 2004 Aloha From Hawaii Deluxe Edition is giving out. If only @ElvisPresley would re-release this essential 2-DVD set.

Tweeting to myself

I wish I could blame tweeting to myself on having a few too many, but I never drink. I don’t need to imbibe in order to do stupid things, it seems.

Fortunately, my message somehow managed to get through to @ElvisPresley, the official Elvis Presley Enterprises twitter account. Apparently the people over there at EPE actually know how to work twitter, for they sent me a link via direct (private) message to where the Deluxe Edition was still available on ShopElvis.com.

Now, why didn’t I think of that? I spend more money than I will ever admit on ShopElvis.com, but missed checking for the Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii – Deluxe Edition in this most obvious of places last night. Sure enough, it was there, in stock, and at a fair price.

Replacement copy of Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii – Deluxe Edition? Ordered.
Backup copy of ELVIS: ’68 Comeback Special – Deluxe Edition? Ordered. [This one is also now “hard-to-find” and is at crazy prices from third-party sellers.]

There is an Aloha From Hawaii for everyone. If you are not quite as obsessive as me when it comes to wanting to view all possible footage, 2006’s Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii – Special Edition DVD features only the 2004 edit of the January 14 main show. It is less expensive than the 2-DVD version and will certainly satisfy more casual fans.

Last month, Sony released the Legacy Edition of the Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite soundtrack album as a 2-CD set. Note that this is only the music, no video.

I’ve not picked this one up as of yet, but be sure to read this fantastic review of the Legacy Edition of Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite over on The Second Disc.

Here are the contents of the Legacy Edition:

CD 1
January 14, 1973: Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite (original album, 1973 vintage mix, remastered by Vic Anesini)

CD 2
1. January 12, 1973: Rehearsal Concert (2013 mix and mastering by Steve Rosenthal and Rob Santos)
2. January 14, 1973: Post-Concert Insert Songs

Elvis Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite, 2013 Legacy Edition

King Creole: The Making Of The Movie

March 23, 2013February 8, 2026 / TY / 2 Comments

Elvis Presley in King Creole, 1958

King Creole was based on the 1952 novel A Stone For Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins. The novel’s protagonist is a boxer in New York, which the movie adapted into a singer in New Orleans to better suit audience expectations of its star, Elvis Presley. Elvis read the novel as part of his preparations for the role of Danny Fisher.

Producer Hal Wallis had been trying to get the film version of A Stone For Danny Fisher off the ground since 1955, long before Elvis was attached to the project. At that time, A Stone For Danny Fisher was also playing as an off-Broadway production.

James Dean was even rumored to have been in the running for the movie’s lead at one point. This was Wallis’ second Elvis movie. He would go on to produce nine Elvis movies in all.

Hal Wallis: “Michael Curtiz directed the film and he has a very sharp but romantic instinct. Walter Matthau made an excellent heavy and we had marvelous locations in New Orleans” (1).

Controversy swirled around King Creole before shooting even began. In late 1957, Elvis received his draft notice ordering him into the US Army as of January 1958.

With production slated to begin in Hollywood that same month, Paramount requested a deferment from the Memphis draft board, citing $300,000 it had already pumped into the movie during pre-production. Milton Bowers of the draft board replied that a deferment might be possible under the circumstances, but that Elvis would have to be the one to request it.

On Christmas Eve, 1957, Elvis wrote a letter requesting extra time before reporting to the Army in order to make King Creole. He completed the letter by wishing a “Merry Christmas” to the draft board members. Bowers and the draft board indeed granted his extension request, but soon received heat from other organizations – including the national chapter of the American Legion – calling for the immediate induction of Elvis.

Milton Bowers: “You know what made me angry about the entire thing is that he would have automatically gotten the extension if he hadn’t been Elvis Presley the superstar” (2).

Elvis Presley: “I’m glad they were nice enough to let me make this picture because I think it will be the best one I’ve made” (3).

On January 10, 1958, just two days after celebrating his 23rd birthday, Elvis departed Memphis on a train for Los Angeles. He brought along several friends, including Alan Fortas.

Alan Fortas: “Every town we passed through, no matter what time of morning or night, the whole station was jam-packed. These people knew as soon as Elvis finished this movie, he was going in the Army, so most of them considered it the last time to see him. […] People knew and they were lined up along the tracks all the way across America” (4).

Elvis arrived in Hollywood on January 13 and reported for pre-production. During the week, he also began work on the soundtrack at Radio Recorders.

During pre-production, the movie was titled Sing, You Sinners. This title was changed to Danny, and finally King Creole, based on the strength of the rock ‘n’ roll tune Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote for the soundtrack.

