Elvis in Las Vegas Page #3

---

if Elvis wanted to have a party.

It was probably the best you could ever get being with Elvis Presley

shooting a movie, you couldn't beat it.

I don't think I before or ever since

ever seen that much...

things around!

When I say things, it's not all women, but cars, money...

It's almost like he could walk on water, it was amazing.

You couldn't do anything wrong.

Elvis was a woman's man.

He always had women around.

But Elvis had that duality

in that perspective too.

He wanted someone at home, like Priscilla,

then he wanted to be on the road and have the flexibility

and the access to women.

That was just who he was.

But Elvis needed more than a little help from friends

to see him through a gruelling routine of all-night parties

and the tedium of fulfilling the Colonel's demands for 29 movies

in just 7 years.

Elvis was an insomniac.

When he was in the army, he had to be up every day.

He had to be physically ready to go.

And this created a problem, I think that's where it started.

It was easier if he had something to go to sleep at night.

But then he had to have something to wake up.

# Here comes Santa Claus Here comes Santa Claus

# Right down Santa Claus Lane... #

His hectic life in Hollywood made it hard for Elvis to settle into family holidays,

however idyllic they appeared,

with adoring wife and newborn child.

To counter Elvis's restlessness,

and need for a new challenge,

Colonel came up with an old-fashioned scheme

for the Christmas of '68.

Colonel Parker said to Elvis one day, "You wanna do a Christmas special.

"The good thing is, we do one, they'll play it every year at Christmas time."

See, Colonel was the business guy.

The 33 year old Elvis had never yet contradicted his manager.

But all that changed when he heard the Colonel planned to televise him

crooning family Christmas songs.

He got support from the show's director to reveal more of himself.

I think at the time I met with Elvis,

regarding his career, he was really frightened

and scared stiff of failing.

I think this whole idea

pushing him into television was real scary to him

because he thought... as he said to me, "I've been away from an audience for years,

"I've just been making all these movies."

# You lookin' for trouble?

# You came to the right place

# You lookin' for trouble?

# Just look right at my face

# I was born standin' up

# And talkin' back... #

This sultry, leather-clad image

was not at all what the Colonel had in mind.

Colonel said, "Binder, it's been called to my attention

"we don't have any Christmas songs in this show."

And I said, "Yeah."

He said, "Well, Elvis wants Christmas songs in the show.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes