Last "Kissin' Cousins" Post

A tiny bit more on the Elvis Presley movie "Kissin' Cousins."

Yesterday I said I was toward the end, and I really was. I finished it off last night. Elvis gets Pappy to give in on renting the mountain to the military for a missile base. So our nation is saved from the Russians! And Pappy is saved from the Revenuers, thanks to Elvis' keen negotiating skills.

We all remember Elvis' big meeting with Nixon. But Nixon was nothing compared to Pappy in "Kissin' Cousins." Pappy held out to the bitter end. No detente until the bitter end. In fact, they had to keep the movie going until Pappy finally gave in. What kind of movie would it've been if Pappy had acceded to Elvis' requests right at the beginning?

Personally I don't need all the conflict of Pappy withholding his OK. It would've been a good movie, in my opinion, if Pappy would've given in at the beginning, then they just had two hours of ho-downs and Elvis songs for the rest of the time. Skip the Elvis cousin in the blond wig, and just have a good old fashioned mountain music program. Call it "Kissin' Cousins," have Elvis doing his numbers live, and I would've been happy.

As it was, we had that happy resolution. Then it was time to show the couples who were getting married, and sing the title track (different version). Here they had Elvis-cousin and Elvis-normal doing a duet. Then, since it was all him, they had Lance LeGault with his back turned or in the background or his head down a little as the opposite Elvis. On my DVD player, I stopped it on one of the flips, and you can see Lance full facial for a split second. But I couldn't get it to stop at the precise moment on my computer .... so I don't have a screen shot.

The movie ends, they hold up a couple THE and END signs and that's it.

One song that didn't make it to the soundtrack album, and should have, is Ma's "Pappy, Please Come Home," complete with Hezekiah's (the dog's) moans.

Kissin' Cousins

I'm watching the Elvis Presley movie "Kissin' Cousins." I'm actually about to the end of it.

It's a good one certainly for all the female beauty throughout, with the wild Kittyhawks who inhabit them thar hills. Plus Elvis' closer kinfolk, the two girls of Ma and Pappy.

The story is fairly cute, with Elvis sort of in charge of helping get Pappy's mountain, at least to rent it, to put some missiles on it for national security. He has all kinds of stubbornness in Pappy.

Elvis plays a double part too, being his normal looking self, then also his cousin with a blond wig. He appears as both characters (from the front) in a couple of scenes. Most of the time it's Elvis and a stand-in from the back. I read in a book that the stand-in was Lance LeGault. In my opinion they should've got someone who looked like Elvis from the back, since you can tell clearly this guy has a different shaped head. No offense to Lance, but he's not even close!

I was just listening to a couple tracks from the soundtrack CD. I don't care for the slightly duncier voice they have the cousin Elvis singing with on the final number, "Kissin' Cousins." It doesn't seem like he had a duncier voice when he was singing earlier on in the movie. But they obviously wanted some way to distinguish Elvis normal from Elvis cousin.

The sisters are very hot, if you ignore the fact that they're hillbillies.

One Stinking Senator

I can't believe it!

What kind of idiotic rules do they go by in the Senate anyway? How can one stinking guy -- Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky -- hold up the whole works on unemployment benefits?

Is there literally no way to get anything accomplished there? I find this stunning, that they, the majority, are so powerless, but he, one stinking guy, is so powerful.

I guess there's no way I'd want to be a Senator. I like to see things accomplished. I wouldn't want to just be there and spin my wheels endlessly. Now I know why they need a six year term. Maybe in all that time they can get lucky and accomplish one thing.

A Killer Whale Kills

At some big aquatic park in Florida, I guess it was, a big killer whale killed a trainer, a worker with the whales.

Why this is surprising, I don't know. Since they are mammoth, gigantic, 12,000 pound animals, who aren't really designed to be spending their lives in a teacup doing idiotic tricks.

The report I saw on TV said the whales were acting a little strangely that day, or earlier. It made me think, maybe there was some atmospheric pressure or something, some natural thing that would change their biorhythms. It would take someone more intensely trained than I to figure it out. Except nature has more to it than just what's comfortable for our range.

It makes me wonder what ought to be the limits of mankind with the rest of the animal world. Should we be entertained by these great animals? It seems like there ought to be some educational stuff going on, but just to be making a buck off a bunch of cooped up, deprived animals? Maybe I'm starting to shift on that front.

Certainly anyone who's trained in the upkeep and behavior of these whales ought to know (and no doubt does) that anything can happen. There's more going on in their brains and bodies -- and they are larger than goldfish -- than can be entirely predicted.