Filming began on January 20. Many of Elvis’ early scenes were with Jan Shepard, who played his sister, Mimi.

Jan Shepard: “[W]e worked together alone for about a week, because we did the opening of the show. He was […] just a lot of fun and buoyant, not guarded at all. There was a five-and-dime store on our set, and in the morning I would find earrings and little bracelets, little five-and-dime stuff on my dressing room table. I used to call him the last of the big-time spenders!” (5)

Because of his character’s name, Elvis often sang “Danny Boy” on set. He would return to the folk song many times over the years, including a 1959 home recording captured while he was stationed in Germany (available on the posthumous release A Golden Celebration). He formally recorded the song in 1976 at Graceland for the album From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee. An organist played the song at the beginning of Elvis’ funeral in 1977.

Dolores Hart appeared as Nellie, one of Danny’s love interests. She had previously appeared with Elvis in 1957’s Loving You, also a Hal Wallis production.

Elvis Presley: “[King Creole] was quite a challenge for me because it was written for a more experienced actor” (6).

Dolores Hart: “Elvis, no matter what anyone says, deserves credit as a person of talent. There is no reason he shouldn’t soar to the heights the kings [of the screen] occupy now” (7).

Jan Shepard: “[Elvis] was very concentrated, very focused on playing Danny. For a kid coming in and just beginning his career he had a great sense of timing; there was great honesty in his acting. He was a very good listener, and he just became the young boy […]. Just like in his music, he really got involved in his acting” (5).

Walter Matthau played Fisher’s antagonist, Maxie Fields. It was his sixth film.

Walter Matthau in King Creole

Walter Matthau: “I almost hesitate, I creep up to the sentence, [Elvis] was an instinctive actor. Because that is almost a derogation of his talents. That’s saying, ‘Well, you know, he’s just a dumb animal who does it well by instinct.’ No, he was quite bright, too. He was very intelligent. Also, he was intelligent enough to understand what a character was and how to play the character simply by being himself through the means of the story” (8).

Michael Curtiz’s directing credits extended back to 1912. In addition to 1942’s Casablanca, for which he won an Oscar, his other work, from among nearly 200 films, included the 1937 original version of Kid Galahad, Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), and White Christmas (1954). Curtiz was attached to King Creole before it was transformed into an Elvis movie.

Jan Shepard: “Curtiz said he thought Elvis was going to be a very conceited boy, but when he started working with him, he said, ‘No, this is a lovely boy, and he’s going to be a wonderful actor'” (5).

Walter Matthau: “Michael Curtiz used to call him Elvy and he’d call me Valty. He’d say, ‘Now Elvy and Valty, come here, now Valty, this is not Academy Award scene. Don’t act so much. You are high-price actor. Make believe you are low-price actor. Let Elvy act.’ But Elvy didn’t overact. He was not a punk. He was very elegant, sedate . . . refined and sophisticated” (8).

Jan Shepard: “You just didn’t have a lot of fooling around with Curtiz […]. But no matter what Curtiz would ask of Elvis, he would say, ‘Okay, you’re the boss'” (5).

Elvis performing at Jan Shepard’s birthday party on February 22, 1958. Also pictured is Dolores Hart on clarinet.

Hart threw a birthday party for Shepard on February 22. Elvis showed up with a stuffed tiger that he named “Danny Boy.” His birthday gift for Shepard was a movie camera, definitely not from the five-and-dime store. He also played guitar and sang at the party.

King Creole was the first Elvis movie to include location shooting. On March 1, the film’s cast and crew headed for New Orleans by train. At this point, Red West, Elvis’ friend since his high school days, and actor Nick Adams, who Elvis had befriended in 1956, joined up with the rest of his entourage for the trip.

Carolyn Jones played Ronnie, Danny’s other love interest. She brought her husband, actor Aaron Spelling, along for the train ride to New Orleans. The couple would divorce in 1964. Spelling later went on to produce dozens of television series, including Charlie’s Angels and Beverly Hills 90210.

Tom Parker, Elvis’ manager, expressed concerns about security on the location shoot to Wallis. Wallis assured Parker that they could handle it. After all, he had worked with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at the peak of the duo’s popularity.

Alan Fortas: “There were thousands of people. Hal Wallis couldn’t believe it. […] I never saw so many people in my life. They declared it Elvis Presley Day and let the kids out of school and it took us two hours to get back to the hotel no matter where we were, even from across the street” (9).

In the French Quarter, the car carrying Elvis was almost overturned by the massive crowd.

