Released in April 1963, It Happened At The World's Fair was Elvis' twelfth motion picture and to celebrate sixty years since its release we look back at the movie and the soundtrack.
Elvis travelled to Hollywood on 28 August for pre-production work on It Happened At The World's Fair. It was the first film in a four-picture deal with MGM. The film's producer, Ted Richmond, wanted to follow the success of previous Hal Wallis produced Elvis movies, choosing colourful locations in which to set the story. He also called on the services of Norman Taurog, Elvis' favourite director. The screenplay was written by Si Rose and Seaman Jacobs.
Concerns were raised early on that shooting might have to be delayed due to Elvis having a bad cold. This also cut short a recording session held on 30 August at Radio Recorders in Hollywood.
Feeling better, the following day Elvis reported to MGM for a wardrobe fitting. The total cost of his wardrobe for the movie amounted to almost $10,000 and included ten suits and two cashmere coats.
Location shooting started on 4 September in Seattle during which time Elvis and his entourage stayed at the Doric New Washington Hotel. Among the locations in Seattle were the Seattle Center Monorail and The Space Needle. Other scenes were filmed near Camarillo in California.
With location shooting completed by 13 September they all returned to Hollywood where filming would continue at the MGM studios throughout the remainder of September and into October. Filming would end on 9 October and the rest of the day was allocated to a series of publicity stills.
With only two songs, Relax and Happy Ending, completed and an unsuccessful attempt at Take Me To The Fair, at the August recording session a second session had been booked at Radio Recorders on 22 September. All the remaining songs required were completed on this day during a session that lasted just over eleven hours.
Musicians on the session were, Scotty Moore (guitar), Billy Strange (guitar), Tiny Timbrell (guitar), Ray Siegel (bass), D. J. Fontana (drums), Frank Carlson (drums), Dudley Brooks (piano/organ), Clifford Scott (saxophone) and The Mello Men (vocals). The Jordanaires provided vocals on the earlier recordings but were unavailable for the 13 September session and The Mello Men took their place.
Songwriter Don Robertson, who had written two of the songs for the movie, I'm Falling In Love Tonight and They Remind Me Too Much Of You, was also invited to the session and played piano and organ.
It was the two Robertson compositions that were tackled first. Having already recorded four of his songs previously, it was obvious he was one of Elvis' favourite songwriters and this showed in the recording of the two love songs recorded on this day. Elvis was determined to produce the right feeling for both songs and worked hard to create satisfactory masters, recording eight takes of I'm Falling In Love Tonight and nine of They Remind Me Too Much Of You. There was no debate that these were the two best songs recorded for the album.
One Broken Heart For Sale was recorded with and without the extra verse that was included in the film. Not in the same class as Return To Sender, also written by Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott, it was the best of the rest.
The remaining tracks were bland, movie songs and material that Elvis should never have recorded... Cotton Candy Land, How Would You Like To Be, Relax, Beyond The Bend, Happy Ending and a re-recording of Take Me To The Fair. The latter was originally going to be the title of the movie but when changed to It Happened At The World's Fair all the effort in re-recording the song was wasted.
Alongside Elvis, the movie also starred Gary Lockwood, Joan O'Brien, Yvonne Craig and the young Philippine born actress Vicki Tiu. In an interview she talked about working with Elvis and how nervous and lonesome she felt being so far away from home. Recalling how they had to do thirty takes of a scene during which she kept forgetting her lines, she said, "He showed a lot of compassion. I will never forget his kindness and patience."
Tiu wasn't the only youngster in the movie. A young lad, Kurt Russell, appears in a scene where Elvis, who wanted to see a nurse he fancied, pays him 25-cents to kick him in the shins. Elvis wore a pad as it took more than one attempt to get it right. Russell would go on to be a successful Hollywood actor and, in 1979, would play Elvis in the movie Elvis. In an interview with GQ, Russell talked about his role in the movie, "One time I got close to the edge of it and he looked at me, because he really trusted me, and went 'stay on the pad.' What a nice guy he was. He was 27 years old. He was really cool. An incredibly nice guy."
In the movie Elvis played Mike Edwards, a crop-duster pilot who, along with his partner Danny (Gary Lockwood), find themselves in a dilemma. Danny has spent the money Mike had saved to pay off their debts. If the debt isn't paid they would lose their aircraft, which had been taken by the local sheriff. They were given one week to settle or the plane would be auctioned.
Hitch-hiking they are picked up by an apple farmer, Walter Ling (Kam Tong), and his niece, Sue-Lin (Vicky Tiu) and end up in Seattle, at the World's Fair.
With her uncle called away on business, Danny persuades Mike to look after Sue-Lin and take her around the fair. During a visit to a doctor Mike sees, and falls for, an attractive but stubborn nurse, Diane Warren (Joan O'Brien) but she resists his advances.
In an effort to go back and see her, Mike pays a boy 25-cents to kick him in the shin. Diane is persuaded to give him a lift back to his apartment. They have dinner at the top of the Space Needle but unbeknown to Diane, he is also courting Dorothy Johnson (Yvonne Craig), a previous acquaintance.
More problems arise when Walter fails to turn up the next day to pick up his niece. Having to stay with Mike, Sue-Lin, realising he likes the nurse, pretends she is ill so that Diane will come to the apartment and see Mike again.
When she realises he is not related to Sue-Lin, she informs the welfare department who take the girl away. Meanwhile Danny has fallen in with a smuggler Vince Bradley (H. M. Wynant).
