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Blue Hawaii
''Blue Hawaii'' is a 1961 American musical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley. The screenplay by Hal Kanter was nominated by the Writers Guild of America in 1962 in the category of Best Written American Musical. The film opened at number two in box office receipts for that week and, despite mixed reviews from critics, finished as the 10th top-grossing film of 1961 and 14th for 1962 on the ''Variety'' national box office survey, earning $5 million. The film won a fourth place prize Laurel Award in the category of Top Musical of 1961. Plot Having been released from the Army, Chadwick "Chad" Gates is eager to return to Hawaii with his surfboard, his beach friends, and his girlfriend Maile Duval. His mother, Sarah Lee, wants him to follow in his father's footsteps and take over management at the Great Southern Hawaiian Fruit Company, the family business, but Chad is reluctant and goes to work as a tour guide at his girlfriend's agency. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Taurog
Norman Rae Taurog (February 23, 1899 – April 7, 1981) was an American film director and screenwriter. From 1920 to 1968, Taurog directed 180 films. At the age of 32, he received the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Skippy'' (1931). He is the second youngest person ever to win the award after Damien Chazelle, who won for ''La La Land'' in 2017. He was later nominated for Best Director for the film '' Boys Town'' (1938). He directed some of the best-known actors of the twentieth century, including his nephew Jackie Cooper, Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Deborah Kerr, Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Elvis Presley. Taurog directed six Martin and Lewis films, and nine Elvis Presley films, more than any other director. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Taurog has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1600 Vine Street. Early life Norman Taurog was born February 23, 1899, in Chicago, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state geographically located within the tropics. Hawaii comprises nearly the entire Hawaiian archipelago, 137 volcanic islands spanning that are physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania. The state's ocean coastline is consequently the fourth-longest in the U.S., at about . The eight main islands, from northwest to southeast, are Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lānai, Kahoolawe, Maui, and Hawaii—the last of these, after which the state is named, is often called the "Big Island" or "Hawaii Island" to avoid confusion with the state or archipelago. The uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands make up most of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the United States' largest protected ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juliet Prowse
Juliet Anne Prowse (September 25, 1936 – September 14, 1996) was a dancer and actress whose four-decade career included stage, television and film. She was raised in South Africa, where her family emigrated after World War II. Known for her attractive legs, she was described after her death as having "... arguably the best legs since Betty Grable." Early life Prowse was born in Bombay, British India, to an English father and South African mother. After her father's death when she was 3 years old, her mother returned with her to South Africa. She began studying dance a year later, at the age of four. In her early twenties, she was dancing at a club in Paris when she was spotted by a talent agent and eventually signed to play the role of Claudine in the Walter Lang film '' Can-Can'' (1960). She had already missed a few opportunities to go to Hollywood because she was under contract but eventually left a show in Spain in which she was starring to travel to the United States fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paradise, Hawaiian Style
''Paradise, Hawaiian Style'' is a 1966 American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley. It was the third and final motion picture that Presley filmed in Hawaii. The film reached #40 on the ''Variety'' weekly box office chart, earning $2.5 million in theaters. In agreeing to do this film, Elvis's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, was hoping to replicate the success of Presley's 1961 film, '' Blue Hawaii''. Plot Rick Richards (Presley) returns to his home in Hawaii after being fired from his job as an airline pilot. He and his buddy Danny Kohana (James Shigeta) go into the helicopter charter business together. But Rick's reckless flying and his careless flirting with local women may cost Rick the business and Danny his home. This tendency seems to get in the way of their secretary, Judy "Friday" Hudson (Suzanna Leigh) and Rick getting together. Disaster looms as Danny becomes overdue on a flight after Rick has been grounded by government officials. Rick must decide if he should risk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Girls! Girls! Girls!
''Girls! Girls! Girls!'' is a 1962 Golden Globe-nominated American Musical film, musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley as a penniless Hawaii-based fisherman who loves his life on the sea and dreams of owning his own boat. "Return to Sender (song), Return to Sender", which reached No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' pop singles chart, is featured in the film. The film peaked at #6 on the ''Variety (magazine), Variety'' box office chart and finished the year at #19 on the year-end list of the top-grossing films of 1962. The film earned $2.6 million at the box office. The film was the second of three films Presley shot on location in Hawaii. Plot Elvis Presley plays Ross Carpenter, a Hawaii-based fishing guide and sailor who enjoys boating and sailing out on the sea. When he finds out his boss is retiring to Arizona, he seeks to find a way to buy the ''Westwind'', a boat that he built with his father. Ross is caught in a love triangle with two women: childish, insensitive club singer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lani Kai
Lani Kai (born George Clarence Dennis James Von Ruckleman Woodd III; August 15, 1936 – August 29, 1999) was a Hawaiian singer and actor. He had a role in the Elvis Presley film ''Blue Hawaii'' and was a regular cast member of the television series '' Adventures in Paradise''. Background Kai was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was brother of Lee Woodd, and the half brother of Kalai Strode and Junelehua Robertson. His mother Lukia Luana, a Hawaiian princess was married to actor Woody Strode. His brother Lee Woodd, who was also an actor, died on 19 September 2002. Death He died on August 29 1999 at a North Shore home of a friend, two weeks after his 63rd birthday. Music career Kai got an early break on the Don Sherwood Show in San Francisco, California. In late 1959, his single "Now There Are None" / "Isle Of No Aloha" was released. In 1963, his album ''Island Love Songs'' was released. In November 1968, he was appearing live at the Hawaii-Five-O club with Al Lopaka and Nephi Han ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pamela Austin
