Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite
Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite is a concert starring American singer Elvis Presley that took place at the Honolulu International Center and was broadcast live via satellite to audiences in Asia and Oceania on January 14, 1973. The show was presented with a delay in Europe. In the United States, to avoid a programming conflict with Super Bowl VII and Elvis on Tour which was playing in cinemas at the time, NBC opted to air a ninety-minute television special of the concert on April 4.
Presley returned to performing tours throughout the United States in 1970. Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China inspired Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, to promote a live broadcast concert featuring Presley and he arranged a deal with RCA Records and the NBC network to produce one. The show benefited the Kui Lee Cancer Fund.
Marty Pasetta produced and directed the program. A filmed rehearsal concert took place on January 12. The show earned good ratings in the countries targeted by the live broadcast. The television special presented in the United States became NBC's highest-rated program of the year, and it received a favorable reception from critics. Its soundtrack album became Presley's last chart-topper on Billboard album chart.
Background
After a seven-year hiatus from live performances to focus on his acting career, Elvis Presley returned with his 1968 NBC television special Elvis. Following the critical success of the special, by 1969, Presley returned to releasing non-soundtrack albums with From Elvis in Memphis. His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, arranged for him to play a concert residency at the newly built International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. For this engagement he assembled a band, later known as the TCB Band: James Burton, John Wilkinson, Jerry Scheff, Ronnie Tutt, Glen Hardin and Charlie Hodge. The Sweet Inspirations, the Imperials, the Stamps and Kathy Westmoreland provided backing vocals, and the show also featured the 30-piece Joe Guercio orchestra. Presley began to tour the United States again in 1970 after a thirteen-year hiatus.Presley's early 1972 albums, Elvis Now and He Touched Me, charted at number 43 and 79 on the Billboard 200. That year, Presley embarked on a 15-city tour that was filmed for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer documentary Elvis on Tour. The film earned a Golden Globe Award for best documentary. A planned soundtrack album was never released as the recording equipment failed during the fourth night of performances.
Presley appeared at Madison Square Garden in New York City in June 1972; the performance was released as a live album the same month and reached number 11 on Billboards Hot 100. Demand for Presley was strong in Europe and Asia, where Presley was eager to perform, but Parker prevented this. This has been attributed to Parker's status as an illegal immigrant; Parker concealed his origins as a Dutch national, and feared deportation if he left the United States. A month after the Madison Square Garden show, Parker mentioned to the press that arrangements were being made for Presley to play a concert via satellite to live audiences worldwide. Parker declared that "it is the intention of Elvis to please all of his fans throughout the world". This was seen as something only Elvis Presley could do as no other singer had such popularity across the globe.
Production
On September 4, the final day of Presley's 59-show engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton, Parker announced at a press conference that the live NBC television special, Aloha from Hawaii, would take place in January 1973 in Hawaii. Parker had the idea in February 1972, when he saw the live broadcast of Richard Nixon's visit to China. Parker approached NBC's president Tom Sarnoff with the proposition. They set a tentative release date for November 18, the end of Presley's tour. The date had to be moved at the request of television executive Jim Aubrey, who wanted to avoid the special overlapping with the theatrical release of Elvis On Tour, scheduled for the same month. The date for the concert was eventually set for January 14, 1973. The broadcast in the United States was postponed until April to avoid a conflict with Super Bowl VII that was to be played on the same day.Sarnoff suggested Marty Pasetta produce the special. Pasetta had produced television specials for Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Glen Campbell, and Don Ho's five specials, filmed on location in Hawaii. He had also produced broadcasts of the Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys. Presley was interested in a producer who could capture the atmosphere of a live concert. Pasetta attended Presley's concert in Long Beach on November 15. He was unimpressed by Presley's performance, feeling his presence was "staged, quiet", and expressed his doubts to the network that he would be able to produce an hour-and-a-half special. They told Pasetta to discuss his concerns with Parker.
