Thank Us Later for This Elvis Story

In January, it was the Elvis stamp. This month, it was Lisa Marie Presley’s 25th birthday, upon which she inherited her father’s $100-million estate. By September . . . the King will be back in a new documentary, “Elvis in Hollywood,” which, like the stamp, celebrates the young Elvis in movies.

In this, the 15th year after his death, only the image of the exuberant, non-jaded Elvis has been resurrected. “Elvis in Hollywood” highlights the rock ‘n’ roller’s movies of the ‘50s: “Love Me Tender,” “Loving You,” “Jailhouse Rock” and “King Creole.”

Sanctioned by Elvis Presley Enterprises, the Memphis-based business cartel that controls all things Elvis, “Elvis in Hollywood” shows him as a charismatic, sexually charged singing dynamo fresh to Hollywood--not the canned, rehearsed, formulaic Elvis of his later films: from “G.I. Blues” (1960) to “The Trouble With Girls” (1969).

The producers, Goldman/Taylor Entertainment Co., cite John Lennon’s assessment about Elvis’ career after the ‘50s: “Elvis died when he went into the Army.” (Lennon worshiped the early Elvis; he had a jukebox in his Manhattan apartment at the Dakota filled with Elvis records.)

Not that there’s a dearth of Elvis on film and video. Elvis documentaries abound--mostly centered around him as a singer and pop icon. There’s even one out on video that strings together the trailers to all 31 of his movies.

This latest production’s novelty is that its focus is strictly a 23-month period beginning with his screen test for producer Hal Wallis at Paramount in April, 1956, and ending when he enrolled in the service.

“A lot of people say, ‘God, another Elvis Presley documentary. Hasn’t this been done ?’ ” said Frank Martin, who is directing the film for executive producer Stuart A. Goldman. “This is a unique look at a period when Elvis was working on Elvis, the actor, and we don’t have to editorialize about it. We’ve found people who worked with him, knew him then to talk about (the experience).” The documentary, to be shown on television, will also be available on BMG International Video (BMG owns RCA Records, Elvis’ label), which is partially funding the $1-million production.

The producers tracked 150 people through the various Hollywood guilds for interview subjects.

Bob Relyea, the assistant director of “Jailhouse Rock” (today a producer on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “The Last Action Hero”), vividly recalls how the Thalberg Building at MGM emptied out to greet the 21-year-old singing sensation--as if they weren’t used to seeing stars on the lot.

“Loving You” director Hal Kanter remembers reassuring Elvis that he wouldn’t have to smile all the time in the film. Elvis wanted to emulate Marlon Brando and James Dean.

Friends, too, show up. Then-girlfriend June Juanico said Elvis rehearsed “Love Me Tender” to her during a long-distance phone call--even though he complained to her that he wished he didn’t have to sing at all. Elvis hoped one day his acting career would eclipse that as a singer.

“He went from trying really hard in ‘Love Me Tender’ to executing the part in ‘King Creole,’ ” said Martin. “He took acting very seriously then.”

The producers also unearthed never-seen-before outtakes from the MGM archives--one from “Jailhouse Rock” shows Elvis overacting to hilarious effect--and rare behind-the-scenes photographs.

Luck also worked in the filmmakers’ favor. Through the group Jailhouse Rockers of Southern California, documentary associate producer David Naylor found a man who’d taken a home movie of Elvis clowning around on a day trip to Catalina Island with actor Nick Adams, then one of his closest friends. Other amateur film was found of him on a family picnic near Biloxi, Miss., swimming at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel pool and celebrating his 23rd birthday at Graceland, before the start of “King Creole,” when he stuffs a cheeseburger into the camera.

Goldman insists that even though this is a portrait of a more naive Elvis, the documentary “is not a whitewash.”

“This is not Fantasyland. There’s disappointment. Elvis didn’t want to sing in his early movies but the producers insisted upon it.”

As Elvis himself found out later, it didn’t seem to matter how good or bad his acting was--movie audiences went to watch him sing.

Over the years, the box office was about equal for Elvis of the ‘50s and Elvis post-’50s.