I recently happened upon this short and relatively unknown 1984 documentary by Tom Corboy about fanatical Elvis fans whose lives revolve the King in one way or another. After the King’s death in 1977 they ave all experienced some loss of purpose and direction that they cannot seem to resolve. One man  named Artie Mentz is an Elvis impersonator who sees himself as a priest in some ways. The same way a real priest represents an invisible but present God so does Artie represent Elvis. At one point Artie explains how he was bewildered when, during lean times, his daughter said he should basically get a ‘real job’. Artie is driven to do what he does by a higher calling  it seems. Another woman story seems almost tragic as she talks about how her marriage failed because her husband did not share her fervor for Elvis and even felt she was a bit insane. She left her son to finish high school in New Jersey so she could travel south and live closer to Memphis and Graceland. She feels any red blooded American woman would have to desire to have sex with Elvis but she is appalled that a friend of her’s claimed that Elvis singing for her would be enough. She say she would like Elvis to sing for her too but while he is making love to her at the same time of course. She talks about a daughter of hers who loved Elvis as well and who Elvis once took upon stage at a concert and hugged and gave a scarf to as a gift.  Tragically the little girl is one day abducted and murdered and the distraught woman causes a controversy in her family by playing an Elvis song at the funeral service. My God, let the woman play what she wants are her own daughter’s funeral. Another pair of super fans are twin girls who believe that they Elvis’s daughters and one proof is that their mother has never said that they weren’t. The girls and Artie see cosmic significance in adding up the date of Elvis’s death, 16 August 1977, and getting the number 2001 which was the song (used in the the Stanley Kubrick film) Elvis used to open his act with in his last years. Well they call the song 2001 but actually the piece was  Also Sprach Zarathustra, a tone poem by Richard Strauss inspired by the book by Friedrich Neitzsche  but who the hell knows that anyway.

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Yvonne Craig will always be remembered Batgirl in the great 1960’s TV series Batman with Adam West playing a campy caped crusader and Burt Ward as his trusted sidekick Robin the Boy Wonder. The series featured a host of great villains played by Hollywood notables like Caesar Romero, Burgess Meredith and Vincent Price. Craig played Commissioner Gordon’s daughter Barbara and in a few episode donned a mask and cape to lend a hand to the dynamic duo. She sported a nifty motorcycle and had her own them song. Besides the Batman series she played in a few films along side lead men like Bing Crosby, James Coburn and Elvis. Born in the Midwest in Illinois she has an impish all American girl look but with a just a proportioned dab of the naughty brunette thrown into the mix to make her a little exotic. She was trained in ballet and dance and some of her fight sequences in Batman show her lithe agility and strength and in the famous Star Trek episode Whom Gods Destroy she does a titillating dance sequence before winding up in an insane asylum. Yvonne comes from a time when women had curves and femininity still. All the sex bombs of today have lousy tattoos, six pack abs and chronic hostile angst. In some of the selected images here I think her charm and sex appeal come through without any of the angry attitude that we have to suffer through these days. Recently saw her along aside Tommy Kirk in Mars Needs Women and expect an in depth analysis of that Z-classic soon. Also just got in How to Frame A Figg where she tempts an always antsy Don Knotts and that will show up eventually as a double feature with The Love God?, which sadly she does not star in.

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No need to tell you who buxom Nancy’s daddy was I hope? She grew up around stars like Elvis and the Rat Pack and all sorts of stellar talent and was signed in the early 60’s to Ol’ Blue Eye’s Reprise label. Success eluded her in the states but she gained a popularity in Europe and Japan that is still strong. She struggled for a hit in the USA and Reprise was about to drop her when things began to change for her after she met songwriter, arranger and producer Lee Hazelwood. Svengali and business whiz, Hazelwood redid not only her image into a chic mid-60’sLondon look but even convinced her to change her singing style and in 1965 she hit the American charts with the sexy and catchy These Boots are Made for Walking (a line from a western with her dad and Dean Martin). She went on to have a string of hits all arranged and led by Billy Strange. Another really big hit from this period is the duet with Hazelwood called Some Velvet Morning and it is a truly unique and slightly psychedelic little pop song. It sounds more like something from the Pink Floyd period with Syd Barrett than a top-40′s radio hit from Frank Sinatra’s little girl.

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