The Making Of 'Loving You' (Updated)

Lizabeth Scott talks about prolific producer Hal B. Wallis at AFI Fest in 1987. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-0acAHhjB4


49.

50A.




(Above)Shots from around the start of the movie,and publicity photographs with Elvis and Lizabeth Scott with a 1957 Imperial Crown Convertible.


Elvis with script close by.


Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis+
Hal Kanter : (Colonel Parker) amused me. Everybody else took him seriously but I found him to be a shrewd and very funny man - although he wasn't aware of how funny he was.My impression is that he was much more interesting man than Elvis was. I found him absolutely fascinating. And I would trust him across the room on anything. He was one of the sharpest con men that I've ever run across. And he was remarkable. I can, you know, I can talk about him for two or three hours which you would enjoy hearing about. But I'm not going to. Because actually I thought that he was a contributor to downfall of Elvis himself, in my view. Anyway, we shouldn't do that. Let's destroy all that. Don't, don't... Colonel Parker was a man who had Elvis's best interests at heart. But he had Tom Parker's best interest even closer to heart than he did Elvis, (+++)
(Below)Publicity photographs - Elvis at Lizabeth Scott dressing room door,Paramount Studios.







Singer Glen Glenn and Elvis at the knickerbocker hotel,thursday February 7th 1957.
Glen Glenn describes the photo (above) : "That's one of the times we went up to see Elvis. And, when I walked into the room, that's his living room in the Knickerbocker. Well, he was setting down, there's a divan behind, and Elvis is reading the newspaper. So, I went down and kneeled down by Elvis. And, my guitar player walked right around and took the picture of Elvis.

Well, that's the night that Elvis played us. He had-- I call 'em dubs, but they call 'em acid tapes, of the "Loving You" sound track. He had them all there and he had a little old record player in those days, you know, not a real nice one. And, we set there and listened to everyone of those tracks, "Teddy Bear," everything that was in "Loving You." And, he also had "One Night With You," which wasn't in the movie, but he had cut it and he kept saying, "Man I love that song and that's me playing guitar." Cause he was playing the guitar on that record, see. And, I wish I had those dubs now, you know. But, anyway, we set there all night and played those dubs. And, he had two or three girls in there that night. I don't know who their names was, but they sat on the couch and they were setting there, just me and Elvis and Gary Lambert, my guitar player. We set there and listened to those records for couple of hours, you know. And, he kept playing them over and over and over.

Elvis, at that time, was making "Loving You," his second movie. And, Bill (Black) was supposed to be there all the time because he was in the movie, he even had a speaking part in the movie. But, he wanted to go on tour with us, so he did. We went on about a four day tour and he went with us. We went up to Bakersfield and Fresno and Bill went with us. And, we'd bring Bill up on stage and Fred would say, "This is Elvis Presleys bass player, Bill Black." Well, half the people didn't believe that he was Elvis bass player. And, the other half that did believe, they wanted to go up and touch him just because he was Elvis bass player. "Can we touch you," you know, cause Elvis is hotter than fire at that time. I mean, everybody in the world knew who Elvis was, you know.


57A.Saturday December 15th,1956 Louisana Hayride show,with the Hal Kanter,the writer and director of his next movie in attendance.

Hal Kanter : I spent some time with him before he came out to do "Loving You"; I got to know him a little. It was when he was giving a tremendous concert in Shreveport, Louisiana -- the first of his many "farewell concerts." I went with him from Memphis to Shreveport, and a lot of what I observed there, I went back and rewrote and put in the picture.

That was one of the primary reasons that I went to Memphis, not only to meet Elvis himself, but also see him in action and to learn as much about his method of operation as I possibly could and eventually to incorporate some of what I'd learned in the film itself. One of the things that really impressed me was the fact that we arrived in a Cadillac. Bill was driving. And thousands of kids evidently recognized it as Elvis's car. And they swarmed around the car. And I was sitting in the back seat. They were all trying to see who I was. And of course they had no idea who I was. It was a frightening experience. Till finally, he was able to get out and say, "Just relax, kids. That's Elvis's director from Hollywood. We're going to go to make a movie."The evening of the concert was another eye opener to me. I had never seen so many flash bulbs in my life. The place was jammed. And the audience itself was making so much noise that they couldn't even hear what the man was singing,it was amazing.. I thought. It was absolutely spectacular even for me. The kids in the audience went crazy over him, and, as a matter of fact, I think I did get a lot of it on the screen in "Loving You.
















Photos above : One lucky fan won a competition to spend time with Elvis on the set of his latest movie.

