It Happened at the World's Fair

Last updated
It Happened at the World's Fair
Ithappenedattheworldsfair.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Norman Taurog
Written by
Produced by Ted Richmond
Starring
Cinematography Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by Fredric Steinkamp
Don Guidice (uncredited)
Music by Leith Stevens
Production
company
Ted Richmond Productions
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • April 3, 1963 (1963-04-03)(USA)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2,500,000 (US/ Canada) [1]

It Happened at the World's Fair is a 1963 American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley as a crop-dusting pilot. It was filmed in Seattle, Washington, site of the Century 21 Exposition. The governor of Washington at the time, Albert Rosellini, suggested the setting to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executives. The film made $2.25 million at the box office. [2] Kurt Russell had a small uncredited role in his film debut. [3]

Contents

Plot

Pilot Mike Edwards finds himself in a dilemma. His partner and friend, Danny, has overspent the money that Mike had set aside to pay their debts. Without it, their aircraft called Bessie, a Boeing-Stearman Model 75 crop duster, is taken by the local sheriff. If Mike and Danny do not get the money in a week, Bessie will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Mike and Danny become reluctant hitchhikers, looking for a lift to anywhere. They are picked up by apple farmer Walter Ling and his niece Sue-Lin. They end up in Seattle, Washington, location of the 1962 World's Fair. When the uncle is called away on business, Danny persuades Mike to take Sue-Lin to tour the fair. During a visit to a doctor at the fair, Mike falls for Diane Warren, an attractive but stubborn nurse who resists his advances. He gives a quarter to a boy who kicks him in the shin so that he can be treated by her. Diane's supervisor then convinces her to give Mike a ride back to his apartment, convinced that his leg is injured. Mike and Diane dine at the top of the fair's Space Needle. However, he also courts Dorothy Johnson.

Complications then arise when Walter inexplicably fails to return the next day to get Sue-Lin, leaving her with Mike. Sue-Lin feigns illness so that Diane will come to their apartment and examine her and see Mike again. When Diane discovers that Mike is not related to Sue-Lin, she wants to inform the welfare board so that Sue-Lin can be removed from Mike and Danny's apartment. A mysterious nightfall plane delivery is conducted for Mike and Danny's friend Vince, who smuggles valuable furs. The film ends with Mike and Diane in love.

Cast

Kurt Russell, Sandra Giles, Diane O'Donnell, and Memphis Mafia members Red West and Joe Esposito, had uncredited cameo appearances.

Production

The Seattle Center, including the Seattle Center Monorail and the Space Needle, serve as backdrops for several scenes. Security officers pursue Presley and the girl through the fountains at what is now the Pacific Science Center. The hitchhiking scene with Elvis and Gary Lockwood was filmed near Camarillo, California, as were some of the flying scenes. The entire hitchhiking scene, up to the point when Mike and Danny are picked up, was filmed on 5th Street near Pleasant Valley Road on the south side of Camarillo. [4]

While The Elvis Encyclopedia believes that the Wilburton Trestle was shown in the film, further evidence points to a different location. [N 2] It is actually a trestle over the White River between Enumclaw and Buckley, now demolished. The view in the film was taken at the intersection of Mud Mountain Road and Highway 410, looking southeast. [N 3] Mount Rainier is visible in the background, but it cannot be seen at that angle from the Wilburton Trestle, which is larger than the White River Trestle, at six sections high. The trestle pictured in the film is only four sections high at the road crossing. [N 4]

Soundtrack

Reception

Film reviewer Eugene Archer of the New York Times wrote, "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 clichés." [8] Variety wrote that "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 more ardent followers but, stacked up proportionately against the skinny story in between, it seems at least three too many ... so many warbling interruptions upset the tempo of the yarn and prevent plot and picture from gathering momentum." [9] John L. Scott of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "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." [10]

Home media

The film was released in widescreen format on Region 1 DVD by Warner Home Video on August 7, 2007.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Vicky Tiu later became the first lady of Hawaii when she married Governor Ben Cayetano.
  2. ↑ The history blurb on this page was written before the trestle was demolished. [5]
  3. ↑ The bend in the road and a guard rail may still be seen in the same place as in the film. [6]
  4. ↑ Includes a photo of the trestle, but not the part shown in the film. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolores Fuller</span> American actress and songwriter (1923–2011)

