Musicals Blog

Child Scene Stealers in Elvis Movies - Part II

by Claire J Rottenberg


Elvis made four films that co-starred young children. In an earlier post, I discussed the first two of these films, "It Happened at the World's Fair" and "Fun in Acapulco," both made and released in 1963. Several years later, Elvis' films once again featured adorable young co-stars, first, Donna Butterworth in "Paradise Hawaiian Style" in 1966 and then Victoria Meyerink in "Speedway," filmed in 1967 but not released until 1968.


Paradise Hawaiian

Donna Butterworth, age 10 when she appeared in "Paradise Hawaiian Style," was the oldest of Elvis' co-starring child performers. She began her short film career the year before, in 1965, with a starring role in "The Family Jewels." Her acting in that film had earned Butterworth a Golden Globe award nomination for Most Promising Female Newcomer. However, Butterworth's promising career did not last long. After "Paradise Hawaiian Style," she appeared for a year on television shows, including several performances on "Disneyland." She disappeared from TV shows and films after 1967.

Donna Butterworth was not just a talented actress. She was also a gifted musical entertainer and she had the chance to sing in "Paradise Hawaiian Style," first in two numbers with Elvis and then in a solo number singing the well-known song, "Bill Bailey." She also displayed her dancing talents in the three numbers. Like other child stars in Elvis movies, Butterworth played a clever child who manages to think like an adult.

"Paradise Hawaiian Style," like most of Elvis' movies, was weak on plot with scenes supplemented by mostly bad songs. The film begins, as some of his others did, with a short scene that introduces Elvis' character and the storyline, and then is followed by the characteristic Elvis song accompanying the screen credits.

Elvis' character in "Paradise Hawaiian Style" is not a particularly nice person. He plays a cad who romances and uses women and whose romantic escapades risk his friend's money and future. Of course, in the end, Elvis changes and becomes a hero who saves his friend and sticks with one woman.

"Paradise Hawaiian Style," although it has a silly plot and fair to poor songs, does have some good scenes. The movie was filmed in Hawaii, much of it at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and the scenes at the Center and the beautiful Hawaiian scenery are enjoyable to view. Donna Butterworth's performance is also a pleasure to watch, especially when she sings "Bill Bailey."


Speedway

Victoria Meyerink was already a successful and well-known child star when she appeared with Elvis in "Speedway." She began her career at the age of only four as a guest on Danny Kaye's TV show. She was adorable and quickly became a favorite of viewers of the show.

By the time she made "Speedway" with Elvis at the age of 6-1/2, Meyerink had already appeared in three movies. She continued acting on a regular basis until 1978. Four years later, at the age of 22, she became the youngest female film producer with her first film, "Young Warriors." Since that film, she has produced at least three others. Of the four child performers who co-starred with Elvis, Meyerink is the only one who stayed in the film business.

"Speedway" is one of Elvis' worst movies, with a silly plot, bad songs and corny dialogue. One trend in mid-1960s and later Elvis films was to cast him as a racer, either with cars or boats. This role led to films with long racing sequences, often using 1/4 to 1/3 of the film's time on races. "Speedway" fits this formula, and a significant portion of the film is wasted watching Elvis speeding around a racetrack.

One of Elvis' co-stars in "Speedway" was Nancy Sinatra, whose main claim to fame is her famous father. Unfortunately, she did not inherit his talent and her acting in the film is poor and her singing is, at best, fair.

The songs in "Speedway" are typically bad Elvis film songs. The only exception is "Your Time Hasn't Come Yet, Baby" which Elvis sings to Victoria Meyerink and her little sisters.

Although Victoria Meyerink was adorable in "Speedway," her performance was not enough to save the film. Her part was small and she only appeared in a few scenes in the film. Also, her acting was not as good as that of Elvis' other child co-stars and not sufficiently good to offset the film's weaknesses.


Of the two films reviewed, "Paradise Hawaiian Style" is worth watching for Elvis' fans, partly due to the excellent performance of Elvis' child co-star, Donna Butterworth. On the other hand, "Speedway" is not saved by Victoria Meyerink's small part and it remains a film that might only be minimally enjoyable to car racing fans.