Elvis Presley, the king of rock 'n' roll, died Aug. 16, 1977, at age 42. The music icon is the subject of a new documentary about his 1968 comeback special.
"The rest was commercials, public service announcements and so forth. … I put together my own 90-minute version. It was rejected by the sponsor and NBC, who did not want to add another half hour of airtime when it first aired. So the first version had very little of [the bordello scene] in it. I used it as introductions to the big production numbers., NBC decided to do a three-hour special," Binder shared."They sent a gopher down to the library to get the Elvis master.
"It wasn’t work," she chuckled."I think it was apparent to everybody that we very much enjoyed what we were doing. We had fun dancing and practicing and being silly. … [Binder] allowed free liberty for us to express ourselves. It was just natural, and I think allowing Elvis and I to be natural … it brought out more in us.
"And this guy shows up in a brown suit and brown shoes. He’s watching Dean Martin on a videotape [from a different special] with a 6-foot beautiful young woman in a bikini. They’re basically doing a dirty joke without the punchline. I’m thinking this is going to be a piece of cake because our ‘bordello’ sequence is nothing near as risqué as that segment.
During filming, Binder often quarreled with Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who was adamant about Presley Steve Binder said Elvis Presley was inspired by Marlon Brando's character from the 1953 film"The Wild One.""Elvis showed me a picture of himself sitting on his Harley," said Binder."He had all of these store-bought motorcycle costumes. And then he showed me a picture that he loved of Marlon Brando when he was a motorcycle gang leader in a movie called ‘The Wild One.
"That black leather was a marriage between [Elvis Presley] and his being, his body," said Steve Binder."He wanted to travel the world and meet all of his fans," said Binder."I said, ‘Elvis, I hear you. I just hope you’re strong enough to stand up to Colonel Parker.' Unfortunately, he wasn’t. He went right back into the control of Parker who … didn’t want to leave the United States. He forced Elvis to stay here. And it was all about the money.
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