The Small Things [Elvis]

Chapter 1 - The Littlest Vet Out There

"Yeah, that's right. I want it all to look real. Plus, it's hard to keep it real when we're fake-punchin' each other, and while we're doin' front shots of me ridin' the motorcycle."

"I just worry that you'll get seriously hurt, and it will be on my head."

"I'll be fine. Just have a medical team present durin' those scenes."

That didn't seem to make him like the idea any better. "Yes, well, we'll worry more about that when the time comes. Now..."

Both he and the Colonel weren't too thrilled about me doing my own stunts, but I wanted to make it very real for once. Before, the punching sound effects were added, or I had a stunt double.

John went on to talk with the Colonel about what scenes would be done off the carnival set, like tents that would be set up in the Paramount lot when I would do some of my singing scenes and a few carnival ground scenes. I listened in on this conversation, but at the same time, as we were walking back to the cars, I stared off into the empty field that would soon be the set to what would probably become another favorite film of mine.

~ ~ ~

The last time there were so many extras on the set was when I was doing It Happened at the World's Fair in Seattle when I was at the base of the Space Needle at the fair, and people were hired to be the extras at ten dollars a day. These people were doing the same thing, as far as I knew. John wanted to get the carnival shots out of the way to we could spend time in the studio doing my performance scenes and some grounds scenes on a separate set. One thing I was looking forward to the most, though, was riding a motorcycle around that tiny bowl-like track. It was something I had never done before. It was also exciting that I would be able to ride a motorcycle around as transportation and wear black leather. I loved the look of tough biker.

"Elvis Presley, oh my goodness, can I have your autograph?"

With a set full of a lot of extras, I was being asked for my autograph right and left, at least when we weren't working on a shot. People waited impatiently, though, for a chance to greet me. There were a couple hundred people around, and so far, I had greeted about half of them, kids and adults alike, and some of them were people I already knew from my previous films. I saw a little girl playing with a fluffy brown dog off by the Farris Wheel. When would I get to see some animals?

"Thank you so much," said this beautiful brunette young woman almost as tall as me. She was an extra for the dunk tank, the thing you throw a ball at a target in order to dunk someone. Apparently, they just wanted pretty girls to do that.

"You're welcome, honey," I told her and winked. She giggled and walked away with the rest of her friends who already greeted me earlier and were extras as well. We would do a scene where I would walk by a showering area and the girls would be showering. It was wishful thinking, but unfortunately, they would actually be wearing bathing suits just in case. That shot would be done with Billy Barty, a short man who went up to my belly. Swell, funny guy.

Billy wasn't the only unique person I had met so far. It was incredible, how God made people. I met that guy who was a head taller than me, and I met a really sweet gal who was twice as wide as me, and most likely twice my weight or more. Those people were all gathered together today for, ironically, the ending scene to the whole film. It was another scene John wanted to get out of the way. There was a bearded woman in there, too, but the beard was fake. I heard from her, though, that there were bearded women in the world. How wild! The guy who ate fire and could swallow swords was the same guy, and I hadn't met him yet. I would be doing a scene with him and Billy on a different day.