The Anxiety Could Kill You

I am not getting entirely better, with all the recent anxiety I've been feeling. Things are pretty much up in the air for me in various ways. So it makes me anxious, very nervous.

For a while, like a week ago, I had a terrible feeling in my stomach. But I've gotten over most of that. Now I've got something, not quite a headache, but a slight head fog feeling. Like I'm not thinking completely clearly, although for the most part I'm the same as always.

I keep telling myself it's crazy and that I ought to just roll with the flow -- security should not be my number one concern every waking moment. But there's an underlying thing in myself that goes its own direction, regardless of what the rest of me is saying.

I take an hour in the morning for spiritual disciplines and that helps. I could be doing that right now, I'm sure it would be good. Or I could be reading poetry or something mind stimulating. But my thoughts keep drifting to the situation as it exists, with numerous questions about what is to come, and numerous hurdles that I'm going to eventually have to face to resolve everything. This is a several months' project.

It's really tough not to keep going over it. But I know it's not good for me. What else can I do?

One Of Our Beloved Cats Passed Away Today

Her name was Smokey.

She didn't die simply naturally, but my wife took her to the vet for them to "put to sleep."

That's a very hard thing to do. I'm kind of a coward but I could've done it, out of mercy. But in this case I didn't have to.

We were crying when they left.

I told her what a good cat she was and how much of a friend she was, and some other personal things.

She was just shy of 15 and was getting very skinny and had trouble vomiting all the time.

So ... sad day for us.

My Fast Eating Dog

I went out to eat tonight, this evening, getting the "Early Bird Special," just like on Seinfeld.

I'm almost getting old enough to qualify for the Senior Discount -- in fact I think I am old enough some places -- so I ought to hike my belt line up around my nipples and I'll be all set.

I got the seven ounce sirloin, which was very very good. I asked for medium and it was more like rare, which is still to my liking. I like the look of that redness in there ... maybe not super rare, though. It's very primal, eating something that's barely dead. Of course it's literally dead.

I could've eaten the whole thing. Seven ounces isn't enormous. But I started thinking of my dog at home, and how much I knew she'd appreciate having a piece of this. So I cut the remainder into tiny pieces. Otherwise she'd just wolf it down in one gulp if it was one piece.

We got home and the dog knew there was something delicious, the odor wafting in the air. She was very attentive and happy. I put the pieces, at least 10-12 little pieces, in her bowl, and she went to wolfing. She had them in her belly within 20 seconds.

The dog will not stop to enjoy anything. That is so weird. She just inhales it and it's gone.

Keeping Us Safe

I'm about sick -- sick and tired -- of hearing the Republicans and other naysayers constantly griping about President Obama "not keeping us safe." We're safe. As safe as we've ever been.

But it starts at the top (it'd be the bottom if scum didn't rise) with a guy like Dick Cheney, who's continually prattling on about this. Never mind that Mr. Obama has continued many of the same programs, and that he's actually intensified some, that he's killing one terrorist after another (which the Republicans are also complaining about), and catching Taliban leaders regularly.

The short story is we're as safe as we've ever been, keeping in mind that the possibilities are virtually infinite as to what any potential enemy could do.

Just because we're safe, though, doesn't mean we're safe, for exactly that reason. You can't guard against every nut with a gun or plane. And even if you could, that wouldn't prevent someone with poison, a knife, or a wet noodle from coming out of nowhere to do something. How could we prevent every bad thing? Would we put a monitor out there trailing every single person? Then who's going to monitor the monitors? Because one of them could turn out to be a nut like the guy with the plane the other day in Austin. Or the soldier at Fort Hood.

To be 100% safe is impossible. Life carries with it all kinds of risk. And the fact that people are sometimes very evil, crazy, unstable, and dangerous is not a fact that's going away soon.

Everyone ought to sit back and be patriotic about it. The commander in chief is not a person who can circumvent the laws of life. We ought to support one another's efforts to maintain civic harmony and be vigilant against threats, not always just looking for some way to exploit every whipstitch for partisan gain. We ought to get back to the idea that we're all in this together, looking out for the common good.

An Ice Cream To Never Buy Again

I bought some ice cream yesterday that I won't buy again. It's a bad flavor with nothing to recommend it.

I'll leave out the brand name -- although I don't know if anyone can figure it out just based on the flavor, i.e., whether a lot of ice cream makers make this flavor. You'd have to be a real connoisseur, though, to know that kind of information!

