Presley Pictures: Sitcom Queens

Elvis movies ran the genre gamut from musical comedy to musical travelog to musical melodrama.

 

Some of the starlettes who were in his movies, went on to become sitcom queens

In King Creole – Carolyn Jones plays the fallen girl Ronnie, who dies to ensure that Elvis picks the good girl in this New Orleans morality tale.

 

 

Carolyn is best known as TV’s Morticia Adams – which given that Elvis later inspired showgirl Cassandra Peterson to leave Vegas for LA and she followed his advice and became Elvira.

 

 

Flaming Star saw future sitcom queen Barbara Eden play a britches wearing gal dating Elvis’ older and full white brother – while she’s the only gal nice to half Breed Elvis.

Flaming Star is one of Elvis’ top 5 films and makes the American Film Industry’s top 100 Westerns for the anti-racism plot. Given the pandemonium of Elvis dying on screen in Love Me Tender, Flaming Star has Elvis ride off alone into the sunset.

cut from the film, as song about Barbara’s character:

 

If Flaming Star and Wild in the Country had done better box office than GI Blues and Blue Hawaii, Elvis might have achieved his acting dreams.

 

 

Frankie and Johnny – a period musical in a musical – Elvis sang with Beverly Hillbillie’s Donna Douglas – who just passed away at 81.

 

Playing Elvis’ long suffering girlfriend, their riverboat stage act spills over into their movie life:

The Queen of all TV sitcoms, Mary Tyler Moore – nun-romances playing Doctor Elvis in A Change of Habit.

 

 

see also:

 

Iconic Sitcoms: The Conformist Overtext

Posted on August 25, 2013 by dykewriter

read: The Last Time and SERIOUSLY! even as a kid in the 70s, I couldn’t fathom the point of marrying a witch or genie or even having one around if all you’re gonna do is make them be other than … Continue reading →

 

Iconic Sitcoms: The Difference

Posted on August 25, 2013 by dykewriter

On I love Lucy, Ricky would scream and raise his hand while Lucy cringed and made sounds of terror. They were married in real life and he beat her. I can’t imagine the horror of not only normalizing, but finding … Continue reading →

 

creating a hit sitcom by Chuck Lorre

Posted on January 12, 2013 by dykewriter

HOW TO CREATE A HIT SITCOM A simple, step-by-step guide to prime time success. by Chuck Lorre © April 2004 Start drinking early. I don’t mean early in the day. I mean early in life. Eight years old oughta do … Continue reading →