Funding
RCA Records Tours, founded by RCA Records at Parker's request to manage the promotion of Presley's tours, would receive US$1 million from NBC for the special. RCA would receive US$100,000, while Presley and Parker would receive US$900,000 to be split between them. Presley's managerial contract, signed in 1967, stipulated that Parker would receive fifty percent of the total profit of his negotiated deals.Eddie Sherman, a Honolulu Advertiser writer, contacted Parker with the idea of giving the proceeds of the concert admissions to a charity he had recently established. Sherman had worked with Parker to promote Presley's 1961 benefit concert for the construction of the USS Arizona Memorial. Since Parker could not charge a television audience for tickets, Sherman proposed taking donations for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund instead. Sherman started the fund to benefit cancer research at the University of Hawaii. Kui Lee, a singer-songwriter from Hawaii, died in 1966 of lymph gland cancer. Presley recorded Lee's "I'll Remember You" in mid-1966 and included the song in his live sets starting in 1972. Presley contributed with the first donation of US$1,000 ; while the audience could determine the amount of their donations.
Stage design
Pasetta took sketches of his ideas for the stage to Parker. He envisioned the band placed on a riser behind Presley. The stage was to be built low to allow the audience proximity to him, with a runway to allow Presley to move towards them. Mirrors would frame the stage, while the background would feature flashing neon signs that read "Elvis" in the language of the countries where the concert was projected to be broadcast, and the accompanying album would be released. A figure holding a guitar was to be added to the background lights. Parker dismissed the idea, telling Pasetta that Presley would not approve of his plans.Pasetta insisted on taking his ideas directly to Presley; Parker did not object. Pasetta told Presley he was not pleased with his performance in Long Beach and laid out his plans for the stage and the details of the Hawaii production. He finished by telling Presley he would need to lose weight for the special. Impressed by Pasetta's frankness, Presley became excited to work with him, and the meeting lasted four hours. Presley returned to his home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee, and began to exercise to deal with Pasetta's weight concerns. He increased his practice of karate, consumed vitamins and protein drinks, and used weight-reduction pills. He lost in a month.
Pasetta returned to Los Angeles, where he began work on the stage that would be shipped to Hawaii; further set decorations would be added on location. The large stage covered the space used for 3,500 of the Honolulu International Center's 8,800 seats. RCA Records commissioned the Berlitz Corporation to translate the phrases and scriptures Presley would use.
The stage and equipment were shipped from Los Angeles to Hawaii in early January 1973. Pasetta and the crew traveled there to film the scenery to be added as inserts to the television special for its release in the United States. Presley arrived on January 10. After seeing the stage in the venue, Presley asked Pasetta to remove the scattered individual risers that were put in place for the TCB Band and backup singers. Pasetta agreed, and while work on the stage continued, Presley rehearsed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The show's opener was shot at the Hilton hotel's helipad, with a thousand Presley fans in attendance.
Costumes
Presley approached his costume designer, Bill Belew, with an idea for his concert suit. Belew had begun working for Presley in 1968, with the creation of the leather suit he wore for his NBC special Elvis, and created the one-piece jumpsuits he wore during his Las Vegas appearances. Belew's designs featured gabardine stretch fabric with Napoleonic collars, rhinestone decorations and bell-bottoms. For the upcoming special, Presley asked Belew to create a patriotic design. Presley felt the broadcast of the show via satellite was a product of American creative thinking. Since it was going to be viewed in foreign countries, he told Belew, "I just want the suit to say America". This was one of the few occasions when Presley made a special request of Belew, who usually relied on his own creativity.Initially, Belew suggested a pattern based on the outline of the map. Then they considered the flag, but settled on the bald eagle, since Belew recalled seeing the image in a US embassy. The white jumpsuit featured a bald eagle made with patterns of gold, blue and red gems on the chest and back. Belew created a four-inch white leather belt featuring five ovals with the Great Seal of the United States. Initially, Belew made a calf-length cape. Presley planned to be covered by it at the start of his performance, and then reveal himself as the show started, but discarded it during rehearsals, as he felt it was too heavy at. Belew created a hip-length cape. Producing the entire costume required most of Belew's staff because of the amount of embroidery and the attachment of several pieces of jewelry. It featured 6,500 individual stones.
During the rehearsals, Presley gave the costume's belt to Jack Lord's wife. Presley's associate, Joe Esposito called Belew. Alarmed, Belew told Esposito he had no more rubies, and that he would have to obtain them from Europe. However, he found them locally and worked overtime with his team to produce a new belt. Belew flew to Hawaii with the replacement belt and stayed for the shows.