ELVIS AND HIS MUSIC IN THE MOVIES - "Part One" (1957 - 1968)

 

We never talk about Elvis Aaron Presley much, and I'm not quite sure why, because he was just as much a part of our lives growing up as The Three Stooges were, so that's why this Saturday Night Special is dedicated to the memory of the movies of the man iconic enough to be known by a one word name, and that would be

ELVIS!

Elvis's first movie was "Love Me Tender," and his second film was called "Loving You," and in it he performs one of his biggest hits, "(Let Me Be You) Teddy Bear," that was number one for seven weeks in 1957. The other side of that single was the title from this movie. His love interest in this film was Lizabeth Scott.

 

 

 A much funner song is the one he performs at this outdoor barbeque called "Let's Have A Party," that never even charted in the U.S., but was a big number two in the U.K. with the shortened title of "Party."

These stills are from Elvis's third film "Jailhouse Rock," and the song Elvis, Scotty Moore and the boys were doing was called "Treat me Nice" that charted at #27 in 1958. "Treat Me Nice" was the B side to to the title song "Jailhouse Rock," that was number one for seven straight weeks in 1957.

In 1965, Elvis made a movie called "Tickle Me" with Julie Adams of "Creature From The Black Lagoon" fame.

In "Tickle Me," Elvis  performed a song called "Night Rider," written by Doc Pomus and  Mort Shuman.

In the 1960 film titled "G.I. Blues," the big E performed "Doin' The Best I Can," another tune penned by Doc Pomus and  Mort Shuman, who I would assume have families that are very wealthy these days.

 

In 1968, Elvis was in "Speedway" with Nancy Sinatra and Beverly Hills.

In "Speedway" he performed "Let Yourself Go" which only made it to #71 on the Billboard Charts.

 

Back to 1958 and Elvis's fourth film "Kid Creole."

By my count, The King performed twelve songs in this film. This one was called "New Orleans."

In 1963 Elvis made a movie called "Fun In Acapulco" with Ursula Andress and Elsa Cárdenas.

 

The crazy song Elvis performed in this movie was called "Bossa Nova Baby" and was one of eleven songs in the film.

Not sure what all that "Fun In Acapulco" included, but the choreography on this song goes to a surreal other level!

Elvis starred in 31 movies, and that was only six of them, and his music is so enduring, it was been used in over 650 soundtracks over the years.

 

 

In fact, I liked "Boss Nova Baby" so much, I thought you should see it too!

Elvis really was The King of something, and it's hard to believe that he only lived to be 42 years old, but that's because he also had a dark side that also included a place

 "Where Only Elvis Can Smell Us!"

FELIX THE CAT / Relaxing On A Sunday Morning - 1960

Here's one of my favorite Felix adventures. There were 126 episodes and a lot of them can't be found as far as I can tell, with titles like "Electronic Brainwasher," Ghostly Concert," Sheriff Felix And The Gas Cloud," The Termites Of 1960," "The Pep Pill," "The Strongest Robot In The World," "Stairway To The Stars" and "Felix Finder And The Ghost Town."

Well, it's Sunday morning and Felix goes out to his mail box to get his newspaper so that he can relax on his hammock and read the funnies, about himself!

But he gets socked right in the mush by a boxing glove!

It all makes sense when you find out that Rock Bottom is Felix's next door neighbor!

Rock is a loud person, now what's the commotion?!

He's fired up his tractor and has a mower attached to the front... Hmmm.

First he plows through Felix's tomato patch and gets a nice healthy drink of juice!

And when it comes to the watermelons, just gobble down the chunks!

Next, Felix discovers that all the water is missing from his swimming pool, and it doesn't take long before the mystery is solved.

Felix finally comes up with a plan to teach the big lug a lesson. He calls Rock and interrupts his pool time, disguising his voice as a woman. Felix tells him to hold for a minute, Rock responds with, I'll wait for you... Forever!

That gives Felix the time he needs to put the water back in his pool.

Rock finally figures out that no one's on the line!

Back at his pool, Rock decides to do a fancy dive off the board.

Rock's really mad now and chases Felix with his tractor...

But Felix ditches him and starts painting Rock's house!

And after he paints a picture of himself into the scene, Rock ends up plowing full speed into his own place!

And boy, he got just what he deserved!

MIDSOMER MURDERS SEASON 01 - EPISODE 01 - "The Killings At Badger's Drift" (1998)

 Tonight's Weird Wednesday presentation is the the first episode of the long running UK TV series called "Midsomer Murders."

"Midsomer Murders" has been onTV for 22 seasons since 1998, and is still being produced today, but because it's British, many people including myself, have never ever heard of it, unless they have somebody like Lord Litter in Berlin to keep them informed.

The show's are almost two hours long, and not exactly what you call action packed, but are long complicated stories, that are intelligent and well written, and by no means boring.

"Midsomer Murders" is based on the "Chief Inspector Barnaby" series of books written by Caroline Graham, and the first one was titled "The Killings At Badger's Drift."

The show starts in the sleepy village of Badger's Drift, when an 80 year old woman is mysteriously murdered!

These are the two main guys, John Nettles as DCI Tom Barnaby, and Daniel Casey as Sergeant Gavin Troy. John Nettles was in 81 episodes, and his last appearance on the show was in 2011, while Daniel Casey was in 30 episodes up until 2008.

It's really a great show, but there is quite a bit of action like this.

Food also seems to be of major interest.

Barnaby's wife is always cooking him something exciting like stewed neck of lamb with mushroom dumplings!

 

In another meal, the reason the chicken is so small is that it's not a chicken.

He gets some real man food at the cafeteria, but gets called out before he has a chance to eat it!

 

They have a police manhunt in search of an orchid!

This show is a real family affair, and Badger's Drift seems to have more than it's share of odd characters like Mother Iris Rainbird and her son Dennis Rainbird.

Dennis Rainbird is a Mortician, and he and his Mother have a very close, and very especially creepy relationship!

Elizabeth (Simon and the Witch) Spriggs is the Mother, and Richard (Stan and Ollie) Cant is the son.

Besides their questionable relationship, these two were also conniving cheaters and liars, so you don't really care when they become victims themselves!

Other strange characters and ambiguous relationships are between this young gal, and this olde fart who are about to get married. This is Emily (The Pink Panther) Mortimer as Katherine Lacey, and Julian (The Empire Strikes Back) Glover as Henry Trace, the guy who raised her and her brother Michael. Julian also has 189 other credits and is still at work.

Selena (Mrs. Tishell on Doc Martin) Cadell is Phyllis Cadell, a lady who thinks she killed someone, but didn't. (Even though she tried to)

Diana (Chromophobia) Hardcastle is the Doctor's slutty wife. Actually I should give her a break since almost everybody is having an affair with somebody. She's just best at not even trying to hide it.

 

 

Barnaby has a weird dream where he's at the wedding and instead of a Bible, the Priest is reading from a book titled "Tis Pity She's A Whore," which is a play his daughter is acting in.

Katherine and Michael have a very unhealthy relationship for themselves and everybody around them. If I was ever going to describe a couple as toxic, these would be the two. Not only are they incestuous, they are also murderers and thieves. Michael Lacey was played by Jonathan (Wuthering Heights) Firth.

There was only one way for this story to end!

 

The painting that Michael was working on, and that he didn't want anyone to see, is revealed at the end!