Biography

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1958 - 1965

April 10, 1963
It Happened at the World's Fair opens nationally and does relatively well at the box office, though its plot is the most frivolous of any Elvis film so far. The soundtrack album hit #4.

July 1963
Elvis records the music, then, on location in Las Vegas and, in September at a Hollywood studio, he films for his fourteenth motion picture, Viva Las Vegas, co-starring Ann-Margret through September. (It will be his fifteenth movie to be released as Kissin’ Cousins, which he is to shoot next, will actually be released before Viva Las Vegas.)

October 1963
Elvis records and shoots for his fifteenth motion picture, Kissin’ Cousins. Elvis receives his 2nd Degree Black Belt on October 17, 1963 and carried the card in his wallet until his death.

Late November, 1963
Elvis was finishes filming Kissin’ Cousins on November 14th. He was devastated When J.F.K. was assassinated on November 22nd.

November 27, 1963
Fun in Acapulco opens nationally and quickly goes to number five at the box office. The soundtrack goes to the top five on the pop chart.

January/February 1964
Elvis purchases the Potomac, former presidential yacht of Franklin Roosevelt, for $55,000 on January 30. He intends to donate it to the March of Dimes for use as a national shrine (FDR suffered from polio, the main disease fought by the March of Dimes). Costs of maintaining the yacht would be prohibitive, so the March of Dimes declines to accept the gift. Elvis attempts to give it to the 7th Coast Guard District Auxiliary in Miami, which also doesn’t work out. Finally, on February 13 he presents the yacht as a gift to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis for them to use to raise funds as they see fit. The ceremony takes place in Long Beach, California on February 14 with actor and hospital founder, Danny Thomas, accepting. "Kissin' Cousisns" is shipped this month and hit #12.

During this saga of trying to donate the yacht, the Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and Sullivan reads on the air a congratulatory telegram from Elvis and the Colonel. American music and pop culture will soon change dramatically with the "British invasion", much as it had after Elvis hit it big in the fifties.

Elvis has become bored and frustrated with his film and recording career. It will only get worse.

February 26-May 14, 1964
Elvis begins filming for his sixteenth motion picture, Roustabout, co-starring Hollywood legend Barbara Stanwyck.

March 6, 1964
Kissin’ Cousins opens nationally. One of the poorest quality films of his career, it still quickly hits number eleven at the box office, then quickly falls, and the album hit #6.

April 30, 1964
Elvis meets Larry Geller and started his spiritual studying in earnest.

June 9 - August 3, 1964
Elvis records music for his 17th film, Girl Happy which co-stars Shelley Fabares and former Miss America, Mary Ann Mobley.

June 17, 1964
Viva Las Vegas opens nationally and goes to #14 at the box office. It’s one of the better Elvis movies of this period, and the songs are better as well. by the end of the year, it is #11, outranking the Beatles A Hard Day's Night and becoming Elvis' highest grossing film ever.

September 21, 1964
Elvis became an official “Special Deputy Sheriff” for Shelby County. This position held powers and he was photographed and fingerprinted.

October 6, 1964
Elvis begins shooting his eighteenth motion picture, Tickle Me. The soundtrack has no new recordings. Instead, previously released non-movie recordings are used, apparently to keep production costs to a minimum. Filiming continued until November 24, 1964

November 1964
Roustabout opens nationally and hits number eight at the box office. The soundtrack, which represents some of the best Elvis movie music in a while, goes to number one on the Billboard pop album chart.Elvis was ranked as the sixth-biggest-money-making star of 1964. The single "Blue Christmas/Wooden Heart" reached #1 on the Christmas Chart.

December 1964
Col. Parker renegotiates future movie contracts with both United Artists and MGM and making deals with salary and % of profits that finally reached his goal for Elvis of $1,000,000 a movie.

January 8, 1965
Elvis celebrates his 30th birthday.

March 9, 1965
Elvis records the soundtrack and does the filming for his nineteenth motion picture, Harum Scarum, which co-stars Mary Ann Mobley.

April 7, 1965
Girl Happy openes and is the twenty-fifth-top-grossing film of the year. The soundtrack hit #8, while the single “Crying In the Chapel” hit #3.

April 19, 1965
Harum Scarum is released.

April 1965
Girl Happy opens nationally and does relatively good business. The soundtrack album goes top ten.

May 1965
Elvis records music and does filming for his twentieth motion picture, to be released out of chronology as his twenty-first, Frankie and Johnny, co-starring Donna Douglas. On May 9, 1965 Col. Parker has arranged for a special Mother’s Day radio show to be broadcast on radio stations across the country.

May 11, 1965
Elvis reports for Frankie and Johnny and would be released on June 24, 1965.

May 19, 1965
Elvis’ gold Cadillac will go on tour beginning in Atlanta, to promote the film Tickle Me. The song “Such An Easy Question” reached #11 on the charts.

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