elvis Facts, It Happened At The World's Fair 1 - 3

It Happened At The World's Fair - 1/ 3

An in-depth look at the movie "It Happened At The World's Fair," Part 1 of 3:

Elvis's twelfth film was "It Happened At The World's Fair" (MGM, 1963) and was set at the Seattle World's Fair.
Earlier working titles for the film were "Take Me Out To The Fair" and "Take Me To The Fair."

The script was written by Si Rose, who was a TV series writer who wrote for such shows as "How To Marry a Millionaire," "McHale's Navy" and "The Dukes of Hazzard." His co-writer was Seaman Jacobs, who was also a TV writer and has worked on such series as "My Three Sons," "F Troop," "Alice" and "The Love Boat."

On August 28, 1962 Elvis reported for pre-production work and settled into his MGM dressing room, which had once belonged to actor Clark Gable. Soundtrack recording got off to a bad start as Elvis had a cold and after only three songs they had to postpone the session. On the 31st Elvis had his wardrobe fittings with Sy Devore, who in an interview reported that Elvis's wardrobe for this movie cost $9,300 and included 10 suits, 2 cashmere coats, 4 sport coats, 15 pairs of slacks, 30 shirts and 55 ties.

Elvis and his entourage arrived in Seattle for location shooting on September 4, 1962 and took up residence on the 14th floor of the New Washington Hotel. Probably in order to be easily identified in the crowds of visitors to the fair, Elvis's entourage members were all dressed in special uniforms. In addition to Elvis's own security staff, there were hundreds of local police and a contingent of Pinkerton plainclothes detectives assigned to protect and escort Elvis through the crowds. Principal photography began on September 5th at the monorail terminal.

The Seattle Fair was actually called the Seattle Century 21 Exposition, thus the name of the trailer park Elvis's character stayed at was "Century 21 Estates". Over 10 million people visited the fair that year and many of the structures created for it, including the Space Needle and the monorail, are still used today in what is now called Seattle Center. The 605-foot high Space Needle has become a symbol for the city of Seattle. The new Key Arena was built in 1995 on the skeleton of the Coliseum, which housed the "World of Tomorrow" exhibit where some filming with Elvis took place. The Federal Science Building is now the Pacific Science Center. This building was designed by Detroit-based architect Minoru Yamasaki, who went on to design the World Trade Center in New York City.

President John F. Kennedy opened the fair by telegraph key from his Easter vacation in Florida on April 21, 1962, using the same telegraph key that President Taft had used to open the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909. The key triggered a radio telescope in Maine, which picked up an impulse from a star 10,000 light years away. This impulse was directed towards the fairgrounds to start the festivities, which included the release of 2,000 balloons, the ringing of the Space Needle's 538 bell Carillon, 10 Air Force F-102s flying overhead and aerial bombs bursting and raining down tiny flags. Among the celebrities who visited the fair were Attorney General Robert Kennedy and his family, England's Prince Phillip, Danny Kaye, John Raitt, Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong, Victor Borge, Lawrence Welk, Johnny Mathis, Maurice Chevalier, John Wayne, Jack Lemmon, Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Carl Reiner, Carol Channing, George Burns, Jonas Salk, Rafer Johnson, Walt Disney, Richard Nixon, Lt. Col. John Glenn and even Lassie.

"It Happened at the World's Fair" was the fourth studio movie known to be made in Seattle and Elvismania soon set in the city. Elvis noticed a local 18-year-old, Sue Wouters, and dated her during filming in Seattle. Other not-so-lucky girls posed as reporters for high school newspapers and tried to get an opportunity to meet Elvis. Many girls even climbed the hotel fire escape in an attempt to get close to him.

Alan Fortas (an Elvis entourage member) recalled that Elvis and the group were often confined to the hotel for long periods of time and said that, when boredom set in, they played a favorite trick on the room service personnel. They moved all the furniture out of the room and then ordered room service. When the food arrived they were all sitting on the floor in an empty room. The befuddled bellboy left without a word and when the manager arrived a few minutes later, all the furniture had been returned where it belonged.

Location shooting was finished by September 13, 1962. Before returning to California to continue filming at the studio, Elvis, on behalf of Tennessee Governor Buford Ellington, presented a ceremonial gift of two Tennessee hams to Washington Governor Albert Rosellini.


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