King Creole: Part 5!

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:05]Hey y'all. It's Chat with Kat. I'm here for part five of King Creole.

[00:00:13]This is a great section. And before we get started, uh you see I'm making some headway on my Elvis puzzle.

[00:00:21]>> [laughter] [sighs] >> Listen, I want to give a shoutout to one of my viewers, Leslie Cook.

[00:00:28]And she just shared with me a couple of days ago that um she's entered hospice.

[00:00:33]And I hospice is one of those things I've seen people come and go from it, you know, they go in it and then all of a sudden they come out of it. And Leslie, we're hoping that for you. She's been a loyal supporter, uh and I appreciate her so much.

[00:00:49]And so if you are so inclined, please send some prayers and thoughts. Say a little prayer for Miss Leslie for us.

[00:00:57]And um I also want to uh say if if you want to connect with me on social media, uh go to Chat with Kat on Instagram. I think it's Chat with Kat Pieces of My Life on Instagram, and I'll gladly uh connect with anybody there. I try to keep Facebook my own little personal corner.

[00:01:18]And um let's dig in. I have another viewer named Mike who is a huge Elvis fan, one of my Elvis experts, and he pointed out to me how Danny Fisher in King Creole, I'm looking up here because I've got it on my TV out here in the sunroom, um the similarities between our main character Danny Fisher and Elvis. He also made a really good point that I I wanted to bring out. And I told him I was going to use his post.

[00:01:48]But he said it's shows a lot about Elvis's integrity and drive to give such a performance, a memorable performance, knowing that in a few weeks he was going to be inducted into the army and would not be making movies or personal appearances for a couple of years. And, you know, I always think about that time being so so professional for Elvis to actually be at the top of the game and then get snatched out of it for 2 years putting on fatigues and, you know, reporting to work and knowing that the world is probably passing you by back home. I mean, and for him to be as young as he was, he handled it masterfully, like a pro. So, I do agree with Michael on that.

[00:02:35]Um, he also says he relates he thinks he relates more to this character Danny Fisher than he did with any other character in his movie career.

[00:02:44]Now, um, he talks about Danny dropping out of school and I think Elvis did graduate, uh, in '53 from Humes.

[00:02:53]But, the similarities, Elvis has said he wasn't a good student, you know, and all that. Um, both parents pushing them to, uh, finish it. Both were influenced by the black music, Elvis with the blues. Both were hustlers, Elvis through his music. Both had morals. Both ran with gangs.

[00:03:13]Elvis had the Memphis Mafia.

[00:03:15]What's kind of a gang?

[00:03:17]Okay, uh, anyway, interesting parallels there. And in the section I'm going to be covering today, uh, minute 48 through 1 hour and 2 minutes, we see almost more Elvis than we do Danny because when Elvis is on stage as Danny Fisher, he's Elvis.

[00:03:36]He brings his his own persona there.

[00:03:41]Anyway, I'm just thinking about how great it was.

[00:03:44]Uh, let's talk about, let me see, I got I have got I've got notes everywhere.

[00:03:50]I've got my little trusty notebook here where I I go through and watch it and I take down anything that seems important and then I go back and focus on those.

[00:04:00]And sometimes I put them put my notes in my notes on my pad and so I've got I've got a lot lot going on here. So let's see here. Um he gets into an argument with his father after the father turns down Mr. LaGrande to let Elvis sing in the club and Elvis he goes, "What do you want, Danny?"

[00:04:21]And Danny says, "I want a pink convertible."

[00:04:25]Now I promise you that line was not in the original book that they sort of loosely took this storyline from.

[00:04:33]Certainly that was a nod to Elvis's personal life and the '58 audience audiences in '58 would have recognized that. It was a little inside joke. Now it seems, you know, completely obvious and all that but it that was a little nod to his to his normal life.

[00:04:52]Um Elvis's problem with his father is he doesn't take charge of anything. He's been fired. He can't keep a job. He's he's cowering down to the pharmacist.

[00:05:01]But he takes charge of this situation.

[00:05:03]He tells Mr. LaGrande it's time for you to go. He tells Danny, "You're not going to sing."

