It Happened at the World's Fair [1963]

EMM# : 35035
Added: 2021-07-16

It Happened at the World's Fair (1963)
Swinging higher than the Space Needle with the gals and the songs at the famous World's Fair!

Rating: 6.1

Movie Details:

Genre: Comedy (Musical| Romance)

Length: 1 h 45 min - 105 min

Video: 1920x816 (23.976 Fps - 2 250 Kbps)

Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)| Ted Richmond Production...(cut)

Location:

MOVIE TRAILER WEBLINK

Actors:

Elvis Presley

Joan O'Brien

Gary Lockwood

Vicky Tiu

Director:
Norman Taurog

Complete Cast:
Elvis Presley (Mike Edwards)
Joan O'Brien (Diane Warren)
Gary Lockwood (Danny Burke)
Vicky Tiu (Sue-Lin)
H.M. Wynant (Vince Bradley)
Edith Atwater (Miss Steuben)
Guy Raymond (Barney Thatcher)
Dorothy Green (Miss Ettinger)
Kam Tong (Uncle Walter Ling)
Yvonne Craig (Dorothy Johnson)
Benjie Bancroft (Police Officer (uncredited))
Herbert Bress (Craps Shooter (uncredited))

Plot
Comments
Trivia
Goofs
Keywords
AKAs

Mike and Danny hitch a ride to the World's Fair in Seattle after the sheriff seizes their crop duster biplane to cover Danny's gambling debts. Mike looks after the driver's 7 y.o. niece at the fair, where he meets a cute nurse.
Plot Synopsis:
------------------- Mike and Danny fly a crop duster, but because of Danny's gambling debts, a local sheriff seizes it. Trying to earn money, they hitch-hike to the World's Fair in Seattle. While Danny tries to earn money playing poker, Mike takes care of a small girl, Sue-Lin, whose Uncle Walter has disappeared. Being a ladies' man, he also finds the time to court a young nurse, Diane.
Written byWritten by: Mattias Thuresson

Kurt Russell, in his screen debut, plays the boy who kicks Elvis Presley's shins. Recalling the scene years later, Russell says that he didn't want to do it, as Elvis was such a huge star and Russell was a fan of his. He says that finally Elvis paid him $5 to do it. Russell would later go on to play Elvis in the TV movie, Elvis (1979).
------------------------

One of four films that Elvis Presley and Kurt Russell have in common. Russell appeared in the Elvis movie "It Happened At The World's Fair" (1963), he portrayed Presley in the TV movie "Elvis" (1979), he portrayed Presley again (voice only) in "Forrest Gump" (1994), and he played an Elvis impersonator in "3000 Miles to Graceland" (2001). In "It Happened at the World's Fair," Elvis asks Russell (who was a young boy at the time), to kick him hard in the shin for which Elvis pays him 25 cents. In "3000 Miles to Graceland," this scene is parodied when a young boy runs on screen and kicks Russell (in full Elvis attire) in the shin.
------------------------

Elvis' script from the movie is included in his exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The script is open at the page where Kurt Russell's character kicks Elvis in the shins.
------------------------

The "futuristic" car in which Elvis finds Sue-Lin asleep is a General Motors Firebird III. Designed with a titanium steel skin, a "double bubble" canopy, and gull-wing doors, it was one of the world's first self-driving cars, and could be driven remotely using a joystick device. The Firebird III was displayed at the 1962 World's Fair, in the Washington State Pavilion (now known as Climate Pledge Arena), which was later the home of the Seattle Supersonics NBA basketball team, and is now the home of the Seattle Kraken NHL hockey team.
------------------------

During the revolving restaurant scene in the Space Needle, the song "I'm Falling in Love Tonight" is sung live with the orchestra just behind the camera. Hence the applause at the end of the song.
------------------------

Vicky Tiu, the child actress who plays "Sue Lin" grew up to marry Ben Cayetano (Democratic Party), the fifth governor of the State of Hawaii in 1997. Tiu later said that, while Elvis Presley was a joy to work with, she hated working with director Norman Taurog. For a scene where Sue-Lin cries, Taurog got real tears from Vicky by telling her that her beloved grandmother had just died. (While directing the movie Skippy (1931), for which he won an Oscar, Taurog used a similar dirty trick to get real tears from his nephew, Jackie Cooper, by having his assistant pretend to shoot Cooper's dog.)
------------------------

Elvis' wardrobe for the film cost almost $10,000.
------------------------

The fourth film collaboration between Elvis Presley and director Norman Taurog.
------------------------

Elvis Presley's best friend "Diamond" Joe Esposito makes an uncredited appearance in the film as the game attendant who gives Sue-Lin the red stuffed dog.
------------------------

As with all Elvis films needing shots in real locations, an adoring and often loud public fan base was unavoidable, making the challenges of portraying Elvis as an anonymous character very difficult. This film was especially challenging because so much continual presence in a heavily attended location was required as part of the story.
------------------------

The three cars that Mike and Danny encounter while hitchhiking are: 1962 Ford Thunderbird, a 1962 Chevy Corvair, and a 1962 Chrysler Imperial.
------------------------

Guy Raymond, Gary Lockwood and Yvonne Craig would all go on to appear in separate Star Trek (1966) episodes.
------------------------

When Elvis and Sue-Lin arrive at the monorail station, one of the shops in the background is Globe Optical, a company that still operates in downtown Seattle today.
------------------------

The exterior for the front of Dorothy's house was called The Vinegar Tree House, located on MGM's backlot #2. It had been used two years earlier as the front of George's house in MGMs "The Time Machine." Although heavily re-decorated, the interior of Dorothy's house is the same set as George's as well.
------------------------

The 1962 World's Fair was where AT&T unveiled it new plans for the future of telecommunications. Aside from the idea of video-phones (an idea that never really went anywhere due to the bandwidth constrains of metal cable), they also introduced the touch-tone phone, which was supposed to revolutionize communications. Aside from making it easier for blind people to dial the phone, its use of electronic beeps instead of the rotary clicks of older phones would make it easier to provide various services, using special use X-1-1 calling numbers. Amonst these was 4-1-1, which would allow a customer to dial directory assistance free of charge and get a phone number for anyone living anywhere in the U.S. For local governmental use 8-1-1 was set aside, and is now used mainly for people to get information about utility lines on their property. They even set aside 3-1-1 as a nonexistent area code for imaginary numbers used in movies and TV shows. This is also the reason why Americans call 9-1-1 for emergency services instead of the 9-9-9 used in most other countries in the world.
------------------------

Upon arrival at the World's Fair, Elvis goes to store his luggage and guitar in a station locker. They don't show the guitar being stowed away as it is actually far too long to fit into the small sized locker.
------------------------