During November, Turner Classic Movies is presenting a series of films under the banner  “Leading Couples,” which is in conjunction with a new TCM book of the same title. Movies starring well-known, charismatic onscreen couples will be showcased on the last two Tuesdays of this month. Viva Las Vegas has been selected as part of the series, but be sure to set up your home-recording equipment because this Elvis Presley musical gets the 4:45 A.M. time slot on November 25. Generally speaking, the explosive pairing of Elvis with Ann-Margret is the reason that Viva Las Vegas is one of Presley’s most well-liked movies. Her charisma with Elvis is unmatched by that of any other leading lady in any of Elvis’s musicals, making this 1964 film a good addition to the Leading Couples series.

 Ann-Margret was a starlet on the rise when she agreed to costar in the King’s fifteenth film. She had appeared in secondary roles in Pocketful of Miracles and a remake of State Fair, but the lively redhead really hit it big among teenagers when she costarred in the film version of the stage musical Bye Bye Birdie, released in 1963. Birdie spoofed the generation gap that had been widened by rock ‘n’ roll as well as the fan hysteria surrounding this new form of popular music. The plotline of Birdie revolves around a hip-twitching rockabilly singer whose pending departure for the army has his young female fans in hysterics. Of course, any resemblance to the real-life Elvis Presley was purely intentional. Bye Bye Birdie became popular among teenagers because it was about them, even if it was a spoof. Particularly appealing to youthful fans was Ann-Margret’s performance of the title tune, which opened and closed the film. Her high-octane, hip-shaking dancing style and her connection to teen culture via Bye Bye Birdie earned her the nickname “the female Elvis Presley.”

Some have suggested that Ann-Margret’s brief career up to that point was somehow fatefully intertwined with that of Presley’s, as though they were destined to star together in a film. I think it was probably more like the brainchild of a good casting agent. Somehow it seems like a no-brainer to cast “the female Elvis Presley” alongside the real thing. Whether it was the cosmic mysteries of  kismet or the avaricious maneuverings of the folks at William Morris, the two were teamed for Viva Las Vegas — a match made in show-business heaven. The story revolves around Elvis’s character Lucky Jackson, a race-car driver (naturally) who breezes into Vegas for the city’s Grand Prix.  Short of cash, he takes a job as a waiter at the Flamingo Hotel. There he falls for Ann-Margret’s character, Rusty Martin, also an employee at the hotel. Lucky’s rival on and off the race track is the rich, suave, and sophisticated Count Elmo Mancini, played by Cesar Danova. On this slim frame of a plot hang about a dozen songs, some suburb production numbers, and a lively snapshot of Vegas in the early 1960s.

ELVIS PLAYS A RACE-CAR DRIVER, OF COURSE

Enormously talented, Ann-Margret injected the musical production numbers of Viva Las Vegas with a vitality and professionalism that had slipped away from Elvis’s movies. Presley was growing disillusioned with his formulaic musical comedies, a genre he personally did not like. But, he rose to the occasion on the set of Viva Las Vegas to match Ann-Margret’s energy and eagerness with an enthusiasm he had not felt in a while. It surprised no one – neither friends, colleagues, nor the press – when the on-screen sparks between Elvis and Ann-Margret ignited a passionate affair offscreen.

The couple wanted to keep their relationship quiet, especially Elvis who had young Priscilla Beaulieu – his future wife – stowed away back home in Memphis, but MGM’s publicity machine took maximum advantage of the situation. Stories were leaked to columnists about the offscreen activities of the two stars while they were on location in Nevada. Rumors of the two tearing around Las Vegas on their motorcycles led to the studio putting a halt to such antics lest one or both of their valuable stars get hurt and delay production. On October 8, 1963, Bob Thomas broke the story in a legitimate news article, which was syndicated in papers across the country, including the Memphis Press-Scimitar. Thomas wrote about the pair lunching together every day and casually mentioned that the two liked to retire to Elvis’s trailer between scenes.

A NICE COUPLE

Fan magazines (fanzines) such as Movie World, Movie Life, and Movieland jumped at the opportunity to exploit the romance. Production on the film wrapped in the fall of 1963 and the film was released the following May. During that time frame, fanzines peppered their covers with film stills of Elvis and Ann-Margret  from the movie. Particularly misleading were stills of Ann-Margret’s character in a wedding dress. At the end of the film Rusty and Lucky marry, but the fanzines combined these photos with misleading headlines such as “Elvis and Ann-Margret Wed” to suggest that the real-life stars were going to tie the knot at any moment. Even the press book for the film supplied by the MGM publicity department fueled the situation with comments like “The romantic sparks that emanate when they work together . . . seem equally prevalent in their private lives.” Ads and other promo pieces touted, “Here’s the most inflammable combination since little boys and matches.” Yet, the romance was never officially confirmed by Elvis or Ann-Margret.

