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Elvis biography - 1961
Elvis appears in Memphis at a luncheon in his honor, and numerous recent awards Elvis has received are shown to those attending, including the press. A press conference follows. Then there are afternoon and evening shows at Ellis Auditorium to benefit around thirty-eight Memphis-area charities. Other than the Sinatra television show, this is, so far, Elvis's only live performance since his army discharge. "Elvis Presley Day" is proclaimed by Tennessee Governor Buford Ellington. Every year after this, Elvis donates money to a list of Memphis-area charities, eventually reaching fifty or more, usually around Christmas time.
March 25, 1961
Elvis arrives in Hawaii for a press conference, then an evening concert at Bloch Arena at Pearl Harbor. He is there to perform a benefit to help fund the building of the USS Arizona Memorial. Hundreds of fans mob the airport as he arrives. His show raises around $65,000 for the memorial and, beyond that, also helps bring publicity and public awareness and support to the project. The fund-raising efforts, for the most part, had been difficult up to that point. The rest of the needed funds are soon raised, and the memorial is completed a year later. Elvis receives numerous official honors in appreciation for this benefit. This turns out to be Elvis's last live, non-movie performance until his 1968 television special.
Late March/Mid- April, 1961
Elvis remains in Hawaii to do location filming for his eighth motion picture, "Blue Hawaii". He has already done soundtrack recording. Later, there is additional filming to be done back in Hollywood for this film. From this time on, Elvis will have a great affection for Hawaii, its culture and its people.
June, 1961
"Wild in the Country", co-starring Hope Lange, Millie Perkins and Tuesday Weld, opens nationally to mixed reviews. Like "Flaming Star" it is a melodrama with limited singing by Elvis. It, too, does not set the box office on fire.
July, 1961
Elvis records and films for his ninth motion picture, "Follow That Dream". Filming includes some location shooting Florida. Non-movie-related hit records and recording session have continued through this period.
October, 1961
The soundtrack album for "Blue Hawaii" enters the Billboard chart for a year-and-a-half run, staying at number one for twenty weeks, second only to "GI Blues" as the biggest album of Elvis's career on the Billboard charts. It also yields a number two single destined to become an Elvis classic, "Can't Help Falling in Love".
October/November, 1961
Elvis records and films for his tenth motion picture, "Kid Galahad", completing it in January.
Late November 1961
"Blue Hawaii" opens nationally to warm reviews and gets to number two on the box office charts. It becomes the top-grossing film of Elvis's career thus far. Its characteristics of a non-cerebral plot, lavish scenery, lots of songs by Elvis, and lots of pretty girls become the basis for the "Presley formula" movies of the sixties, though most of them will not be nearly so well done.