Anyway, it's called "Pistachio Almond." It's green like mint ice cream but the flavor is nothing as delicious. It's more of an odd flavor, almost like a bland sherbet flavor that's missing something. The nuts don't add much, being also fairly bland. And where they're not bland they're not tasty. With an edge of unpleasantness.

Yucky stuff. And I still have most of a box of it to go. I don't think I'll be able to finish it, even though it's money down the drain. I should've gone with the chocolate chip.

The Cat Survived

The other day I wrote about my cat, who I expected would not make it. I figured when she went to the vet that they'd put her "to sleep," but it turned out that she came home.

I was resigned to the fact that she'd probably die. But of course it would good to hear that she was in health at least good enough to continue being a cat. To get a $140 bill to prove it wasn't a good feeling, but life sometimes comes with a price tag.

As to what to do differently, we got four cans of food, that somehow we were supposed to feed her. The complication is that there's another cat who wants it. Then the other cat's food is there. And the cat who went to the vet wants to eat it, etc. Plus, four cans of food isn't going to cure anything. So we should either have a bigger supply of the food or forget it.

I don't know what to do. I guess we'll let her eat what she wants. And die when she dies. And in the meantime, live.

1936 Carnival-Circus Imagery

"You'll meet your friends along this gay white way!"

"The event you have all been waiting for!"

"Tons of Fun for All Who Kum ... Not a Dull Moment ... Not an Objectionable Feature"

SOL'S LIBERTY SHOWS - July 6, 1936

Future Shock

I'm looking at some future Future Shock for myself, which I hope won't be so bad. Anytime your life is in a state of transition, the unknown rises up like a big double fanged monster with blood dripping fingernails. "I'm gonna getcha!"

Again, I hope not.

We get the whole "One Day at a Time" arrangement, so it's a matter of stepping through, planning, keeping mum at the appropriate places, and letting things work out, with all due diligence of course.

We'll see what the future holds. Because, like Criswell says in "Plan 9 From Outer Space," that's where we're all going to spend the rest of our lives. If the past is any guide, I'll be able to look back on it from a perspective of what was future being accomplished and me ultimately being OK. Ultimately being OK, that is, until I'm not, when I'm six feet under. And even then I think I'll be OK.

We shall see. Future shock? I hope not. Future blessing, more desired.

I don't like having a queasy feeling in my gut. I need to do some kind of discipline thing to overcome that.

One Of My Cats Is Nearing The End

I have a terrible feeling that one of my cats is nearing the end of her life. But rather than her just lingering and dying, it could be that we will have to take her to the vet for the end.

She'd be 15 sometime around May through July. But recently, for quite a while maybe, she's been losing weight. She's very skinny. Plus she vomits daily and more than once.

Yet she doesn't act like she's in any pain or discomfort. She eats like normal. She just doesn't keep anything down.

Anyway, she's going to the vet in a couple of days (Thursday) to be checked out, and we'll see what happens from there. She's been a decent pet and friend to us. She has a funny little trait that she's known for. If we say her name, she'll open her mouth like a meow but sometimes no noise comes out. She'll only do it the first time.

Learning Someone's True Name

I have a few cousins who were adopted. I haven't seen any of them for many years. But I used to see them relatively often when we were kids. One of them, a female, is dead now. I actually saw her obit online today. I already knew she was dead but I don't think about it that often.

Today I've been researching some family connections -- with some up close researching tools, that are still not all that great, meaning online newspapers from the past. I found out where an aunt was born, finding a tiny tiny little newspaper article, four or five lines, telling about her. Apparently the rest of the family had never seen it.

In the course of this I found one little article, also a very small one, that included my adopted cousins' name before they were adopted. I'd never heard it before, so it was a complete surprise to me. I guess since I was just a tiny kid at the time, a toddler, that it never really occurred to me that they had a different family's name. I hadn't ever heard it.

But there was this one little article -- and there is not two articles out there, at least with the resources as they presently stand -- that gave their name. I was stunned that such information was out there and in such a limited way, one tiny little article that has that kind of revelation.

I'd like to ask my mom if she knows their original family name. It's nothing weird or anything, it's just a normal name. But it's weird that you can go over 50 years without ever hearing it once, then there it is, in an obscure article on the internet.

You wouldn't think that would happen.

Porky Stevens

Here's another little-known entertainer from the past. (I've been thinking about Vernon Hoff, female impersonator, at Grandma Slump. Link 1. Link 2.)