Everything works out in the end when Mike and Danny, along with local law officials, subdue the smuggler and Sue-Lin is reunited with her uncle.
The movie has a 'Happy Ending' with Mike and Diane finally realising they are in love with each other.
It Happened At The World's Fair opened in Los Angeles on 3 April 1963 and nationwide on 10 April 1963. In the United Kingdom it opened on 30 May and other countries first saw the film in the months that followed. By the end of the year it had box-office receipts totalling $2.25 million and was ranked #55 in Variety's top grossing films of 1963.
Reviews weren't great with Variety writing, "This is apt to be tedious going for all but the most confirmed of Presley's young admirers. The 10-count-'em-10 tunes he sings may be cause for rejoicing among his most ardent followers but, stacked up proportionately against the skinny story in between, it seems at least three too many. Admitting the slim scenario, so many warbling interruptions upset the tempo of the yard and prevent plot and picture from gathering momentum." However, they did go on to praise the stars, "Presley effortlessly executes his customary character -- red blooded wolf on the crust, clean-cut nice guy at the core. Lockwood, as his gambling-chum, makes a good impression. O'Brien is easy to look at. Little Miss Tiu is tiu precious for words."
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, John L. Scott had a similar view, "It must be said that unless you're a Presley fan, the 10 songs he offers while plinking a guitar or ukulele can grow tedious, while the frivolous backgrounding story is turned on and off between tunes."
The New York Times were just as scathing in their review, "Elvis Presley's budding dramatic talents have been neatly nipped in the Seattle story, which emerges as a dismal parody of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals of old. Burdened with a dozen tuneless songs and a plot requiring him to play guardian to a mercilessly cute Chinese waif, the crooner merely swivels ingenuously through a morass of cliches."
The press may have been less than impressed but the cinema owners had a different view based on comments made to Box Office. One said, "This is a very good picture. I hope the film companies continue to make big productions out of the Presley's. He is my top star and there is nothing else that comes close to him." Another commented, "Elvis is always box office for me and he did it in this one too. The shots of the World's Fair were good. My people are always satisfied."
The film was released under a number of different titles in other territories, as shown in some posters reproduced above. In France it was titled, Blondes, Brunes et Rousses which translates to Blonde, Brown and Redheads while those in Spanish speaking countries would have gone to see Punos Y Lagrimas, which in English would be Punches and Tears.
Other foreign titles, and their English translation, included Austria - Bruchlandung in der Ehe (Marriage Crash), Denmaek - Elvis i den syvende Himmel (Elvis In The Seventh Heaven), Finland - Sydan tarjolla (Heart Available) and Germany - Ob blond, ob braun (Whether blond, whether brown).
Several publicity items were produced to promote the movie including posters, a 12-page press book and various publicity stills. There were also lobby cards produced for the UK and USA for use in the cinemas with two different sets available, one featuring eight cards and another with twelve cards. The set of twelve featured the same cards as the set of eight with four additional cards. On the movies re-release a set of black and white lobby cards were produced, featuring eight different scenes from the earlier colour sets.
Publicity material included the tag lines - 'Elvis singing, swinging, romancing in It Happened At The World's Fair' and 'Swinging higher than the Space Needle with the gals and the songs at the famous World's Fair.'
Several movie and music magazines featured images from the movie on their covers including, Photoplay, Film Review, Kine Weekly, Records Magazine, Pop Pics and Hit Parade.
The soundtrack album (LSP/LPM 2697) was released in April containing just ten songs. It reached #4 although, with sales of around 300,000, it must have been a major disappointment when compared to the previous soundtrack album, Girls! Girls! Girls!, which shifted more than double that quantity.
The Colonel had been pushing for the album to be released in a gatefold sleeve with a photospread. RCA, needing to cover the additional cost, planned to sell the album under their deluxe series allowing them to charge an additional $1 over the standard cost of an album. Whilst the increase in price would benefit both RCA and Elvis, the Colonel soon backtracked, wanting to continue his belief that the fans were given value for money... the album only contained ten songs and had a running time of just over 20 minutes so charging an extra $1 would have been a step too far!
The only single released from the album paired One Broken Heart For Sale with They Remind Me Too Much Of You (RCA Victor 47-8134) and with a running time of just one minute and thirty seconds it became the first Elvis single that failed to reach the top ten, stalling at #11.
In 2003 the soundtrack was released on the FTD label as part of their 'Classic Album' series, although it is hard to categorize the album as a classic. Along with the original ten tracks there was a wealth of bonus tracks, alternate takes and false starts including the version of One Broken Heart For Sale with the extra verse, alternate takes of Beyond The Bend, Cotton Candy Land, Relax and Happy Ending. An acetate copy of Take Me To The Fair, from the August session, is also included but the quality is poor compared to the other tracks. The highlights from the bonus tracks has to be the two Don Robertson songs. Listening to the album you can tell how much Elvis loved the songs and it shows in his efforts to produce a satisfactory master.
The twelve-page booklet included session details, a brief synopsis of the film and a day-by-day look back at the few months during which the film was made and released. A mix of colour and black & white images along with lobby cards, record sleeves and other memorabilia completed the package.
If there are enough unreleased outtakes for it to be included in the FTD 'Sessions' series remains to be seen, but I'm sure if they can scrape together a few minutes of unreleased material it is a possibility.
While It Happened At The World's Fair is far from being one of my favourite Elvis movies or soundtracks it was fun to watch again and listen to the soundtrack during the writing of this blog.