Carolyn Jones: “[Elvis] had to ride in an old sedan, lying on the floor in the back, so his fans couldn’t mob him” (10).

Elvis took over the tenth floor of the Roosevelt Hotel, one block from where they were filming in the French Quarter. Hotel security was so tight that no one was admitted to the tenth floor. As a joke, Hart, Jones, and Adams armed themselves with toy guns and held up the elevator operator to force their way to Elvis’ floor. The elevator operator was not in on the joke and was apparently still shaken the next day.

Alan Fortas: “[W]e got on the elevator and we said, ‘Tenth floor, please.’ The elevator operator said, ‘No, sir, I can’t stop on the tenth floor. Mr. Presley is up there and we just can’t stop.’ Elvis was on the elevator with us and he said, ‘Yeah, I know. I’m Elvis.’ The elevator operator looked straight at him and said, ‘I’m sorry, sir, I can’t stop on that floor for anybody.’ We had to go to the eleventh floor and walk down” (9).

The film’s climax was shot at a house on stilts at Lake Pontchartrain. Elvis and Jones shared scenes there.

Carolyn Jones: “[Elvis] was always asking a lot of questions. God, he was young! I didn’t think anyone could be that young. He was always talking about his folks and about the house [Graceland] he’d just bought them” (8).

When onlookers at Lake Pontchartrain became unmanageable, Elvis had to escape through the back of the house to a motorboat that whisked him away.

Though Memphis was tantalizingly close, the group had to return by train to Hollywood to be released from King Creole. Elvis attended a wrap party on March 12, and then he and his friends were on yet another train. Destination: Memphis.

Alan Fortas: “We’d just sit and talk [on the train], try to write songs, try to sing. You know, just typical ol’ boys. But it got to us by the time we got to Dallas. We couldn’t take it any longer. So we got off that train and rented some Cadillacs and drove the rest of the way home” (11).

Elvis arrived home on March 14 and was inducted into the Army on March 24.

Paramount released King Creole throughout the United States on July 2. It peaked at #5 on the Variety charts. At this time, Private Presley was still stationed at Fort Hood in Texas.

Hal Wallis: “Now, although I don’t have all the figures, I believe that one of the least successful of Elvis’s films was King Creole. But that was my favorite!” (1)

Dolores Hart and Elvis Presley in King Creole

Dolores Hart and Elvis in King Creole

Dolores Hart: “Elvis is a young man with an enormous capacity of love . . . but I don’t think he has found his happiness. I think he is terribly lonely” (12).

According to longtime friend Sonny West, if Elvis had his way, he would have reunited with director Michael Curtiz when Elvis was cast in a remake of Kid Galahad, which filmed in late 1961 (13). This time, Elvis actually played a boxer, albeit a singing one. Despite Elvis’ campaign, Phil Karlson received the directing nod instead. Curtiz passed away in April 1962 at the age of 74.

Elvis later reunited with Jan Shepard in 1966’s Paradise, Hawaiian Style, in which she played Betty Kohana. Shepard had maintained a friendship with Hart after King Creole. By this time, the quality of Elvis’ movies had declined. While King Creole is a contender for Elvis’ best movie, Paradise, Hawaiian Style is a contender for his worst.

Jan Shepard: “One time [Elvis] asked about Dolores Hart, and we had a little bit of a conversation. In the quiet moments, he was still very sweet. When we reminisced about Creole, he said, ‘Honey, that was my favorite picture'” (14).

Bibliography

Careless Love: The Unmaking Of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick, Little, Brown And Company, Boston, 1999.
Down At The End Of Lonely Street: The Life And Death Of Elvis Presley by Peter Harry Brown and Pat H. Broeske, Dutton, New York, 1997.
ELVIS: The Biography by Jerry Hopkins, Plexus, London, 2007.
Elvis Commemorative Edition, compiled by Bill DeNight, Sharon Fox, and Ger Rijff, Publications International, Lincolnwood, IL, 2002.
Elvis Day By Day: The Definitive Record Of His Life And Music by Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen, Ballantine Books, New York, 1999.
The Elvis Encyclopedia by Adam Victor, Overlook Duckworth, New York, 2008.
Elvis: The Great Performances, dir. Andrew Solt, perf. Elvis Presley, 1989, DVD, SOFA, 2011.
Elvis: His Life From A To Z by Fred L. Worth and Steve D. Tamerius, Wings Books, New York, 1990.
Elvis In Private, edited by Peter Haining, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1987.
Elvis: Still Taking Care Of Business by Sonny West with Marshall Terrill, Triumph Books, Chicago, 2007.
Good Rockin’ Tonight: Twenty Years On The Road And On The Town With Elvis by Joe Esposito and Elena Oumano, Avon Books, New York, 1994.
Internet Movie Database, accessed March 23, 2013.
King Creole, dir. Michael Curtiz, perf. Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, and Walter Matthau, 1958, DVD, Paramount, 2000.
Last Train To Memphis: The Rise Of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick, Little, Brown And Company, Boston, 1994.
Viva Las Elvis: Celebrating The King, compiled by Peggy Thompson, Arsenal Pulp Press, Vancouver, 1994.