This guy's name was Porky Stevens. I googled "Porky Stevens" to see if there's more information on him. The name "Porky Stevens" has since been applied to disgraced Alaskan ex-senator Ted Stevens. I know why Ted would be called "Porky," because of all the pork projects he was known for. But whether Porky goes naturally with Stevens or it's just a coincidence, I don't know 100%, but it looks like a coincidence.

Anyway, our Porky Stevens put an ad in Billboard magazine, and it looks like it ran twice. The first one I saw was Jan. 10, 1948, so it's been a while back. Here it is:

I was checking out one of the ads about Vernon Hoff, I believe, and noticed this on the same page. I love the way Porky described himself, "Comic, Stooge, Burlesque Type." So who says people can't be pigeonholed? Or profiled. You can picture him very well, with the added help of this description, "Short, fat, age 30," along with the nickname "Porky." Ba-dee-ba-dee, That's all folks!

The next thing there is, except for the same ad one more time, is the last thing that I saw, the fact that Porky was teaming up with another guy ... reported in February! So that was a fast connection!

Sabo Sam and Porky!

Sabo Sam had this addition to his name, "Minstrel Man." Both, it says, had long experience in rep and tent show circles. Up to that time, just reading here, Porky had been entertaining disabled veterans and was on tour with the show, Laugh. Sam had his own show, etc., until some hard luck came his way.

Dateline: STEUBENVILLE, OHIO.

Both graphics are from Billboard magazine. The first is Jan. 10, 1948, p. 68. The second is from Feb. 7, 1948, p. 77.

ADDED:

I checked back and there's a couple of updates on Sabo Sam:

This first one, from the March 26, 1949 issue of Billboard, p. 53, says Sabo Sam combined forces with Cowboy Jack. What that might've meant for the Sabo Sam/Porky Stevens partnership from the previous year, it doesn't say.

The other is just a little blurb, which does give some added information, from the Sept. 9, 1950 issue of Billboard, page 62.

So Sabo Sam's name was Bill Bolitho! That's interesting. And in 1950 he had joined John Hall's Tri-State Ramblers. Hmm.

And one last thing, here's a whole big article about Sabo Sam, who says in the article (maybe misheard by the reporter) that his name was "Sambo Sam."

I haven't got time to look at the whole article and digest it. I'm afraid it might set me forth upon some other obscure search as well!

From A Guy To His Doll ... On Valentine's Day

My Valentine's Day Plans

Well ...

I've been thinking about Valentine's Day coming up. And that means it's time to go by something for my dear bride. We were looking at the Valentine's teddy bears at Walmart the other day and she acted like she'd like one. But I don't know. I don't think a teddy bear is that romantic to have lying around forever, one holding a big red heart.

I'd prefer something small, something that an be tucked away in a drawer in the off season, which is 364 days of the year. Valentine's Day doesn't really have any big build-up that I notice, nor does it after an afterglow. It's there that one day, it's over and done with, and that's it.

Candy is really the perfect gift. You get it, you gobble it down. There's nothing to see the rest of the year.

When I was cleaning up the house before Christmas, I threw away the Easter baskets and grass. Even though I knew Easter is coming again, and there's no good reason not to be recycling the grass from year to year. But it's depressing to look at, plus, that's kind of pathetic, recycling Easter grass year to year. But it would've been the frugal thing to do, no doubt.

I will of course get her a nice card. So maybe while I'm at the card store -- and in my opinion (as a man) what they sell is mostly crap, besides cards -- I can find some little thing she'd like.

Oh, the holidays! And the expectations.

When In Doubt, Write About Elvis

OK, like I said a couple days ago, I'm watching "Speedway." I'm still not done with this Elvis Presley movie, since I only watch 15 to 20 minutes a day.

The whole scene where Elvis is in Mr. Hepworth's anteroom ... I didn't care for it when I first saw it. But this time I watched it in more detail and it's pretty charming, all the work those guys did to film that number.

One part I fairly well hate is Elvis' pursuing of Nancy Sinatra through the hallways, in the elevator, and dragging her into Bert Mustin's closed restaurant. They don't seem like they have that great of chemistry anyway, face it.

As for Bill Bixby's character, he's a crumb. Elvis could do better in the friend department.

There's plenty of good moments in the film. Including, yes, seeing Bert Mustin standing there!

Deleting Over 5000 Messages

I have an email account that I forget about, now that I've got my new computer and don't have my old reliable email program anymore. It wouldn't work on Windows 7.

The email account is one that gets messages from various thing I signed up for over the years, but by and large it's been captured by spam people. So it's actually worthless.