MOVIE MARRIAGE, BUT NOT FOR REAL

In November 1963, Ann-Margret traveled to England for the London opening of Bye Bye Birdie. The British press backed her into a corner regarding the relationship, and in a giddy moment, she blurted out that they were going steady and that she was in love. The next day, newspapers on both continents printed her admission. Elvis was furious. Though Ann-Margret denied she had said anything concrete about their romance, things were never the same between them after that. In Priscilla Beaulieu Presley’s autobiography, she claims that Elvis was never interested in a permanent relationship with Ann-Margret because she was devoted to her career; in the memoirs by various members of Elvis’s entourage known as the Memphis Mafia, the overall opinion is that Elvis considered Ann-Margret’s admission to the press a betrayal. As with the actual romance, the movie magazines exploited the break-up, teasing readers with headlines like “The Night Ann-Margret Confessed . . . ‘I Can Never Forget Elvis’” and “The Inside Story of Ann-Margret and Elvis: Did They Make Up or Break Up.” The romantic relationship unraveled relatively quickly after Ann-Margaret’s unfortunate revelation to the British press, but the pair remained friends until his death. One gets the impression that this was a relationship that should have been and could have been, but the pair let outside forces tear them apart. Elvis married Priscilla on May 1, 1967, and coincidentally Ann-Margret married actor Roger Smith on May 8, 1967 – that is, if you believe in coincidences. Thereafter, Elvis routinely sent flowers to Ann-Margret’s Vegas openings. When Elvis died, she and Smith were among the few Hollywood celebrities who attended his funeral. 

Like other famous screen couples, the best part of their romance is the undeniable but hard-to-define chemistry that heats up the screen in Viva Las Vegas, particularly in the musical numbers “What’d I Say” and “C’mon Everybody.” In the former, Elvis belts out a raucous version of the Ray Charles tune in a night-club setting, while the latter was shot in the gymnasium at the University of Nevada where Ann-Margret’s character is in rehearsal. 

What’d I Say” is my favorite extended production number because it offers a look back at the wacky dance crazes from the early 1960s. Just prior to Elvis launching into his blistering version of the song, a group called the Forte Four perform “The Climb,” a song first recorded by the Coasters in 1962. Though the song seems to be about a dance, the Climb did not actually exist until the producers of MGM had it created especially for the film. They were hoping to kick off a new dance craze, which would hype the film and give it legs. The MGM press book, which was sent to exhibitors across the country, made several “helpful” suggestions to exploit the Climb. For example, theater managers could stage a dance contest in conjunction with a local dance studio, because MGM guaranteed that the dance would “catch the fancy of the pace-setting teenager.” With all the sincerity that a publicity department could muster, the ad copy declared, “Those who have tried it agree that it makes the Twist look like the Minuet.” (See You Tube clip below and judge for yourself!)

"C'MON EVERYBODY"

The Climb aside, Viva Las Vegas featured some stylish dance numbers choreographed by 24-year-old David Winters. Fans of West Side Story might recognize Winters as the Jet called A-rab, but I remember him as the dance director from the rock ‘n’ roll television series Hullabaloo. The youthful Winters had a talent for choreographing to rock ‘n’ roll-like music, and I think his work captured the energy of Ann-Margret’s dancing and the intensity of Elvis’s music. Previous Elvis musicals had been choreographed by Charles O’ Curran, who was a generation older than the rock ‘n’ roll crowd. O’Curran tended to stage dancers around Elvis as he snapped his fingers, played the guitar, or moved in place to his music. Winters showcased Ann-Margret’s frenetic style of dancing while taking into account Elvis’s free-form way of moving to his music. A-M was a trained dancer; Elvis simply moved to the rhythm and beat of his music. Under Winters’s guidance, the similarities between the two dancers were emphasized, not their differences. Winters went on to choreograph three more of Elvis’s features and two of A-M’s television specials.

 Considering that both stars were famous for their “moves,” MGM’s publicity department exploited the dancing in its promotion for the film. Shots of Elvis and A-M performing “C’mon Everybody” were used for the film’s poster and ads. Hyping the two stars’ connection to contemporary popular music, the film’s poster declared, “It’s that ‘Go-Go’ Guy and that ‘Bye-Bye’ Girl.” Some ads included references to dance crazes by calling the film “the new musical that’s wild as the Wobble, bouncy as the Chicken-back and modern as the Monkey.” 

Viva Las Vegas represents a crossroads in Elvis’s movie career. Presley starred in 31 narrative films during his lifetime, and at number 15, Viva Las Vegas marked a midway point in his film career. The film was wildly popular and according to most accounts, grossed over $5 million, the most of any of Elvis’s films on initial release. However, those terrific production values, vibrant numbers, and sizzling costar did not come cheap. In addition, critics praised the film because the story and costars were not overshadowed by Elvis Presley. Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’s notorious manager, stepped back and took a good look at both the budget and the reviewers’ comments. He was comparing them to another film Elvis made in 1964 called Kissin’ Cousins. Unlike Viva Las Vegas, this musical mess was produced by Sam Katzman, whose nickname was King of the Quickies. As you might guess,  Kissin’ Cousins was not shot on actual locations, it did not have a high-powered costar who competed with Elvis’s magnetism and charisma, the budget was barely $800,000, and it wrapped in less than three weeks. It was as though Parker came to a fork in the road regarding Elvis’s career: Down one path lay more films like Viva Las Vegas and down the other lay films like Kissin’ Cousins. Parker chose the latter, dragging Elvis down that path with him.