DEC4 Podcast Companion (Clip): Elvis That's The Way It is - MGM's Troubles - Behind the Camera - Las Vegas and the Elvis Effect
With Gary Wells
In this latest clip from our podcast episodes on Elvis That’s The Way It Is, featuring our leading contributor Gary Wells (soulrideblog.com), we look briefly at what else was happening at MGM in the summer of 1970, and at a couple of fascinating people behind the scenes of this groundbreaking cinema documentary. We also reference a quote from International Hotel, Las Vegas, publicity director, Nick Naff, which featured in a 1970 Rolling Stone article by Jerry Hopkins, on Elvis' unique economic effect on the hotel and its staff.
Just one of the influential and highly accomplished people behind Elvis That’s The Way It Is was (uncredited) producer, Herbert F Solow, who passed away in November 2020, aged 89. He was an MGM vice-president, in charge of the studio’s US and UK motion picture and television production. Prior to his tenure at MGM, he had worked for Lucille Ball at Desilu and had successfully pitched Star Trek to NBC, along with launching other iconic television franchises. According to his obituary in Variety, he ‘worked closely’ with Elvis during the making of the film.
Gary also cites Director of Photography, Hollywood veteran Lucien Ballard (1904-1988), as someone of particular interest. Ballard’s filmography as a DP and cinematographer dated back to 1930, and he had previously worked with Elvis on Roustabout.
Hotel publicity director Nick Naff, who was one of Denis Sanders’ chosen interviewees for the movie, explained to music writer Jerry Hopkins for Rolling Stone, that Elvis was unique in the economic effect he had on the International Hotel and the city of Las Vegas, with fans often staying for the entire duration of his engagement, making a comparison to Tom Jones whose fans ‘flew in, saw the show, and flew out again’. The economic benefits also extended to the lowest paid, casual employees who found themselves in regular work, and to the showroom maitre d’ and waiters who shared as much as 300 000 dollars in tips for a month-long Elvis residency. No doubt the hotel casinos reaped the rewards as well, which really was what it was all about.
Kirk Kerkorian (1917-2015) was, at the time of Elvis That’s The Way It Is, the owner of both MGM and the International Hotel and, along with Howard Hughes, had been a key force in the corporatisation of Las Vegas and the decline of organised crime influence. The son of Armenian immigrants, he sold his successful air charter business and began buying up Las Vegas real estate as early as 1962.
His purchase of the ailing MGM studios in Culver City led to a number of complex corporate plays over the ensuing years. Some of these back-and-forth manoeuvres also involved Ted Turner and United Artists, and the final outcome was that what remained of the depleted MGM studio facilities in Culver City were sold to Lorimar Telepictures while Ted Turner secured the best of the film library (Turner Classic Movies). Kirk Kerkorian ended up with an iconic brand, synonymous with the glamour and allure of golden age Hollywood, to put to work in his growing leisure and hospitality businesses, issuing a press statement in 1979 to the effect that MGM was, by that point, primarily a hotel company.
Special thanks to Gary Wells, to Gainesville, to Steve Collins, and to all our readers and listeners.
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