An Impetuous Tale [Elvis]

Chapter 10 - Say Goodbye to a Mundane Life

The set of the film "Harum Scarum" came from the 1925 film "King of Kings," a film that came out in 1925 and was set in Biblical times, and the costumes for "Harum Scarum" were borrowed from the 1944 film "Kismet."

"Huh, this is fascinating," I commented as I scanned more of the article in this magazine that I pulled off the rack at a grocery store as Mary Ann was off finding some veggies for our dinner this evening. It was an article that came out yesterday, March 9, 1965. Still, it was so weird to think about, that I was where I was. "Too bad there's no such thing as internet yet, or I would look up these two movies. Maybe I could have a word with Gene and ask about them, and he could point me in the right direction as to who to talk to about them."

The information would be good for my article. Doing things old school was tougher than I cared to admit. I was used to hard work, but us in the twenty-first century were so spoiled with our information-at-our-fingertips. Oh, how I missed Google! But, as both my grandparents and parents had said, that was how they did all their research—libraries and talking with actual people, no web surfing.

"Hey, you going to help me?" I heard and turned my head to see Mary Ann in dark sunglasses with pink rims that were pointed, and she had a blue shall over her head. She looked like a stereotypical 60s woman, but I knew she wanted to hide her face so people wouldn't flock her. She told me the other day that she was Miss America in 1959, so if people didn't recognize her as an actress, they would recognize her as Miss America from six years ago. People from Hollywood were the same in any decade, apparently—they didn't want to be noticed.

"I just saw this magazine," I said and showed her. "It talks about Harum Scarum and where they got the set and costumes from, as well as other helpful information that I could use for my article."

She read through some of the article in the magazine. "You know, you can just ask Elvis some of these things, and Gene."

"I know. I plan to talk to Gene and anyone else he recommends. I still need to get a full list of Elvis's films. Well, the ones before this one."

"Just ask him. You're seeing him on Monday."

Our last conversation at the elevator ran through my head again. Three days passed since then. "I don't want to talk to him."

We started walking in the direction of the produce section. This store looked like your average grocery store, only there were old registers, no conveyors at the registers, and everyone matched the decade. It was actually pretty cool going about the city and seeing how people in the 60s lived and how everything looked compared to my time. I had a whole separate notebook to take notes on that account. I had my work notebook out, and I wrote notes down as Mary Ann and I walked, and the magazine was under the notebook. I would buy it, along with the groceries.

"You're going to have to talk to him eventually, you know," Mary Ann told me as we came up to a stand of tomatoes and peppers. "You're not the type of woman who's fearful."

"I'm not fearful, I just..." I thought for a moment. "I just feel bad, really. I seem to have a horrible habit of hurting that man's feelings. I feel awkward around him."

"And not just because you fell for him and did the moment you saw him for the first time in person?" I couldn't answer her, and it irritated me that I couldn't. "Look, just apologize like before and get on with it. You're on a mission, remember?"

I pressed my lips together as she put some tomatoes in a brown paper bag. "Yeah, I know."

She stopped what she was doing and eyed me through her pointed sunglasses, and I knew she saw my sullen expression. "Hey, I didn't know that Alan was such a sleaze, okay? I guess I just saw him through rose-tinted glasses. I love him like a brother, you know, and I can't say I'm happy with how he treated you."