Poor Elvis Presley. Had he realized he could have done his military obligation and not have to put a career on hold, he might very well have become a British subject.
Elvis's being drafted into the army was world wide news back in the day and the British sought to take advantage of it with this film, Idol On Parade. It casts Anthony Newley as a young British rock and roller who has to do his national service and even being a teen idol won't get him out of it.
His status causes no end of grief to Captain Lionel Jeffries and the drill sergeant William Bendix. Around this time Bendix went over across the pond and made a few features for the British film industry. He mastered an Irish accent quite well for the part. I wouldn't have thought anyone as American urban as Bill Bendix could have carried it off, but he did.
The interesting thing I found was that I had just finished reading Tommy Steele's memoirs, Bermondsey Boy, where Steele goes into some detail about his national service. He eschewed military service for the sea, serving as a steward on one of her Majesty's ocean liners. Actually some of what Tommy had to say would make an interesting film.
Newley fits the role well as a teen idol and the lovely Anne Aubrey who is Jeffries's daughter in the film is his romantic interest. That's part, but only part of the story of Idol On Parade.