Top photo Looks like the coke bottles have been handed out - Gene Smith,Wendall Cory,Elvis,Lizebeth Scott,visiting fan
Second from top photo : Fan,Elvis and Lizabeth Scott standing by a prop poster for the yet to be released Hal Wallis production 'Gunfight At The OK Corral'(released May 29th 1957). The postion of this cinema is on the Paramount lot and is to the left of the theatre that Deke Rivers perfoms in. It can be seen as numerous times in the movie. Note the photo with Lizabeth Scott and Fan sat on the pavement-Elvis is behind the prop box office grill and it's also worth looking out for the 'Deke Rivers' poster,with an un-issued publicity photo taken at the same session as the Loving You LP cover and the photo at the very top of this topic.This is evidence that certainly a good majority of the publicity photographs were taken towards the start of the movie in either late January or early february.The remaining are all taken around the Paramount studio lot.
66.
Vernon sat left,Gladys Presley hands Elvis a copy of Screenland magazine as Dolores Hart attends To Elvis's hair.






^Elvis attended a midnight screening with Anita Wood and his parents,(and he also invited Anita to 'watch put up a special front for the Memphis premiere)Billy Smith.
*Mike Stoller remembers -The Elvis Presley songbook by Ken Sharp (Goldmine)
** From'Ben Weisman Songbook'
***Jan-Erik Kejesth ETMAHM No.7
****Jan-Erik Kejesth ETMAHM No.71 an in depth look at the recording of 'All Shook Up'
+1956
(+)Info and photo from http://www.scottymoore.net/gibson_guita ... moore.html
(++)Hal Wallis autobiography
(+++)Trevor Cajiao talk to Hal Kanter ETMAHM No.49
*+very kindly provided by Claude91

A series of publicity photographs taken at the completion of 'Loving You' at Lizabeth Scott's home,hollywood when Elvis and Dolores Hart visited.
Notice the x over Lizabeth Scott,was ths done by Colonel Tom Parker?





The time on the clock in the background reads 4.40pm






Elvis and Lizabeth Scott hold the Photoplay award.
Elvis had been chosen by Photoplay magazine as a recipient of its "Stars of 1957" award. Photoplay's award banquet was broadcast live by NBC-TV from the Beverly Hills Hotel the evening of February 7, 1957. On hand were other award winners, among them Rock Hudson and Kim Novak. Elvis, who was filming Loving You in Hollywood at the time, did not attend the banquet. Elvis holds the award for the camera with co-star Lizebeth Scott.



4


Hal Kanter,Wendall Corey,Elvis and Hal Wallis in discussion.The location is the restaurant and the scene is where Walter and Deke talk about management.










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Elvis playing with a 'Official Elvis Presley Guitar',and a photo of a similar official guitar from 1956.
13/4/15

17

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Elvis in the 'Teddy Bear' production number,with a loan Paramount Studio's Gibson J-200 guitar
Lots more info here http://www.scottymoore.net/epm_propj200.html




'Mean Woman Blues'
A photo from the production number 'Mean Woman Blues' which was featured in the ftd book 'Flashbook',although it was reversed in the book.(Below)






(Above) Publicity photographs with Elvis without shoes (Below) Elvis rehearsing the restaurant fight scene with director Ha Kanter on the right.
"Well..You ain't Bad Sideburns"



Rehearsal of the Jukebox segment of the 'Mean Woman Blues' number (Above)
Rehearsing the 'Mean Woman Blues' number with Hal Kanter and Charles O'Curran foreground.(below)






Dean Martin's daughters pictured with Elvis around the time 'Mean Woman Blues' production number was being filmed,Barbara Gail,Deana,Elvis and Claudia Dean,dated around the 11th of February 1957.

Deana Martin (Dean Martin's Daughter): He came home and told us girls "Put something nice on tomorrow , you're coming to the studio with me,Elvis Presley wants to meet you",Gail and Claudia and I looked at each other in disbelief. Off we went to Paramount the next day,so exited we could barely speak.Elvis was utterly charming,and even more handsome than in his movies.He came riding towards us on a bicycle,dismounted and sais,"Hey Dean" in his melodic Memphis accent "Now these beautiful girls can't be your daughters"Blushing,giggling,we were each introduced to him as someone took photographs and recorded the moment for history.It is one of my most cherished pictures.*







Elvis and Wendall Corey,this is the scene in theatre as they prepare for the TV broadcast.The Jordanaires get an on screen credit just prior to this.





