Speedway (MGM) (1968)

WHEN GALE COMES ON, PEOPLE KNOW LAUGHS ARE DUE! Gale Gordon, 1967 Emmy Award nominee for his role on The Lucy Show, makes one of his rare motion picture appearances with Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra in MGM’s “Speedway.” His assignment in the upbeat musical-comedy smacks of his characterization as Lucille Ball’s flustered, moneyhungry banker-boss. In “Speedway” he is an equally avaricious and amusing Internal Revenue agent named Mr. Hepworth. The parallel is nothing new for Gordon. Over the years he has created a boisterous, loveable, busy-body character that starts audiences laughing the minute he enters a scene. Just as Theodore Mooney on The Lucy Show and Hepworth in “Speedway” share many traits, so did Gordon’s Mayor LaTrivia on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show and Osgood Conklin on TV’s “Our Miss Brooks.” But beneath the pompous and bombastic portrait Gordon paints is a gentle man with a fascinating background. Although it is difficult for fans to envision him as anything but a comic, the New York born actor portrayed Judas for one year in The Pilgrimage Play and was romantic leading man to both Mary Pickford and Marion Davies in their highly publicized radio debuts. And citizens of Berkeley, California, Bucks County, Pennsylvania and Kansas City know Gordon as a talented music man in such summer stock productions as ‘Damn Yankees” and “Take Me Along.” In “Speedway” he demonstrates his versatility in a major musical production number, one of the highlights of the picture. “T’ll probably spend the remainder of my career playing more-or-less this same character,” says Gordon. “That’s what producers want from me and I’m grateful that it’s kept me working steadily. But just once, I’d like to do an about-face and play a devilishly depraved, wickedly warped individual who breeds fear and terror and causes all manner of hideous occurances !” HIS FIRST LOVE Bill Bixby’s early show business training was on the musical comedy stage, and it’s his first love. But in top roles in six recent films and during his three years as co-star of the “My Favorite Martian” series, he never had a chance to use his musical talent. This has now been rectified. In MGM’s new musical romance, “Speedway,” Bixby is featured in a big production number with Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra. SINGING, DANCING AND JUST ROMANCING When you’ve got Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra romancing, singing and dancing together, you’ve got DOUBLE STAR entertainment. That’s what’s offered in MGM’s tuneful and action-filled comedy, **Speedway,” racy story with an exciting stock car racing background. It’s in Panavision and Metrocolor. Still 1860-74 Speedway Mat 2-D 10 CAMERAS FILM THRILLS AND SPILLS OF GHARLOTIE SPEEDWAY'S “OO RACE For Elvis Presley’s tenth motion picture at MGM, “Speedway,” the 27th film of his phenomenal career, the studio presented him with two gifts. The first was Nancy Sinatra as his newest leading lady. The second was an exciting story set in the daredevil world of stock car racing. To ensure authenticity, producer Douglas Laurence and director Norman Taurog took a unit to the famed Charlotte Speedway in North Carlina, where exciting scenes were filmed for key sequences of “Speedway.” The background was the big Charlotte “500” race which provided suspenseful spinouts and grinding crashes. The excitement, the color and the crowds were captured on film by ten cameras. “Nearly 10,000 fans occupy the infield there,” related producer Laurence, SHE WANTS IN ON “SPEEDWAY” WINNINGS Internal Revenue Service agent Nancy Sinatra is right on hand to see that the government gets its share of the take if Elvis Presley wins an exciting stock car race in ‘‘Speedway.’’ Also in this scene from MGM’s tuneful new romantic comedy are Bill Bixby and Carl Ballantine. It’s in Panavision and Metrocolor. Still 1860-38 Speedway Mat 2-B “living in mobile homes and trailers, and they really live it up prior to a big race. I saw one wild celebrant dancing on top of a car. Stock-car fans are uninhibited. We got all this with our color cameras, along with the exciting qualifying trials. “We also filmed some of stock-car racing’s biggest names, including Fred Lorenzen, Cole Yarbourough and Buddy Baker.” Producer Laurence is a product of the post-war entertainment explosion, who learned the techniques of film and theatrical production by practical application and intensive study in a variety of fields. From 1947 to 1958, he created, produced, directed and wrote for national radio and television shows, developed filmed commercial campaigns for national advertisers, and staged industrial, trade and travel shows that have played to millions on every continent. This brought him into close association with top entertainers as a talent buyer for radio and television, and later with such famed personalities as Jack Benny, Dinah Shore, Pearl Bailey and Ray Bolger when he occupied the key executive position of Director of Entertainment for the Flamingo Hotel at Las Vegas. In 1959, Laurence decided the future presenting the greatest opportunity was that of producing feature motion pictures, but first gained his experience in TV. He went to Japan as associate producer of the “John Gunther High Road” series and produced segments for the show there and in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Jamaica. He also served as executive producer on the successful TV series for the National Bowling League. With this