Elvis Presley 1960-65

January 20, 1960

Elvis is promoted to Sergeant. March 1960

Elvis Presley leaves Germany on March 1, arriving in New Jersey the next day for a press conference, and is officially discharged from active duty on March 5, 1960. He boards a train for Memphis, arriving on March 7. Press and crowds of fans are everywhere for this historic series of events. He holds a press conference at Graceland in his father’s office behind the mansion on March 8. He has served his country just like any other GI, with no special privileges his celebrity status might have afforded him. These two years away from his career have been a time to mature. He has also worried constantly that his lengthy absence might have damaged his career progress. But, he has yet to see his greatest stardom.

Late March, 1960
Elvis has his first post-army recording session. Some of the recording work is for the album Elvis is Back!, which will hit number two on the Billboard pop chart. (Sessions will continue in early April.) On March 21 he receives his first degree black belt in karate, an interest he developed while in the army. On March 26 he tapes a special "Welcome Home, Elvis" edition of Frank Sinatra’s ABC-TV variety show, for which he is paid $125,000, a record sum for a variety show appearance at the time.

Late April, 1960
Elvis begins filming and recording for his first post-army movie, his fifth film, "GI Blues" for Paramount, the first of nine to be produced (not consecutively) by Hal Wallis. "GI Blues" co-stars dancer/actress Juliet Prowse.

May 8, 1960
ABC airs Frank Sinatra’s Welcome Home, Elvis Presley edition of his variety show, which attracts a 41.5% share of the national television audience.

July 3, 1960
Vernon Presley marries divorcee and mother of three sons, Davada (Dee) Stanley, an American whom he met Germany, where she had been stationed with her military husband. They live at Graceland briefly, then move to a home nearby.

August/September 1960
Elvis records and films for his sixth movie, Flaming Star, a drama with limited music. Elvis plays the son of a white father and a Native American mother, torn between the two cultures in the 1800's. The film co-stars Barbara Eden.

October, 1960
The soundtrack album for GI Blues enters the Billboard album chart and soon goes to number one. It remains number one for ten weeks and stays on the chart for 111 weeks. It is to be the most successful album of Elvis’ entire career on the Billboard charts.
(In terms of total record sales over time, it is uncertain which album stands as the most successful.)

November 1960
Elvis begins recording and filming for his seventh film, Wild in the Country, which will be completed in January. GI Blues opens nationally to warm reviews and big box office sales and is among the fifteen top-grossing films of the year. It is a light comedy melodrama with lots of singing by Elvis, who is seen in uniform for most of the movie.

Late December, 1960
Flaming Star opens nationally to warm reviews, but unlike GI Blues, this dramatic film with little singing does not set the box office on fire. However, Elvis Presley earns recognition from a tribal council for his positive portrayal of a Native American in this racially charged drama. The film is banned in South Africa due to its interracial theme.

February 25, 1961
Elvis appears in Memphis at a luncheon in his honor, and numerous recent awards Elvis has received are shown to the press and others attending. A press conference follows. Then, Elvis performs one afternoon show and one evening show at Ellis Auditorium to benefit around thirty-eight Memphis-area charities. Other than the Sinatra television show, these shows are, so far, Elvis’ only live performances since his army discharge. “Elvis Presley Day” is proclaimed by Tennessee Governor Buford Ellington. Every year after this, Elvis donates money to a list of Memphis-area charities, eventually reaching fifty or more, usually around Christmas time. Within a few years, to show their appreciation the city gives him a massive plaque listing fifty charities.

April 1963
It Happened at the World's Fair opens nationally and does relatively well at the box office, though its plot is the most frivolous of any Elvis film so far.
The soundtrack album goes top five. Non-movie recordings and hits continue through this period.

July 1963
Elvis Presley records the music, then, on location in Las Vegas and in a Hollywood studio, he films for his fourteenth motion picture, Viva Las Vegas, co-starring Ann-Margret. (It will be his fifteenth movie to be released as Kissin’ Cousins, which he is to shoot next, will actually be released before Viva Las Vegas.) October 1963
Elvis records and shoots for his fifteenth motion picture, Kissin’ Cousins.

Late November 1963
Fun in Acapulco opens nationally and quickly goes to number five at the box office.
The soundtrack goes to the top five on the pop chart.
January/February 1964
Elvis Presley purchases the Potomac, former presidential yacht of Franklin Roosevelt, for $55,000. He intends to donate it to the March of Dimes for use as a national shrine (FDR suffered from polio, the main disease fought by the March of Dimes). Costs of maintaining the yacht would be prohibitive, so the March of Dimes declines to accept the gift. Elvis attempts to give it to the 7th Coast Guard District Auxiliary in Miami, which also doesn’t work out. Finally, on February 13 he presents the yacht as a gift to a gift to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis for them to use to raise funds as they see fit. The ceremony takes place in Long Beach, California with actor and hospital founder, Danny Thomas, accepting. During this saga of trying to donate the yacht, the Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and Sullivan reads on the air a congratulatory telegram from Elvis and the Colonel. American music and pop culture will soon change dramatically with the "British invasion", much as it had after Elvis Presley hit it big in the fifties. Elvis has become bored and frustrated with his film and recording career. It will only get worse.

March 1964
Kissin’ Cousins opens nationally. One of the poorest quality films of his career, it still quickly hits number eleven at the box office, then quickly falls, and the album goes top ten. Elvis begins filming for his sixteenth motion picture, Roustabout, co-starring Hollywood legend Barbara Stanwyck. He had recorded the music during the previous month.

June 1964
Elvis records music for his next film, Girl Happy. Viva Las Vegas opens nationally and goes to number eight at the box office. It’s one of the better Elvis movies of this period, and the songs are better as well.

July/August 1964
Elvis shoots his seventeenth motion picture, Girl Happy, which co-stars Shelley Fabares and former Miss America, Mary Ann Mobley.

October 1964
Elvis begins shooting eighteenth motion picture, Tickle Me. The soundtrack has no new recordings. Instead, previously released non-movie recordings are used, apparently to keep production costs to a minimum.

November 1964
Roustabout opens nationally and hits number eight at the box office. The soundtrack, which represents some of the best Elvis Presley movie music in a while, goes to number one on the Billboard pop album chart.

March/April 1965
Elvis records the soundtrack and does the filming for his nineteenth motion picture, Harum Scarum,
which co-stars Mary Ann Mobley.

April 1965
Girl Happy opens nationally and does relatively good business. The soundtrack album goes top ten.
Non-movie record releases have continued during this period.

May 1965
Elvis records music and does filming for his twentieth motion picture,
to be released out of chronology as his twenty-first, Frankie and Johnny,