Dolores Hart on the kiss with Elvis :We shot the kissing scene the very first day of production (around the 22nd January 1957) I remember Hal Kanter shouted 'cut! he said we have to do it again,and I asked why, and he said "Because your ears are too red","You're blushing from where your make-up starts all the way back to your neck",so they had to re do the make-up and we shot it again.This time they stopped it because Elvis' ears were red.He was hysterical,he laughed and said,"I'm not blushing,it must be the lights","he said"I'm just having a darned good time!".(*)
Interview with Dolores Hart ,(beware bad picture quality) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKGmDifYq60



Elvis and Dolores Hart .The scene is as Deke ends the Final version of 'Loving You'.

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(Above) Rehearsal for the final song 'Got A Lot O' Livin To Do'. Note the runway is not in postion
(Below) Publicity photograph.The date for this production number is February 21-22 1957







Dolores Hart ,Elvis and Jana Lund

Jana Lund,Yvonne Lime and Dolores Hart(Above)
Yvonne visited Elvis in Memphis on the Easter break. Numerous photos were taken of the pair at Graceland and film of them when they visited Sam Phillips home : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z83MYFG3 ... re=related
Saturday April 19th 1957

Yvonne Lime and Elvis (below)
45.


Jana Lund,Yvonne Lime and Dolores Hart as Elvis Sings




(Below)Elvis is seen on the set of the picture 'Hot Spell. He is seen with Eileen Heckart and Shirley Booth, Yvonne Lime can be seen in the background.




In this shot,Two camera's can be seen to cover different angles of the production number. In the trailer slightly different shots were used,and with the rush to get the trailer out,the editor probably picked a different angle to the main feature.



Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Presley are on their way to California today to join their famous son, Elvis, whos' making his second movie in Hollywood.
The photo at shows the couple as they boarded a train last night at Central Station.
While they're away, landscaping will continue at the Presley home on Audubon Drive, shown below, the improvement of which has received their constant attention since Elvis bought it some time ago. When they return, Mr. Presley said, he's going to finish the swimming pool in back and build a new patio.
This will be the Presleys' first trip to California. Elvis has already rented a home for them, and they will be gone about a month. Elvis' parents originally planned to leave earlier this month but her doctor adviced Mrs. Presley to enter a hospital for a few days for a checkup. She reports she feels fine now




Gladys and Vernon Presley arrived in Hollywood at the beginning of February along with their friends the Nicholses.


Vernon apparently asked the officer at the Paramount gate,'Howdy,officer,can you tell me how to get into this place? We've got a boy working here".Vernon was wearing a light-colored suit,round-brimmed,pushed back hat,and a too-short tie bunched up by an ornamental tie clip,while Gladys wore a simple pinned back hat and an elegant new jacket over a dark dress.

I finally used them in the picture itself. And if you have a sharp eye, you can see that Gladys and then Vernon and there were two people sitting next to them. And that was the house painter and his wife. They went everywhere. They seemed to be moral support of body or body guards or what... I don't know. I never saw the Presleys without those two people with them.





Charles O'Curren gives stage direction to Elvis







Actor and singer Sal Mineo with Elvis
Sal Mineo's breakthrough came in the movie 'Rebel Without A Cause' in which he played John "Plato" Crawford, alongside James Dean.His performance resulted in an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.On February 12, 1976, Mineo was stabbed to death in the alley behind a West Hollywood apartment building,he was 37 years old.






Hal Kanter gives direction to Elvis whilst Lizabeth Scott looks on





Elvis and Charles O'Curran

Charles O 'Curran : The film 'Loving You' was at first titled Lonesome Cowboy.Presley argued us out of that,aided by his manager,Colonel Tom Parker.Elvis just told us in his soft Tennesse drawl,"I'm not a cowboy singer,I sing hillbilly,and there's a mite of difference between the two styles.I wear dungarees,but that doesn't make me a cow-puncher!"

Fair enough,we thought,so the title of the picture was changed,but we kept in the song 'Lonesome Cowboy'.That was my doing. I had picked the tunes for him carefully - and it was never that easy finding numbers for him,ones that would sui this style of singing. I knew he would like 'Lonesome Cowboy' and I would want to sing it when he saw the production I had built up around it.

It's not a cowboy song so much as a dramatic ballad,I told him. Elvis didn't look too happy. "I'm not all that good at ballads" I remember him saying.So I reminded him what a hit 'Love Me Tender' had been.He didn't show much emotion.Flattery got little reation from him. He just thanked me for my complimentary remark, but he heard the song and got to like it. By the time we came to put it into the picture - and it proved one of the highlights of Loving You, he was crazy about it.



