Meanwhile, Mr. Fisher finds employment as a pharmacist in a local drug store, but his boss, Mr. Primont—who reluctantly hired Mr. Fisher after his boss made him do so—constantly demeans Mr. Fisher out of retaliation, much to Danny's embarrassment. This situation makes it easier for Danny to go against his father's wishes and accept Charlie's job offer. When Danny becomes a hit at the King Creole, Maxie tries to hire him. Danny declines his offer out of loyalty to Charlie. The film was first shown at Loew's State Theater in New York City [1] on July 2, 1958. [16] During the opening week, it ranked number five in box office earnings on the Variety national survey. [17] The film received critical acclaim. Jeansonne, Glenn; Luhrssen, David; Sokolovic, Dan (2011). Elvis Presley, Reluctant Rebel: His Life and Our Times. ABC-Clio. ISBN 978-0-313-35904-0. The film was released on VHS by Paramount Pictures in 1986. [32] In 2000, it was re-released on DVD with remastered sound and image, featuring the original theatrical trailer. [33] On April 21, 2020, it was released on Blu-ray for the first time as part of the Paramount Presents label.

Wallis, Hal B.; Higham, Charles (1980). Starmaker: The Autobiography of Hal Wallis. Macmillan Pub. Co. ISBN 978-0-02-623170-1. Later on, a trained nurse who is looking at blood samples on glass plates in a medical surrounding will be pushed aside by a condescending, emotionally distant male doctor, who must know better. Nonetheless, the world, which is not run well at all in this story, is controlled by these barely subsisting men. That said, I’ve known some successful genre writers who assumed that being “literary” meant that they should overwrite. And that’s a helluva mess, too. Mom wasn't privy to the audiobook, but I found that the narrator's enactment of a woman crying, especially Nellie, really grated on my nerves!

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Danny's beloved dog dies as soon as his family moves and his childhood dies along with it. From that point, Danny finds hate and love, and kindness and meanness. Plenty of meanness. He finds himself torn between loyalty and betrayal, his own and others, throughout the rest of the novel. I cheated and read the ending first, and it is not as happy as in "King Creole", where Danny continues his success. Instead he gets a stone in a cemetery, so to speak. But a little before that, he also becomes a father, if I understand it correctly. Guess I have to start from the beginning. Maybe 'King Creole' is a touch overlong, and the female characters are not as interestingly written as the male ones, somewhat lazy and it's the performances that stop them from being completely vapid. Otherwise there is very little to dislike. Have commented a couple of times on the writing and stories not being strong suits in Elvis' films, but 'King Creole' is a pleasant exception. The writing is surprisingly gritty and suspenseful, with few soap-operatic or corn elements, and the story is darker and meatier than the usual story for an Elvis film, thus one of the most absorbing. The novel was adapted (albeit loosely) by screenwriters Herbert Baker and Michael V. Gazzo as the 1958 movie King Creole for Elvis Presley, co-starring Walter Matthau and Carolyn Jones and directed by Michael Curtiz.

Violence, brutality, Organized Crime.... sex, and death....surrounded Danny, the main character. Elvis brought some light to this brutal story with his on screen performance....riveting for it's time. I would like to think at the end of the book when the author gets introspective and shares his own philosophies, that what he is really telling us is that he has nothing in common with the characters he created.After he had written the three novels Never Love a Stranger (1948), A Stone for Danny Fisher, and 79 Park Avenue (1955), Robbins came to see them as forming a trilogy which he calls The Depression in New York. These are parallel stories involving different characters but all illustrating the struggle for survival of the lower middle classes during the Depression. By this time Elvis Presley was a big movie box office name due in no small measure to the astute management of Colonel Tom Parker. I have no doubt that the Colonel got him Michael Curtiz as a director and a top flight supporting cast consisting of Oscar winners like Dean Jagger as the King's father and Walter Matthau as the villain of the piece. And other such outstanding players as Carolyn Jones, Vic Morrow, Paul Stewart, and Dolores Hart. Kirchberg (January 1999), Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon, and the American dream, p.59, ISBN 9780786407163 Landers, Steve (2000). The Life Of Elvis Aaron Presley Elvis Facts For Elvis Fans. Lulu Press. ISBN 978-1-4357-3905-5.