Romance In The Air?
The gal is Ann-Margret: the gent is Elvis Presley and the word is out that they´re hav-ing a romance. They´re pic-tured having a private picnic
between scenes of their new movie, "Viva Las Vegas," in which they co-star (AP Wirephoto)
Elvis & Ann-Margaret
- Romance Of The Year?
By BOB THOMAS
AP Movie-Television Writer
HOLLYWOOD (AP) _ News to make the younger set flip: Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret are hav-ing a romance. At least that´s the way it looks. You can always be sure about romances in Holly-wood. Sometimes they will flame while a movie is being made and released, then sputter out when all the publicity has been gar-nered.
Elvis and A-M are appearing opposite each other in "Viva Las Vegas."
Well, seeing is believing, and their behavior on the film set might make you believe that something is brewing between the two. They hold hands. They dis-appear into his dressing room be-tween shots. They lunch together in seclusion.
The other day they were film-ing a musical number. The song was titled "Love You, Baby."
Between takes, Elvis was avail-able for one of his laconic con-versations. What about Ann-Mar-gret?
"She´s really got magnetism, that girl," he said.
He was speaking of her profes-sional style and added that he had seen all of her movies ex-cept "Bye Bye Birdie," the musi-cal about a singing idol´s depar-ture for the army. Elvis admit-ted that he had seen an abbrevi-ated version in Las Vegas. Did he recognize anyone in it" He grinned and replied, "No, not really."
That´s about as personal as you can get with Elvis.
Ann-Margret, fetching in a sheer, tight leotard, was evasive. Asked if a romance was bloom-ing she responded, with a shake of her red tresses, "That´s some-thing I won´t talk about."
She did admit to having been a
Presley fan, though she never bought his records."I listened to them on the radio," she explained.
I love this kind of music," she added, referring to the Presley style of rock ´n´ roll. "It´s so free, so unhibited. It´s not the kind of music I have generally done, I´ve usually had the show-type of song.
"But I can do all kinds. If it´s show, I´ll be showy. If it´s a bal-lad, I´ll be tender. If it´s wild, I´ll be wild."
It was "Birdie" that made Ann-Margret the hit of the teen-agers, especially the prologue and epi-logue in which she belted the title tune. The idea originated with the director, George Sidney, who is directing "Viva Las Vegas."