[00:05:09]Now Danny's going to have a different idea.

[00:05:12]And I love this this conversation between dad and son. Dad says, "What about school?"

[00:05:19]Elvis says, "I went to school."

[00:05:21]And dad says, "You failed."

[00:05:24]And then Danny says, "Well, I'm through failing."

[00:05:28]And you know, that's just like real school. When I had my students, okay, they weren't good at taking a test or they may not be good at, you know, linguistics, word problems and that kind of thing, but they may be a master in numeric problems. So, there's an old cartoon of uh you know, different animals and one of them to do something and there's a fish.

[00:05:56]A fish can't can't do what these animals do. The fish has to be in the water.

[00:05:59]Does that make the fish dumb because it can't do what these animals do? No, because in the water he's an expert. And something like that. I'm paraphrasing, but it's so true. And so, I love this line with Danny. He says, "Well, I'm through failing." He's going to do something he can succeed in.

[00:06:16]I'm getting excited and getting closer to my camera. [laughter] I'm probably going to get myself right out of the screen here in a minute.

[00:06:22]Okay. Mr. LeGrande wants to date Sister Mimi who is 20 years his junior. Now, you may just zip on by that and not think anything of it. But, let's let's look at that situation for a moment. The Fisher family is living in poverty and instability.

[00:06:40]And Mr. LeGrande has already offered Elvis Danny a way out of that life. Come sing at the club. Make $85 a week.

[00:06:54]Now, he's going to offer it in another way with the sister. He wants to date the sister. Here it is again. Mr. LeGrande who represents respectability, stability, a way out of the poverty.

[00:07:08]He's given two avenues now for this family to come out of it. Are they going to accept? That's the key. Now, he represents stability, respectability, a way out of poverty. Maxie Fields represents danger and the glamorous underworld, the dangerous glamorous underworld. So, the whole movie Danny Fisher is tugged in both directions.

[00:07:35]And I thought it was I don't want to get ahead of myself.

[00:07:38]Uh oh, let's talk about about banana song.

[00:07:41]>> [laughter] >> How many of you like to fast forward through the banana song?

[00:07:47]I get it, you know, I don't know why they put so much of it in there, but let's talk about it for a moment. And let's see, where are my notes?

[00:07:57]All right, so the banana song, it tell it's mainly there for the setting.

[00:08:03]Um, it shows the adult, very adult, seedy life of New Orleans.

[00:08:11]Juxtaposed with sweet Nellie at the five and ten, not going into the hotel room, you know, all of that. So we've got the wholesome and we've got the adult seedy part. So she sings the banana, it helps show the contrast between innocent Nellie, the more worldly women that Danny will encounter. He's already encountered Ronnie, she's she's one of those.

[00:08:38]It reinforces the exotic, sensual New Orleans nightclub environment, even though she's not central to the plot.

[00:08:45]The banana song, we could take it completely out and the movie would be fine.

[00:08:50]Um, there is a bit of a 50s innuendo, the audiences at the time would have recognized that as a playful burlesque um, double entendre, pushing the envelope without actually going against production rules.

[00:09:07]So, um, it's really just to give us a little bit of the nightclub scene, but if you once you've seen it you and you watch the movie again, you're probably fast forwarding through that part.

[00:09:19]Okay. Okay. Okay. Let's get on with it.

[00:09:22]So Elvis is ready to take the stage cuz he defied his dad and he's he's going to go down and take the stage. He's very nervous.

[00:09:30]And the guy comes in and makes a little joke with him. Um, it wasn't a very good joke. And he the guy says, "Come on, haha." And then Elvis just looks at him, "Haha."

[00:09:41][laughter] You know, kind of a sarcastic This is a young man who can stand up for himself. He gets up there for Dixieland Rock. Now, his sister is in the audience with Mr. Legrand. And she's the only one who claps. Even Mr. Legrand didn't clap.

[00:09:56]She's the only one clapping for Danny as he takes the stage. Now, if you think of an 18 19-year-old in that kind of an adult environment and everybody's just looking at him, does that mimic something else we know about Elvis? [laughter] Like when he tried to play Vegas the first time or the Grand Ole Opry and the audience wasn't feeling it.