Dolores Agnes Fuller was an American actress and songwriter known as the one-time girlfriend of the low-budget film director Ed Wood. She played the protagonist's girlfriend in Glen or Glenda, co-starred in Wood's Jail Bait, and had a minor role in his Bride of the Monster. After she broke up with Wood in 1955, she relocated to New York and had a very successful career there as a songwriter. Elvis Presley recorded a number of her songs written for his films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elvis Presley</span> American singer and actor (1935–1977)

Elvis Aaron Presley, known mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Known as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's energized performances and interpretations of songs, and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, brought both great success and initial controversy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priscilla Presley</span> American actress (born 1945)

Priscilla Ann Presley is an American businesswoman and actress. She is the ex-wife of American singer Elvis Presley, as well as the cofounder and former chairperson of Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), the company that turned Graceland into one of the top tourist attractions in the United States. In her acting career, Presley costarred with Leslie Nielsen in the Naked Gun film trilogy and played Jenna Wade on the long-running television series Dallas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Russell</span> American actor (born 1951)

Kurt Vogel Russell is an American actor. At the age of 12, he began acting in the Western TV series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963–1964). In the late 1960s, he signed a ten-year contract with The Walt Disney Company, where he starred as Dexter Riley in films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975). For his portrayal of rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley in Elvis (1979), he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, Russell became the studio's top star of the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riley Keough</span> American actress (born 1989)

Danielle Riley Keough is an American actress and the eldest grandchild of Elvis Presley. She made her feature film debut in a supporting part in the musical biopic The Runaways (2010), portraying Marie Currie. Keough subsequently starred in the independent thriller The Good Doctor (2011), before being cast in a minor role in Steven Soderbergh's comedy film Magic Mike (2012). She had her first big-budget release in the action feature Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).

<i>King Creole</i> 1958 film by Michael V. Gazzo, Hal B. Wallis, Herbert Baker, Michael Curtiz

King Creole is a 1958 American musical drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and based on the 1952 novel A Stone for Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins. Produced by Hal B. Wallis, the film stars Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dolores Hart, Dean Jagger, Vic Morrow, Liliane Montevecchi and Paul Stewart, and it follows a nineteen-year-old (Presley) who gets mixed up with crooks and involved with two women.

<i>Fun in Acapulco</i> 1963 film by Richard Thorpe

Fun in Acapulco is a 1963 American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley and Ursula Andress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Taurog</span> American film director (1899–1981)

Norman Rae Taurog was an American film director and screenwriter. From 1920 to 1968, Taurog directed 180 films. At the age of 32, he received the Academy Award for Best Director for Skippy (1931), becoming the youngest person to win the award for eight and a half decades until Damien Chazelle won for La La Land in 2017. He was later nominated for Best Director for the film Boys Town (1938). He directed some of the best-known actors of the twentieth century, including his nephew Jackie Cooper, Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Deborah Kerr, Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley and Vincent Price. Taurog directed six Martin and Lewis films, and nine Elvis Presley films, more than any other director.

<i>Spinout</i> (film) 1966 film by Norman Taurog

Spinout is a 1966 American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley as the lead singer of a band and part-time race car driver. The film was #57 on the year-end list of the top-grossing films of 1966. It was titled California Holiday in the UK.

<i>Clambake</i> (film) 1967 film by Arnold Laven, Arthur Gardner, Jules Levy

Clambake is a 1967 American beach party musical film directed by Arthur H. Nadel and starring Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, Bill Bixby, Gary Merrill and James Gregory. Written for the screen by Arthur Browne Jr., the film is about the heir to an oil fortune who trades places with a water-ski instructor at a Florida hotel to see if girls will like him for himself, rather than his father's money. Clambake was the last of Presley's four films for United Artists. The movie reached number 15 on the national weekly box-office charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilburton Trestle</span> Former rail trestle in Bellevue, Washington

The Wilburton Trestle is a historic wooden railway trestle in Bellevue, Washington. Measuring 102 feet (31 m) high and 975 feet (297 m) long, it is the longest wooden trestle in the Pacific Northwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red West</span> American actor (1936–2017)

Robert Gene "Red" West was an American actor, film stuntman and songwriter. He was known for being a close confidant and bodyguard for rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. Upon his firing, West co-wrote the controversial Elvis: What Happened?, a tell all book about Elvis co written with a Rupert Murdoch journalist; the book was published in May 1977 in UK and later in USA.

