Hunter and the Hound Dog

Elvis and Blue Hawaii

     Hawaii or Hawaiki ---  "Place of the Gods"  

    Captain Cook on January 18, 1778, became the first European to discover the Hawaiin Islands when he sailed past the island of Oahu. It was an independent kingdom from 1810 - 1893 and became a U.S. territory in 1898 and then the 50th state of the USA in August, 1959. The Union Jack, flew unofficially as the flag of Hawaii until 1816.

Todays Flag of  Hawaii 

was designed at the request of  King Kamehemeka 1, who  united the islands into a single state . It has eight stripes of white, red and blue that represent the eight main islands. The flag of Great Britain remains in the upper left corner.One of  Hawaii's most famous sons, Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu.

 

    The Elvis Hawaiin relationship began in 1957 and continued through to the year of his death when he holidayed there in March of 1977. Lets begin this journey in 1957, Elvis was now a huge star and set sail to Hawaii on the  SS Matsonia for a concert in Honolulu and footage from this concert is some of the best of his fifties concert period. It amazes me that so little footage has surfaced from the beginning of his career. You can see him performing with the exaggerated leg movements and moving around on stage, at one point,with just the top section of the mic stand reminiscent of Freddy Mercury in the 70's.

Following is a clip of him on the SS Matsonia and a clip of the performance.

Elvis in his Gold Lame Suit Honolulu November 1957

     Our next stop is Blue Hawaii and Chad Gates . This movie was the first of the Hawaii influenced productions for Elvis . Girls Girls Girls and Paradise Hawaiin Style would follow but this movie is full of interesting trivia, people of note and mysteries. Chad's mum was the well loved british actress Angela Landsbury and she was later, to become, the star of Murder She Wrote. Which leads us into an interesting Hollywood murder mystery as Jenny Maxwell, who played Ellie Corbett or the girl who got her bottom spanked by the King and who starred in 77 Sunset Strip,Route 66 and The Twilight Zone was later the victim of a famous unsolved murder. When in June of 1981 Jenny 39 and her husband, attorney Ervin  Roeder 60 were gunned down at the entrance of their home in Beverley Hills. Police never got any leads on suspects or reason for the killings. It was eventually written off as a botched robbery but it is worth noting that at the time of the murder , Roeder, was aggressively campaigning to reopen the investigation into the death under mysterious circumstances of another prominent actor, Nick Adams. Adams death was ruled an accidental drug overdose but many of his friends, including Roeder who was Nick's attorney, didn't accept this explanation believing that Adams had probably been murdered. Elvis and Nick had been good friends for a number of years.

 Elvis and Nick Adams both had an interest in Bikes and James Dean

Elvis ,Nick and Natalie Wood

   Their friendship began in the fifties and many photos exist of the two together, with the Presley family or the most famous shots, I think, would be with Natalie Wood and the fortnight Elvis ,Nick and Natalie enjoyed together in early 1956. Natalie of course was a victim of a possible murder herself . When she apparently slipped from a boat and drowned.  Nick would eventually be hired for a short time as part of Elvis entourage by Colonel Parker. Nick had a close friendship with another legend of the fifties, James Dean, before Dean's death in 1955.They used to do impersonations together at parties and joke around . The movie, Giant still had'nt been finished when Dean died in a car crash so Nick's voice was used to dub Deans lines at the end of the film. Nick died on February 7th 1968. A manuscript found by Adams daughter about his friendship with Elvis was published in 2012 called The Rebel and The King.

   The soundtrack of Blue Hawaii was also full of interesting songs like, Cant Help Falling In Love, which became Elvis's closing tune on stage and the last song he ever performed on stage on June 26th 1977. Last year 2016, the song had a resurgence with many covers performed by young upcoming artists. The Hawaiin Wedding Song originally sung by Andy Williams in 1958, was another, and
which became an on stage regular in the seventies. Often sung to the ladies in his band like Kathy Westmoreland or in the audience.

 Hawaiin Wedding Song 

Elvis Final Live performance on June 21st 1977
At the end he places a scarf around Kathy's neck while poking his tongue at her 

    Another song from the soundtrack of interest was Aloha Oe. A traditional Hawaiin song written by Hawaiin Queen  Lilioukalani who was born September 2, 1838 and died  November 11, 1917. She was a composer of Hawaiin music, an author, and the last reigning monarch of the Islands. She reigned from January 29, 1891, until the kingdom was overthrown on January 17, 1893. Aloha ‘Oe or Farewell to Thee became one of the first Hawaiian songs to achieve recognition outside of the Islands. Today, it remains Hawaii''s most famous composition and often heard, performed or played at funerals.
  The story goes like this, the queen would often go horseback riding with Colonel James Harbottle Boyd, a British naval officer and a female friend. During, the trios rides, he sung or hummed an old folk song by the name of Rock Beside The Sea. This song is believed to be close to the melody of  Aloha Oe .
    Following the making of Blue Hawaii, Elvis was once again in Hawaii for his final live performance for a considerable time. At the Bloch Arena Honolulu in March of 1961 for the USS Arizona Benefit Concert. Then we jump forward to January of 1973. Where Elvis performed his last concert on the Islands of Hawaii for the Kui Lee Cancer Appeal. He actually performed twice. The rehearsal show in front of 6000 people on January 12th and the worldwide live broadcast show on January the 14th, all proceeds went to the Kui Lee cancer appeal. Kui Lee was an Hawaiin songwriter who wrote I'll Remember You for the famous Hawaiin singer Don Ho. Kui Lee had died from cancer and Don had approached Elvis if he could do something for the appeal. Here is a photo of  Don and Elvis on stage. Don always played a prank on Elvis when they met, requesting him to greet with a kiss to the cheek but every time, Don would turn his head. Here is one of them times.

 

American Trilogy Hawaiin Rehearsal Show January 12th 1973

Look Away !

Trivia 

Maile Duval played by Joan Blackman in Blue Hawaii . The name Maile pronounced Mylee is a vine which is used to make Leis in Hawaii.
Joan Blackman also played in Kid Galahad with Elvis and had dated Elvis back in 1956.
The Lei Hawaiin Garland 
Jenny Maxwell was a cousin of Marilyn Monroes.
Island of Lanai is known as Pineapple Island . It is the sixth largest Hawaiin Island. Bill Gates was married here 1994 and  Gates was outbid, for the Island by fellow tech Billionaire, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who paid 500 million for it in 2012.
Blue Hawaii was Elvis's eigth film and filmed on the Islands of Oahu and Kauai .