Of all the Elvis movies ever filmed, Viva Las Vegas is known as one of his best.  Famed director George Sidney (Annie Get Your Gun, The Three Musketeers) was chosen for this one, and he reportedly was at odds with Elvis’ manager Colonel Tom Parker over the constant re-filming and angling of the cameras in order to get the best shots of Elvis’ co-star, the lovely Ann Margret.

Elvis Presley and Ann Margret had incredible on-screen chemistry, and during and after the filming of Viva Las Vegas, the press was all over a rumored affair they were apparently having.  This was worrying Priscilla Beaulieu (she and Elvis had not yet married) a great deal and although Elvis vehemently denied the rumours to be true, Priscilla followed him to Los Angeles while Elvis recorded songs for Viva Las Vegas.

Ann Margret found out Priscilla was in town and decided to add fuel to the fire by informing the hungry press that she was engaged to Elvis.  Soon the world had swallowed the news, so Elvis told Priscilla to return to Memphis until everything cooled off.  It is said that Priscilla angrily threw a vase across the room while yelling that “Ann Margret should’ve kept her a__ in Sweden .”

Viva Las Vegas was a tremendous success at the box office; it grossed 5.5 million dollars which was a far bove-average amount in1964!  The music however, was not initially  released as a soundtrack and RCA caught  a lot of criticism for it!  The Elvis songs and duets recorded with Ann Margret were sporadically released on singles and Ep’s until 1993, when RCA Records decided it was time to reissue several Elvis Presley soundtrack albums.

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