Roy C. Bennett: I have a theory about Lonesome Cowboy. The song was written for the movie, but I believe it was chosen for that particular spot in the movie as an example of a song that Elvis should not sing. If you remember the movie, when he sings Lonesome Cowboy the audience is very lukewarm. Then he sings an up-tempo song and the audience goes wild. We never met Elvis in person or attended any of his recording sessions. We worked in New York on the scripts that were sent to us from California. There were other writers who went to California and became friendly with Elvis, and they were among our most successful competitors. Obviously, being right there and privy to the latest information about the song requirements gave them a great advantage over the rest of us.(*)







Hal Kanter has fun with Elvis!
Hal Kanter talks about the photograph : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gnJS1g_ ... re=channel 7.00mins
This is curious image,Hal Kanter describes it - "That was part of a montage we were doing to show the progress that he was going through,y'know from one step to another in his rise to fame". The only problem is that in the finished movie,Elvis is wearing his denim jacket - therefore for some reason they re-shot this sequence.
Hal contines " The lighting guys were setting up the shot and Elvis said something to me - I don't remember what it was - and I stuck my face through his legs..he was up on a table or something and it was just at the time the still photographer grabbed the shot".(*)
Colonel Parker didn't like the shot and had put an 'X' through the proof sheet.




Dolores Hart : (Elvis's parents) they were very very lovely people.They had a small part in the picture.His mother was so dear to him.


Hal Kanter - And after one take... On the back lot we were working one night. And we'd finished the scene, and we were shooting night for night. And I said, "As long as you're, you know, Gladys while you're here," I said, "Why don't you stand in front of the camera, and we'll run a few feet off of you, and you and your son and your husband. And you'll see it tomorrow in the dailies." And she said, "Oh, I don't -- I don't know..." And Elvis said, "Come on, Mom. Come on. Come on." And they finally all got in front of the camera. And they did a little something. Whatever it was escapes me. And when I said, "Cut," she said, "Oh." She was so grateful. She was very embarrassed to be in front to the camera. She wanted her friends to be on the camera too. But I said, "That's enough. No more." The next day, they saw the dailies, and she was just embarrassed just to see herself. She thought that she looked heavy which she was. But Vernon seemed to be very pleased with it. Vernon had the feeling that he probably could be an actor himself, you know. But that little piece of film is probably a very valuable piece of film, you know, to aficionados and Elvis freaks. But nobodys ever able to find it. I think that he, himself, got a hold of that film sometime later and had it destroyed. Because nobody could find it anywhere.


Hal Kanter : Vernon and Gladys came out to Hollywood to spend some time with Elvis. And he asked if they could come on the set. And I said, "Of course they could." And they showed up with another couple, friends of theirs from Memphis whom Vernon introduced as their decorator. It turns out this man was a house painter. And I remember him because he was wearing a brand new hat. And it had no creases in it at all, just at hat just taken out of a hat box. And he wore that. And he had a white shirt buttoned at the collar but no tie. And I'd seen very few people dressed that way. And he fascinated me. I never heard the man say one word. But Gladys and Vernon both were rather quiet people.




Elvis, Hal Kanter and Wendell Corey.
On the last day of shooting, I decided to give a cast party. And I made all the arrangements to get one of the sets of a picture that Cornell Wilde was doing at the time***. And he had finished with his set, a nightclub set. And I asked them, "Please, leave that set alone, so we can have our cast party there." And I had paid for everything. The last shot was with Elvis and Liz Scott. And early on, little by little, as the cast was being dismissed, everybody go across the lot to the party near the commissary. When finally the show was wrapped, Elvis and Liz and I walked across to the stage. And the party was in full swing. And there was a big boot there with a great big sign saying, "Elvis and the Colonel, thank you all." And he was standing there giving out autographed pictures of Elvis printed, you know, little 4 x 5's. He was also giving out lottery tickets, because he was going to raffle off an Elvis album and also a phonograph which had been donated by RCA I guess. And that cast party which cost me several thousand dollars out of my own pocket became his farewell party to the cast and crew. That's typical of him.

