The ultimate site about the king of the analogue age
On March 12, 1965 MGM staged a preview of Elvis' forthcoming movie "Girl Happy". In April the film was screened nationwide and the studio was able to collect rental fees of 3.25 million USD (USA/Canada). That means that the public had paid 6.5 million USD for tickets. By using our factor 15 we can estimate that the box office gross would have been 97.5 million USD with the studio receiving 48.75 million USD today. In total MGM's "Girl Happy" was almost as successful as Paramount's "Roustabout".
The German audience had to wait until February 1966 before they could watch "Girl Happy". Here the movie was named "Kurven-Lilli", which can be translated as "Curves-Lilli". No matter which language, it's a stupid name.
Rusty Wells (Elvis) and his beat band are performing at Club 77 in Chicago. Because his daughter has just come of age and wants to vacation in Fort Laudadale, Big Frank, the owner of the club, hires Rusty as secret watchdog.
Joe Pasternak (producer), Boris Sagal (director), Harvey Bullock und R.S. Allen (script), George Stoll (music), Philip H. Lathrop (camera), Rita Roland (editor).
Elvis Presley (Rusty Wells), Shelley Fabares (Valerie), Harold J. Stone (Big Frank), Gary Crosby (Andy), Joby Baker (Wilbur), Nita Talbot (Sunny Daze), Mary Ann Mobley (Deena) und Fabrizio Mioni (Romano). The German voice of Elvis was dubbed by Rainer Brandt.
The movie was made between June 22nd and July 31st, 1964 in Fort Laudadale and at the studio lot of MGM in Cluver City. The crowd scenes with lots of students were not shot for "Girl Happy", but taken from the movie "Where The Boys Are" (1960). Producer Joe Pasternak tried to capitalize on the springbreak hype of the time and also made the main character the singer of a beat band to appear up to date. But Elvis still looked and sounded like good ole' Elvis while The Beatles and their competitors were much younger and had a vastly different style. Of course the movie also didn't show excesses of alcohol, drugs or sex. Everything was 100% staid, even the "striptease" scene didn't reveal anything. But this very scene was used for promotion. In Austria the motion picture even was called "Strip-Tease Komplex".
"Girl Happy" was the last movie Elvis' contract with MGM from 1961 called for. He was paid a fee of $400,000, a lump sum for expenses of $100,000 and a profit share of 50%.
In February 1965 RCA Victor released "Do The Clam" and "You'll Be Gone" on a single, a month later followed the album "Girl Happy". In October the label issued a second single, coupling "Puppet On A String" with "Wooden Heart" from the "G.I. Blues" soundtrack. Combined the records sold 4.6 million units. A tap on the covers leads to the reviews.
In 2007, to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the singer's demise, Warner released a boxed set called "The Hollywood Collection", which also included a digital version of "Girl Happy". For a short review just tap on the cover.
"Girl Happy" is an entertaining beach flick with a star in top form and lots of music. Unfortunately the songs are not as good as they used to be and Elvis has nothing in common with the beat singers the teenagers of 1965 adored.
Movie Posters (C) MGM, DVD Cover (C) Warner Brothers, Record Covers (C) RCA Victor