References

(1) Elvis In Private, p. 92
(2) Down At The End Of Lonely Street, p. 137
(3) Last Train To Memphis, p. 446
(4) ELVIS: The Biography, p. 129
(5) Last Train To Memphis, p. 450
(6) Last Train To Memphis, p. 456
(7) Elvis Commemorative Edition, p. 112
(8) Last Train To Memphis, p. 451
(9) ELVIS: The Biography, p. 130
(10) Down At The End Of Lonely Street, p. 139
(11) ELVIS: The Biography, p. 131
(12) Elvis: His Life From A To Z, p. 85
(13) Elvis: Still Taking Care Of Business, p. 120
(14) Careless Love, p. 209

My grandmother worked in the ticket booth of a theater for decades. I dedicate this series of movie posts to her, who would have turned 103 this month. I often remember her when I watch movies.

Spotlight: King Creole

March 2, 2013February 8, 2026 / TY / 5 Comments

Elvis Presley in King Creole (1958)

Filmed and released in 1958, King Creole was Elvis Presley’s fourth film. Elvis’ induction into the US Army was postponed so that he could complete this movie, and by the time it hit theaters, he was already a soldier.

Despite some outward similarities, King Creole is not just any Elvis movie. All discussions of his best performances as an actor have to include this film. Directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca), King Creole is probably the most artistic film in Elvis’ body of work.

Elvis stars as Danny Fisher, a high school student in New Orleans on the verge of graduating. After a chance encounter with Ronnie (Carolyn Jones), a woman tied to crime boss Maxie Fields (Walter Matthau), Danny’s life turns upside down as he is lured into a dark world and ensnared by Fields.

Along the way, Danny does indeed become a singer as well as the object of the affections of Nellie (Dolores Hart). He also proves to be great with his fists, for King Creole is perhaps Elvis’ most violent movie. Sure, there are fistfights in many Elvis movies, but the King Creole fights are at a different intensity.

When I went to pull out the DVD of King Creole a couple weeks ago, I found it still in its original shrink wrap. I’ve had the movie long enough to not even remember how I obtained it, yet in all those years, I had not once opened and watched it.

This meant that it had been over ten years since I had watched King Creole, as my previous copy was a VHS tape. Thinking back, it was probably more like 14 years ago. I know, I know, time to turn in my Elvis fan card.

Among his four 1950s movies, Jailhouse Rock and Loving You seem to be the ones I gravitate towards. I enjoy watching most Elvis movies, though, so why had I neglected King Creole – undeniably one of his best – all these years?

When I watched the DVD of King Creole that night, I began to remember my impressions of it as a 23-year-old and understand why I did not revisit it often. There were really two reasons I did not connect with King Creole very well back then.

The first was that I found it really frustrating to watch Fields manipulate good-hearted Danny. I kept wanting Danny to see through the ruse. Of course, that would have made for a much shorter movie.

Dolores Hart as Nellie in King Creole

The second reason was that I just could not understand why Danny found the broken Ronnie so compelling compared to the innocent Nellie – who he treated rather coldly at times.

After watching the movie twice last month, however, I realized that this actually has much more to do with the fact that I find Dolores Hart (Nellie) to be one of his most attractive co-stars (right up there with Ann-Margret and Shelly Fabares) rather than anything the movie actually presents.

Plus, since Hart also appeared in a larger role in Loving You, I was really combining her two characters into one. While I view some aspects of Danny’s conflict differently than I did when I was 23 (more on that in a future post), I still love Dolores Hart. I would not have been torn. (As it turned out, Hart had a higher calling and left Hollywood a few years later to become a nun.)

While I’ve not seen the movie often, I’ve listened to the soundtrack countless times. It was fun to see Elvis perform the songs I’ve been listening to for so long.

I have at least a dozen ideas for posts around King Creole. I’ll try to squeeze in as many as I can over the next few months.

My grandmother worked in the ticket booth of a theater for decades. I dedicate this series of movie posts to her, who would have turned 103 this month. I often remember her when I watch movies.

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