background, Laurence formed an association with director Delbert Mann and writer Dale Wasserman, which resulted in such feature MGM pictures as “Quick, Before It Melts” and “Doctor, You’ve Got To Be Kidding !” “SPEEDWAY” “LET YOURSELF GO” “YOUR TIME HASN’T COME YET, BABY” “HE’S YOUR UNCLE, NOT YOUR DAD” “WHO ARE YOU, WHO AM I?” “YOUR GROOVY SELF” “THERE AIN’T NOTHING LIKE A SONG” CONTEST WINNER TO WORLD-FAMED STAR | PRESLEY'S SUCCESS STORY: AMATEUR OTA NTA TOMTOM TOMTANTOMOMTOMONMOMTONITONIYONITONITOVITOVITOVITOVITOVITO\NTOVNTOVITONITONITO\! Ang] It is intriguing to contemplate the reasons why fame might have eluded Elvis Presley, the singer who changed the course of popular music. Logically his closest brush with show business should have been from a seat in the Grand Ole Opry auditorium, And the extent of his entertainment might well have been from a choir loft or strumming a guitar for friends. Tupelo, Mississippi, doesn’t look like the spawning ground for a man known around the world by his first name. Nor does the two-room house where Elvis was born appear a likely candidate for the Southern shrine it has become. Nothing in Presley’s early environment indicated the ultimate outcome. Life was wide open, friendly and unmomentous. It was not particularly easy but it was free of the hardships many artists claim gave them inspiration. No one recalls little Elvis vowing to leave the South for fame and fortune. He simply went to school, worked at odd jobs, played at sports and joined his family singing in church. A happy marriage, a large family, a pleasant home, a weekly check large enough to support all three—these were Elvis Presley’s dreams. Discerning the musical reasons for his stardom is equally frustrating. A fifth grade teacher persuaded the Vernon Presleys to let their son enter the Tri-State Music Contest, which he won 5 Mini-Leads for Elvis Patti Jean Keith, year-and-a-half old granddaughter of director Norman Taurog, makes her acting debut as one of Elvis Presley’s five mini leading ladies in MGM’s “Speedway,’ co-starring Nancy Sinatra. Taurog, director of the romantic musical, has had noted success with juvenile players. In 1932, he directed “Skippy” with his nephew, Jackie Cooper, who received a special citation from the Motion Picture Academy for his performance. Presley’s other ‘“mini-lead” loves in “Speedway” are six-year-old Victoria Meyerink, Michele Newman, Courtney Brown and Dana Brown. LILTING LOVERS Songs and dances by Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra! That’s the tipoff on the happy entertainment offered in MGM?’s lilting romantic comedy, “Speedway,” set against an exciting stock car racing background. Bill Bixby also stars in the tuneful Panavision and color romp. Still 1860-72 Speedway Mat 1-B with an unaccompanied version of “Old Shep.” But amateur music contests are won every day. Elvis never had an instrumental or vocal lesson, yet he became the most popular singer on record. The next step was Hollywood, where the experts said he would never last. He never had an acting lesson. He had never been on a movie sound stage before making’ his film debut. Yet his latest MGM picture, “Speedway,” in which he stars with Nancy Sinatra, marks his 27th movie, and each has been a box-office success. He remains a topten star in almost every country in the world and has the biggest and most devoted fan club in the annals of entertainment,. Most remarkable of all, in the light of his adulation, income and _ legend, Presley remains one of Hollywood’s most down-to-earth, hard-working and best-adj usted stars. Hollywood has great respect for Elvis. But it still doesn’t know what to make of him. In a community where the quest for publicity rules supreme, the Presley organization neither confirms nor Romance, songs and speed are the happy combination of **Speedway,”’ with Elvis Presley as a champion stock car racing driver, co-starred for the first time with another singing ace — Nancy Sinatra. The MGM lilting romantic comedy in Panavision and Metrocolor also has Bill Bixby adding to thefun. Still 1860-60 Speedway Mat 1-A denies rumors about the singing star. There was no public hullabaloo surrounding his marriage. He has never attended a premiere or danced in a Sunset Strip discotheque, never put his footprints in concrete. He seldom poses for a photographer but he is one of the largest contributors to charity Hollywood has ever known. The town is clearly fascinated by the good looking country boy who little more than a decade ago turned the sleepy world of pop music topsy-turvy and survived the commotion to become one of the youngest living legends in the history of entertainment. Seldom does a star work at MGM without finding a reason to visit a Presley set. Hollywood admittedly has never seen anything like Mr. Presley. Immediately after completing a picture, he heads home to Memphis—not Paris, Rome, Acapulco or Tahiti. He doesn’t socialize while living in his rented Hollywood house. His roots are in Tennessee. His family is in Tennessee. That’s where he goes to relax. What’s Presley really like? According to an eleven-year business associate, “I see Elvis almost every day. I still don’t know.” MELODY T0 A MOP! Burt Mustin, 83-year-old actor who began his career in movies at the age of 67, now makes his singing debut in MGM’s “Speedway,” in which he reprises a song Elvis Presley sings to Nancy Sinatra. A veteran of 54 feature pictures and 266 television episodes, Mustin plays his 154th janitor role in “Speedway,” singing the love ballad to a mop! 3