Charles Franklin Hodge, better known as Charlie Hodge, was an American singer, vocal coach and musician who was a confidant and best friend of Elvis Presley, and lived at Graceland.

<i>Elvis Is Back!</i> 1960 studio album by Elvis Presley

Elvis Is Back! is the fourth studio album by American singer Elvis Presley, released on April 8, 1960 by RCA Victor. It was Presley's first album of new material since 1958's King Creole soundtrack, as well as his first to be recorded and released in stereophonic sound. The album marked Presley's return to music after his discharge from the U.S. Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Esposito (author)</span> American writer

Joseph Carmine Esposito was Elvis Presley's road manager and friend. After Elvis' death, Joe became an author and publisher of several Elvis books.

<i>It Happened at the Worlds Fair</i> (soundtrack) 1963 soundtrack album by Elvis Presley

It Happened at the World's Fair is the sixth soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2697, in April 1963. It is the soundtrack to the 1963 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on August 30 and September 22, 1962. It peaked at number four on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.

<i>Fun in Acapulco</i> (soundtrack) 1963 soundtrack album by Elvis Presley

Fun in Acapulco is the seventh soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2756, in November 1963. It is the soundtrack to the 1963 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on January 22 and 23 and February 27, 1963; and at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 26 and 28, 1963. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan O'Brien</span> American actress and singer (born 1936)

Joan Marie O'Brien is an American actress and singer. She made a name for herself acting in television shows in the 1950s and 1960s and as a film co-star with Cary Grant, Elvis Presley, John Wayne, and Jerry Lewis.

Robert Washington is an American Elvis impersonator who has won many Elvis competitions in the United States. Washington is African American, and was the first African American to win the World Champion Elvis Impersonator title. Sam Thompson, a former bodyguard of Elvis Presley, once commented on Washington's close resemblance to Presley's sound.

"They Remind Me Too Much of You" is a song written by Don Robertson and originally recorded by Elvis Presley for the 1963 MGM motion picture It Happened at the World's Fair. In January 1963, the song was released as an advanced single from the movie. "One Broken Heart for Sale" reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "They Remind Me Too Much of You" reached number 53.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ "Top Rental Features of 1963", Variety, 8 January 1964 p. 71. Figures are from rentals and not from total gross.
  2. ↑ Victor 2008.
  3. ↑ Knight 2009, p. 81.
  4. ↑ Victor 2008.
  5. ↑ "Profile of Buckley, Washington". Key to the City. Archived from the original on September 8, 2011. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Google Street View of Mud Mountain Road and Highway 410." Google.
  7. ↑ Sprau, David T. (January 2002). "How Auburn Became a Railroading Town. Part I: Featuring the Northern Pacific's 'Palmer Cutoff'". White River Journal. White River History Museum. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  8. ↑ Archer, Eugene. "Presley and Reeves in double bill at neighborhood theaters." The New York Times, May 30, 1963, p. 15.
  9. ↑ "It Happened At The World's Fair." Variety , April 3, 1963, p. 16,
  10. ↑ Scott, John L. "Songathon stars Elvis." Los Angeles Times , April 6, 1963, Part III, p. 5.

Bibliography

  • Guralnick, Peter, and Jorgensen, Ernst. Elvis Day by Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music. London: Ballantine 1999. ISBN   0-345-42089-6.
  • Kirchberg, Connie, and Hendrickx, Marc. Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon, and the American Dream. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 1999. ISBN   0-7864-0716-6.
  • Knight, Timothy. Elvis Presley in the Movies. New York: Metro Books, 2009. ISBN   978-1-4351-1855-3.
  • Lisanti, Tom. Fantasy Femmes of 60's Cinema: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Biker, Beach, and Elvis Movies. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2000. ISBN   0-7864-0868-5.
  • Marcus, Greil. "Rock Films," The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, second edition. New York: Random House 1980. ISBN   0-394-73938-8.
  • Ponce de Leon, Charles L. Fortunate Son: The Life of Elvis Presley. London: Macmillan, 2007. ISBN   0-8090-1641-9.
  • Presley, Priscilla. Elvis and Me. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1985. ISBN   0-399-12984-7.
  • Thomson, David. A Biographical Dictionary of Film (3d ed.). New York: Knopf. 1998. ISBN   0-679-75564-0.
  • Victor, Adam. The Elvis Encyclopedia. London: Overlook Duckworth, 2008. ISBN   1-58567-598-9.
DVD reviews
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.