Sunday is Elvis day on TCM's Summer Under the Stars.
G.I. Blues is a 1960 Elvis Presley musical motion picture played as a romantic comedy. It was filmed while Presley was fulfilling his military service obligation with the United States Army in West Germany during the height of the Cold War. It was filmed at Paramount's Hollywood studios and on location in Germany.
The Army appointed public information officer John J. Mawn (1915-2007) as technical advisor for the film. Mawn had presided over Presley's military press conferences. Earlier while at Fort Chaffee near Fort Smith, Arkansas, where Presley stopped en route to his basic training in Texas, Mawn had told the Associated Press that Presley would resemble a "peeled onion" in reference to his forthcoming "G.I. haircut." The retort attracted national headlines.
Elvis Presley's return to the screen after a two-year absence due to his military service saw lineups at movie theatres across North America and in Mexico City a riot broke out in a theater showing G.I. Blues that prompted the Mexican government to ban Presley's movies.
