Singin' and Dancing Back in Time.: BLUE HAWAII (1961)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

BLUE HAWAII (1961)

Blue Hawaii (1961) a musical filmed in Hawaii. Cast: Elvis Presley.

After two years in the Army, Chad Gates returns home to Hawaii, happy to be back with his surfboard and beach buddies. He rebels against his wealthy and domineering parents by not going to work for the family pineapple business. Chad decides to go to work as a guide for the same tourist agency where Maile, his Hawaiian girl friend works. His first job is to show school teacher Abigail Prentace and four teen aged girls around the Hawaiian Island..

At a luau, Chad gets into a fight with a drunken tourist who is making inappropriate moves on one of the teenage girls, he is arrested and thrown in jail. Chad's mother blames the fight on Maile's bad influence. Maile is worried about Abigail's interest in Chad.

FUN FACTS:
The closing scene, was shot at the Coco Palms Resort on Kauai, where Elvis was staying when filming the movie.Cameo: (Hal B. Wallis) walking down the street.

The soundtrack for this movie is Elvis' most successful chart album, but it is also the number one album for (1961). "Blue Hawaii" spent 20 weeks at the #1 spot of the Billboard Top LP's chart in 1961-1962 (a record to be broken in (1977) by Fleetwood Macs "Rumors" album), which stayed on the charts for 79 weeks.

About seven minutes before the end of the film. Maile is peeking through the blinds, you will see a couple paddling a canoe. The blond woman seated up front, is singer Patti Page. Patti was then married to Charles O'Curran, a choreographer for many films produced by Hal B. Wallis, including "Blue Hawaii."

What I liked most about this fun film was the location and Angela Lansbury's performance as Elvis's crazy Southern Belle mama.

http://www.tcm.com/video/videoPlayer/?cid=215468&titleId=69214
Click to view movie trailer.

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"Blue Hawaii"
Written by Leo Robin & Ralph Rainger
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Almost Always True"
Written by Fred Wise & Ben Weisman
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Aloha Oe"
Written by Queen Liliuokalani
Performed by Elvis Presley

"No More"
Written by Don Robertson & Hal Blair
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Can't Help Falling In Love"
Written by George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti & Luigi Creatore
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Rock-a-Hula Baby"
Written by Fred Wise, Ben Weisman & Dolores Fuller
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Moonlight Swim"
Written by Sylvia Dee & Ben Weisman
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Ku-u-i-Po"
Written by George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti & Luigi Creatore
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Ito Eats"
Written by Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Slicin' Sand"
Written by Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Hawaiian Sunset"
Written by Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Beach Boy Blues"
Written by Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Island Of Love (Kauai)"
Written by Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett
Performed by Elvis Presley

"Hawaiian wedding Song"
Written by Charles E. King, Al Hoffman & Dick Manning
Performed by Elvis Presley

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Bob Fosse

Was a musical theater choreographer and director, screenwriter and film director. He won an eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction. He was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning for his direction of Cabaret. He was identified with his third wife, Gwen Verdon. She was both the dancer/collaborator who he choreographed much of his work and, together with dancer/choreographer Ann Reinking, a guardian of the Fosse legacy after his death. Fosse is considered to be one the most influential coreographers of the 20th Century.

Esther Williams.

JANE POWELL

After rising to fame as a singer in her home state of Oregon, Powell was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while still in her teens. Once there, the studio utilized her vocal, dancing and acting talents, casting her in such musicals as Royal Wedding, with Fred Astaire, A Date with Judy, with friend Elizabeth Taylor and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, with Howard Keel. In the late 1950s, her film career slowed, only to be replaced with a busy theater and television career.Click picture to enter websight.

Jeanette MacDonald

Singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (Love Me Tonight, The Merry Widow) and Nelson Eddy (Naughty Marietta, Rose-Marie, and Maytime). During the 1930s and 1940s she starred in 29 feature films, four nominated for Best Picture Oscars (The Love Parade, One Hour With You, Naughty Marietta and San Francisco), and recorded extensively, earning three gold records. She later appeared in grand opera, concerts, radio, and television. MacDonald was one of most influential sopranos of the 20th century. Click picture to view fan website.

Joan Crawford.

Click picture to view website. Joan Crawford, born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre. Starting as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford began a campaign of self-publicity and became nationally known as a flapper by the end of the 1920s. In the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well-received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money and by the end of the 1930s

Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Richard Rodgers (1902 – 1979) and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895 – 1960) the songwriting duo, on our musical page. They created many popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age. With Rodgers composing the music and Hammerstein writing the lyrics, five of their shows, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. They won thirty-four Tony Awards, fifteen Academy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, and two Grammys. Click picture to read movie reviews.

Cab Calloway

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86 .Click picture to view official website.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

BLUE HAWAII (1961)

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