The Life And Career Of Elvis Aron Presley: 1961

While Elvis still was shooting "Wild In The Country", Colonel Parker once more tried to improve the badly negotiated deal with Paramount. Finally Hal Wallis agreed to raise the king's payment to 175,000 USD for the next three movies and 200,000 USD for the following two. Parker also made a new deal with MGM, who had produced "Jailhouse Rock" in 1957 and wanted to get back into business with Elvis after the huge success of Paramount's "GI Blues". The contract was the king's most favorable so far, but unfortunately also a proof of the deficiency of the Paramount deal. MGM paid Elvis 400,000 USD plus cost lump sums of 75,000 USD and 25,000 USD per movie. Additionally the singer received an astonishing profit share of 50% (after the decution of the 500,000 USD he had received upfront). To make it short: The MGM deal earned Elvis more than four times as much as the one with Paramount.

In early February RCA released "Surrender" / "Lonely Man". Once again the king was able to score a number one hit, but compared to the previous mega seller "Are You Lonesome Tonight" the sales had lowered by a third. Because some radio stations started to play illegal recordings of "Flaming Star" (secretly taped in the cinemas), the label released an extended player called "Elvis By Request", which also included the title song of the western movie. On February 25th Elvis performed two live shows in Memphis and earned 51,612 USD for charity. Another benefit concert was staged on March 25th in Pearl Habor/Hawaii. Due to the much larger venue the show generated 62,000 USD. The king's trip to Hawaii is caused by the production of another musical for Paramount.

The next single combined "I Feel So Bad" and "Wild In The Country". It peaked at number 6 and sold worse than "Surrender". A few weeks later RCA followed up with the longplayer "Something For Everybody". It became a number one hit and sold just as well as "Elvis Is Back!". Nevertheless it was quickly noted, that neither one could compare to the "GI Blues" soundtrack. It appeared, that the cross promotion effect of a movie and a record was unbeatable. Also in June 20th Century Fox released "Wild In The Country". Once again the box office didn't meet the expectations and as a result the management didn't hire Elvis for further projects.

In July Elvis started to work on "Follow That Dream", his first movie for the Mirisch Company. The comparatively small studio had offered a million dollars for two pictures. In contrast to Paramount they focused on the story and included just a few tunes. The recording of the soundtrack and the shooting of the movie lasted from July 11th to August 28th. Also in August RCA released "His Latest Flame" / "Little Sister". Both tracks entered the top5 and the single sold much better than the previous one.

The same month the label also issued the soundtrack album "Blue Hawaii". The longplayer not only surpassed the unbelievable success of "GI Blues", but also became the king's second-best selling album. The accordant movie turned out to be a blockbuster, too. It stayed in the cinemas so long, that it entered the top20 of the most successful movies of 1961 and 1962. Because of the missed opportunity to score a hit with "Wooden Heart", RCA was eager to release "Can't Help Falling In Love" on a single. Colonel Parker strongly opposed to the plan, because the song was already available on the album and he feared a sales flop. Finally the RCA people changed his mind by a non refundable pre-payment of royalties for a million copies. In the end "Can't Help Falling In Love" charted at number 2 and sold much more than a million units.

While "Blue Hawaii" made money like no other project of his before, Elvis worked on his second movie for Mirisch. The studio used the same concept and focused on the story, not on the songs. At the end of the year Vernon and his new wife Dee left Graceland Mansion. Elvis couldn't accomplish to accept the second marriage of his fahter and didn't want the couple and Dee's children to live in his house anymore. He bought them a new one, just next to his property.

According to his tax statement Elvis had earned 1,677,688 USD in 1961. Of this amount 902,610 USD came from the movies, the other 775,078 USD were generated by the sales of records and his shares in two publishing companies.