Buffalo Springfield appear on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Elvis Presley postpones (for the second time) his trip to Hollywood to begin filming his 25th motion picture, "Clambake". Although he was paid a guaranteed one million dollars for this role, Elvis has been very unhappy with the churn-'em-out movies he's been making and, depressed and distressed at the thought of making yet another carbon copy, has been over-eating regularly. (While on hiatus, his weight ballooned from 170 lbs to over 200 lbs).
It also seems that The King has been doing an extensive amount of horseback riding of late, causing him an extensive amount of pain, so on this date, Barbara Little, the girlfriend of Elvis' Memphis Disc Jockey Buddy George Klein, suggests that Elvis call her doctor to help with his saddle sores. It was that appointment that began a doctor - patient relationship that would last until Presley's dying day. The doctor? George Nichopoulos … Dr. Nick … who overfed Elvis a MASSIVE amounts of "prescription drugs" for the next ten years to keep his mood up, down, and occasionally, on an even keel.
It gets worse … once filming finally began on March 22nd (after yet another nearly two week delay when Elvis fell in his bathroom causing a minor concussion), Elvis didn't look good in the dailies due to his excessive weight gain … so producers ordered him to lose some weight quickly in order to protect their investment. Enter Dr. Nick to prescribe some "diet pills" to help bring his weight down.
To complicate matters further, the film (which opened on October 18th) tanked at the box office … and thus became Elvis' last guaranteed million dollar salary. Although he would make a few more films, it was clear that Elvis' heart just wasn't in it anymore. (Elvis tried a more dramatic role, starring opposite Mary Tyler Moore in "Change Of Habit" a couple of years later but by then music had changed so much that only his most die-hard fans were still buying movie tickets to see him on the big screen.) Thankfully his NBC Comeback Television Special next year would put Elvis back on the Show-Biz Map … it would generate the support of countless new fans, make The King relevant again and launch a series of tours and Las Vegas appearances right up until the time of his death.
Number One at the Box Office This Week: Hurry Sundown