I have another program that can check on it and delete things without actually downloading them. And tonight I'm finding out how truly good it is. I thought I had to download the headers at least for everything. But that was taking longer than I like. So I checked the options at the top, and, thankfully, there actually is an option for deleting all messages on the server.

"This cannot be undone," it warned, in words similar to that. "OK," I reply, "so much the better." Delete the garbage!

It's going maybe 10-15 every second or so, so that's not as fast as I'd like but still pretty fast. It's about halfway done. And I would guess I need to stay connected for it to continue. It'd be nice if it just kept going on its own but I'm not going to take that chance.

Get Your Groovy Self On Home

I'm watching the Elvis Presley movie "Speedway," bit by bit everyday until I get done. This morning I had the part that includes Nancy Sinatra's song "Your Groovy Self."

This is a cool sounding song, and the kids at the Speedway Hangout seemed to enjoy her performance. I always enjoy it too. I keep thinking, That's Frank Sinatra's daughter hanging out with Elvis Presley. Cool.

She had a rich and great recording career, maybe she still does. I'd love to have all her albums. I have a couple is all, I guess. The "Boots" LP and the "Nancy and Lee" album via a download from Amazon.

Then there's this track from "Speedway." At the Hangout, the guy in charge -- an old hip comedian kind of guy, who's hip to the music of today's youth -- shines a headlight on a random member of the crowd and they have to do something. The first time we saw it happen, it landed on Elvis. He did "Let Yourself Go." Then the next time it was Nancy. So we really lucked out, because if it had been truly random, we might spend the whole movie with bad karaoke performances waiting to get to the main stars.

If you don't know the song, "Your Groovy Self," do yourself a favor. Get it, love it, and live by it. Meaning, "Get your groovy self on home ... to me."

Speedway

My next Elvis Presley movie to watch is "Speedway." I started it this morning or maybe last night. I watch movies like this while exercising, so it takes me a few days to get through a whole one.

So if I see 10 or 20 minutes of it a day, that gives me plenty to think of the rest of the day. I spend my days mulling over the many interesting facets of these films.

The big thing I can say about "Speedway" is that it has some extremely boring parts, wherever they're racing their cars. Oh my heavens, toward the beginning they have a race sequence that goes on virtually forever. It goes on so long it's painful. And it's so obviously pieced together with so much studio work, with someone rocking a car back and forth, etc., it's tediousness knows no bounds.

But after that, we get us some Nancy Sinatra ... then "Let Yourself Go," so that's a definite high point.

Last Post This Go Around On Paradise, Hawaiian Style

I finished the Elvis Presley movie, "Paradise, Hawaiian Style." I've been through it before so there weren't any surprises, of course.

It was enjoyable. But there's something I noticed at the end, and this is true of the last one I watched too, which was "Girls, Girls, Girls." They cheated us of a romantic scene with Elvis and his love interest in both movies. In "Girls," Laurel is left standing over at the sidelines, waving, while Elvis does the final number. It's very unsatisfying to the romantic.

And in "Paradise," he's just getting ready to kiss Friday (or whatever her name is, Judy Hudson), when some Hawaiian drum beaters hustle him off for the last number. So they never get a big meaningful kiss. They don't get a kiss in the movie because all along she's supposedly married. (She isn't really.)

I might need to do a study of Elvis movies, to see if this is a pattern. Why would they deny us the satisfying conclusion of Elvis and his love interest in a great embrace or a deep kiss? Could there be some interest in maintaining the availability of Elvis to the female viewer of the movie (originally)? I don't know, but it sure is suspicious that in each of these movies, the love interest is left standing on the sidelines.

Another thing that's unusual but unrelated to the above subject, is how much time Jan (Donna Butterworth) gets to sing. This is sort of hard to figure out too. What were they getting at there? Was she an up and coming child singer? "Queenie Wahini" and "Datin'" are both duets with Elvis and Jan. Then there's a big event toward the end, and the scheduled entertainer at it is Jan (!) doing "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?" Is that considered some kind of Hawaiian song? And of all the people to get for the event, why would the sponsors pick a young, presumably unknown local girl? It seems like a weird moment.

The Dreaded Key Throwing Scene

Like I said yesterday, I'm watching the Elvis Presley movie "Paradise, Hawaiian Style."

And I said how much I hated a particular scene, in which a girl (Lani) takes the keys out of Rick's (Elvis') helicopter and throws them somewhere. We the audience never see where she throws them. So we're completely in the dark too.