[00:10:22]It kind of reminded me of that.

[00:10:25]But anyway, he goes on anyway with just one hand clap from his sister. And then he coincidentally, the song has him, you know, trying to get the audience to start clapping with him. And eventually, they do. And before the song is over, they're up dancing and and really into it. It's called the Dixieland Rock. Um, this is where we see Danny transform back into Elvis. I mean, it's Elvis.

[00:10:50]Charisma, stage presence, the talent.

[00:10:53]And now he's got everyone clapping.

[00:10:56]And Mr. Legrand says, "Put his name up in lights."

[00:11:00]>> [laughter] >> So, instead of just a street hawker out there going, "Oh, and we've got Danny Fisher." Now, his name is going to be up in lights. That's pretty fast. Um, the immediate switch over to Nelly.

[00:11:17]So, we have this fast-paced nightclub scene. It's exciting and all that. And then we have this calm.

[00:11:23]He takes Nelly out into this boat to show her a house that he grew up in.

[00:11:30]The juxtaposition is you can't you can't miss it.

[00:11:35]He's speaking to her from his heart.

[00:11:38]And he shows her his old house. He says, "I will buy it back one day and no one will take it from me."

[00:11:44]That reminded me of that interview he did when he came back from the army.

[00:11:49]And the interviewer says, "Elvis, your family structure has changed. Have you thought about maybe moving away from Memphis and selling Graceland?" And he says, uh no.

[00:12:01]"I'm going to keep Graceland as long as I possibly can." And he kind of laughs through the end of it, you know. It reminds me of this scene. Or they That reminded me of him. Again, it's that Elvis showing up in the lines here. And Nellie tells him, "It's like everything just started with you."

[00:12:21]He said she said, "I've had guys come in wanting dates and stuff, but everything started with you."

[00:12:26]That's a universal truth for Elvis's life. You can pull that right out of the movie and stick it on Elvis. Everything started with him.

[00:12:34]Now, of course, there were singers and there were stars and and I'm not saying they weren't important.

[00:12:43]But Elvis started something fresh, something new, and it did start with him.

[00:12:49]So, she also says another line that I thought exactly mimicked Elvis's life.

[00:12:58]She said, "I met a million-dollar boyfriend in a five and dime."

[00:13:05]Elvis was a million-dollar star in a talent show when he was a young boy, 10 I think.

[00:13:12]He was a million-dollar star when the teacher gave him a C in music.

[00:13:17]You know? And nobody knew it.

[00:13:21]And here she met a million-dollar boyfriend in a five and five and dime.

[00:13:26]Okay, let me check my other notes, make sure I'm not missing anything here.

[00:13:31]All right. Um he sings Young Dreams for another another song. Now, Nellie is in this audience.

[00:13:39]And he seems to be singing to her. He keeps looking that way, singing to her.

[00:13:44]And he has the audience enthralled.

[00:13:47]They're eating out of his hand. This is another he's he's learning all the time that he's got power when he's on stage.

[00:13:55]Okay, so the next scene he's talking with his sister in the kitchen and you can tell he still wants his father's approval. Um he asks her, "How did Dad take it when you told him how how great it went?" And she says, "Oh, he just told me to wash my hands before I made his lunch."

[00:14:16]And you can see the disappointment in Danny's face.

[00:14:21]He's impressing every other adult in this movie.

[00:14:25]Mr. LeGrant, Maxie Fields, Ronnie, all the audiences that he has that he's been singing for up until now, they're all impressed with him.

[00:14:34]And he wants his father's approval and he hasn't gotten it yet.

[00:14:38]We'll have to wait and see if he's uh going to get that.

[00:14:44]So, in the next section coming up in uh my sixth video on King Creole, we're getting almost to the end of the movie.

[00:14:51]I hate to see it go. But, we're going to cover the section 1 hour and 2 minutes up to 1 hour and 21 minutes, just before he uh meets up with the guy in the alley. So, about 20 minutes we will cover. And you're going to love it because there's a lot of Elvis Elvis, not Danny, on stage. All right, I'll see y'all next time. Y'all take care.