Elvis and Dolores Hart in rehearsal for the scene where Deke throws the teddy bear to Bill Black.(Dolores isn't wearing the clothes she's wearing in the movie.)Friday February 1st 1957









On Location at Jessup Ranch, north of Hollywood.
February 27th 1957


Dolores Hart : I did not want to mix dating and that sort of thing with business or work.I didn't think it was appropriate to do that. I didn't want to diminish him while we were making a movie,he was the star,and I was just starting out. I had no intention of pumping up my career by hanging onto his coat-tails. I figured that if I was worth something it was because I was good enough actress.**







































(*)Trevor Cajiao talk to Hal Kanter,full interview in ETMAHM No.49
**Dolores Hart talks to Trevor Cajiao full interview ETMAHM No 62.
*From "Memories Are Made Of This-Dean Martin Through His Daughter's Eyes'
Also Elvis in Hollywood DVD

***The Devil's Hairpin (1957) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050311/
A large amount of photos have originally come the book 'Inside Loving You',but I don't have the book to check.

Inside Loving You
RijffGer ; Giles,Chris (2003)
Running Wild Productions , London (UK) 132 pages
Chris Giles collection part 1. ,41,44a,44b,45,52,53, 51,51a,53,55,55-56,58 (?)
Chris Giles collection part 2. 5,12,22,23,24,25,33,34,40,51,53,56,57,58,59,60,61,64,64,72,76-78,81(?)
any corrections or mistakes let me know so i can update.
thanks Davide

Last edited by davide on Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:01 am, edited 30 times in total.

Davide, you're a star.

Frikkin awesome.

Brings a tear to the eye seeing Gladys with her boy in some of thoe photos.

Thank you for both parts of this posting: simply awesome.

It must have been quite wonderful to be Elvis Presley in early 1957.

Another wonderful research, thank you very much!!!!! I just hope you'll do the same for Jailhouse Rock.

Davide, your posts are incredible! Thank You!

Your post(s) on Jailhouse Rock would be very much appreciated!

Great stuff,as usual Davide!
Thank you for taking the time for putting together another of your most interesting and detailed topics!

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Magnificent!

Brilliant David,as always

A Loving You daily call sheet was sent to Elvis at his movie studio office/dressing room. This is the production sheet sent to him for Friday, March 8, 1957,the last day of production for a re-shoot. On that day, co-star Lizabeth Scott, Wendell Corey, and Ralph Dumke had to be ready to shoot at 8:00 A.M., while Elvis didn't have to show up until later in the day to film a scene in Deke's jalopy. The set was closed.
The reverse side of the call sheet lists all the support personnel required for the day...makeup people, hairdressers, electricians, cameramen, sound recorder, etc. Five gallons of coffee were ordered for the crew at 7:30 A.M. and then again at 2:30 P.M.

Davide

WOW!!! This must be the best thing i've read in a long time ! Well since your last thread anyway Thanks Davide, fantastic !!

Elvis arrives home to Memphis Central Station,after filming 'Loving You' March 18th 1957 at 11.35pm.


Davide

excellent i just love your in depth information

Hey man,
That was alot of working getting all that stuff up there. I totally appreciate it. 'Loving You' is probably my favorite Elvis feature film. Thanks again!!!!

Great stuff, thanks for sharing!

Here's a 2 page Billboard ad from June 24, 1957:

Hi David -

Wonderful, as always.

You may want to flip these images, as they are reversed:

AWESOME.
My Fave Elvis Movie.

corrected the reverse images ...





This caption confirms the name of the make up man - Jack Stone, and a date of 7 February 1957.







Caption and date of 10 February 1957.


Davide

Studio Barber Ramiro Jaloma and Elvis.
The image above, is improved in quality, which I have previously posted, but now have the caption to go alongside.



Also a new photo for me from the set of 'Loving You'. Elvis and Yvonne Lime.


Davide

BLOODY HELL!!! That's magnificent. It seems an "Inside Loving you" volume 2 book is well overdue as Davide did a similar posting on this film not so long ago. Where do you get all this stuff, Sir Davide???

BLOODY HELL!!! That's magnificent. It seems an "Inside Loving you" volume 2 book is well overdue as Davide did a similar posting on this film not so long ago. Where do you get all this stuff, Sir Davide???

The material normally comes from auction sites and old books and magazine's. I still havn't been able to get hold of a copy of 'Inside Loving You.'

Davide

I've got loads of books and mags on Elvis (and I dare say many here have also), but a lot of the pics that you post are unseen to me and many others. Thanks again.

I just noticed the photo credit that reads: Elvis,Hal Kanter and unknown,

Should read: Elvis, Hal Kanter and Wendell Corey.

I just noticed the photo credit that reads: Elvis,Hal Kanter and unknown,

Should read: Elvis, Hal Kanter and Wendell Corey.

Thanks - updated







On Location at Jessup Ranch, north of Hollywood.






Davide

This is an amazing thread! Many thanks for sharing.

The original LOVING YOU press / campaign booklet;

LY PRESSBOOK.jpg

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