Elvis comes over and immediately discerns that Lani had something to do with it. After a little finagling she says she threw them "over there," pointing to a particular place. Then she's helping DIG for them with Elvis and Jan. Notice I said "dig." Because why would keys that you threw "over there" be buried to the point that you have to be sifting sand.

Instead of digging, I would impress upon Lani the need we have to find the keys and get out of there. I'd be asking her for sincere and good information about which way she threw them. How hard she threw them, etc.

What a twerp she was!

Drums Of The Islands

The Elvis Presley movie I'm watching presently is "Paradise, Hawaiian Style." There are things about this movie that I really like. There's a few things I don't like.

First, what I don't like. I don't like the whole section where the girl throws the helicopter keys in the sand and it becomes a disaster. I don't like all the friction that develops between Danny and Rick (Elvis). That all sucks big time.

But there are plenty of things to like. Like the "Scratch My Back" song and musical production. That's nice. The part with the dogs in the helicopter. I think I like that. I'm not up to it yet. The "Queenie Wahini" number is cute, with Donna Butterworth. I looked her up on the internet once and I know she's still out there doing some things because of her connection to Elvis. Good for her! I would be too if I'd been so lucky.

Elvis looks great in the movie too. The travels down the stream in the "Drums of the Islands" number is really good.

I'm just not looking forward to those parts of the movie that I don't like.

P.S. By the way, Elvis' interviewing style for a secretary, with the suggestive remarks to the curvaceous applicants, would surely be a terrible no-no these days. Almost as bad as his kissing underage Annette Day in "Double Trouble." He'd be in some serious "Double Trouble," I believe. I'm not a lawyer though.

Looking For A Good Recipe

I'm looking for a killer recipe for corned beef and cabbage.

We used to have it when I was a kid where the cabbage was shredded and cooked somehow to the point that it looked sort of like sauerkraut. Then it had corned beef in it and maybe potatoes.

I've looked on the internet and I'm generally seeing recipes that have a thing of cabbage on a plate and corned beef on the side. That isn't what I remember.

The Ice Skating Rink

I saw a guy pushing snow off a lake today to make a place for people to go ice skating.

It was fun to watch. He had a scooper on a little truck and was going around in, pushing the snow ever farther out. Then he went over it a few times to get as much snow off as he could without having to use a broom.

Since no skaters were showing up, of course, it made me think, what if it was one of those games, this one called "Ice Skating Rink Tycoon." In the game, skaters would be showing up, a few at a time, then more. And they'd be thinking things like, "Where's the bathroom?," "This place needs more benches," and "I'm getting cold."

You'd have the options to put in benches, bathrooms, a SnoKone stand, etc., and pretty soon your money would be going up. Trying to keep the crowd happy, trying to expand it to meet increased demand, etc.

The way it is in reality, though, eventually (you have to assume) someone will show up. No one will hear them when they grumble. They'll skate, they'll go home. And that'll be it!

What'd The Groundhog Say?

I didn't hear what the groundhog said.

Think I'll look it up.

Oh, it looks like he saw his shadow. Meaning six more weeks of winter. Isn't that about what it'd be if he didn't see his shadow?

What Elvis Should've Said

I'm watching "Girls, Girls, Girls," starring Elvis Presley.

When I'm watching shows, movies like this, I can't believe the bad choices the characters make. You'd like to say, "Hey, stupid, wake up."

One scene has Elvis going to a nightclub to tell the manager that he wants to get some more hours singing, because he needs money because he wants to buy a boat that he and his father made.

The manager agrees and offers Elvis a more permanent singing gig, then insists that Elvis sing right now, then when he agrees to that it stretches out apparently for some length of time. Because all this time, Elvis was supposed to be over on a date, a get together with his love interest, Laurel.

He's singing and seems to be enjoying himself. But he's checking his watch, like he knows he's late.

I'm thinking, You told the guy "No," so stick to it. You have a date, simply tell him you're a responsible person and you need to keep the engagement you have. That you came in to check on the job, that you're not prepared right now anyway. Really, don't musicians need some kind of rehearsal or don't they at least need to talk it over with the band what song they're going to sing? On the movie, they just launch into something and it all goes perfectly. It's crazy.

At least in "Fun in Acapulco" when he did a performance it was just one song, then he was off. Each time, one song and out. Here in "Girls, Girls, Girls" he has to go on at length, missing a very important date.

Not me. I would've said, "I have a date with Laurel. I will keep our date." I will be in to sing tomorrow at this time, assuming I didn't have a prior commitment.

That's what Elvis should've said.