Roustabout

The new Hal Wallis picture was one dear to the Colonel’s heart, as it not only drew on his carnival experience in the ’30s but was suggested by an idea he had pitched to Wallis three years earlier. Listed as “Technical Advisor” on all of Elvis’ films, he actually earned his title here, and you can glean some of the fondness of his feelings for the hustle-and-flow milieu that he always said had introduced him into “the wonderful world of show business.” It was only after the completion of the picture that Hal Wallis nixed the already recorded Otis Blackwell-Winfield Scott title track for what he deemed its “risqué” lyrics, but the always efficient team of Giant/Baum/Kaye jumped right in and delivered a new one. The soundtrack was better integrated than some but of no higher quality, and there was no song strong enough to be released as a single. The album in any case was a substantial success, selling 450,000 copies and gaining Elvis the Number One album spot for the first time since Blue Hawaii.