Pamela Austin (born Pamela Joan Akert, December 20, 1941) is an American actress. Early life Austin was born in Omaha, Nebraska. She spent part of her childhood in Europe, as her father served a tour of duty with the Air Force there. Austin studied dancing at Sacramento State College, and found work with the Tony Martin nightclub act upon arriving in Hollywood. Career In addition to appearing in two Elvis Presley films, in 1964-1967 Austin gained fame for a long series of popular automobile television commercials (and print ads) for Dodge (the Charger, Coronet, Polara, and other models). As the perky "Dodge Rebellion Girl", she appeared in around twenty commercials as a damsel in distress — menaced by sharks, falling from a drawbridge, a roof, a cargo plane, etc. Her tag line at the end of each ad was "The Dodge Rebellion wants you!" The ad series led to numerous film and television offers and a three-page profile in ''TV Guide'' (August 20–26, 1966). By 1968, Dodge exe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jenny Maxwell
Jennifer Helene Maxwell (September 3, 1941 – June 10, 1981) was an American film and television actress, probably best remembered for her role in the 1961 Elvis Presley film ''Blue Hawaii.'' Early years Maxwell was the daughter of a construction worker of Norwegian descent (the original name of Moksvold was changed when the family emigrated in 1949), and a distant relative of Marilyn Monroe.Tom Lisanti's book ''Drive-In Dream Girls'' Film and television Vincente Minnelli saw Maxwell when she was 16 years old and a high school student in Brooklyn. He had her do a screen test to possibly portray Frank Sinatra's niece in ''Some Came Running''. Maxwell played spoiled Ellie Corbett in ''Blue Hawaii'', whom Elvis' character eventually tames by spanking her on the beach. She also appeared in ''Blue Denim'' (1959), ''Take Her, She's Mine'' (1963, which starred James Stewart), and ''Shotgun Wedding'' (also 1963; Maxwell's cinematic swan song, co-written by infamous filmmaker Edward ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hilo Hattie
Hilo Hattie (born Clarissa Haili, October 28, 1901 – December 12, 1979) was a Hawaiian singer, hula dancer, actress and comedian of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Early life and career Hattie was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She loved to dance the hula and sing in the church choir. She began teaching at Waipahu Elementary School in 1923, entertaining her students with what would become her comedy hula routines. In 1930, she married Theodore Inter. By 1936, she had joined Louise Akeo's Royal Hawaiian Girls Glee Club singing at venues around Oahu. The group got $25 per appearance to distribute among the 25 members. The Don McDiarmid Sr- Johnny Noble song ''When Hilo Hattie Does the Hilo Hop'' became her signature tune. McDiarmid intended the 1935 song to be danced by the typical beautifully smooth hula dancer. But in 1936, while the band was performing as shipboard entertainment on a cruise to Portland, Oregon, the dancer meant to perform it fell ill. Hilo Hattie, who claimed to ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iris Adrian
Iris Adrian Hostetter (May 29, 1912 – September 17, 1994) was an American stage, film actress and dancer. Life and career Adrian was an only child, born in Los Angeles, California, to Florence (née Van Every) and Adrian Earl Hostetter, who wed in 1909 in Los Angeles. She was raised by her single mother in Los Angeles. She was a graduate of Hollywood High School. Adrian won a beauty pageant, worked with the Ziegfeld Follies, and performed with Fred Waring before she entered films at the end of the silent era in ''Chasing Husbands'' (1928) and appeared as an extra or chorus girl in early sound films like ''Paramount on Parade'' (1930). During the 1930s she specialised in playing hard-boiled gals, glamorous gold-diggers, and gangsters' "molls". She played supporting roles in numerous features. She played "Gee-Gee Graham" in ''Lady of Burlesque''. In the Jerry Lewis comedy, ''The Errand Boy'', she played a glamorous movie star "Anastasia Anastasia", whose on-set birthday party ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darlene Tompkins
Darlene Tompkins (November 16, 1940 – July 18, 2019) was an American actress. Biography She was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 6,1940. Her birth name was Darlene Perfect, but her parents were divorced when she reached the age of five and she took the surname of her stepfather. Her family performed in plays and vaudeville, and she had an early goal to be a Hollywood actress. At the age of twelve she was mauled by a dog which left her very self-conscious. To help overcome her shyness, she was entered into a beauty contest by her mother. Her subsequent beauty pageant victories attracted some attention and she appeared in commercials. Her first acting role was in ''Beyond the Time Barrier'' (1960). She then co-starred opposite Elvis Presley in '' Blue Hawaii'' (1961). She had a role in ''My Six Loves ''My Six Loves'' is a 1963 comedy film in Technicolor starring Debbie Reynolds as a Broadway star who takes a vacation and finds herself responsible for six abandoned child ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Brodie (actor)
Steve Brodie (born John Daugherty Stephens; November 21, 1919 – January 9, 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor from El Dorado in Butler County in south central Kansas. He reportedly adopted his screen name in memory of Steve Brodie, a daredevil who claimed to have jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886 and survived.Soden, Garrett (2005). ''Defying Gravity: Land Divers, Roller Coasters, Gravity Bums, and the Human Obsession With Falling'', New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Career Brodie appeared in 79 feature films during his career (1944-1988), plus a profusion of appearances on episodic TV. He worked at various studios, including MGM, RKO and Republic Pictures, appearing mostly in westerns and B-movies. He played supporting roles in the majority of his films, including the 1947 film noir classic ''Out of the Past'' and 1950's ''Armored Car Robbery''. An exception was 1947's '' Desperate'', where he had a starring role. Later appearances inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
