A Babyboomer's Flashback

 

This is the first post from my blog Gina's Music Memories:

As far back as I can remember, there was music in my house playing 24/7. My mom and dad were known in our community as "the dancers," so you can imagine, they loved music.

The first music I remember hearing was 50's rock and roll and Elvis was the King. I love his music to this day, have seen every one of his movies at least five times and even went to one of his concerts a few months before he died. 

My dad met him when he was filming Follow That Dream in Ocala, Florida . . . they were filming the bank scene the following day and my mom and dad parked themselves outside the bank since my mom was so pissed that it was my dad who met him and not her. They were there early in the morning and as dusk approached, they had to give up and leave, but my mom did get to touch his pink Cadillac. 

One of my prized possessions is my Elvis concert program that takes me back to that day . . . he was visibly ill, but still put on one of the best concerts I have ever been to (and I have been to many concerts in my life).

Elvis Presley - Teddy Bear

This is one of my early favorites . . .

My early childhood musical favorites were Fabian, Bobby Vee, Frankie Avalon, James Darren . . . pop music! My first true love was James Darren until Paul McCartney hit the scene. My female idol was Sandra Dee who I thought was the most beautiful woman ever and so wanted to look like her. My favorite childhood movie was A Summer Place . . . . quite the racy movie for its time and the Gidget series of movies. Of course Cinderella is way up there on my list of favorites . . . I still have the yellow plastic record 78 LP soundtrack from the movie. Somewhere along the way, I lost my Cinderella watch. 

It was a time where families all sat at the dinner table together without the distractions of the television, video games or the computer. Even when we finally got a television, my dad restricted us from watching it all the time as he thought life was about more important things. Of course it irritated the hell out of me, but now, in a weird sort of way, I somewhat understand his thinking. We compromised for the very favorite things to watch on television, which for me included American Bandstand on Saturdays, The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights, and The Mickey Mouse Club every weekday afternoon. My musical roots were already formed when I was a little girl in elementary school. Even with the new exciting thing, the television, for me it was all about the music.

It was a time when families were close, times seemed slower paced and my brother and I were quite content with the simple toys we played with . . . it occurs to me that children are very spoiled in these times with such a vast array of toys . . . and do they ever have enough of anything? I often wonder how my life would have been different and/or changed if we had all these "things."

Elvis comes to Florida to film "Follow That Dream"

It was the summer of 1961 when Elvis and his crew rolled into Central Florida to film his ninth movie, "Follow That Dream."   The film was shot in Ocala, at the old Ocala Bank and Trust building, along with other Central Florida locations including Crystal River, Yankeetown, Inverness . . . and Elvis made his way to the theme park Silver Springs.

My dad was a truck driver who delivered gas to various locations all over Florida.  Silver Springs was one of his routine stops.  He made his delivery and headed over to find the manager to sign the delivery papers. The manager was talking to a handsome young man.  The manager waved my dad over to join them and asked my dad if he knew who the young man was.  My dad replied "he looks very familiar, but I don't know who he is."  So the manager introduced him to my dad ". . . this is Elvis Presley."  Elvis put his hand out to shake my dad's hand and my dad told him "my wife has to be one of your biggest fans and will never let me wash this hand again!"  Elvis invited my dad to visit the movie set with my mom at the bank in Ocala the next morning so she could possibly meet him before filming began or between takes.

Dad couldn't wait to tell my mom the news.  At first she didn't believe him, but as reality hit her, she squealed with excitement at the opportunity to meet Elvis in person.  They headed for Ocala in the middle of the night to make sure to get there before filming started, arriving before the sun came up and found that filming had already started.  They waited all day long into the early evening in hopes to just get a glimpse of him. Unfortunately, the place was jam packed with others with the same thought and they didn't even get to catch that glimpse of him when he came out once to wave to the crowd waiting for him.  Although she was disappointed, she was so happy to have touched his beautiful pink Cadillac.  

After filming had completed and Elvis was long gone to his next adventure, my dad found out that they left the set of the house on the beach intact.  Of course my mom wanted to check it out and possibly walk in the footprints left in the sand by Elvis.  Surprisingly, word had not gotten out and we just about had the whole place to ourselves.  

We spent what seemed like all day long exploring the house, sitting on the porch that Elvis sat on.  What an awesome day it was!  We couldn't wait for the movie to be released so we could see that beach house and it's surroundings that we had explored on the big screen.  My thoughts go back to that time when I see the movie on television and the fond memories of that day come flooding back and puts a smile on my face.

Although I was a young girl at the time, I remember the summer when Elvis came to film a movie in Florida as if it was yesterday!

Actually, Elvis left a mark on that area of Florida even in present times.  

Links 

Follow That Dream . . . Elvis Presley Photos

Follow That Dream - Elvis information Network

Take a Florida and Elvis tour of 'Follow that Dream' locations
Florida Scenes from Elvis Presley's Follow That Dream Movie
Inglis, Florida Sign: Elvis Movie Filmed Here

   

A babyboomer's flashback . . .

As far back as I can remember, there was music playing 24/7. My mom and dad were known in our community as "the dancers", so you can imagine.


The first music I remember was 50's rock and roll and Elvis was the King. I love his music to this day, have seen every one of his movies at least five times and even went to one of his concerts a few months before he died.


My dad met him when he was filming "Follow That Dream" in Ocala, Florida . . . they were filming the bank scene the following day and my mom and dad parked themselves outside the bank since my mom was so pissed that it was my dad who met him and not her. They were there early in the morning and as dusk approached, they had to give up and leave, but my mom did get to touch his pink Cadillac. One of my prized possessions is my Elvis concert program that takes me back to that day . . . he was visibly ill, but still put on one of the best concerts I have ever been to (and I have been to many concerts in my life).


My early childhood musical favorites were Fabian, Bobby Vee, Frankie Avalon, James Darren . . . pop music! My first true love was James Darren until Paul McCartney hit the scene. My female idol was Sandra Dee who I thought was the most beautiful woman ever and so wanted to look like her, even though my italian background had me looking quite the opposite . . . more like Annette, I guess not such a bad thing. One of my favorite childhood movies was "A Summer Place" . . . . quite the racy movie for its time and the Gidget series of movies. Of course Cinderella is way up there on my list of favorites . . . I still have the yellow plastic record 78 LP soundtrack from the movie. Somewhere along the way, I lost my Cinderella watch. :(


It was a time where families all sat at the dinner table together without the distractions of the television, video games or the computer. Even when we finally got a television, my dad restricted us from watching it all the time as he thought life was about more important things. Of course it irritated me, but now, in a weird sort of way, I somewhat understand his thinking.


We compromised for the very favorite things to watch on television, which for me included American Bandstand on Saturdays, The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights, and The Mickey Mouse Club every weekday afternoon. I was a little person in elementary school, but my musical roots were already formed. Even with the new exciting thing, the television, for me it was about the music.


It was a time when families were close, times seemed slower paced and my brother and I were quite content with the simple toys we played with . . . it occurs to me that children are very spoiled in these times with such a vast array of toys . . . and do they ever have enough of anything? I often wonder how my life would have been different and/or changed if we had all these "things".